I've been home from Nepal for almost a year and I'm longing to return. I have quite a few journal entries that I wrote while I was there (in print) but never got around to entering them here. I have some time today so I'll begin that process.

Friday, November 7th, 2014

Kathmandu, Nepal

I'm staying in the Hotel Shanker, which is an old Rama palace. You can tell; it has an old world feel to it, very ornate. The grounds are beautiful and the staff are kind and attentive.

I decided to get a taxi this morning and visit the monkey temple in Swayambhunath. I noticed a lot of things on the ride there, (1) Even though the guide book insists you could walk there from where I'm staying (in Thamel), I wouldn't even consider it, as I'm alone. (2) There are no other women on the streets that look like me. I stick out horribly. (3) The taxi was a good choice. The ride there and back is $15, which believe me, is an excellent deal.

I mixed in with the other tourists but I'm still the only blond girl to be found. I found Charity a Christmas present and successfully bartered for it (still probably paid too much, but the people here are so poor it's hard to haggle very hard).

The traffic still amazes me! There are no traffic signals and it really is one chaotic mess. There is no other way to describe it. Not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of my day...


November, 12th, 2014

Namche Bazaar (Nam-Shee)

There are no words to express how beautiful it is here or how hard the trek has been so far.

The first day of trek, Monday, wasn't too hard. It was similar to many of the hikes I've done in Utah on Saturday mornings. It took us about three hours and wasn't too grueling except I did sprain my ankle rather badly near the end of the day.

The flight into Luckla that day was also uneventful. it is a scary landing because, as you prepare to land, you are flying straight into a wall of mountains, onto a short runway, on a cliff!

Day 2

Today was challenging. The first part of the day wasn't too bad. We left Phadking around 8am and went up and down numerous times. We saw waterfalls and crossed swinging bridges. I took lots of pictures. Around noon we stopped for lunch. My room mate, Megan, had a really bad night last night (vomiting all night). She is still weak and can't eat lunch. I'm amazed she can do today at all. I don't think I could.

After lunch the next 3.5 hours are pretty much straight up the mountain. My ankle doesn't hurt but I have it wrapped and I'm using poles to add strength to my left leg and I'm breathing pretty hard the entire time but I don't have any signs of altitude sickness, which is good. I take a step, breathe, think "I can do hard things" take another step, breathe, think "I can do hard things... I felt victorious and very tired at the end of the day. Everyone else in our group is beginning to feel the effects of altitude sickness but the others are from India and Australia so I have quite an advantage, being from the mountains. They don't eat much and they have horrible headaches. I'm ravenous, eating a lot, and full of energy.

Day 3

There was something sad that happened last night. Our guide, Aziz's mother died so he had to catch a helicopter back to Kathmandu. He was very sweet; we all felt for him. We hugged him, gave him some of our funds, and wished him well. Another guide will be with us now. His name is Rishi and he is just returning from EBC so this will be his second trip, with no rest in between and no time to see his family. Today we only climb just a little bit; it's an acclimatization day. The Namche Bazaar (where we are staying) is surrounded by unbelievable big, beautiful mountains. We stand in awe of their beauty and majesty. We come back from our short hike and visit the many shops that are here. I bought some hats for the kids and a scarf and a jacket for me. Things are very inexpensive. Then, Megan, David, and I went to see a documentary about Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's ascent to the Everest summit. It was quite interesting. Then we came back to hotel, which is called "The Nest." I'm looking forward to tomorrows adventures.

Saturday, November 15th, 2014

I took my first bucket shower today. We have stopped for the night in Dingbouche and there are no real showers or flush toilets. What you do is ask the manager to heat you up a bucketful of water then, you go into a room (like an outhouse minus the toilet) that has a solar panel on the roof, strip down, pour water over yourself with pitcher (which is provided with the bucket of warm water) and proceed to wash. It was tricky because I had to make sure a lot of the water went back into the bucket, after I poured it on myself because I had to reuse it a couple of times to rinse all of the soap from my hair and body. I felt so much cleaner though. It has been three days since I bathed last. The amount of dirt that came off my feet alone was so gross! It was well worth the 350 rupees ($3.50 American). I was also able to charge one of my batteries and use wi-fi at a bakery so I'm ready to go on up the mountain. We are three days away from Everest Base Camp.

The only really bad day I had was day 4. I had diarrhea the whole night before. I was up the entire night and could only get a piece of toast down the next morning. I was so weak; I actually started bawling - crying like a big baby - about an hour before lunch. My lower back was killing me and my ankle had swollen up even though I continued to wrap it so I was kind of a pathetic mess that day. Our guide, Rishi, actually called one of our porters back to help me with my pack. After I got lunch down and had someone else carry my pack for a couple of hours I felt much better and had no problem the rest of the day.

The food is usually pretty good. I've had frys, mushroom pizza, oatmeal, tea, and lots of fruit. No meat. There is no refrigeration so everyone becomes vegetarian while we are in the mountains.

Everyone else I'm traveling with has severe headaches and has lost their appetite. They are all experiencing altitude sickness. Tomorrow we press on to Duglha - 15, 090 ft. I feel for my companions but I'm so thankful to be well.

Monday, November 17th, 2014

Today is my last day in Kathmandu before beginning the trek to Everest Base Camp. We fly out early tomorrow (Monday) morning.

Our guides took us to three different spots today. We rode in a very nice, spacious, air conditioned van (which is the first vehicle with air conditioning I have ridden in here). Our first stop was Durbar Square, Kathmandu. Durbar means temple; the entire area (which is sizeable) is filled with Budist and Hindu temples. It's very beautiful & chaotic - a ace I will never forget. There were hundreds of people, some of them on foot, some on scooters, some selling things and legions of pigeons flying everywhere! Our guide was explaining the significance of everything we were seeing and we were all having conversations with one another. :) it was a lot to process but a lot of fun!

Next, we went to Swayambhunath to see the Monkey Temple. I went on my own Friday to see this area but I was happy to go back as there is so much to see there. Our group is also very interesting. Megan & I (Dave went to Thamel today) have been joined by two young Austrailians, Tanya and David, who have been traveling for almost a year and have been almost everywhere on Earth during that time. They just got back from the Base Camp trek we are going on so we have been asking them a lot of questions and listening to their fascinating stories. Another gentleman from India has joined us and will remain with us on trek. Anyway, we all enjoyed the Monkey Temple then we were on to Boudhanath.

We ate lunch on a pretty rooftop terrace here, which overlooked the second biggest stupa in the world (pictures below). The stupa was impressive but what I really enjoyed was talking to the others and watching the prayer flags flutter in the breeze. It was an absolutely beautiful day and an unforgettable moment in time.

Finally, we went to Bagmati were they prepare the dead for burning then sail the remains down the river. It's a place thick with smoke, eerie and silent. The feeling here is subdued and silent. I was glad to leave it.

Our guide took us back to the hotel to collect Dave then we went for a trip debriefing, to pay our remaining trek balances and get our remaining gear (sleeping bags, duffle bag, t-shirt, parkas). After this we dropped off our things at the hotel and picked up two more young men, one from Canada, the other from the U.S. and went for a "welcome" dinner.

Traditional Nepali foods were served and a cultural dancing program commenced. We sat at very low tables with our legs crossed; most of us were quite stiff and kind of uncomfortable but the conversation was lively and we all enjoyed ourselves.

It was a very enjoyable day. :)

The Garden of Dreams & dinner with the Austrailians

My sleep schedule has been seriously altered. I'm wide awake every morning at 1am and ready for bed by 7pm. I've also been taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon...

So it's 1am on Sunday, November 9th and I can't sleep so I'm typing away. Yesterday, I decided to go to a place I hsd read about in the guide books, The Garden of Dreams. I took a taxi from my hotel because walking alone is still making me nervous. The garden was absolutely magical. It's a place that shouldn't be missed. The Nepali government recently put a bunch of money into its restoration. It's peaceful, beautiful and, if you are with your spouse, romantic (lots of couples here). I also found a bank and exchanged some of many larger bills for smaller ones. This really didn't take up much of the day. I was finished by noon. What next?

I decided to get a manicure, pedicure, and a massage at my hotel because I know that once I start trek there won't be any opportunities for pampering myself plus the rates at the hotel are about 1/8 to 1/10 of what I would pay at home. :) The massage and pedicure were pretty much the same as I would have gotten at home but the manicure was somewhat tricky because I don't think those ladies had encountered the American process of shellacking before so it took them some time to figure out what to do with what I already had. Plus there are no modern tools of that trade here so it took a bit longer but the results are great!

When I finished pampering myself I went back to my room and Megan was there. Megan is from Brisbane Austrailia and will be my roommate for the rest of this trip. She's about 30 and is traveling with her father, who is a knowledgeable guide and seasoned traveler. The three of us were supposed to meet up with our guides and one other gentleman but the other man's flight didn't make it in so our guides cancelled dinner and we were left to our own devices.

Mr. Pretorius (Dave) has been here before so he kind of knew his way around, so we walked into Thamel (about 1 mile) to have dinner and shop a bit. It's amazing what a difference having these two along made for me. I'm no longer nervous about walking the streets around here at all.

We ran into a local who insisted upon showing us around... then we had a hard time disentangling ourselves from his ministrations. I think he was attracted to Megan as she is young and quite pretty. Anyway, we decided to eat at The New Orleans Cafe because it was recommended in the guide book and Dave wanted to try jambalaya. It was ok. To be honest, I'd skip it if I came again. The most redeeming things about it were the outdoor patio, that was candle lit, and the smooth jazz playing. The place was very busy but the food was mediocre.

We looked in a few of the shops (which there are tons of in this part of town) bought some chocolate for our hike then headed back to the hotel. It was only a bit past 8pm when we arrived, but I instantly fell asleep.:)

Pictures below are from The Garden of Dreams.

I went to the Monkey Temple today. There truly were monkeys everywhere! I hired a taxi to take me there and back because it was kind of a long way from where I'm staying and the streets and traffic are really narrow and kind of scary.i
Taxis here are also super cheap. The same ride would have cost me 10 times as much in Chicago.

I had lots of fun experiences on the Monkey Temple grounds. I spun a prayer wheel and had an older woman paint on my third eye. I saw tons of monkeys, bought Charity a Christmas present (which I most successfully bartered for) and took lots of pictures.

I'm having a hard time posting pictures to the blog because now blogger makes you go through Google +, which I don't really have set up. I took lots of great pics though and then went back to my hotel to sit in the sunshine by the pool. Then I got some yogurt for lunch nearby and that's about it for today.

So, I figured out how to add photos!

Hotel Shanker

The Monkey Temple

The Monkeys of Swayambhunath

Rupees  

The third eye

More of the grounds