Family and Friends! Sorry it's been such a long time since we've updated our blog. We've been alive and well, just not able to update as frequently for various reasons. We are currently in NEPAL! Previously, we spent three and a half weeks in Kabul, Afghanistan. Check back soon for a post about our time there. For now, Nepal....
It isn't until after you leave an experience behind that the full impact of that previous (even if temporary) life is felt. Both Carol and I experienced this dramatic realization as we stepped off the plane into the Delhi airport. After spending almost a month in Afghanistan, it was a shock to have the full weight of the wildly irreverent, shamelessly extravagant, and sexually explicit world of lights, advertisements, personal appearance, and appetites thrown upon us. In a way, it solidified aspects of Afghan culture that we greatly appreciated during our visit, but hadn't immediately recognized; a reserved and respectful attitude towards public interactions, incredible graciousness and generosity toward guests and strangers, and a deep commitment to family and friends. With no intent of idealizing life in Afghanistan -- it is definitely a challenging place to live, where lives and freedoms are compromised everyday -- we will miss the people and places we have come in contact with during our stay.
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| Typical street scene in Kathmandu |
Our layover in Dehli was only a few hours long, however, and after a chicken burger from McDonalds (Carol wondered why there weren't any beef burgers on the menu before remembering that we were in India), we slotted ourselves neatly back into the consumption driven world from which we originated. Then, suddenly, we were in Nepal!
After spending about 12 hours in Kathmandu, both Carol and I were ready to move on. Not that Kathmandu is a bad place to visit. The city definitely has more than a few sights to see in the way of temples and shrines of the Buddhist and Hindu religions, and there is a certain excitement to walking down insanely crowded market streets, but we just weren't really in the mood. Besides, Joe fell pretty ill our first night, and the cold rooms and city air weren't helping a quick recovery. We did get to see quite a lot of the city as we took care of organizing our trekking permits and acquiring the necessary goods for an adventure up into the mountains though. The only problem was that we didn't know where to go for said adventure. We had only read about or seen pictures of the Himalayan mountains that involved summits were way beyond our reach, people falling down crevasses or loosing appendages to frostbite. However, none of these sounded like the kind of experiences we were looking for.
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| Annapurna circuit route map |
After consulting some maps, and remembering wonderful things that friends had told us about their own experiences in Nepal, we settled on exploring a section of the
Annapurna region, wanting to know what all the fuss was about. You might think it would be obvious that heading up into the highest mountain range in the world in December would be a bad idea, but honestly, the gentleman working the official information desk in the government "Trekker Information Management System" (TIMS) registration building actually encouraged us to take this route which starts at 800 meters and tops out at
Thorung La Pass at 5416 meters (almost 18,000 feet) and current nighttime temperatures of around -10 C. Left to our own assumptions, we probably would have stayed at lower altitudes, but we even met several other folks at "The Sparkling Turtle Hostel" where we were staying in Kathmandu, who were also planning to trek the same route.
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| One of many near-collision moments on the bus to Besi Sahar |
So, by the time we got our TIMS cards and official entrance permits to the Annapurna National Park (~$80), in addition to some very knock-off but warm clothing from
Thamel, the fake-name-brand-outdoor-clothing-and-equipment-capital-of-the-world, we were ready to head for the mountains. Slowly.
The bus we caught at 6:30 am on our third morning in Nepal reminded us a lot of being in Africa. Minus the burning incense and Buddha on the dashboard, this bus could possibly have just arrived from Tanzania. But we were professional about the whole thing, and didn't even look askance when the ancient woman in front of us threw up out the window before the bus had even gone a half mile on a straight road. Once out of the city, Nepal really came into view. Terraced rice fields, lush forests, raging rivers, and a population density less than five people per square foot all contributed to a warming of our hearts as we climbed up into the foothills of the Himalayas for the next 9 hours. The bus ride was only interrupted a couple times for pit stops, one of which was on the side of a gorge and the other at a rest stop with real squat toilets. Finally, in Besi Sahar, the original trail-head for the circuit, we decided to hop on a second (very similar) bus which would drop us off in Buhlebuhle (rhymes with "
wooly bully") to avoid having to walk up what had slowly turned into a dusty dirt road over the 60 years since Nepal has been open to the outside world, instead of a scenic single-track trail.
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| Carol crosses the first of many suspension bridges |
Aside from the fact that we had no idea what we were doing (we had decided much earlier that tour companies, porters and guides were a bit overkill, since we didn't really know how far we wanted to go), we arrived in Buhlebuhle safely, walked across a scary-looking suspension bridge, and discovered the world of Nepali Tea Houses.
We had heard about hiking from Tea House to Tea House, but it didn't really make sense to either of us until we had actually spent the night in one. Basically, in the small village there were three or four ramshackle buildings with beautiful advertisement boards on their exteriors displaying names like "River View Hotel & Restaurant" or "Peace Full Hotel" or "
New Yak Hotel". And, if the owner is within shouting distance from where you're standing, you can stay the night in one of their rooms. Prices vary, depending on how far you are from civilization, but our first night was 300 Nepali Rupees (the equivalent of $3) for a double room, which seemed pretty reasonable. By the time we reached 13,000 feet, the price had dropped to 50 Rupees, presumably due to lack of demand. In each village set menus have been arranged to keep price wars from cropping up between the different hotels. These menus amazed us with a wide variety of offerings including pizzas, curries, noodle dishes, and something called a Mars Roll that we never tried. Granted, the level of complexity of these tea houses has dramatically increased over the decades that they have been in existence. For instance, as we walked up into the 'wilds' we saw brightly painted hotels offering delicious food, hot showers, bakeries, satellite phones, etc. I can't tell you how strange it is to be walking up a trail hewn into the rock wall of a valley in the middle of the mountains and see a shack with a sign offering Wi-Fi.
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| Typical color scheme for a tea house on the Annapurna Circuit |
Our first morning we got a reasonably early start after downing a two-egg omelet each, and walked briskly to keep warm as the sun hadn't gotten high enough to shine down into the deep valley that we were in. At only 840 meters, we weren't at any sort of significant altitude, but it was still chilly, and we had even borrowed blankets from our hostess to compensate for our slightly inadequate sleeping bags the night before (we had decided to stick with our lightweight bags that we had packed for our entire world trip rather than rent larger bags that would have been difficult to fit into our backpacks since we were still carrying everything needed for the entire round-the-world trip. Not bringing larger bags was not pure foolishness, as we had been assured by a knowledgeable person that appeared to understand English, that the tea houses did indeed have extra blankets available ahead of time). Anyway, it wasn't long before we realized that it wasn't only the trail from Besi Sahar to Buhlebuhle that had been the victim of industrialization. Almost the entire day's route, although beautiful in many ways, had been torn up by either road works or
hydroelectric projects (Nepal is claimed to be the second richest country in the world when it comes to water resources). We later learned that these massive feats of engineering are funded by the Chinese government with labor provided by local prison gangs, which explained why we had walked past two machine gun nests immediately after leaving Buhlebuhle, and passed many of these workers along the way as they beat huge rocks into smaller pieces with sledge hammers.
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| Carol hikes past one of many Buddhist stupas constructed along the circuit |
Not to be overly negative, but on the same note the trail/road has become a bit of a trash receptacle over time. I suppose that we arrived just on the tail end of the busy season at a time in history when an estimated 10,000 people will travel to Nepal to walk the trail each year, but it still seemed a shame to see candy wrappers, playing cards, and chip bags strewn about one of the most lauded landscapes in the world.
Off the trail was truly beautiful though, and warm! Once the sun came up over the edge of the valley it felt almost tropical, and we realized that the vegetation was much more jungle-like than we first realized, with banana and papaya trees, as well as huge poinsettia plants towering over us.
We lunched at another cafe/tea house along the way, and snacked on some amazing Indian trail-mix that we had picked up in Kathmandu. We had considered a slightly longer walk that day, but when we arrived in Jagat, the time was ripe for a meal and bed, and we ended up in our second Tea House that night, discussing the local economy, education system, and poverty situation with Freda, a British woman who quit her job with Visa to start schools and provide assistance to the Nepalis in this area through an organization called
Himalayan Cultural Conservation (Hi-Cap UK). We also chatted a while with Ram, the hotel owner while "
The Karate Kid" played in the background in English on a 40" flatscreen TV (times have changed for rural Nepal). Ram even treated us to a tin cup of the local wine, a mixture of fermented corn and rice juice.
Still surrounded by the unexpectedly lush foliage of the lower altitude, we hit the trail before breakfast and spent the first hour of the day climbing steeply up the side of the valley, passing many small cascades of water. This gave us an idea. Instead of paying for bottled water, we could break out the Steri-Pen (Thanks Aus!) and just drink from the rivers. Cash problems averted slightly by this discovery, we trouped along the trail (we have tried to stay on the single-track trails as much as possible, avoiding the main path which has evolved into quite a busy dirt road with passing motorcycles, trucks, and land cruisers) happily with loads of kids on their way to school that morning. After climbing a few hundred feet the valley opened up and the river widened a bit, showing off its turquoise colors even more in the sunlight, and giving us a little better perspective on our surroundings. We only had one mishap on this section as a result of having to share the narrow trail with four or five pack horses that had decided to pick the worst possible place to take a break (no owner in sight). They had stopped right where a pretty good flow of water was running down the cliff and across the trail, and as the stepped route was cut directly from the rock cliffs in places, it got a bit slippery and as Carol was trying to squeeze by the animals, she ended up sliding almost underneath them. Luckily she escaped with only a small cut on the hand, but we hope the horses learned a valuable lesson that day.
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| Carol, Ram, and Joe in Jagat at the "Hotel New Mountain View & Restaurant" |
As we climbed higher and higher, the next few days brough us to elevations where we finally could see some of the larger surrounding peaks, giving us a sense of really being in the Himalayas. Each new night was colder and the elevation was more apparent in our breathing, but the views and the hospitality just kept getting better and better. At night, the stars were especially brilliant, though at sub-zero temperatures on the way back from an outdoor squat toilet one doesn't linger too long to look at the stars. Even the rivers and waterfalls along the trail were starting to build up thick layers of ice, and water taps everywhere were left on to avoid frozen pipes. Hiking during the day kept us warm though, and sleeping bags plus the most wonderfully thick blankets provided by the hotels kept us warm at night. Each day we met one or two trekkers also heading for the pass, some of whom we enjoyed meals or brief conversations with, but for the most part the trail kept the two of us feeling isolated from the rest of the world, and each village felt like a ghost town, the high season being most definitely over.
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| Panorama view of the Annapurna range from our room in Ghusang |
We were going strong in this mode which brought back many memories of the Camino de Santiago for Joe, when we hit a snag. Carol hadn't been feeling well as we left Nawal, and woke up the next morning in Ghusang (population: 7, elevation: 13,200 ft) feeling positively miserable. We decided pretty quickly that the combination of elevation and illness wasn't worth risking, and that we had accomplished much more than we ever expected. So, we packed up out bags, scarfed some Tibetan bread, and reversed our course back down the mountain, enjoying some alternate routes and vistas as Carol felt better and better. And, despite the fact that we might not have made it over the highest point on the trek, we feel pretty confident that we put in
10,000 steps with room to spare on the Annapurna Circuit trail, thus fulfilling our commitments to ELI.
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| Joe and Carol taking a rest break after a grueling series of switchbacks |
Now, after a few more days of walking side-by-side past yaks, furry cows, cute little Nepali kids who asked us for sweets and then threw sticks at us when we didn't comply, and a 5 hour bus journey, we find ourselves in an entirely different but wonderful place called Pokhara (one of the top paragliding spots in the word, and future host of the 2015 Paragliding World Cup) where we are recovering (Carol developed some truly amazing blisters) and greatly appreciating hot showers, toilets, and clean clothes. At present, I sit at our balcony overlooking the shores of lake Phewa Tal as the sky gradually gets more gray and hazy, watching paragliders soar around nearby peaks, small fishing boats casually casting nets, and contemporary hippies strolling by in their hemp clothing, dreadlocks and beards.
I think we will stay in Pokhara another couple days as we sort out the next step in this crazy adventure and possibly where we will spend Christmas, a thought that makes both of us a bit homesick, but also incredibly thankful to be together. Each day we are learning more about what it means to be human together, and also how brief a time we are given on this side of eternity to show God that we actually understand what he has revealed to us about his nature of love.
Blessings,
Joe & Carol
