Nepal

Hi everyone!

We just finished a gruelling 16 days of trekking around the Annapurnas in the Nepali Himalayas. In that time we walked over 200 kilometers (about 125 miles) and reached elevations of 5,500 meters (almost 18,000 feet). We're tired, we're sore, we're skinny... and we are happy.

We arrived in Nepal on the 5th of May and spent one very short night in Kathmandu getting situated and supplied for our two week trek. The thamel district in the city is the tourist spot and has just about anything a trekker or climber would want - thousands of little shops selling North Face knock offs for next to nothing! The first hour in the city was pretty hectic as we tried to get used to the constant honking, packed streets, and walking in a single line as close to buildings as possible to avoid getting run over by cars - all this while stepping over animal (and sometimes human) poo. Aghhh Nepal.

But before you cringe, I have to say, there is something magical about Nepal because I don't mind these things as much as I did back in Africa (this is Tatyana). While the people here aren't overly nice (they look confused when you smile at them), they are extremely kind. Most of the people here have the softest facial features and I just can't seem to get mad or upset - even when I know they are lying to me. It could also be the sweet "Namaste" greetings as they bow with their hands in prayer, the colorful clothing the women wear or the red tika (blessing) marks on their foreheads. I generally feel very safe here - maybe its that as Buddhists and Hindu they strongly believe in karma which will impact what they come back as in their next reincarnation. This is why caste is so important here and its so sad (for us) to see people living on the streets not because of drug addiction, sickness or bad luck but because they were born into the lower Harijan caste (the untouchables) - they do the most degrading work.

Anyway, The next morning we sorted out our permits and jumped a bus to Besisahar, where we began our trip. While the bus rides here can get a little nerve wrecking, we both got very excited when one of the buses didn't have enough seats. It was our first chance to ghost ride the whip - so we jumped on the roof of a 4x4 mini bus with the locals and held on for dear life - the young locals used their hands for better things - holding on to the hashish.

Each day we walked between 10 and 20-some-odd kilometers, for five to 12 hours, and with as much as 1,700 meters of elevation change. A few days were composed of nice, easy strolls through mountain villages (you come across a village every 1-4 hrs), past waterfalls and lush rain forests. Most days were long, arduous treks along sheer rock walls and up steep ravines. Our first two days were extra hard on us as we foolishly dragged our full sacks with us (ok, ok, Todd did suggest leaving some of our stuff in Kathmandu, so I take all the blame). After two days of back breaking hikes (and with 14 more days to go) we decided to cut our losses and dump some of the heavy clothing/books. So we packed a bag full of clothes (surprisingly it wasn't hard for us to part with the same stuff we have been wearing everyday for two months straight) and gave it to some local women working on a farm outside one of the villages. The folks here are pretty poor and they were very excited - so when you visit Nepal don't be suprised to see a local in a Boone Family T-Shirt and others advertising for Blameless clothing and Love is Chemicals Band (awesome music!). Just mentioning so that Joel/Sarah and Courtney aren't surprised when the orders from Nepal start pouring in.

All of it was beautiful, and the views of the surrounding 7 and 8,000 meter mountain peaks were always breath taking. We typically started between five and eight in the morning, and wrapped up between three and five in the afternoon. Each morning we ate a meal of local oat porridge or eggs and local bread. Lunch consisted of local rice dishes, trail mix and granola bars. The Nepali national meal is called dal bhat (spiced lentils, boiled rice, vegetable curry), which is ok only so many times (its a little bland)... There was absolutely no meat for the first 10 days and a meal of yak meat and yak cheese was a very nice change of dietary pace when we finally got over the pass. There is a lot of Tibetan influence in the Annapurna region, as refugees have trickled in for years to escape Chinese pressures... so we ate a lot of really good food from the surrounding regions. There was also a very popular plant growing abundantely on the side of the trail and our map of the circuit clearly indicated the locations of full on marijuana fields. A trekker didn't even have to search as most lodge owners offered it on arrival.

The lodges along the trail had fairly standard rooms with two single beds (with a very, very very thin mattress) and often we negotiated our rate down to $0.50. Most lodge owners would give the room for free in agreement that you eat dinner there - food got more and more expensive higher up as it had to be carried up by either mules or porters. As we got closer to the Thorong La Pass (the highest pass in the world and the highest point of the trek) the days and nights got colder and the showers became unbearable - most of the lodges on the trail use solar to heat water and it seemed like there was no sun for a week straight.

One thing I would mention is that unfortunately they have started to build a road along the first portion of the route - it should be completed in the next 3-5 years. So, if this at all sounds appealing you should go soon! The government built a road on the other side of the trek a few years back and now most trekkers take the jeep down - hey, it beats walking on a side of dirty road and turning around every time a jeep drives by and leaves you in a thick cloud of dust.

After our trek we rested in Pokhara, a nice little lakeside town with amazing views of the Annapurnas. We treated ourselves to some really good steak the night we got in, and let someone else hand wash our stinky STINKY gear (and by our Todd means his, my socks - which i wore for a week straight - smelled like roses!). Last night we ate salad (!!!!!) and some decent pizza. Today we had English breakfast with friends and later we're leaning toward Indian food. So nice to have appetizing food, and you would not believe how much we were dying for a salad. The street food in Nepal is incredible... samosas, and breads, and grilled corn, and mixes of nuts and curries and spices.... and sooo cheap -like 20 cents.

On a political note - there has been some unrest in the country over the last few weeks. There were riots a few days before our arrival and our first day in the country the Maoist prime minister resigned. This Maoist struggle has been going on since the late '90s and there are no signs of it ending. While there have been some reports of attacks on churches we have seen no violence or any indication of the current events at all.

Today, we fly to Bhutan for 5 days. We still have no idea where we are going after Bhutan, and we're finding that we really enjoy the quirky freedom that comes with having no plan... If we can get a visa into India, we'll go there. Possibly Tibet. Up to Mongolia? Straight over to Bangkok? Who knows... we'll figure it out in a week.

We posted the pics on Tatyana's Facebook account.... Follow the link below to access them.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022529&id=1081248185&l=39ce49a836