Two Days in Tengboche

I awoke after a great night of sleep from the nicest place I would stay in during the whole journey and was on my way. I was starting to feel the ill effects of the altitude a little bit now that I had been exposed to it for such a long amount of time, but I still did not have much issue with taking a full pack. The trail today led out of town and up the hill. I had already been to this part of the trail when I went looking for a place to pay my entry permit, which I still had not paid. I went up the hill and over until the trail led me down to where I could cross the river. I shared this trail with many people and a variety of animals. At one point, I had to quickly get off of a bridge as a herd of yaks came rumbling down the trail. If I wouldn't have turned around and made room for them, I am sure they would have just ran me over. This part of the trail was still forested and I wondered when I would get to see the big mountains.

At least now I was in the right valley that would lead me to Everest Base Camp. After crossing a bridge, it was up a hill. This was a steep climb with lots of switchbacks and at the top of the hill was the small community of Tengboche. Here there was a monastery with young monks training to be full time monks in the future. I found a room at a teahouse in town fully trusting my dad's recommendations. There were many people around just hanging out. This one guy had a giant copy of War and Peace. That was his reading material for the Khumbu which was smart because of all of the downtime that you have. Much of my time was spent just getting acclimatized. 

In the afternoon, I went over to the monastery where you could see a chanting performance by the monks. We all just crammed into these tight quarters and sat there to listen. Lot of deep chanting and some loud gongs and cymbal crashing. I did not know what any of it meant, but I assumed it was a prayer type deal. I guess it would be very peaceful and I appreciated the cultural significance of it, but I would not call it entertaining in any way. Still, it was worth the experience to check it out and frankly there was not much else to do. I played some cards with people around the teahouses. I was starting to recognize more and more people. I learned a few card games that were fun to play.

I woke up with a significant headache. I did not think it wise of me to continue upon my journey. Instead I spent the day going down the hill to see if I could get a bit more oxygen. I am not sure that it helped, but I found a nice place near the trail to sit and read my book. I ran into the Everest Expedition again that knew my dad and talked to more people. Eventually I went back up the hill and played more games in the teahouse. At least there were amazing mountains to look at in Tengboche. I think I got my first view of Everest here, though it looked so far away it was hard to tell. Still it was an amazing spot with beautiful mountains all around me. 

One of the biggest events of the whole evening was when the monks in training came out of the woodwork and began playing cricket. All of us tourists got a big kick out of this especially people from England. They actually knew the game, so the monks playing it was definitely a cultural experience. That is where you could look at them and realize that they are just kids. They were out there laughing and enjoying themselves even in there full array of monk gear. I soaked it in for a time and then went and hung out with more people. I was really getting to know quite a large variety of people by just inserting myself into groups. I did not feel that lonely despite being half a world away from home in a very inhospitable area pretty much by my lonesome. I still got plenty of sleep as I went to bed early. The cold and the altitude combined could really wear a man out. 

Journey to Thame

 If I had been a good tourist, I would have started my day going to the Saturday Market in Namche. This is where people from all around the area came to barter goods. I am not sure what I would have bought, but the cultural experience would have been good. Given that I am not a great shopper or even that interested in purchasing goods, I declined, but I could still see the massive gathering of people as I ascended the hill on my way to Thame. This was going to be a side trip today given that I had to let my body acclimatize. I was now over 11,000 feet, so anytime the altitude could start to get to me. So far, I was feeling pretty good.

The path out to Thame was a bit up and down, but relatively speaking there was only a little altitude change of about a 1000 foot climb. The view was great as it ran right next to the river with the usual sketchy bridges to cross. Sometimes I would pass by these monuments with intricate designs just right there in public for everyone to view. I would pass through and then be right back to a semi-wilderness environment. This area was a rough place to try to grow crops, but yet it had been inhabited before the tourists started to pour in. The path was easy to follow and it made for a pretty easy day of just walking with nowhere particular that I needed to go.
So far, the mountains had not shown their heads much. I, of course, could see Ama Dablam and the mountain that was in my view for most of today when I turned around was Thamserku. As I got closer to Thame, they peaked out more with the trail beginning to go more upward. Eventually I could see whole entire ranges of mountains and for the first time I could really feel that I was in the Himalayas. Still, it was a rather lonely day with it just being me to hike with on this day.
I arrived in Thame around 11 AM and really did not know what to do. I was here and I wandered around the town, but it was really quiet, likely because of the Saturday Market in Namche. So I sat down, enjoyed a snack, and took in the view. Thame had these huge mountains that seemed to come right down into town. You could look up and see the terminal moraine of the glaciers of these peaks almost touching the rudely constructed buildings. This place was famous being the birthplace of Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two mountaineers to summit Mt. Everest. It also was home to a school built by the other of the two, Sir Edmund Hillary. Well, I hung out for as long as it seemed interesting, but soon began my trek back down to Namche.
I had been following an itinerary suggested to me by my father. He had spent considerable time here just 3 years before in 2000. It really helped me to stay focused and know what was in store and where to go to maximize my time. I was surprised on my way down when I ran into a gentleman that had the same t-shirt as my father. I found this odd given that my dad does not have a wide variety of t-shirts. I asked him about it and it turned out that this was a t-shirt from the Everest Expedition that my dad was a part of 3 years earlier and when I gave this guy my dad's name, he knew who he was. He told someone else, whose name was Bob Hoffman, the trip leader. I talked to Bob for a little bit and he was just so thankful for all of the work that my dad had done for him. It was interesting to meet him and such a strange coincidence.

When I got back to the place that I was staying, they were staying there also. They told the people running the "teahouse" that my dad was Roger Drake and they showed me the water filter he built and were still using in the restaurant area. Bob introduced me to some other members of the expedition that knew my dad. Everyone was really friendly which was so much different from what I had experienced to this point. All the solo trekkers like me had been super friendly, while all the expedition people had been somewhat standoffish. I guess there is a bit of ego involved when you are here to climb the mountain and when you are here to just enjoy yourself. I guess they sort of included me as one of them after this and everyone was rather friendly. Still, I turned in nice and early given how much altitude can wear you out. The next day I would be up early again, but without a long day of travel.

Namche

 Awakening was not easy given the chilly environment. As a rule, the tea houses did not seem to have much heat in the evenings, so my warm sleeping bag was a good friend. I went downstairs to get some breakfast. It was always fairly modest portions, so I hoped that I would have enough food to keep me going. After breakfast, I got all my gear together and headed out. The trail today climbs steeply going from 8500 feet to almost over 11000 feet. This is supposed to be a tough day, but the length is a little over 4.5 miles, so I could not see how this would be tough. I was still feeling great. The altitude had not affected me at all yet. The forests were nice and the trail was fairly busy. There were a lot of porters carrying loads. Many of these porters were boys in their teens with sandals on. I was doing pretty well keeping up with the locals at this point. I had my big pack on which was feeling heavier as the miles and elevation continued to mount. I often hike listening to headphones and this was no different. I was doing just that when I went past a checkpoint and entry into Sagarmatha National Park.

I read in the guidebook that I was supposed to pay for entry. It did not seem too hard to just pass that by as I did not know anywhere or anyone I was supposed to pay. Oh well, just continue on up the hill. What is the worst thing that could happen? The forest continued to recede as I climbed farther toward Namche Bazaar. My pace was slowing down, but I was still holding my own with the porters. Eventually, I popped out and there was Namche. It was a fairly large town and walking the streets there were lots of people hanging around. My dad having made the trip just recently allowed me to get good information on where to stay. I went to tea house up the hill. They treated me like royalty. It was weird as I was just a 22 year old kid really. I was able to drop my stuff off, get some lunch, and then head out to explore the town. I looked at the bookstore and prices were relatively reasonable. The way to go is to trade another book in and then you can get a reduced rate. I went up the hill to a sort of museum place where I read that I could also pay my entry fee. It seemed abandoned as it was empty there. I was able to wander around and look at the exhibits. I was not much of a shopper, so going around town lost interest for me pretty quick. I spent some time reading and hanging out in the common area of the tea house. There was a lot going on with expeditions coming through. I talked to most people I saw. Some were friendly, especially if they were not with a tour group. The tour group people tended to bond with one another. It was also interesting to me that here I was in the Himalayas and in the common area, there was a TV going with CNN playing on it. I got updates on how things were going in the Iraq War. It seemed like this was going to be over soon. That was good as I did not know how to deal with it being an American overseas. It definitely was not as lonely here as modern life made me feel a little more comfortable. There were lots of people around too. Still, I turned in rather early as usual. I figured this was going to be a good place to get some rest. It would be a quiet day tomorrow as I needed to let my body catch up to the change in altitude. 

Phakding

I awoke feeling excited, but a little overwhelmed also. I was going to be going out on my own for two weeks in the Khumbu. I was 22 years old (barely) and I was going to be out on my own half a world away from home. Not only that, but doing something that was going to be difficult, challenging, and with the unpredictability of altitude sickness, maybe not even entirely possible. But regardless, I was up early in the morning and said goodbye to Uncle Jim and Cousin Alanna, thanked Mr. Paudell, and was taking a taxi to the airport. I had a morning flight from Kathmandu into Lukla. Luckily, my dad had just been to the Khumbu three years previously, so he left me his travel book and his notes for places to stay. Without that, I could be in way over my head. He also warned me that the Lukla Airport was crazy. I could worry about that later. As of now, Mr. Paudell hooked me up with a $90 flight into the Khumbu. I had a window seat and was able to look out a small window in a smaller plane to see the most amazing mountains in the world. I was so lucky to be able to see these sights. As the short flight was coming to an end, I could see the runway coming up on us. It was a very short landing strip that was also angled uphill. It did not leave the pilot much room for error as they had to hit the landing strip and then quickly apply the breaks while letting the uphill help stop the plane. Everything went fine and soon I was departing to the baggage claim. I then was out on my own. Dad's first advice was to find a teahouse to stay in on the way back that would keep some of my stuff. I found a place that was more than happy to do that.
I dropped off my extra bag and a small bit of gear and clothes and then I hit the trail. I did not have far to go on this first day, just about 3 miles to the small village of Phakding. I made sure while I was hiking to keep a good pace and try to hike faster than the other trekkers and also even the porters who were carrying other people's stuff. These kids of anywhere from 12-15, would make money by hauling huge loads (50+ pounds) up the mountainsides for rich foreigners. I was definitely in the minority by not paying for a porter or having a guide. It was just me on my own. These porters were amazing though, as they would just do all this stuff with only a pair of flip flops on their feet. Phakding was there before I knew it and soon it was only early afternoon and I was checking into the first teahouse that was on my dad's list. The Sherpani was very nice and gave me an excellent room. I got my self situated in the room and then went down to the big room to hang out. It was empty. So empty and lonely. Finally I just went and walked around town. I crossed a crazy bridge that went over the Dudh Kosi,
 One of many that I was crossing in these first few miles of trekking. I wandered around on some local trails and found people working in the fields. Phakding was not officially in the Everest region and so this was still a more rural village where there were also terraced fields and people struggling to get by each day. I could see how their would be higher mountains eventually in this valley, but as of right now Phakding was not high on my list of lovely places because I wanted to see the Himalayas and I was stuck in this town alone, at least that is how it felt. When I went back to my teahouse it stayed lonely for a long time. Finally, in the evening a German trekker showed up. He had been hiking up from the beginning of the trail in the lower elevations and thus did not get a flight into Lukla. I talked his ear off and I could tell that he was not in need of company as much as I was. I was so happy for the company though and he and I were able to stay up hanging out for a while. I turned in rather early though as the conversation and my book "Sometimes a Great Notion" were not entirely appealing to me for long. I was ready for tomorrow anyway as I would have to hike up to Namche where all the action would be.

A Day in Kathmandu

I had one last day in Kathmandu before my morning flight out to the Khumbu. I was sad because I was going to be leaving behind my cousin and Uncle Jim. I was having such a fun time with them just hanging out. After today, it was going to be just me on my own and I could feel the loneliness of that affair starting to weigh down on me. We had one more day to hang around the city, though. On this day, Mr. Paudell was taking us to Bouddha, a very famous spot for Buddhism in Kathmandu.
 We awoke to find a wonderful breakfast prepared for us and we had another guest also. This was a general in the Nepali military. You see, Mr. Paudell was a very influential man and this was a common occurrence. They seemed to want to talk about the Iraq war and the common theme seemed to be, why wouldn't Nepal be the next target? My uncle Jim was staunchly against the war and seemed to have to apologize for the conflict throughout breakfast. I was still making up my mind as I had not been around war like other people. It just had not been a large part of my generation.
We then walked down to visit Alanna's school. She was teaching English at this school and we met the kids and some of the teachers. Afterwards, we took a taxi out to Bouddhanath referred to locally as Boudhha. This was a large spherical Buddhist temple with many different sites around. There were Tibetan prayer flags strung throughout and also the prayer wheels that you could spin. It was a similar site to the Swayambunath, except that there were not a bunch of monkeys throughout. We wandered around to find large statues, shrines, worshipers, and homeless sick people lying about.
 Mr. Paudell, who was Hindu rather than Buddhist, stayed with us through this part of the trip, but left us as we went to some shops and a restaurant for lunch. I was doing okay with the food in Nepal so far, but I already knew that I could not stand butter tea. This seemed to be the thing to drink as every meal. I was excited because beer prices were affordable and having a beer with lunch wasn't anymore expensive than having a coke. We were in Durbar Marg which was the old palace for the king. It was now kind of a tourist spot where we could wander around and look at the buildings and statues. At this time in my life, I found it tough to get into the history of these cultures, but I did find it intriguing just because of how other worldly it was.
 We did explore the shopping experience. Alanna did most of the negotiating. It was tricky. You had to be almost rude to people or else they would rip you off big time. We bought some pillow cases for family and I got a t-shirt because I was running low. Then it was back to the Paudell's home to prepare for the upcoming trip. I could feel the nerves building in me. I was going by myself to trek to Everest Base Camp. Crazy!

River Rafting in Nepal

We left Chitwan in the morning. My stomach sure felt better riding the bus then when we came to Chitwan. This was a bit of a bigger bus, but nonetheless excessively crazy. We sped through the winding roads dodging other buses as we honked the horn on blind corners listening to the Hindi music blasting on the radio. It was a holy day for the Hindus, so people came by and marked our foreheads with a red dot between our eyes. People seemed to be amused with this large white guy (me) with the red paint on his head. They were even more amused with me when the bus hit a big bump and I went sprawling on the seats in the back. We were driving back to Kathmandu, but we had a stop along the way. Along a river whose name escapes me after the years have passed we stopped in the late morning to do some river rafting. I felt good enough before the raft trip to buy some coconut cookies, so I was happy that I was getting my appetite back. We quickly got a brief orientation, through our cameras in a dry bag, and were given lifejackets and helmets. We were going river rafting!
 I was so excited. I had only been river rafting once and that was in the Grand Canyon. We got in the boat and had to do some paddling. There were about a dozen people going on the trip and Alanna, Uncle Jim, and I were the only Americans. There were some people from Great Britain, Australia, Germany, but no other Americans. The river quickly got interesting with big rapids that rocked the boat. We ran quite a few rapids before stopping for lunch. Uncle Jim asked lots of questions and everyone was very friendly as we sat around and talked about our travels. Many people were on long trips and we were definitely not the norm to only be traveling for a few weeks. After lunch they let us get out of the boat and float the river for some time. I was digging it as the water was a comfortable temperature with warm sun beating down on us. I was the last one to get in the boat again and barely made it back before the next big rapid. I could not believe that this river trip only cost us $25 each as it was incredibly fun. We turned in all our gear and then were back on the next bus that came by watching the terraced fields decrease slowly until we pulled into the crazy city of Kathmandu and back to Mr. Paudell's house for some rest and a day to chill out before the big, exciting part of the trip where I would get to spend two weeks in the Khumbu.  

Chitwan

I awoke early after my night of barely any sleep because of food poisoning. We had to walk through the streets of Pokhara. Luckily, I found a bathroom on the way because it could have been bad. Uncle Jim hooked me up with some immodium and that seemed to do the trick after that. It was a good thing because I was going to be on a bus all day long on our way to Chitwan National Park on the southern border near India. It was a fight to ride those buses. I did not fit, my head was on ceiling and my knees were slammed in the back of whoever was in front of me. I did not look good or feel good. There was one point where I looked around and every other person on the bus had someone sitting with them except me. I did not take it personally because the way I looked and felt, I would not have sat with me either. I just rested my head on the window and tried to "enjoy" the ride. We got to our destination late morning/early afternoon. I got a little angry when I got off the bus that it was such an effort to just ride and all the taxicab drivers were harassing me. I just yelled “Leave me alone” at a few of them. Everyone wants something from you because you have white skin in Nepal. That was the one thing that drove me crazy was constantly being asked stuff like (Do you smoke?). We still had Norbu with us, so he arranged our ride to our resort. It really was a resort, but really the price was ridiculously cheap. We had a whole cabin to ourselves and were served lunch when we got there. I refused to eat because my stomach was not ready for it. After lunch, we went for a village tour. It was so amazing. This was definitely one of the poorest sections of Nepal. This was a true village with stacks of lentils outside huts. These people were so poor, but still had a smile for us as we walked by. Cousin Alanna met us and it was great to see her. She was completely compassionate to all of these people while I was just experiencing it for the first time. We saw some of the most beautiful little girls that Alanna bought some cookies for mere pennies to give them as a treat. Amazing that so little money could be so hard to obtain for so many people out there. Then we went to the Elephant Breeding Ground which was actually sort of depressing. There were a bunch of elephants chained to posts. I mean it is interesting to see elephants, but they were definitely treated worse than they would be in a zoo. A walk through the village back to our resort seeing the more domestic animals like goats that many people had for the milk and butter they would provide. That night, I did eat a little bit of soup to get a little food into my system. I still did not feel hungry, though, but was enjoying our spot in the jungle.
Next morning we were up early to do a jungle trek. We went for a walking tour first where our guide told us the technique of scampering up a tree if we managed to run into a rhino. We didn't see one on the walk that took us to a canoe. We got in and rode through the river. I was amazed to see a crocodile on the shore of the river we were riding in. I knew I did not want to fall out of this canoe. Alanna wanted me to see the humanity of the place also as she pointed out the woman using the river to bathe. You really realize the privilege of being a westerner when seeing sights such as these. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for us, though, so we were sure to enjoy it. The canoe took us to a spot that we could get something to eat or drink. As we were sitting there, the people were bathing the elephants in the river below us. Alanna asked about it and found out that we could partake in it by riding an elephant into the water for a small fee. The goal was to try to stay on top of the elephant as it flipped over in the water. Another girl joined us later on in the process also. It is quite an experience to fall into the water and then have an enormous elephant fall into the water right by you. Luckily I was young and trusted the fact that this beast was not going to crush me. That was fun! After lunch, we did an elephant ride to look for more wildlife. This time we climbed in a wooden box where Uncle Jim, Alanna, Norbu, and I rode with an open wooden box between our legs to keep us from falling off. The elephant moved very slowly as the handler drove it along. We saw monkeys again and peacocks, but the most exciting thing we were able to see were rhinos. We found two rhinos very close up. They were awesome. They are so prehistoric looking like they came from the time of the dinosaurs. A sheet of armor and eyes that worked to let them just run into and over things as they walked. Lots of other life spotted as we spent three hours on the back of this elephant while it farted, ate leaves, and got whacked on the cranium by the driver. We finished our tour in time for a beautiful Nepali sunset and a small dinner. Then at night we saw the native Tharu village stick dance. It reminded me a lot of our Native American dances. It was definitely a great day doing something that I had no idea I would even experience in Nepal walking out of the plane in Kathmandu just a few days earlier.

Annapurna Region

I awoke early to take a taxi to a bus stop. Uncle Jim and I were going to take a bus to Pokhara where we would transfer to a taxi that would take us to the start of a trail at Phedi to a town called Dhampus. We met our guide for the trip Norbu Lama at the bus station. Mr. Pawdell and Norbu secured a bus and soon we were on our way out of Kathmandu. The drive through the city was long but soon we were out of the city and getting to see the green terraced fields for the first time. The roads were narrow and the vehicles large. There were no dividing lines, so vehicles honked as they went around blind corners. Still there were always close calls as it seemed that it would be easy to give high fives to people in the other buses. People got on and off the bus as we went along the road. Jim and I were just enjoying the ride. My cousin Alanna talked of riding on the roof of the bus. I was not even thinking about that as I enjoyed the view with huge hills and rivers below us. Stopping along the way, we were to get lunch. The only choise was Dal Bhat. I personally had enough, but I tried my best to scarf it down. Some coconut cookies hit the spot, too but I was quickly learning that no one travels to Nepal for the food. Back on the bus and by early afternoon, we arrived in the second largest city in Nepal. From there Norbu procured a taxi and eventually we were going up a long river valley to the start of a trail. We were dropped off there and we felt like we were definitely on our own. I was feeling a bit weird about the guide, but there was no way we would have found this place without him. Norbu was awesome too. A great smile and a wonderful laugh. He was getting on in years, probably in his mid-forties. He had been guiding for a long time, but wasted no time in asking my uncle to get him a job in the states. Jim did not put much thought to it, because I am sure he would be happier in Nepal even though he was not making much money. The trail went steeply uphill along a rocky path. Uncle Jim was making slow steady progress behind Norbu and I as we hiked ahead. It felt good to be putting my foot to the ground and breath some high altitude air. The forested path soon gave way to a high plateau. Here we found houses with terraced farms to tend. The path wound the way through these areas that were obviously only accessed by foot. It was a first for me to think of towns not connected by any kind of road. The people were so friendly and would look up from their daily tasks to give us a kind Namaste. We wandered through villages with kids playing soccer on barren fields without any sign of grass. We finally arrived at our teahouse that would be our bed for the night. It was very dark and rustic. I was excited for a meal. We put our stuff up in our rooms and went down to the main area to order a dinner. The menu was less than exciting as I ordered momos. I knew they were dumplings but not much more. They were awful. Filled with what looked like kelp, I choked them down and felt not fulfilled at all. One thing that Uncle Jim and I noticed was that Norbu was not allowed to eat with us. This made us feel a little bit odd. We were becoming companions, yet the caste system did not allow for him to eat until we were finished. We encouraged him to eat with us, but he ate after we were done. We spent a little time reading, but with not much else to do in the evening we quickly found our way to a deep sleep. When we awoke in the morning, Uncle Jim was not feeling well. It was probably the food as breakfast was just as unappetizing as dinner. I wandered outside afterward to see the peaks rising up for the first time. The most dramatic was Machapuchare. Its steep summit with a few clouds waking up to the morning light. Looking off to its left, there was the 8000m peak that the region was named for. This was Annapurna South which I still am not sure how it fit with the normal Annapurna. I looked forward to the day that was ahead of us. Jim was not feeling well unfortunately, so it was putting a cramp in our plans. When we got to the next little village, Jim said that was it and he decided to stay there for the day. Hanging around town was completely out of the question for me. I left Norbu and Jim to spend the day out hiking on my own. I was now able to just move. The path led me past villages and fields until I finally seemed to make it away from the lowlands and into something more mountainous. I could see across the valley to terraced fields. Along the way, I got food from people selling along the trail. I bought a candy bar from a sweet lady which that little bit must have helped their family. Also a woman sold me some mini bananas for about a quarter.They were good too. Everyone was so sweet as they were incredibly poor, yet so happy. There were beautiful little girls running around while their mother would look up and say namaste. I got to a town on the edge of a big valley. I stopped here at a teahouse with a beautiful view and had a very good lunch. I had very good soup and an extremely nice lady to wait upon me. I had the place to myself. I loved it because it was not the commercialism of the U.S. Just a warm meal and a nice host. I went back down the trail I came from. I ran into the same woman who sold me the candy bar. Her husband was there now and I talked with them with the limited English they had. They let me take their picture and I was on my way. I got back to have dinner with my uncle. He was feeling a bit better, but had a rough day. I felt bad for him not being able to appreciate the mountainous terrain. That evening, I enjoyed the views of the peaks. Norbu took my picture, a little slanted, with both peaks in the background. Meanwhile, Jim was off somewhere else being harassed by a Maoist. Jim was trying to get away while this guy filled him with doctrine. Luckily, he was not more than preached to as we had heard many stories of Americans being robbed. Americans were definitely targeted. I was nervous about it because I only brought a limited amount of funds. Sitting around the fire that night, we talked with other trekking groups. The leader was sort of a jerk, but he actually knew the owner of the Himalayan Restaurant in the U District in Seattle. He asked me if I knew A.C. Sherpa and I did because of my friend Larson. He said something about him owing him money or something, but I thought he was a bit of a cocky jerk anyway, so I didn’t pay much attention. We had another blissful night of sleep before another early morning. The food was better at this guesthouse, but we were to go down the hill today. Along the way, Jim was asked for money. He did give some kids some candy, but he knew that giving here would just mean more demands. We made it to our bus stop where we caught the bus to Pokhara. Norbu found us a place to stay there and then it was off to a simple lunch. I am not sure what I ate other than some suspicious tomatoes. I tried to stay away from a lot of foods because they could be unclean, but I was hungry. Then I wandered around the city on my own, while Jim went and had a beer. I went down to the big lake. There were so many Israelis here, it was ridiculous. I did not know what to do in the city again, but found Jim having a beer. I hung with him for a bit and then went back to the room. I never made it back out. I wasn’t feeling well, so I laid down. I was soon going back and forth to the bathroom with a disgusting mess coming out both ends. I had bad food poisoning and spent a rough night laying down and running to the bathroom. I did not get more than a short period of rest that night. I was hoping that I would come through the night feeling better because we had a long bus ride the next day. I was really hoping I could make it.

22nd Birthday Present: A Trip to Nepal

March 23rd – I started the day at my mom’s house in Eatonville. I had just finished college at the University of Washington turning in my last paper on the 21st. I earned my degree in Economics and I was off to do a little bit of traveling. My cousin Alanna was teaching in Nepal, so I figured that coming to visit her would be a fantastic idea. My uncle was going over also, so I figured that going with him would be a good idea. So my mom drove me to his place in Silverdale, where we picked him up and got on the ferry. We were on our way to Seattle for our first set of flights. I had not spent much time with my uncle Jim, but I always liked being around him. We got off the ferry and he paid for a taxi to the airport. I would have taken the bus, so this was definitely a luxury. Everything went smoothly in the airport. Soon we were on a plane to San Francisco. We got to San Francisco with plenty of time to spare. We got some dinner, checked in with international, and hung out at the gate.

March 24th - I noticed it was midnight, which meant it was now my birthday. Uncle Jim wished me a happy birthday and fifteen minutes later we were on our giant flight. This had been a new experience for me completely with the passport and going to another country, so the huge plane was another interesting sight. We had fantastic seats with no one in front of us. This made sleeping easy as it was quiet and dark, so soon I was out.

March 25th – When I awoke we had crossed the international date line, so my birthday was now extinct. Our first plane stop was Taiwan. I remember looking down at the houses below and realizing how dramatically different the perspective of flying over this place was from just seeing it on a map. We got more fuel there and just had a short stop. Then we were flying to Bangkok. We arrived in Bangkok in the early morning. We had to switch planes there. I remember seeing CNN and thinking how strange that was to be in Thailand and see that. We had a bit of layover, but were soon on a flight to Kathmandu. “I think I’m going to Kathmandu. That’s really really what I want to do. If I ever get out of here. I’m going to Kathmandu.” “Kathmandu, I’ll soon be seeing you and you’re strange bewildering ways.” The flight was different as the stewardess just passed a bottle of brandy around. Things seemed more relaxed and finally we plopped down in the heart of the city. At the airport, we went through security which I did not understand, just went with the flow. We looked out to the beautiful day and there was my cousin Alanna to pick us up. She argued her way into as cheap a ride as possible in her best Nepali. I was glad she was handling the negotiations. She took us to the house of Mr. Pawdell who was one of the richest men in Nepal. He and his family had housed my cousin for a couple months and now he was letting us stay with him.  They had an incredible home, especially for Kathmandu. We had our own entire floor with two bathrooms, which made them a very wealthy family. They fed us dal bhat (rice and lentils) and shoved it on our plates until we could not hold any more. We had to eat with our right hand as utensils are not part of the culture and apparently toilet paper is not either which is why it is the right hand instead of the left. I’ll leave that one to you to figure out. That night all we did was go downtown to Kathmandu so we could use one of the internet cafes. Everything was overwhelming and exciting, but the plane flight was catching up to us, so bed seemed like a good option rather early.

March 26th – We awoke and had breakfast with a General in the Nepali Armed Forces. Okay. He paid basically no attention to me, but Uncle Jim got the run down. See the U.S. had just started one of those war things with Iraq, so they were a little curious about our opinion and honestly whether we thought the U.S. had any interest in Nepal. Well, Jim gave a rather straightforward opinion of I don’t like this war, but I was not quite sure yet. After that, we got our plans set for our mini-trek through the Annapurna region starting the next day which I was stoked for. Then we spent the day going around Kathmandu. Alanna brought along her friend Neelima who taught English with her at the school she was teaching at. We checked out Alanna’s school, then went downtown. There were so many interesting buildings, people, and culture to check out. We did a bit of shopping at the businesses as even though these were my first days in Nepal, it was winding down to be Alanna’s last. They were going back to Washington when I flew out to the Khumbu to go trekking. The city was such a combination of old world, new world, and sprawl. We wandered around and came upon temples in squares that were open to the public without any real purpose to them as far as we could see. We checked them out and also walked around the city where we were harassed constantly by people just because we definitely looked a bit different. We had lunch where I promptly ordered fried rice because I knew that I could get by eating that. I also had a gigantic beer which is served in huge bottles, so having one bottle of beer is like two and a half in the U.S. After lunch, we decided to go to Swyambunath, better known as the Monkey Temple. The weather was not very good as it was slightly drizzling and when we got there, we had a set of very steep stairs to climb. I was excited to do some climbing near mountains, but these stairs could be a good warmup. When we got to the top of the stairs there were tons of monkeys just chilling at the temple. Alanna told me not to look them in the eyes because they had been known to attack people, so I refrained. We wandered around the holy Buddhist site. Kathmandu was a mixture of Buddhism and Hinduism as both religions saw it as a holy city. The Nepali girl who came with us, Neelima, was Hindu and Alanna talked about how her religion had thousands of Gods. It was hard to fathom, not being exposed to it much. We also got ourselves a little follower who wanted to be our tour guide. Really he was just looking for a handout. Jim was nice to him but the rest of us ignored him as we checked out all the statues and buildings. The rain started to come down a little bit harder and eventually we had to retreat to the Pawdell’s for some more dal bhat. After dinner, we decided to take the evening out on the town. Uncle Jim was tired from the time change, so Alanna, Neelima, and I went to a Nepali Beatles cover band at the Holiday Inn where we were able to chat and have some beers. Actually we only had one beer, but that was enough to get Neelima rather blitzed where Alanna I had to sort of babysit her the rest of the night. Mostly, though, it was fun to sit back and enjoy being in a new and different culture, something that I had not experienced enough of in my lifetime.