So here we are three weeks in Nepal and i finally have both the time and energy now to write my first entry of this years blog. Quite a lot to cover as it has been pretty eventful with some good accomplishments thrown in.
Three weeks ago after finishing work on the Friday I flew out to Nepal via a very pleasant upgrade to first class for one leg and also the crushing reality of 8 hours on the floor of Delhi airport trying to sleep in freezing air con. This was nicely followed by 2 hours in the visa queue at Kathmandu airport and then the very in your face city itself. I had planned to come to Nepal first as a nice ease in for India in a months time but the city was not at all what i expected or had prepared for. Its just hot and dirty with the tourist part Thamel a hot mess of camping shops and other tourist crap. I don't think i have met anyone that likes Thamel yet. Anyway it served to make up my mind to get the hell on with the trekking and on the 5th i took the 10 hour bus to Jiri which is at the start of the Everest base camp trek. You can either walk the six days to the start of the trek proper or fly into the worlds most dangerous airport Lukla. The fact the weather had grounded all flights kind of helped the decision so instead I took what must have been close to the worlds most dangerous bus ride instead. The bus was mental ive seen some stuff is SE Asia but this took the biscuit as soon as you leave Kathmandu its tiny little mountain roads with massive drops on either side, blind overtaking, loads of backing up with someone making sure all four wheels stay on the ground plus the fact it was so overcrowded with people on the roof as well. All you can do is laugh really, I forgot to get at the front so was at the back bouncing around smelling the stench of everyone being sick in front. Happy memories.
Anyway made it to Jiri where I promptly hooked up with two other English trekkers doing the walk on their own without guides and porters and the like. Being poor/tight as many people seem to think I was also carrying all my own stuff. From there we set out on six eight hour walking days going up one sheer valley and down the next. Honestly the comradery of everyone was pretty much what kept us going as the scenery was ok but kind of lacked any spectacular views but the walk was hard core. After two days our group had swelled to 6 with another English pair Ian and Pippa as well as Jar this chinese guy who spoke no english and was my room buddy for a few nights. We soon realised how cold it was going to be as well as at night even at a few thousand meters it gets cold quick.
Seven days in we got to the start of the serious stuff climbing up from Namche Bazaar the Sherpa capital at 3400m, over the course of five days high altitude trekking we made it to Everest Base camp and the viewing point at Kala Pathar. At this point everyone struggles, as walking whilst carrying 14kg at 5000m is tough. We still managed to blitz all of the organised groups who carry nothing and have an endless stream of porters and yaks carrying all the 'essentials to the top.' By this point I had realised I had packed too much stuff and had done a serious rethink leaving alot of things behind including deoderant, washing powder, and a change of clothes. Above Namche for eight days no-one had a shower as it was too expensive, changed clothes because we had nothing but thermals in the bag or ate anything but rice and lentils. It was not pleasant and I pitty the poor sod who gets my washing but everyone's in the same boat. I lucked out walking with Ian and Pippa as well as another Andrew who were all a good laugh, keeping ourselves entertained with endless card games and banter before bed time at 6.30pm. Your body clock just changes so much when your walking getting up at 5.30am at first light for breakfast and to be first on the trail then going to bed as soon as it gets dark. The lodges were properly cold as its just a stone building divided up with some ply wood so its great just to get into your sleeping bag and warm up.
From Namche the path lead us through Tengboche, Dingboche, Lobuche and finally to Gorek Shep, now forever known as the place where people go to die. Gorek Shep is at 5200m and is the base for the walk to base camp and Kala Pathar (from where you see everest). Most of the towns are pretty grim just bleak settlements on the high mountain plains but the Shep is so bad. It was the one night we didn't get a room as well and had to sleep on just a plank of wood in a corridor with everyone huddled together. It was a comedy of errors from the start, we all felt pretty bad and most of us had colds by this point as well as coughs and god knows what else. Then part way through the night the owner robs all our blankets leaving us so cold, and just listening to people hawk their guts up with a kind of surround sound effect. At dinner lots of people looked ill and for whatever reason hadnt gone back down to get rid of the altitude sickness. Three people died when we were up there and some of the people shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a trek in their lives, vetting process required I think. On the way down we were playing the will they/wont they make it game and wondering if they new what they were letting themselves in for.
All in all we had a great time i finally got the monkey off my back and made it to base camp after last times saga in Tibet and the views and weather were incredible. We have some great photos which I will put up next opportunity i get. So thats pretty much up to date, apart from the fun and games at Lukla airport. Seriously ive never seen anything like it we spent all day trying to find out what the hell was going on and just get any flight as we kept being bumped by tour groups. Fortunately our hotel owner came through and pulled a few strings with his mate on the airline and we did some bumping of our own and managed to get down in time for our celebratory Pizza night with so much beer. After three weeks of tea and rice it was immense.
Anyways im off to the festival now, get myself some face paint and see what goes down. Then on to Pokhara for some more trekking then an elephant safari in Chitwan national park to hopefully see some rhinos and maybe a tiger if im lucky :)
Hope everyones great!!
Tucker
Three weeks ago after finishing work on the Friday I flew out to Nepal via a very pleasant upgrade to first class for one leg and also the crushing reality of 8 hours on the floor of Delhi airport trying to sleep in freezing air con. This was nicely followed by 2 hours in the visa queue at Kathmandu airport and then the very in your face city itself. I had planned to come to Nepal first as a nice ease in for India in a months time but the city was not at all what i expected or had prepared for. Its just hot and dirty with the tourist part Thamel a hot mess of camping shops and other tourist crap. I don't think i have met anyone that likes Thamel yet. Anyway it served to make up my mind to get the hell on with the trekking and on the 5th i took the 10 hour bus to Jiri which is at the start of the Everest base camp trek. You can either walk the six days to the start of the trek proper or fly into the worlds most dangerous airport Lukla. The fact the weather had grounded all flights kind of helped the decision so instead I took what must have been close to the worlds most dangerous bus ride instead. The bus was mental ive seen some stuff is SE Asia but this took the biscuit as soon as you leave Kathmandu its tiny little mountain roads with massive drops on either side, blind overtaking, loads of backing up with someone making sure all four wheels stay on the ground plus the fact it was so overcrowded with people on the roof as well. All you can do is laugh really, I forgot to get at the front so was at the back bouncing around smelling the stench of everyone being sick in front. Happy memories.
Anyway made it to Jiri where I promptly hooked up with two other English trekkers doing the walk on their own without guides and porters and the like. Being poor/tight as many people seem to think I was also carrying all my own stuff. From there we set out on six eight hour walking days going up one sheer valley and down the next. Honestly the comradery of everyone was pretty much what kept us going as the scenery was ok but kind of lacked any spectacular views but the walk was hard core. After two days our group had swelled to 6 with another English pair Ian and Pippa as well as Jar this chinese guy who spoke no english and was my room buddy for a few nights. We soon realised how cold it was going to be as well as at night even at a few thousand meters it gets cold quick.
Seven days in we got to the start of the serious stuff climbing up from Namche Bazaar the Sherpa capital at 3400m, over the course of five days high altitude trekking we made it to Everest Base camp and the viewing point at Kala Pathar. At this point everyone struggles, as walking whilst carrying 14kg at 5000m is tough. We still managed to blitz all of the organised groups who carry nothing and have an endless stream of porters and yaks carrying all the 'essentials to the top.' By this point I had realised I had packed too much stuff and had done a serious rethink leaving alot of things behind including deoderant, washing powder, and a change of clothes. Above Namche for eight days no-one had a shower as it was too expensive, changed clothes because we had nothing but thermals in the bag or ate anything but rice and lentils. It was not pleasant and I pitty the poor sod who gets my washing but everyone's in the same boat. I lucked out walking with Ian and Pippa as well as another Andrew who were all a good laugh, keeping ourselves entertained with endless card games and banter before bed time at 6.30pm. Your body clock just changes so much when your walking getting up at 5.30am at first light for breakfast and to be first on the trail then going to bed as soon as it gets dark. The lodges were properly cold as its just a stone building divided up with some ply wood so its great just to get into your sleeping bag and warm up.
From Namche the path lead us through Tengboche, Dingboche, Lobuche and finally to Gorek Shep, now forever known as the place where people go to die. Gorek Shep is at 5200m and is the base for the walk to base camp and Kala Pathar (from where you see everest). Most of the towns are pretty grim just bleak settlements on the high mountain plains but the Shep is so bad. It was the one night we didn't get a room as well and had to sleep on just a plank of wood in a corridor with everyone huddled together. It was a comedy of errors from the start, we all felt pretty bad and most of us had colds by this point as well as coughs and god knows what else. Then part way through the night the owner robs all our blankets leaving us so cold, and just listening to people hawk their guts up with a kind of surround sound effect. At dinner lots of people looked ill and for whatever reason hadnt gone back down to get rid of the altitude sickness. Three people died when we were up there and some of the people shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a trek in their lives, vetting process required I think. On the way down we were playing the will they/wont they make it game and wondering if they new what they were letting themselves in for.
All in all we had a great time i finally got the monkey off my back and made it to base camp after last times saga in Tibet and the views and weather were incredible. We have some great photos which I will put up next opportunity i get. So thats pretty much up to date, apart from the fun and games at Lukla airport. Seriously ive never seen anything like it we spent all day trying to find out what the hell was going on and just get any flight as we kept being bumped by tour groups. Fortunately our hotel owner came through and pulled a few strings with his mate on the airline and we did some bumping of our own and managed to get down in time for our celebratory Pizza night with so much beer. After three weeks of tea and rice it was immense.
Anyways im off to the festival now, get myself some face paint and see what goes down. Then on to Pokhara for some more trekking then an elephant safari in Chitwan national park to hopefully see some rhinos and maybe a tiger if im lucky :)
Hope everyones great!!
Tucker
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