I’m sitting in
Kathmandu airport again as I begin my another leg of my jouney. It’s May 15
here and I won’t be arriving home until June 6, so I have many adventures to
go. I’m early for my flight so I’m enjoying a final cup of Nepal chiya so that
it lingers on my taste buds and I can compare it to India’s chai. Though I
don’t know how much chai I’ll be drinking, as it’s going to be uber HOT. Maybe there is such a think as cold milk tea? I’ll opt
for fresh mangos and lassis ;)
The last time I wrote
I was frustrated with the city and ready for a break. Upon reflecting I
realized that even though there are certain aspects I don’t like about Kathmandu
(there are certainly many things wrong at home and I remember loosing my temper
in Peru when things got exasperating) it has grown on me a bit, though I’m not
sure I’m ready to admit it out loud. My appreciation for Nepal has been renewed
and I’m sad I’m leaving. In the last few days I hung out with friends from the
hospital and friends I made hiking in the Himalayas. Nepal has one of the most
beautiful landscapes I’ve seen. The mountains are breathtaking. To date,
my longest hike had not surpassed 5 days, but here I am, status post a 2 week
hike and I’m still glowing. It was renewing, refreshing, revitalizing, etc. Via
the lonely planet thorntree forum (thanks for the suggestion Liz!) I found a
trekking buddy named Leza. She’s from London and initially unbeknownst to be,
she hadn't been hiking, but she managed to rock this 2 week walk that many
have trouble completing due to altitude.
I’ve now posted lots
of photos on facebook, and I have so many others that are equally beautiful so I won't add any to this entry. I’m
going to have trouble figuring out which ones to print. I wanted to take the
time now to write about my trekking so I can remember it later when I need a
time out and convince myself to return to Nepal and go hike in Annapurna.
Christina, an awesome
friend and fellow Fogarty, got me excited about Nepal more than 1 year ago. When
I mentioned I was coming here for a rotation, she said it was her favorite
country and put me in touch with the guide she used to hike base camp. After
meeting with Kamal, her guide friend, and settling on a price, I decided to go
for it. When would I have this opportunity again? I figured it was now or never. I was
actually going to do the hike alone for most of the time that I’d been planning
it.
Day 1: I worked for a
little over 5 weeks at the hospital and finished enrolling patients for my
study. On Saturday, April 28, Kamal (guide), Leza (new London friend and fellow
trekker), and I headed to Kathmandu airport for our flight to Lukla. I didn’t
look up too much information about the Lukla airport, as I’d been warned it’s
the most dangerous airport in the world. The planes flying into Lukla are
small, with maybe 14 passengers. As we were landing, the conversation I was
having with the Spaniard across the aisle came to a halt as my eyes focused on
the short landing strip. I didn’t even manage to take out my camera for photos.
After arriving, Kamal
hired Harri, a 20 year old Nepali who would be our porter for the trip. Harri
lives a 2 day walk away from Lukla. Over the course of the trip we learned his
dream was to improve his English and learn French so that he could become a
guide (there a tons of French trekkers in Nepal). Harri is tall, but lanky, so
I wasn’t sure how he’d do, but Kamal had worked with him before, and sure
enough, Harri was a rockstar. After a masala omelet at the Nest, a teahouse in
Lukla (2850m), we walked about 2-3 hours to Phakding (2640 m) in light showers
and settled there for the night where I enjoyed a potato and carrot curry for
dinner.
Day 2: We woke up and
headed to Namche. On this day, I got my first view of Everest! What I also
remember about this day is going up, up, and up. It seemed that at every
corner, and every time I thought it would stop, there was another switchback. I
took it well, only stopping for a short break at the Everest View Point and
then continuing up, where Namche came into view. We ended the day at 3450m and
had hot shower #1 in steel contraption outside our teahouse.
Day 3: Most people
stay in Namche for two days to acclimate, simply taking a hike up to view the
museum, but Kamal gave us the option of going to Khumjung, which was less than
2 hours away. Thus, we headed up to the museum, then had a cup of tea at the
Everest View Hotel (there’s a helipad that brings in rich tourists who stay at
this hotel to catch a glimpse of Everst), and then made it to Khumjung. On this
day I finally saw Yaks, which I got super excited about and ran out to take
photos…only later would I learn the truth about them ;) After viewing Amadablam
mountain and leaving our things in the teahouse, we headed for a Buddhist
monesterary where a Yedi head is stored…unfortunately, the person who kept the
keys was gone, and we never had a chance to go back and look. Khumjung is a
fairly well off village given that most of the town’s families were involved as
the first expedition sherpas. On this day we slept at 3790m.
Day 4: We headed to
Pangboche (4000m). Somehow we made it later in the day and Kamal hadn’t called
ahead, so when we arrived, there was a big group of Russian trekkers who were
making their way back to Lukla. In addition to going heavy on the spirits, they
booked out the hotel, leaving us with really the really cold, dirty rooms.
Pangboche also managed to kick up the degree of coldness. To help out, the
teahouse use Yak droppings to fuel the fires in the dining halls, and I can
tell you that I really appreciated it.
Day 5: We took a
short, 3 hour walk to Dingboche (4350m). It was a small climb and we had the
opportunity to take a warm bucket shower (with boiled water for 400R). Here we
met Shriya, an awesome Nepali lady who lives in Canada and was spending a few
days at Dingboche after coming down from Camp 4 to continue acclimating and
resting before attempting the summit. It was pretty inspiring to speak to her
about her experience! Experienced Hot shower #2, though I'm not sure I needed it, I'm glad I did it as it was a while before I got another one.
Day 6: We headed to
Lobuche over the course of 4-5 hours. The beginning was easy, and we stopped
for tea before the Tukla pass. At the pass we saw lots of engravings and
statues commemorating those who have attempted the summit or who have had
mishaps in the Everest Region. It gave us some perspective and made me evaluate
my own feelings about the hike. On this day I also remember feeling so cold as
we were going through the pass. I never want to know what frostbite feels like,
but I know it must be immense pain, as my fingers have never hurt that way.
Kamal let me trade gloves with him as he was doing ok. Upon arriving at Lobuche
(4940m), I was happy the dining room was warm—especially when 30 min after
arriving it started snowing and kept going all night. I gave into the card
madness and learned a few games that helped us pass the time. At one point, I’d
told Kamal that I wanted a picture with a Yak. So that afternoon, we saw a Nak
and her baby out there and Kamal said let’s go! At this point I didn’t know that
the Yaks/Naks can be dangerous, especially mother Naks. I approached the Nak
and yelled at Kamal to take a photo. Suddenly the Nak turns to me and threatens
me with her horns. I ran back to the teahouse without looking back while Kamal
attempted to take photos. As soon as the Nak realized what he was doing, she
went after him. Thankfully we both made it back in one piece, but after that I
was forever scared of Yaks.
Day 7: I woke up early
with a massive headache. I wasn’t sure if it was the altitude or my dehydration
(since I barely drank anything the day before) or a combination, but it made me
double think going to Gorak Shep. I’d been taking diamox, so I took and extra dose,
drank a ton of water, and took ibuprofen. As we started walking, I felt better,
so I decided it was ok. We walked through Khumbu Glacier and the surrounding
mountains, which were covered in white. It reminded me of Christmas. At this
point it was no longer snowing. In fact, the skies were clear and the view was
of powder white mountains. It was absolutely stunning and cured my headache.
Gorak Shep is at 5,170m, so when we got there, we had a brief lunch, left our
things, and walked about 2 hours to Base Camp (5,360m). I was still a little
worried about the headache given the extra 200m we had to go, but I felt ok,
and as Base Camp came into view, all other thoughts went away. I saw the
yellow, blue, and red tents come into view and started looking for the Canadian
flag, as Shriya said we should go have a cup of tea at her station. Kamal had
warned us about base camp being lots of tents, etc and kind of anti-climactic,
but I still think my journey wouldn’t have been complete without going there.
That’s where it all begins for the Expedition climbers, and I wanted to
experience that, even if I really didn’t get a view of Everest. It started
snowing again as we were there, and I got cold. Remembering the pain I felt
earlier, I power walked back to our teahouse. When I got there, I spent some
time looking at the roof which was covered in different flags and met Limor and
Guy, two Israelis who I immediately liked and started playing card games with.
We made plans to wake up at 3:30am the next morning to head up to Kala Patar
and see Everest. So in the middle of the night Leza and I woke up, got dressed,
and were ready to go when Kamal knocked on our door and informed us that the
storm was still going and there was no view to see on Kala Patar. I was somewhat relieved, as my headache
had come back and slept for a couple more hours.
Day 8: Kamal offered
us an extra day in Gorak Shep to try to go to Kala Patar the next day, but Leza
and I decided to head on, in hope of a view of Everest in Gokyo. We didn’t want
to risk another crappy weather day and miss out on things later, and in
retrospect, it was an awesome decision. So, after breakfast we headed to
Dzonglha (4850m). It was still snowing, so we headed down to Lobuche, had a
snack, and continued on to Dzonglha through the storm. The sky kept getting
worse. It was gray, cloudy, and crazy. There was no trail to be seen, and we
had no idea where we were walking. I was definitely thankful we had a guide
that day. That night when we arrived at our teahouse we were happy to see that
Limor, Guy, Nik, and Mads were there, as we continued our card games and met
two awesome Russians who we added to our group, Sergey and Ilia. We definitely
needed as many people in that guesthouse as possible to contribute some body
heat…
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