Letters from Nepal

Kathmandu

Well here I am in Kathmandu! Unfortunately my view of the mountains was obscured by heavy cloud as we flew into Nepal yesterday, but I had stunning views of the Kathmandu valley. It's so much greener than I expected! And in between the sprawl of ugly concrete buildings, the lush pastures are dotted with beautiful chortens and stupas. It’s very attractive after the smog and seemingly endless cityscape of Bangkok.

Greg and Marika were delayed at Kathmandu airport for about three hours due to a bomb threat on board their aircraft. We were supposed to arrive within forty minutes of each other, but instead I waited at the baggage claim for a long time, not really sure what was going on. Meanwhile I was befriended by a very charming young Nepali man who sat and chatted to me for several hours until Greg and Marika were finally released from the room where they had been detained.

I am already overwhelmed by Nepali hospitality. In Thailand I felt like I was perceived mostly as an opportunity for making money, whereas here there is an incredible friendliness and genuine curiosity, and I feel respected as a fellow human being. The standard of spoken English is extremely high, although we had some difficulty after venturing away from Thamel, the main tourist area.


We haven't had much time to explore the city or surrounds as yet, having spent most of the day sorting out last minute things for out trek. In this part of the city the streets are lined with so much colour and activity. There is beautiful, brightly-coloured clothing in every second shop and gorgeous handmade papers and crafts. Marika and I bought lovely skirts to wear trekking, but plan to spend more time shopping after we get back from the mountains. Taxis, rickshaws, motorbikes and pedestrians all jostle for space on the narrow paved streets. And although the shopkeepers are keen to offer you a bargain, there's no serious hassling if you politely decline their offers for tiger balm and jewellery.

We've booked a 'super express' bus to Jiri tomorrow, however the 188km journey is still expected to take around six or seven hours! I think we're all feeling excited about stretching our legs and finding a bit more solitude and peace in the hills.


Namche

The bus ride to Jiri was horrendous – a ten hour ordeal with only a ten minute stop for lunch at a tiny roadside village where I almost got left behind! Other highlights included almost tipping the bus on its side while trying to manoeuvre round a truck on a precariously narrow mountain road, and stopping at numerous army checkpoints for inspections by officers wielding guns and serious expressions.

There was great competition for our custom on arrival in Jiri, with several lodge owners promising the ‘best hotel in town’. Eventually we chose one boasting the unexpected luxury of a hot shower. Our lodge was a lot fancier than I expected in other respects too – quiet, private rooms with clean-looking linen, a flush toilet (admittedly, not one that worked) and a restaurant serving everything from porridge and pancakes to pizza and chow mein!

We crossed several passes over the next few days, so the landscape was constantly changing. The land is tilled to capacity with rice paddies covering even the steepest slopes. In amongst the bright green terraces are small stone cottages adorned with marigolds and racks of drying cobs of corn. We have walked through some extremely poverty stricken areas, but the people are resilient and extremely friendly. Children greeted us along the trail with requests for pens and pencils, abbreviated to simply ‘Hello pen?’

There is so much water everywhere – raging torrents of rivers and tremendous waterfalls cascading down steep mountain sides. The monsoon lasted later than usual this year, so we had rain every day for the first week, and are very grateful now for the clear skies.

Walking is a great opportunity for inner reflection, and at the moment I am thoroughly enjoying my place in the world. We tend to spend so much time reliving the past and anticipating the future. But right now I more at peace with myself than I have been for a long while, and simply enjoying our day-to-day existence.


There have been lots of stupas and mani walls throughout the trek, but it felt like we truly entered a Buddhist region yesterday. There are prayer flags snapping in the wind, carved mani stones everywhere, beautiful chortens and the largest prayer wheels I have ever seen!

The nature of the trail changed dramatically after passing Lukla. Until then the trail was very quiet, with few other trekkers to be seen. Suddenly there are tourists everywhere, and we are not such a spectacle to the locals as we were a few days ago. Gorgeous villages have begun to merge into one long stretch of lodges and tea houses.

We arrived in Namche Bazaar this morning after a two hour plod up the hill from Monjo. We certainly fared a lot better than the trekkers fresh off the plane from Lukla. Our legs have been conditioned to big hills over the past ten days, having already climbed almost 9000 vertical metres – equivalent to the height of Everest!

Namche is quite an assault on the senses after the small villages and quiet surrounds we have experienced thus far. It’s like a mini-Kathmandu, with stalls lining the narrow streets devoted entirely to the tourist trade. The food is sensational, and on arrival we sat up at a cafe with milkshakes and apple strudel enjoying the passing theatre and listening to Jack Johnson. It's very strange to reconcile this with the fact that we're actually at 3440m and several days walk from the nearest road!


We will take it easy over the next couple of days before beginning our trek up to Gokyo. Greg and Marika were both quite sick a few days ago. We'd originally hoped to cross Cho La into the Khumbu valley, but won't have time for that any more - it was probably a bit too ambitious in the first place. So we'll just have to come back another time to explore more of this beautiful country!


Raining in Kathmandu

Well it's been a week of ups and downs, both literally and figuratively!

Highlights have been sipping tea at the Everest View Hotel with clear skies and our first spectacular mountain panorama; moonrise over Ama Dablam against an azure sky; reaching our high point of 4000m at Mong La; and our flight back from Lukla this morning.


Lowlights were two days spent in bed at Khumjung suffering from bad gastro.

We didn't make it as far up the Gokyo Valley as we had hoped. We've all had gastro problems, but didn't manage to coordinate them very well! As we left Namche Marika was unwell, but recovered quickly. Then Greg and I both got quite sick and spent two horrid days in bed. We struggled on the following day and I made a miraculous recovery overnight, but Greg was still feeling pretty miserable so we decided to abandon our trek.


Our last night in the mountains was spent at the Buddha lodge, one of only a handful of dwellings in the small village of Mong La. As with almost all the lodges we stayed in, it was the woman who managed everything and prepared our meals. Her two young children were as grubby as ever. At this time of year the men are mostly away from home working as guides or porters. Work is very seasonal, and all the towns between here and Gokyo close up over the winter, with the villagers returning to their homes in Khumjung and elsewhere. It would be a hard life in the high mountains.

From Mong La it was a three day walk back down the valley. We retraced our steps along the banks of the Dudh Kosi negotiating spectacular swing bridges, recalcitrant yaks and innumerable westerners, to eventually arrive at the bustling metropolis of Lukla.

Lukla is a strange town - a sprawling jumble of houses and businesses, with mangy dogs running round all over the place. It felt like we were in a war zone. There were army personnel everywhere in their blue-grey uniforms with semi-automatics slung over their shoulders. Barbed wire surrounded the airport and there were bunkers all around. The runway is sealed these days, but still on quite a spectacular incline. The terminal was utter chaos, with bags getting thrown all over the place and 'security checks' consisting of a manual frisk of the luggage and passengers.

We're now back in Kathmandu and feeling lucky that our flight wasn't cancelled this morning due to bad weather. It's been raining heavily ever since we arrived. There was light scattered cloud in the valleys, but we still had fabulous views from the plane. We traced our whole route back to Jiri, pointing out each of the small villages we stayed in along the way – how wonderful! It's such an amazingly mountainous country when viewed from the air.

And so ends my first taste of trekking in the Himalaya! We are now looking forward to a few days relaxing and recovering our good health before I meet up with Cheryl at the end of the month.


Rafting the Kali Gandaki

Today is our last day in Pokhara and I will be sad to leave this place. I'm sure it would have been quite different 20 years ago - it has become very much the tourist town - but it still has a lovely relaxed atmosphere, tropical feel, great cafes, and beautiful lake and mountain views. It's the sort of place where I can imagine coming for a brief visit and staying for months, if not years... like the French guy we met who has been here for 32 years!

We went whitewater rafting for Greg's birthday and loved it so much we went on another 2-day trip! It was fantastic! I thought I'd be too scared, but we all had the best time. The first day we rafted the upper Seti (grade 2/3 rapids) - just an afternoon trip really. Three of us fell out of the raft within about 30 seconds of getting on the water, but once we relaxed and worked out how to position ourselves it was a whole lot of fun. A bit like canyoning a really big river.

Our 2-day rafting trip on the Kali Gandaki has been the highlight of my holiday so far. After an early start from Pokhara and a long drive through the hills we were on the river shortly before 9am. The first rapids were probably the most exciting, with a couple of grade 4 sections. Our river guide, Calu, is only 23 years old but has already been working as a rafting guide for more than nine seasons. And our happy-go-lucky safety kayaker, Babu, is the most proficient kayaker I have ever met. So we all felt that we were in safe hands.


We paddled through some pretty wild country, but all along the river we passed small settlements and people going about their daily chores. Often we saw children on their way to school, who would run along the mountain paths, waving and calling out to us. Some of us spotted monkeys on the riverbank, we saw lots of eagles and vultures, and paddled under some impressive waterfalls.

Our small group met up with a larger bunch of rafters from the same company at our beach campsite. The Nepali crew were extremely efficient at setting up camp and cooked us an amazing dinner. In the evening we sat around the campfire sharing songs from our various homelands (Nepal, Sweden, France, Netherlands, Israel and Australia). There was lots of dancing, music and laughter under a starry sky. Absolute bliss! The roar of the river lulled us to sleep. It was a lovely group and as is always the case there followed a feeling of loss as we all went our separate ways yesterday evening. This was made up in part by a fun night out at the Busy Bee Cafe with the whole group sharing a meal and a few celebratory drinks.

Anway, enough chatter. I only wish I could stay here long enough to do some kayaking as well. I think I'm a bit of a waterbaby at heart and really loved being on the river. However the kayaking will have to wait, as I'm flying back to Kathmandu tomorrow and then on to further adventures!

Lots of love to all, Jo