In many ways, Nepal was the asterisk on our trip. It was the place that required long underwear and fleeces. It was the place that required intense physical activity. And it was the place with the most tourists. After coming from India, where we only saw a handful of Westerners the entire time we were there, we stepped out of our taxi from the airport and into Thamel. Thamel just so happens to be the epicenter of trekkerdom. Every shop is designed for the trekker- you can buy an assortment of North Face gear, granola bars and souvenirs then check your email all on the same block and then repeat on the next block and then the next. It was a bit surreal. There are many places you can go in Nepal that aren’t overrun with tourists, but if you want the touristy experience Thamel is your place.
We spent our first full day in Nepal going around to see various Hindu and Buddhist temples. It was interesting for us to learn that in Nepal the two religions are almost interchangeable. People of both faiths worship in the temples of the other and everyone gets along nicely. This is in part because the Buddha is thought to be one of the incarnations of the Hindu god Krishna. We also visited a great museum in Durbar Square where we finally learned why Hindu gods and goddesses have so many arms (answer: they are used to depict their various temperaments and characteristics) and many other questions we had about the two religions.
We went to bed early that night because we had a lot in store for us the next day- we were to fly to Pokhara set off on our trek to the Annapurna Base Camp.
Our trek didn’t start as early as we hoped because our flight was delayed because of too much air traffic. We happened to be in Nepal for the most major religious festival and apparently everyone was traveling. And apparently the airlines didn’t plan ahead or something. The Kathmandu domestic airport was an example in how not to manage an airport. The typical announcement started off with something that sounded like, “We regret the inconvenience of our passengers.” Yes, we were very inconvenient. Since there were no accurate signs about gates or departure times or clear speaker systems, we had to ask a lot of questions. But, we finally made it off the ground and for our efforts got our first glimpse of the snow capped Himalayas on the way.
We met our guide Ramchandra and our porter Valkrishna at the airport in Pokhara, stopped to pick up some sleeping bags and down jackets and then we were off with the driver to head to our starting point. We became very close with Ramchandra and Valkrishna over the nine day trek and it started with us being very squashed together in a little car. Once we got out we had lunch and learned the rules of the trek. The most important being don’t eat any meat, because way up far from any roads, it can take a long time for meats to get to their destination on the back of a donkey or a person and you can’t be sure of the quality. And then we were off. We kept a good pace and did what we do best- sweat. We trekked through villages and rice terraces for a few hours and then stopped for the night in our first teahouse. We stayed in teahouses throughout the trek- they are typically basic structures with shared bathrooms and showers and no heating. Some were definitely nicer than others. The biggest indicator of (non-)quality was how much of the neighbors’ room we could see from inside our own. At our first teahouse we were immediately befriended by a small boy who kept asking Mike if he liked chicken suley. We had no idea what this was, but fortunately a guide came by and told us he was talking about chicken poo. What a charming little boy!
The next day, confident in our trekking abilities, we set forth on our journey up the “three thousand two hundred steps” to Ulleri and then up even more steps to Ghorepani. Let’s just say it kicked our butts. The whole day of trekking took about 6 hours, and much of it was steep uphill climbing. Luckily, we stayed at a nice place where we could warm by the fire dry our clothes off, and eat apple cake.
The next day, we headed to Tadapani. The weather was foggy and gray, which gave everything an ethereal, Lord-of-the-Rings type of appearance. Since we arrived a bit late in Tadapani, we wound up with accommodations which were… memorable. First, we noticed that the windows in our room didn’t close and that even if they could have been closed, there was no opaque covering for the windows. Apparently the Nepalese believe in transparency! (The windows in the bathrooms didn’t have covers at all. Why were there windows in the bathrooms? Clearly to give you a nice view of the cabbage patch below while you were doing your business) Since we didn’t want to freeze and also didn’t want to change clothes in a room with a see-through curtain, we raised both issues with our guide. Ram was very helpful as always, and asked the management to fix the window and get a towel to serve as a curtain. It turns out that with enough banging it was technically possible to close the window. Problem solved!
But that wasn’t the last problem (or the most memorable). Later that evening, while on the way to brush teeth, Mike closed the door and, having forgotten something, moved to open it again. Only the door didn’t open. We asked for help from the proprietors again. This one wasn’t so easy though; the door was genuinely stuck. After a lot of budging, one of the guys came back with a big machete, and managed to wedge it under the door, opening it a small crack. A crowd gathered. Many ideas for what had happened were exchanged in Nepali. We figured it had something to do with the wooden bar (used to lock the door) which last we saw had been leaning against a wall. Eventually the door was cracked open enough that one of the proprietors was able to reach his hand underneath the door and see if he could identify or dislodge the problem. His hand came back holding… a set of women’s undergarments. (Explanation: Kristen had hung it up to dry on the back of the door). No, it didn’t have anything to do with the door being stuck, but in the midst of all the confusion it provided some additional entertainment and added to the sense of mystery.
Eventually, after over a half hour, we got the door open. The culprit proved to be that infernal wooden bar, which apparently had fallen on exactly the right spot of the door, from exactly the right spot on the wall, to be almost impossible to budge. We thanked the staff profusely, and went to bed. In the morning we enjoyed a spectacular panoramic mountain vista, ate breakfast and waved the owners goodbye, with a sense that they would not soon forget us.
The views and weather on this day were particularly beautiful and spirits were high.
The accommodations in Chomrong were great, especially compared to the night before. We were also treated to a very enthusiastic musical performance by what seemed to be a roving band of high school kids, as part of a local festival. Apple pancakes were served at breakfast the next day. Kristen’s knee had been bothering her on the descents, so Ram gave it a sports massage and wrapped it. Unfortunately, the knee didn’t hold up for the next day of trekking. Mike was also under the weather, fighting off a cold from a few days earlier. So, we stayed in Chomrong again that night, and decided to call off the (in retrospect ridiculously ambitious) itinerary, head back and take an easier pace.
The following days of light trekking and recuperation were much-needed.
We were taken to a natural hot spring, which was a great way to rest our weary bones. The sights on the way back were quite beautiful. We spent a night in Pokhara, where we saw the mountains set against a lake at dusk.
The next day we returned to Kathmandu. We departed for Thailand a bit beaten up but, all told, none the worse for wear, and looking forward to the next time we could experience the overwhelming natural beauty and physical challenge of the Nepalese Himalayas.
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