Trekking – Part 2

Photos: Mine and Marits 🙂

Soundtracks: O.C.M.S – Wagon Wheel & George Ezra – Budapest 🙂

Trekking, Day 5: After some days with downhill it was now time to prepare for uphill and going towards the highlight of the trek: Annapurna Base Camp 🙂 After Chomrong at 2100 masl our next goal was Himalay Hotel at 2820 masl. The day started out so good, the sun was shining and it wasn`t too hard trekking it was just perfect! It is so extremely beautiful walking  in the mountains of Nepal; the views of the mountains on the clear days, going through villages, moving into the forest, crossing the horrifying suspension bridges, listening to Ram and Khisna sing along the trail, it couldn`t have been better 🙂
After lunch I got really sick. Might have overeaten on dal bhat. In anyway, I was extremely nauseous and dizzy, it wasn`t exactly pleasant going up. Every step felt like the end of the world and it took me much longer to reach the top than it normally would have. But I started to feel better eventually, drank a lot of water with electrolytes and slowly got back to normal. The accommodation was a bit more basic going further up, so Marit and me shared a room with Lucia and Kathrine for the night. Actually warmer to sleep more people together and we loved our new room mates 🙂

Trekking, Day 6: Summit day. Base camp summit that is. A very early start to the day, and I was completely fine again and super ready to head up! We started as early as we did due to the small (yes mum, small) chance of avalanches along the trail. Which didn`t happen 🙂 First part of the trek was in the shadow down in the valley, and when we reached the sun and the river of the valley I was struck by the spectacular view surrounding me. My word, how beauty can be paralyzing. It was really tough going up, and the closer we got to the lunch stop the more exhausted I got. We were so lucky with the weather on summit day, clear blue skies and a glowing sun all the way. The gods in the mountains were pleased 🙂 The last 400 m to the top was the hardest. For every two steps I took I was completely out of breath, weirdest thing! Just stopping to drink water was exhausting. But, we all made it to the top safely! 😀 Summiting Base Camp at 4130 masl!
Madhu took us over to the glacier below Annapurna 1, but we couldn`t see much due to the clouds. But those mountains. Have no words, it is just majestic.  For the rest of our time on the top we hung out in the dining hall, eating, reading and relaxing.

Trekking, Day 7: Going down from ABC. Hadn`t really slept much, and I wasn`t feeling too good in the high altitude, so I was glad to go down.  We went back the same trail at the day before, first part of the trek was beautiful! It`s a whole different thing going down, you see things in a different perspective and it`s  sooooo much easier 😉 Someone along the trek must have pissed off the mountain gods, cuz by lunch it was pouring down. Which means further up it would have been a whole lot of snow. But our group was filled with good karma, so the worst of it lifted when we were starting again after lunch. Our goal for the day was our lunch place a few days before, Bamboo at 2300 masl. Long way going down from 4130! I was extremely tired, my body was so angry at me for the treatment the last week, but with the promise of the hot springs the next day I had a good night sleep.

Trekking, Day 8: Going down, down and down, and then up, up and up. And down again.  Hard on the body, but the most awesome day at the end 🙂 We went a long the same trail going up from Chomrong, an endless amount of stairs. No. More. Stairs! Reaching Jhinu just before lunch, this was our one and only stop for the day, hurray! It was also Richards’s birthday, and Madhu had promised us a party. But first off, a dip in the nice and much needed hot spring! Sooo good and warm! Until it turned into a soup of humans and our skin almost fell off, time to climb back up. And also, the first shower since day 4 🙂  Madhu is a man of his words,what a party we had that night! The birthday kid first got a tasty birthday cake, singing and some good luck powder too, and Candy also as is appropriate for the wife. Then we of course had some Nepali singing and dancing, led by our amazing team ❤ And like in school, everybody want to hang out with the cool kids, and soon there were so many people joying us in dancing, singing and having fun, just such an amazing evening! 😀 Now, party while trekking doesn`t mean an all nighter, so by 10.30 pm I was more than done and headed to bed extremely happy 🙂

Trekking, Day 9: Last full day in the mountain, nooo!! Didn`t want it to end! 😦 After some gradual up and downhill, it`s always gradual no matter how steep, we finally go to some real flat ground. And there were cars, felt like it was the first time ever seeing a car! Being in the wild does something to you. Well, flat ground is just as painful as going up and down, and what an amazing feeling it was to reach Pothana that day, have mercy on my feet! A cold Everest (or was it three?) was in order, and we could celebrate making it all the way! Yes, we still had some hours left the following day, but this was the last day with our entire team. So we all had a big dinner together, and changed the roles around. Candy, Dario and me we the designated waiters for the evening, confirming that I would be a horrible waiter. But everybody got their dal bhat and beers in the end, what could be better? 🙂 Then we had an awesome camp fire and sang songs (so sorry for Marit`s and my performance of Idyll), and danced until we couldn`t go on. And we also had a round of apperception for our amazing porters and for Ram. These guys have helped us make it through the trek and been so kind and loving the whole way. Just the PERFECT ending to the most incredible adventure I have had so far.

Trekking, Day 10: Going all the way down to civilization. No 😐 Make it stop! Even though I could barely walk anymore and desperately needed to get my hands on some clean clothes, I didn`t want it to end. I`m such a sippy softy, and when we all of the sudden had to say good bye to our guys, both Marit and me were sobbing in back of the bus back to our hotel in Pokhara.

Driving back to Kathmandu: The following morning we headed back to Kathmandu, an 8 hour drive in in deep thought of the amazing adventure. In the evening Madhu had booked a restaurant for us, a beautiful place in an old home turned restaurant. Excellent food and with traditional dancing, last one being our theme song for the trek; Resam Firiri 🙂 And of course it was way over due to give our hero in the mountains, Madhu, the gratitude from us he deserved. Our fearless leader who had brought us save through the trek, this funny, kind and amazing man who I`ll miss so much! Can`t wait to go on another trek with you, Madhu! 🙂 And the rest of the team of course 😉

Other things I will miss: Masala tea, ginger lemon honey tea, dal bhat, Madhu telling us to “please” start moving (“please means NOW),  singing Resam Firiri along the trek (all we know is resam firiri, resam firiri, I am a moneky you are a doneky, resam firiri), saying “Namaste” when greeting new people,  the Nepali flat, Madhu asking how our meal was, donkeys in the trails, eating as much chocolate as I want cuz I need it and will spend the next day walking for 7 hours, listening to Ram and Khisna sing, walking behind Ram and Khisna, listening to Khisna yell “NAMASTE!” to everybody on the trail, Madhu asking us to please order breakfast/lunch/dinner, Ram asking who ordered what, Corrie with her fabulous South African accent asking: RRRRaaaaam, could I have…? (and then whatever she needed at the time), Marit keeping a good mood even though I want to give up, listening to the Rummy players, getting warm by a fireplace, Harry laughing, dancing and singing in Nepali even though I don`t know how to, serious talks along the trail, not so serious talks along the trail, the stunning views in the mountains, dogs following us along the trail, all the wonderful people in our group and team and finally, that everything still is possible 🙂

Trekking in Nepal, part 1

Photos: Mine and Marits 🙂 They are same same, but different 🙂

Soundtrack: Resam Firiri 🙂

After spending three weeks with my best friend, I wasn`t looking forward to leave her and go to Nepal at all. The fact that I had just about done nothing more than lay on the beach for the past 7 weeks and now was getting ready for a 10 day trek hit me hard. Luckily for me it turned out to be the best experience so far (excluding Zim, cus that`s just in a whole other category) on this trip! 🙂 I`ll try to keep it short:

Kathmandu, Day 1: Horrendous city. It`s dirty, noisy, overpopulated and extremely poor. It is by far the poorest city I have ever visited, the infrastructure is so bad and the roads are horrible, and it`s so polluted that I was mildly shocked. But, meeting Marit here made up for all of it, SO good to see her ❤ The first day we had a short information meeting, and then we headed out to Thamel for a group dinner. I`d booked this trip via Kilroy and it was organized by Gadventures. So there we were, 15 people from all over the world ready for the trek of a lifetime! 🙂

Kathmandu, Day 2: Sightseeing the city. Our guide for the trek, Madhu (the most fantastic guide on earth) picked us up at the hotel in the morning and took us first to the Boudhanath Stupa, the third largest stupa in the world. Amazing place, and my first “I`m really in Nepal” chill. We then headed to Patan Durbar Square, and walked around here in the rain for some time. Beautiful architecture! Next off, we visited the Sisterhood of Survivors Project. This is an organization which Gadventures sponsors, helping victims of human trafficking back to normal life. Trafficking girls to India is a huge problem in Nepal, more than 12 000 women is sold every year. This organization helps them back on their feet with an education and a safe place to live. Really touching to meet the girls ❤
Last stop of the day was the Swayambhunath Temple, aka Monkey Temple. Cheecky monkeys all over! This temple has an amazing view of the Kathmandu Valley, which we didn’t get to see due to the rain 🙂 Oh well, it was still a good experience.

Day 3, Kathmandu to Pokhara: Driving 7 or so hours from Kathmandu to Pokhara is one bumpy ride but you also get to see a lot of Nepal, and I actually enjoyed it. Until it got really hot and I had on jeans and a thick shirt and almost died from overheating. Pokhara is completely different from Kathmandu, fare more chilled and relaxing atmosphere. She says, after visiting one street. But anyways, Marit and me went around to but the last gear for the trek and then we had a group dinner again later that night. For the trek we could only bring 7 ½ kg each, sharing a bag and having a bull strong porter carry it for us during the 10 days. After one last shower before heading into the wild, I fell asleep like a baby!

Trekking, Day 1: First a two hour drive from Pokhara to Nayapool. We were promised an easy start, and indeed it was. Three hours of trekking and we were at out teahouse for the night in Tirkhedhunga. We had just met all of our porters and assistant, and like Madhu said; For the next ten days we would be one big happy family 🙂
Where we spent our nights in the mountains: Teahouses. They are basic accommodations along the trek, but I was surprised by the good standard we had on most of them. The menu they provide is pretty much the same for the whole trek and was varied and good enough. All you really need is some masala tea, ginger lemon honey tea and dal bhat and you`ll be fine 🙂 Maybe some garlic soup for those days in the highest altitudes. Our room had two single beds, and there were for the most part shared bathrooms. Toilets: Squat. After trekking for some days it`s actually better with a squat than a western toilet, cuz you never want skin to porcelain contact. And holding a Michael Jackson pose over the western toilet is harder than a squat. Nice details for yah 🙂
We didn`t do much the first day, I think we all were still kind a nervous about what was ahead, especially since day two was allegedly one of the hardest.

Trekking, Day 2: Hello birthday girl! 😀 My 29^th birthday was to be celebrated in the most unusual way and with no mercy.  It was up early, and starting the 6000 stairs-day. Holy shits. HOLY SHITS. This mush have been the hardest physical challenge EVER. About 300 steps in I regretted not keeping up with my workout for the past weeks. Dayum.  You just walk and walk and walk, and when you think you see the top? Nah, another peek just hiding behind. In total, we walked about 1300 m straight up that day, moving up to 2873 masl. The highest up I had ever been. I cannot even begin to explain how if felt reaching Ghorepani that day, which was the target. The smartest thing was just to sit down by the fire and have a beer, Everest of course. Being the birthday girl, Marit and me lucked out and got a room with a bath room ❤ I was looking forward to a nice warm shower, but got a horrible cold one I stead. Oh well. After dinner I got a birthday pie from Madhu, and they all sang to me and I got a beautiful pashmina and some good luck powder on my forehead 🙂 Marit had written me an awesome poem, and at night it was time for a party, Nepali style!  Dancing, singing and love declarations, what an amazing way to celebrate another year older 🙂

Trekking, Day 3: Bright and early up a 04.45 am, going up to Poon Hill to see the sunrise. This was almost harder than the trek before. We were at 2873 and Poon Hill at 3200 masl, it was pretty hard walking up that early and with no food in the system. At the top, we could share the majestic view with some 1000000 other people. Obviously a very popular place Poon Hill. It was stunning though, a clear view to the mountains with beautiful light surrounding them. The Chinese lady next to me thought so too, as she was yelling in awe of the view. Thanks for ruining my moment lady. After getting down and some breakfast  we were ready for the next trek. We were now introduced to the Nepali flat, a little bit up, a little bit down. Mostly gradual.  Our target for the day was Tadapani, at 2500 masl it meant a whole lot of down. So after the whole previous day going up, I was crushed about going down again. But it was nothing more to do than to suck it up and start walking again. After a little bit down and up and a whole lot of rain, we made it to Tadapani. There was a nice fire place and we enjoyed an evening with the warmth, good food and company.

Trekking, Day 4: Getting ready for even more downhill. My calves were completely shot from the day before, and each time we stopped and started to move again I felt like crying. Our days went on pretty much the same: Get up early, eat breakfast and head out. Depending on how long the trek, stop for a tea break after some hours, keep on walking and have lunch at around 12-13. After some delicious dal bhat, trek for 3-4 hours to final destination, depending on the weather and speed. Arriving at location for the night, get a tea, change in to new warm clothes, pray they have a hot shower and that you have the physical strengt to actually take one and wait for dinner. After dinner, wait to the clock to be appropriate night time at 19.30 pm ish, then go to sleep. Our goal for the day was Chomrong, aka stair case city. I had a nice warm shower and then we all just sat in the dining hall, watching some TV, playing a heated round of Rummy, trying not to lose fingers and toes, updating journals and having fun with the porters.

I`ll split the post in two or three, so you don’t get too tired from reading. Stay tuned! 🙂