Kathmandu Part Deux

We're back in Kathmandu, and though it was difficult to leave the countryside, it's nice to have the comforts of home and to be in one place for an extended amount of time.  Once again, we are staying at the Hotel Courtyard and it's just so comfortable here.  We've been borrowing DVDs and spending long lazy days recuperating.  Seth's knee is hurting a bunch so we're trying not to walk too much.  Luckily we don't have to do too much walking because Thamel is so convenient.  We've been buying souvenirs and frequenting our favorite restaurants, like New Orleans, Fire and Ice, and Green Organic Cafe.  Like I said, we've been enjoying having a 'home' for the past week.

One evening we had dinner at the hotel.  We noticed that the group of people we were hanging out with seemed to be pretty close.  Eventually it came out that these people were expedition groups that had just gotten back from Manaslu (the mountain that seems to be the precursor to climbing Everest).  But, they happened to be on the mountain at the base came when the recent avalanche hit at 4am one morning.  That happened just before we left on our trek.  Some of them had continued on, but for some the tragedy had been too much and they decided to come back to Kathmandu.  Either way they all had some pretty intensely horrifying stories.  Two guys told of how they were catapulted 30 feet and when the movement stopped the top of their tent had been ripped off and all they could see were the stars.  When they got up they found that they were mere feet from a huge crevasse.  Though these expeditioners made it out with scary stories to tell, many died and some are still missing.  What a difficult decision to make, to continue on or to head back.  So many factors at play.

One day we revisited Pema's clinic where I got a massage while Seth received acupuncture on his knee.  I thoroughly enjoyed my massage and wondered how Seth was enjoying his acupuncture.  I imagine that acupuncture, though being stuck with needles, is quite relaxing as well.  Otherwise, why would people do it? It's supposed to make you feel good.  So I got the run down from Seth afterwards.  Apparently it is not relaxing and doesn't feel good.  He says it feels just like sticking needles into you.  He said they stuck a bunch of needles into his knee, and every once in a while they would twist them and push them in a little farther.  Then they hooked electrodes to a few of the needles and zapped him.  He said that his knee felt better for about a half an hour after that, but then it was back to hurting like normal.  But staying off of it has helped it a bit this past week.  That and Tiger Balm and some pain relieving ayurvedic oil being massaged into his knee at least two times a day.

We're getting ready to fly to Japan tomorrow.  I'm going to be sad to leave Nepal.  It's a beautiful country with nice people.  And, because we've gotten to stay in one place it's turned into a home away from home.  This said, we are SO excited for Japan. And we are really happy that Joan and Steve are joining us.  That's going to be so much fun.  We're looking forward to bring in a very clean, polite, safe country.  This isn't to say that Nepal isn't polite or safe, or even clean.  But we're expecting a lot from Japan.  Anyhow, we're moving right along!

Solu Khombu Trek - Day 8 (Berkley)

I woke up feeling much better, but still quite weak.  I was really excited because, if all went according to plan, I would see seth in the late afternoon!  So, I head downstairs with my Kindle to have some breakfast.  I was absentminded and made a breakfast mistake.  Nepal doesn't really do dairy products.  And, I"m going to go out there on a limb and say that they don't eat yogurt.  So, when they try to serve it, it's just not right.  Their yogurt may even be dry from a packet.  It kinda fizzes like soda and almost melts any other food item it touches.  Anyhow, I was debating between muesli and yogurt  and porridge.  I figured that the muesli and yogurt would be lighter than the porridge, and my stomach still wasn't all the way better, so I went with that.  I should have gone with the porridge.  

As I was sitting outside at my little picnic table reading, listening to donkeys with their bells tinkle past on the mountain side, when people started coming in from the front street. About twenty Australians ascended upon me in my quiet solitude.  A nice woman named Ana sat down with me and chatted me up for the next hour.  It was nice.  Eventually they left, but soon thereafter another plane landed and another large group of people ascended upon me again.

I decided that I should try to go on a walk and check out a bit more of Phalpu.  I was still so weak that all I could muster was between five and ten minutes and I was exhausted.  Still not 100%.  At about ten o'clock I decided to head up to my room to make myself presentable for Seth when he arrived.  Though he was supposed to show up between 12 and 1pm, I got a knock at my door from Cook at about 10:30am.  Apparently Seth must have been running to get to Phalpu.  I trotted down the stairs to meet him.  It was so nice to see my sweaty, dirty husband.  Though I was happy to see him early and in one piece, I was dismayed to find that he'd slipped in yak poo and scraped his arm really good, and he was walking with a bit of a limp.  No good.  We scarfed down some noodle soup and caught up a little bit.

Pretty soon Purba came to tell us that we could get on the flight at noon to Kathmandu.  We ended up running onto the plane and were two of four passengers.  It was a bit scary getting on the plane.  I think I failed to mention in an earlier post, but during our trek there was a plane crash of a plane that followed the same flight path as ours.  So, we were nervous to fly.  But, we ended up receiving an unexpected treat on the flight.  Other than the little coconut caramel candies, we were able to catch an above the clouds view of Everest and the surrounding major peaks.  Pretty astounding.  

We picked up our extra bag from Hotel Manaslu and made our way to Hotel Courtyard, where we will be staying for the rest of our time in Kathmandu.  It's a really comfy, reasonably priced hotel.  It's clean, has great internet, comfortable rooms, decent breakfast, and each room has a DVD player for the giant DVD library downstairs.  We both took nice, long, hot showers that were much appreciated, before resting and eating. Aahhh, Kathmandu!

Solu Khombu Trek - Day 7 (Berkley)

I felt pretty crappy last night, but woke up feeling pretty good.  I managed to keep down a bowl of porridge and we set off towards Phalpu.  At first, I was feeling pretty good, but was super down on myself for not being with Seth.  I kept wondering if we had just stayed at Sengephuk for another night, would I have been able to continue on?  Because my issue was definitely not altitude.  I felt just as horrible when at a much lower altitude as I did at the high altitude.  But, I guess there's no real way of knowing.

Later on our trek I began to feel progressively worse and worse.  I became so weak, my stomach was doing backflips, and I could barely lift my feet over the small rocks.  I needed a full day of rest and I wasn't giving it to myself.  So, then I revisited my thought about how I might be trekking with Seth to Dund Kund right now if we had just stayed another night at Sengephuk, also, if we had stayed another day in Jumbese maybe the trek to Phalpu would have been easier.  I decided the pony idea was a bad one.  The trails are too perilous.  So many slippery rocks on trails that drop off the mountain.  Anyhow, after about four and a half to five hours we finally made it to Phalpu.  I feel like crap, but I'm drinking a lot of water.  I'm staying at the Hotel Everest and I get my own bathroom, not shower, but at least I don't have to walk down the hall in the middle of the night.  And if all goes according to plan, I'll see Seth tomorrow.  I hope all goes according to plan!

A few days with no Berkley

Since Berkley and I parted ways during the trek due to her getting sick, I'm going to fill you in on what my portion of the trek was like. On day 6 at around 13k feet Berkley and I made a decision that I should go on and she should turn around and head back to lower elevation. Turns out that might have been a good call even if she hadn't been sick, because the next few days were challenging physically. From 13k feet we hiked up and over a pass that topped out at 15k feet then back down to around 12500 feet. It took six hours and we hiked in the clouds and rain most of the day. Along the way we encountered one of many of the Yak herders that live at high elevation during the summer months, they invited us into their house and gave us some hot yak milk tea, corn wine and dried yak cheese. The hospitality people show along the trails is amazing, it speaks to how unforgiving the landscape can be and it's a culture that has evolved out of necessity.

The air was nippy and I ended up wearing every bit of warm clothing I had. During lunch the Sherpa made a small smoking fire and burned a couple of branches of an incense bush that is supposed to clear up the skies and bring the sunshine. Needless to say it worked pretty well, as we arrived at Sasura Beni the skies cleared and I got my first good view of Dudh Kund and the three peaks towering over it Numbur, Khatang, and Karyolung.

The night was even colder than hiking in the rain and clouds. Good thing my sherpa offered to heat some water bottles to slip in my sleeping bag or it would have been a long cold restless night.

The next day we made a mad dash at 6 am to Dudh Kund, it looked close but with the elevation it took me around two and half hours. The porters, not burdened by their Doku (wicker backpacks) flew up the trail and had already walked around the lake by the time I made it up. Keep in mind that I grew up at around 9000 feet in the mountains of Colorado, and my lungs are nothing to scoff at, but these Nepalese guys made me look like a little old lady shuffling about. The Hindus believe that these three mountains are literally the god Shiva and thousands make a pilgrimage every year to worship and cleanse themselves in the lake at the base of the mountains.

After 30 minuets of photos and a cup of hot tea we headed back to camp for lunch and to start the trek to Taksindu. We dropped from 15k feet to 9500 feet in four hours, serious downhill. Just like the day before we hiked in rain and clouds, obscuring the views of mount Everest. Due to all the downhill, my old snowboarding knee injury started acting up, causing every step to shoot a pain up my leg.

After a restless night, due to the huge volumes of smoke from the wood burning fire filling my room and burning my eyes, throat, and clogging my sinuses, we set off for Phaplu. This meant more rigorous downhill that caused further pain and discomfort to my knee. As a result of favoring my good leg, I slipped on a rock covered in yak doo and went down hard on my elbow. Luckily, squirreling away every free moist towelette had finally paid off. I was able to clean the scrape trail side and continue on. We made excellent time and what should have taken 4 to 5 hours took only 3. I made it back to Phaplu and back to a well rested, but still unshowered, Berkley.

Because I made such good time and we were desperate to sleep in a real bed and have a hot shower (10 days with out bathing made for a pretty stinky duo) we jumped on a flight back to Kathmandu, with views of Everest in the distance. We got to see Everest after all, woohoo!

Little Big Planet

I had a pretty major equipment failure on the trek, after shooting around 2000+ photos the memory card was corrupted during import. I was able to rescue around 700 of them but only in jpeg format. Big disappointment, there were some spectacular scenes up there but I was able so salvage a few good ones.

Solu Khombu Trek - Day 4

This morning we woke up at 5am to be able to sit in on morning meditation with the nuns.  It was such a wonderful, relaxing experience.  The hum of their prayers reverberating through the brightly frescoed walls depicting peaceful and wrathful gods.  The nuns line up sitting crossed legged and sometimes stop to drink tea, or have a snack.  There are intermittent pauses in the chorus, and then they will all start up again, almost all at once.  There were occasional breaks where there would be playing of instruments like horns, cymbals, and drums, then back to the humming of prayer.  It felt very human.  Though they are a group of nuns, and a few monks here and there, it was a serious business, but not too serious for being friendly or human.  When someone would walk up to take their place, smiles and sometimes a brief conversation would ensue. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500"] Morning meditation at Thuptenchholing monastery.[/caption]

We walked around and took in the sights.  And the sights are extraordinary.  The monastery is perched high above a valley with streams and tall pines everywhere.  There are Tibetan prayer flags strung across valleys of immense distance.  The monastery is not too old, so the buildings are in quite good condition, and they are beautiful in a beautiful setting.  We walked through numerous kitchens, all preparing food for the 600 or so nuns.  That means a lot of potatoes, since those are the staple here.  They grow a lot of spinach here too.  It really is a beautiful, magical, peaceful place.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500"] Dried yak cheese, it's just as tasty as it sounds..[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450"] A testament to their patients, nuns peal thousands of potatoes every day.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450"] Massive wood burning ovens that feed over 600 people 3 meals a day![/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450"] A nun making roti.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450"] We had a lot of free time to go on walks and poke around the monastery.[/caption]

In the late afternoon we met with the herbal medicine doctor to have our pulses read.  After gripping our wrists for a while, every now and then asking to see our tongues, we learned that Seth is having stomach issues and should lay off the sugar, and that I have hurt my back and should keep it warm.  Alrighty! I wonder if the pained expressions on my face while stretching my back or the snickers bar wrapper in the trash can had anything to do with our diagnoses?