Annapurna Base Camp Trek

After arriving in Kathmandu, our group were whisked to the Nirvana Garden Hotel, a very busy one in the Thamel area. The location is great but wish they would spend some money fixing the hot water for showers and the plumbing while they are at it. Of course the water is still not safe to drink, brush teeth nor shower with your mouth open!

The city is still very busy, noisy with car horns and a million motorbikes whizzing past at fast speeds compared to pedestrian, rickshaw, cows, and dogs!

After breakfast our group went to Swayambunath, the Monkey temple across the Bisnumati river. The river is still very polluted, full of plastic bags but obvious that it is getting cleaned up. There was even a pig with an egret on its back picking through the heaps of garbage floating on the filthy water. But, this is Kathmandu.


Interesting to now notice changes. Our walk to the Hindu and Buddhist temples was good training for the legs on the many steps. We outmaneuvered the sellers and touts to get to the top. Good views of the city and a pleasant walk down to the kora and around. There are still beggars and those selling butter lamps, but there seemed fewer for some reason. Perhaps festival season?

Next day we were on the bus to Phedi, near Pokhara for our first day on the trail. We arrived quite late in Dhampus, but got some great photos of the Annapurna range in sunset hues. The night was clear and the stars amazing as ever!




Over the Deurali ridge and down through farms of millet, rice, potatoes and cabbage all the way to Landruk. The heat of the day felt good on the skin. Nights are cool and we are thankful for down sleeping bags. A breakfast of millet pancakes, bananas, muesli and curd, omelettes, etc we crossed the Modi Kola and on up to Jinhu Danda, where there is a hot spring. Lunched there and continued the big climb up to Chhomrong arriving early afternoon.

The next few days provided lots of up and down, but net elevation gains in the 300-500m range. Deurali was frosty and cold, but the walk up to MBC  (Machhapuchhre Base Camp at 3800m) was clear and the views of Annapurna, Tharpu Chuli, etc were spectacular. We had a bowl of soup and tea before heading up to ABC (Annapurna Base Camp) at 4130m. Afternoon cloud started around noon and slowly built as the afternoon progressed. We heard a huge rumble and saw a serac drop down causing an avalanche through a gulley to the slopes below. We hung prayer flags, got some picture, and went inside for lunch and to warm up. The wind was biting cold. We all had our gloves, toques and heavier clothing on.

Back to overnight in MBC, a very cold night in our rooms. The lodge cook coughed over everything including our meals - yuk! Consequently, nearly everyone succumbed to a cold and cough over the following days as we trekked back to Chhomrong. We could see Tadapani a long way up the next valley and spent the better part of the next day gaining 900m to our tea house there. An incredible sunset and we watched a snowstorm hit Deurali and MBC where we had been only days before!

Within 2 days we were on our way to Birithanti where we had lunch and walked the final 30 minutes out to the main road where we found our bus. Off to Pokhara and checked into the Gurkha Havel hotel in damside. We ordered beer and snacks to share with our porters and celebrate by giving them their tips and a fun sendoff as they all wanted to hit the night bus to Kathmandu - it was Tihar, a big festival which they wanted to spend with their family and friends. We had hot showers, a delicious dinner and off to bed for a well-earned sleep.

Our 30 minute flight to Kathmandu was uneventful and we were back at the Nirvana Garden hotel by about 4 pm. Dinner was planned at Fire and Ice, the best pizza anywhere! Shopping was on the agenda for many over the next few days. A day tour to Pashupatinath (Hindu temples) and Boudhanath (the Tibetan Buddhist area and stupa) showed a bit more of the culture of Nepal. 

ABC trek November 2012

Hard to believe that I am once again preparing to return to Nepal. I have a wonderful group joining me in Kathmandu November 1st and we will head out to Phedi near Pokhara November 3 to start trekking to Annapurna Base Camp. I am hoping for clear weather and know it will be cool at nights.

My plan is to enjoy the trek with the group, then plan to fly to Lumbini on the Nepal/Indian border to see the birthplace of the Buddha and the temples there. Also hoping to arrange a visit to the Dhading school to see what current needs are as well as return to Pokhara and spend a few days there preparing for the Yoga and Culture tour that I will lead next March.

So, for now, it is all about packing, getting my yoga classes covered, med's and immunizations, etc.

Watch for more from Nepal.

Namaste!

Buddhist Nepal

About 11% of the 29 million people in Nepal are Buddhist - the rest are 81% Hindu, with a small proportion of Muslim, Christian, etc.

The Buddhist centre of Kathmandu is the area of Boudhanath, part of the Kathmandu UNESCO World heritage site. The largest stupa on earth is the centre of Boudha, an important place of pilgrimage for Buddhists from all over the world. Buddhists and Hindus peacefully exist in this country and often you will see their temples side by side, the example being Swayambunath, the Monkey Temple. Fortunately, religious tolerance is a special trait of Nepali's. Hindus and Buddhists share beliefs in karma (the law of cause and effect), rebirth and some deities. (Vishnu is believed to be a reincarnation of the Buddha)

Boudhanath is surrounded by 26 monasteries many of which host international students, monks and nuns studying Buddhism. The stupa is 120 feet in diameter and 43 feet high and is said to have relics of the Buddha buried deep within. It has a kora (clockwise walkway), many shops selling thangkas, Tibetan prayer wheels, singing bowls, necklaces, music CD's and incense. Tibetan exiles, many of whom live nearby, walk the kora, run shops, and practice their daily rituals.

Pashupatinath - the Holy Hindu Temples

Pashupatinath have the holy Hindu temples not far from Boudha. Daily cremations occur on the ghats on the banks of the Bagmati river. Hospices next to the temples allow the sick and elderly to be near their gods upon death. This is also part of the Kathmandu UNESCO World heritage site.

The ghats are shown below...

Another morning in Nepal

It has turned cold in Pokhara, with rain 3 nights in a row. The locals are now wearing toques, and dressed in sweaters and jackets, bundled up in the cool air, complaining of the cold, saying winter is coming early. It is +20C!! I guess compared to the normal +28C in recent weeks, this is quite a change.

Walking the streets in the morning is an experience of the senses! The air is hazy, a slight breeze with smells of the earth, cows and goats, their droppings, garbage, exhaust, diesel fumes and delicious smells of food cooking. Motorbike and bus horns are endless, disruptive but necessary for navigation. Cows wander and chickens scratch freely in the streets, searching for another meal. I watch a small herd of water buffalo head for a yard under construction where they have just cut the trees, happily discovering something green to eat. You dodge gobs of spit, cow poop, speed bumps, orange peels and various food debris, and really need to watch you don't fall into holes, cracks or trip on pipes, rocks and people. There are women in front of small restaurants washing the breakfast dishes under hoses that come out of the ground in the gutters, rinsing them and tossing the water into the streets. Children as small as 3 up to class 10 are dressed in neat school uniforms clustered in front of schools, homes and colleges. The business of the city evident on the streets each day. 







Unfortunately the cool wet weather means the farmers cannot cut rice for harvest and must wait for warmer weather. They need about 3-5 days of dry weather after cutting to properly dry the rice. This is a staple crop for the people of Nepal. A late start to monsoons, a late finish and early winter have made it very challenging to farm this year.





There are lots of fruits and vegetables available in the market now. Potatoes (alu), tomatoes, radish (mula), zuccini, ginger (adwa), onions (piatz), escous, bitter gourd, cabbage (banda), spinach (saag), etc. are readily available, much of it grown in home gardens. An abundance of fruit is also available - bananas (keera), apples (seew), oranges, lemons, pumpkins, pomegranates, squash, pomellos, etc.


You now get the picture!

International Mountain Museum

Not many know of this jewel in Nepal - the International Mountain Museum in Pokhara. It is on a large section of land about a 30 minute walk east from Pokhara Damside through local farms. It costs 300 rupees (about $4). The entrance has a small chorten honoring those who have lost their lives in the Himalayas.

Inside there is a Tibetan gompa and many cultural displays of various areas in this part of the world, but oddly, they also have Austrian, Slovenian and some south American cultural costumes as well.

The main reason to visit is the well documented stories of climbing the highest peaks in the world - Everest, K2, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Nanga Parbat, etc. There is a display of some of the refuse, used Oxygen tanks, equipment, etc. that a Japanese expedition made to remove the build up of garbage. (I remember Everest Base Camp (5300m) in 2006 being very clean, unlike some reports. Of course, some of the refuse remains higher on the mountain.)




Perhaps the most memorable displays are of some of the clothing and equipment past expeditions to the Himalayas have used. Very primitive crampons, down suits, mountaineering axes, leather boots and wool knickers. Other displays include the animals, flowers, trees and nature of Nepal. Often local school groups are in the museum on field trips. They are quite proud of this museum, and so they should be!

Peace Stupa

AS some of you know, I have been resting in Pokhara to give my knee a rest. I decided to test my legs and walk 3-4 kms to the Peace Stupa, up 350 meters in elevation on the hill above Pokhara. The last time I was there was 2006 when the Maoists were still demanding "donations" on the trail access to the Stupa. 

Om, the manager at the hotel, suggested I take his son, Kushal, with me for the experience and, since he had a day off school, he could practice his English. (He spoke very well and confidently.) We left around 9:30 in the morning. and made our way through the rice farms and up a new road that has been recently built. I heard there is even local bus service up to the stupa now. Progress?

We arrived at 1103m and what view over Pokhara, except it has been quite hazy in recent days. The stupa is in a prominent location on a ridgeline above the valley with an amazing view of the city. 

Teaching English

Several years ago, I completed a TESOL course(Teaching English to Students of Other Languages) with Oxford to use at some point in future overseas.

While out on a walk after Tihar, school was back in and I turned into a lane to check out a local school called L.P. Devkota English Boarding School. I met the teachers and the principal. The school has 580 students from kindergarten age to class 10. The principal invited me to lead the class 9 English class as the teacher had not returned from holidays. Great, so we read, talked, and spoke about things we like about Nepal and Canada. They were very curious, entertaining and open.




Next day I was invited to lead 2 classes of English with their class 10. I discovered that over 50% said their favorite book was Muna Madan, by Laxmi Prasad Devkota, the same name as the school! L.P. Devkota is Nepal's best known poet. The English teacher came that day and I had some difficulty understanding him. This is fairly common when Nepali teachers learn their conversational English in Nepal Universities. Their written and general comprehension is usually good, but unfortunately they do not have the best pronunciation.

I really enjoyed the opportunity and the principal has invited me to return any time when I am back in Pokhara. Another interesting experience in Nepal.