Annapurna Base Camp

The past 10 days have been incredible. Lots of up and down on challenging trails up into the Annapurna Sanctuary. We took 6 days to get to Annapurna base camp at 4130m and 4 days to come back down. Have met many great trekkers from Britain, Korea, Japan, Israel and New Caledonia as well as a very nice couple from Nelson in BC.

I am in Pokhara for a rest day today and catching up on e-mail and then return to Kathmandu Sunday, March 14 in time to meet my group who arrive late evening. I can't wait to see their first impressions of this wonderful and crazy place.

As usual the people are great, good food (all vegetarian) and my little via starbucks coffee packets have kept me full of caffeine! I cannot upload any photos for a bit so stay tuned. The group will have 2 days to get their legs in Kathmandu and then we take a 8 hour bus ride to Dhunche to start our trek.

More when we get back.
Namaste,
Neil

Back to Nepal :)

Well, the weeks have flown by and I am preparing to return to Nepal for my 4th time! I leave Edmonton Feb 27 and do not return until mid April. The itinerary is to arrive in Kathmandu March 1, meet up with Lok for a day, then fly to Pokhara to do a 10 day trek in the Annapurna Sanctuary to Base Camp. The photos at right are of Annapurna South taken when I did the Circuit in 2004.

I return to KTM March 14 in time to meet my group of 7 to prepare and head off to the Langtang valley for a 12 day trek. We will also go to Gosiakunda and back to Dhunche, then return to Kathmandu for a few days of culture in Pashupatinath, Boudhanath and Bhaktapur. After 17 days together, the group returns to KTM flying out April 3.  I will stay on to study yoga with Akhil Bhattacharya in Kathmandu for 2 weeks then return home via Hong Kong just in time for cycling season!

Kathmandu is experiencing power shedding so internet reliability may not be what we have experienced in the past, but I will try to update this blog as often as I can.

Namaste,
Neil

Dhading School rebuilding project - Winter 2010

The Nepali people of Dhading district spent much of the winter building the new school rooms. Much of the fundraising we have done over the past 2 years or so contributed to this project. The teacher salaries are paid through the district, facilities are provided by local villages. Because they are  relatively poor, there is little cash for supplies, but they are willing to provide the labor. So, we have contributed about $3800 USD for supplies and the local people spent December to early February building. Take a look at this wonderful project. I do not know if I can visit the school this spring, but I will try.
Thanks to the many people who donated to the school and those who bought tickets to the slide shows. These children will be better off for a quality school in which to learn.
Thank you, thank you,
Neil

The Faces of my school project

Thanks to many of you, we have been able to support a few improvements to the school in a rural area of Dhading, a 3 hour drive and 2 hours of walking to reach. The government only pay teacher's salaries, nothing else. If there were not a structure, the children would spend their classes on the ground in the shade of some thin trees. What we have been able to help with is the toilets for the children, a flat playground area and some school supplies. From what I saw, this school needs to be re-built. It looks ready to collapse and is in need of proper education facilities. Krishna, the teacher, does an amazing job for the children in classes one to three. Approx 50 children walk as much as 1 hour each way to attend school, which all families support as they know it is their future - to be educated and learn English! Here are some photos for you to see a bit of what I saw.

Stay tuned for a new show in Spring - perhaps we can raise some more funds to help with this project.

On behalf of the students and families of Dhading, thanks again for all your support!

Neil

Begnas Tal

A small lake outside of Pokhara (a 30 min plane ride from Kathmandu) called Begnas Tal is a quiet place where I met up with Wanda and her culture tour group. They were mostly Canadians, and a lot of fun. We were witness to one of the oldest annual events in a village - cutting of rice. We also found a great place for our yoga practise.

One of the events we were there for was the opening of Ria's Reading room at a local school which Wanda has been instrumental in having this library built in her mother's name. We were showered with flowers, engaging smiles and entertainment of dancing. It was a very proud moment for Wanda and the other supporters.

Neil

Moussa!

Well, as you know, I was plagued in several places with mice and rats. Here is a picture of what they call moussa. I can deal with most critters, but these are ugly and carry diseases. Take a look.

N

Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur is a cleaner, older city with lots of Newari roots and old buildings. The rice harvest was in full swing in this city of ancient buildings and a history of making curd, pottery, thangka paintings and hand made Nepali paper.