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Published: April 2nd 2008
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Kathmandu
Ben walking the streets of Thamel, the tourist neighborhood in Kathmandu. Nepal is a beautiful country: full of culture, great food, wonderful people, adorable children, and cute goats! I really wanted to take one of the cute baby goats along with me but I didn't think I could get it safely all the way through Thailand and back to the States without getting caught. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to get me one (and some chickens with a rooster) when I get back to Anchorage. Ben has even agreed to fund the farm (he heard on the trail that B-B-Q goat is quite tasty...but he's not eating
my goat)!
We started off in Kathmandu for a few days, catching-up on sleep, eating good Nepali food (dal baht--lentils and rice), and shopping for cheap finds of local goods. Now I have to figure out how to ship all that stuff back! Kathmandu (or Camp-Mandu as my sister Lesli says; others thought it was a mythical place and Ben's dad had never even heard of it) is a busy city with lots of smog/haze and noise. Really, it isn't as bad as it sounds, but compared to Pokhara, it's not so relaxing of a place.
We then took a 7-hour
Kathmandu
Locals making sacrifices at a temple in Durbar Square. bus ride to Pokhara, where we stayed for 2 nights before leaving on our trek. Pokhara is a beautiful city nestled along a lake with sweeping views of the Himalayas (although quite difficult to see this time of year with the haze in the air). We stayed at a quaint guest house owned by 3 sisters from Nepal that worked hard to overcome social barriers to become female guides here in Nepal. Now they train other young gals to be guides as well. It is a great little place with very sweet staff, especially Mona the waitress, and is located down a quiet street outside the main tourist area. We intended to only stay one day but took an extra day trying to decide whether or not to hire a guide.
Now onto our trek....we began with a long bus ride and then a short but far more bumpy and crowded jeep ride. Then we started our 14-day trek around the Annapurna Circuit and successfully crossed over
Thorong-La Pass (if the link doesn't work try this URL: ) (18,000ft), the world's highest pass on day 8. We really enjoyed passing through all the villages along the trail, meeting
Annapurna Circuit
Heather and guide Puran enjoying the view of the river below. to locals and observing daily life in action. These people work so incredibly hard but with such grace and determination to live. They seem at peace and not destitute. The views from the trek were amazing, as you can see. It's crazy to think just how high the mountains really are here. We really debated on hiring a guide for this trek, but in the end were very grateful to have hired one. His name is Puran and he loves to laugh & smile and play guitar. He knew the name of every mountain and its elevation, each trail leading off somewhere, and so many people along the way. He made the trek more relaxing and enjoyable just by knowing the people and area. We were more able to get to know some of the locals we met along the way because of him. So if you're ever going to trek in this area, we highly recommend him.
Unfortunately, diarrhea set-in for me on day 3 of our trek. It wasn't really that bad and was quite manageable most of the way (I'll leave all the runny, gross and more interesting details out for those of you who don't
Annapurna Circuit
Colorfully painted rocks with Buddhist inscriptions along the trail. or can't handle them!). But after 8 days of diarrhea and a culminating accident, I decided on Easter Sunday to end our trek and get back to Pokhara to get well.
As you can imagine, I was quite bummed-out. Ben was so incredibly sweet to me during this time and took such great care of me....he'll be an excellent nurse someday! He even had me on a toilet training routine, setting his alarm for ever 2 hours during the nights to "encourage" me to hear nature's call. Our guide too was so caring and understanding. He and Ben even split my pack weight on the last section
Annapurna Circuit
A villager farming in his fields...looks like hard work. But those potatos were delicious! of the pass. We got back to Pokhara on Monday and I started taking antibiotics (I had taken different ones on the trek that didn't work). I am now getting better and better each day: my appetite is returning and no more diarrhea! Yippee! That was worse than India, for those of you who know about that trip. Hard to imagine, but true. Well, enough about the GI stories...I tend to get caught-up in them. And, by the way, I am far ahead of Ben in our competition of who will have the best "CODE BROWN" story when we return! Not that it was really worth it! Ben did get ill once, the day before the pass along with some friend we made the night before. He even has a "CODE BROWN" story of his own, although not of the same caliber as mine.
Ben decided he really wanted to go up to Poon Hill for sunrise views of the Himalayas. So he left early in the morning with our guide for one night to see the views. I decided it would be best for me to stay here in Pokhara and rest and get fully well before heading
Annapurna Circuit
Puran and Heather walking along the trail....so much to see. off to Thailand. Mom would be proud of that decision! She would not be so proud of Ben's decision to try water buffalo curd on the way up.
This is Ben now,....The hike up Poon Hill was great. It was quite a hike at about 6,000 ft climb up the first day and down the second and I think Puran enjoyed telling the other guides along the way (I think he's friends with every guide and porter in Nepal) that we were taking it as an overnight, as most complete this hike in 4 days. Most of the way is stone steps, which are beautiful in themselves. After leaving the terraced rice, wheat, and barley fields of the lower villages you enter a lovely forest and slowely the rodendrons increase in number until you are literally walking in a pink forest. It is almost undescribable, so many blossoms. The sunrise from Poon Hill was awesome! What an amazing creation we are entrusted with .
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