Back at it. Nepal

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Yep, I'm back. I know you all missed me and are now thrilled that I'm back. Glad to hear it. The past two months have been a blur. Last I left I was on my way to Nepal to meet up with friends Rich and I met in Thailand to trek the Anna Purna Circuit. Which we did, it was approx. 120 miles with about a 15,000 foot elevation gain and loss and it was absolutely phenomenal. It took us about 18 days and we started with 9 people and ended with 5. One flew out due to altitude sickness, one flew home for a job and two flew home due to injury. Those who made it had bouts with Giardia, blisters, sore everything but it was all worth the journey.

The pinnacle of the trip was "Pass Day," the Thorng La Pass is supposedly the largest pass in the world. At 18,000 it proved to be a tough day of hiking. The air is thin up there, so thin that walking a couple of steps gets you extremely winded. For me who was struggling with a case of giardia I was slow going but my friend John and made light of the situation and challenged each other to a race. It was pathetic, a tortoise could have walked faster. After a few steps we both quit totally exhausted. In all seriousness we actually made pretty good time. Getting up at 4:00 to pack, dress, and eat breakfast, we were out the door around 5:30. It's advisable not to leave any earlier due to the cold and the chance of frostbite. Even with the morning sun warming my back, after the first hour I had to layer up and change my socks as my toes were numb. The first hour was the worst of it and after that it was just slow going until we made it to the top of the pass. I was one of the last to arrive and was met with a joyous cry from my friends. We gathered together and took a few pictures before heading for the long, 5 hour, decent to our destination. That night everyone sat around talking and joking, happy we finally made it over the pass and it was smooth sailing from here on out, which is was. From that day on the food would get better and cheaper and most importantly it would start to get warmer. I mustered the courage to shower, first hot one I had seen in 5 days, despite the window in the bathroom had no glass and snow was blowing through. It was a glorious 5 minutes.

The rest of the way down, Rich flew out early so he could get home to his sailing job and two others flew out due to knee injuries. There was five of us left and the walking was smooth and relaxed. We knew we were on the way out and we were all excited to get back to Pokhara, the main town where we based out of. Most importantly we were excited for steak, hot showers, a clean bed, and most importantly cheap beer.

After a week of relaxing in Pohkara my friends from Thailand and I decided to go white water rafting. It would be two days on the river and one night camping. We went with Paddle Nepal, who is an awesome company. They really impressed us with their professionalism, cooking ability, and all around attitude. Everybody had a blast, my raft flipped once and dumped everybody except the guide out another. No one was hurt and everybody was laughing in the end. We became good friends with the guide and once all my friends from Thailand: Brad, John, Jenny, Katie, and Jules flew to their respective locations I went back to Paddle Nepal and did a white water kayaking course. It was something I had always wanted to do and Nepal was a great place to learn. This time we had one day on a lake to practice eskimo rolls, flipped yourself upright if you capsize. Which I felt relatively comfortable doing on the lake but when I got in the river it was a totally different story. I became the flipper of the group and for the second and third day of being on the trip I wasn't having any luck. After some intense instruction from my guide I managed to get better and in the end I managed to do an eskimo roll twice in white water instead of just bailing out of my kayak. I found the trip was to stay calm under the water and know focus on what the instructors taught you and you'll be able to right yourself. In the end I was the only one who could do one in white water so I was quite proud of myself.

Finishing up with my travels in Nepal, I spent a total of 6 weeks there and really enjoyed it, I was headed for China. Nepal was a great place to travel to and I look forward to making it back someday.

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