To make a long story short -- I walked about 35 Miles from Lulka to Gorak Shep, climbed up Kala Papher to ~5600 Meters (18,375 ft) took some photos of Mt Everest -- then walked the 35 Miles back to Lulka. I fly back to Kathmandu tomorrow, and will start working on the photos when I get home. Bryan [View Full Entry]

---

---

So -- this is the last internet contact I'll have for the next 10 days... I made it save to Namche Bazzar -- The offical height is 3440 but my hotel is on the hill beyond Namche at 3500 meters. I haven't really noticed any affects of the altitude -- but then again I'm a little on the tall side so I may be acustom to the alititude already... Tomorrow morning we start on are way up to Everest Base camp... I think I have enough batteries and enough Memory -- I've already gotten some cool photos, and hope to get [View Full Entry]

---

---

So -- tomorrow morning at 8am I'm leaving for Mt Everest -- I fly from Kathmandu Airport to Lukla airport and for those of you how know and love Google Earth as much as I do -- I've added the Lat & Long for my trip (In degrees not deg/min/sec). Oct 30th -- Fly to Lukla Airport: 27.687350°, 86.728317° Oct 30th -- hike down to Phakding: 27.737535°, 86.715376° Oct 31st -- hike up to Namche Bazaar: 27.804954°, 86.708473° Nov 1st -- Acclimatization day in Namche Bazaar, Nov 2nd -- hike to Tengboche: 27.836841°, 86.763533° Nov 3rd -- hike to Pheriche: 27.894284°, [View Full Entry]

---

---

SO.... I've taken every bodies advice and I'm relaxing! -- I've been reading, walking around Kathmandu, taking photographs & catching up with old friends. I have so much to write about! -- The Strike that wasn't a strike... The Maoists (Now referred to as the Communist Dogs)... The dinner I had with a Civil Engineer working in Nepal, an Irish bloke, with a straight face talks about blasting 600 meter tunnels 8 meters in diameter & having thousands of pounds of explosives at his disposal, cutting a 300 meter shaft 6 meters in diameter straight down into a mountain, oh we [View Full Entry]

---

---

So I mentioned that the clouds wouldn't leave, forgetting that only somebody who's been to Nepal before would understand what I ment... Let me explain... The two major metropolis (speeking loosely) in Nepal are Kathmandu (the capital) and Pokhara which is about 85 miles west as the crow flies (only the crows travel as the crow flies in Nepal) the actual trip by car is 125 miles. I arrived in Kathmandu on Wed and Thrusday morning I left by plane to Pokhara. The plane was simular to the plane out of AUTEC, including the view from the cockpit, except on this [View Full Entry]

---

---

I'm at the base of the Himalayas -- and the clouds won't leave! -- It's October and normally there isn't a cloud in the sky.... but for the past 24 hours the clouds have hung around and only got a small glimps of Annapurna this morning... Camera in hand - hopefully tomorrow I'll see more of the mountains and better yet -- photograph them!!!! Wishing the clouds would leave, Bryan [View Full Entry]

---

---

To give everybody a feel of what life is like here in Kathmandu (the hub of civilization in Nepal); There are scheduled rolling blackouts (Every Tuesday 7-9pm) Every room has a candle & flashlight just incase they have an unscheduled blackout (thought not as common as before). Every modern house has a water tank in the front/back yard that is trickle filled from the city water supply. There are then water containers on the roof of the house that water is then pumped up to on a daily basis (when power is on) and all the water outlets are gravity fed [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well -- 17 hours from LA to Bangkok -- and another 3 hours to Kathmandu's New International terminal -- and I'm back home. I have to say that the service on Thai Airlines is by far the best services I've ever received on any airline. My parents currently live about 100 feet from house I grew up in. Our old house is now an office building and they took out the wonderful rose bushes in the front yard to add parking spaces as well as adding brick work through out the back yard I so often played in as a child. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Today is my last offical day at Boeing for the next 6 weeks, as some of you know I was supposed to leave for 4 months, that didn't happen -- so now here I am with a 6 week whirl-wind tour of Nepal -- I plan on spending a week in Pokhara in the shadow of Anapurna, enjoying Tihar in Kathmandu, and then leaving for Everest on Oct 30th. All going well I'll be at the base camp on Nov 5th. I'll keep all of you as posted as I can from the road. Bryan [View Full Entry]

---

---