Back to the Motherland: Kathmandu

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As the moon was full it was time to fly. I went through customs and noticed the passenger in front of me showing his passport and he had a California driver license. "You're a long way from home", I said. Erik and I got to talking and turns out we were the same age both traveling to from and to similar destinations (he from Europe to India) having an exciting voyage around the world. It was a surreal meeting. We sat at the airport drinking beer & watching the full moon set behind Turkish airplanes. Soon we wished eachother well exchanged Facebooks and parted on different airpaths.

We would later be connected in a very strange way.

Turkey to Delhi getting in at 4am India time. Then short flight to the Himalayas and I was there. My Pilgrimage.

My mother and father had met here in Kathmandu several years ago and fell in love. I imagine it was a very different place back then. They were probably pioneers (as far as caucasians go) in exploring the area. They met in a park and I'll never forget how my mom describes how romantic it was when my father swept her off her feet.

In Asian cities people tend to pile upon eachother and there aren't building codes or traffic rules by western standards. It's a chaotic blur of fun and excitement or a nightmare of congestion, depending on how you look at it.

The airline had lost my luggage. After all that. It had not come aboard the transfer plane so I was without some clothes. It didn't phase me too much except that I wanted to get into the mountains and I had to hang out in the city. I bided my time and strolled the streets of the tourist area. It is unique in that there are so many little sub-worlds to see and its easy to get lost.

I stopped in the tropical rain and watching the colors of the city dance. A young man in a rickshaw with beer in his cooler pedaled up and whisked me away so that my noble feet would not touch the mud. I was with my brothers.

The baggage came within a day or two and I set off on the harrowing 8 hour cliff-edge bus ride to Pokhara. Here I got off the bus and met a German couple and we all went to stay at what the Hotel 7 Continents. Durba, the owner, is a legend and a stand up fella. He got me set up with hiking boots, a great deal on permits, packs and all the gear I needed. Then he advised me and the Germans on how to start the trek off and he set us free!

I was going to do the Annapurna Circuit. A 10 day trek. I wanted to do it in 5 days though!

That next morning we woke, had breakfast and headed to the hills. It's an hour taxi ride from the sleepy little lakeside village to the mountain trailhead. We got out and started trekking.

The Germans were annoying and boring for reasons I cannot explain (apologies to my German readers). But; as serendipity would have it I ran into another hiker about an hour into the hike. I could tell within the first few minutes speaking that we were gonna get along and he was hiking fast unlike the Deutche-landers. I mistook him for a Scot and he nearly tore my head off. He squints at me through his thick gray beard while hiking and puffing a cigarette and says ," I'm Irish , Lad!" ... And that was my introduction to Dave O'. We would bond through the mountains and depend on one another's strength at different times. The adventure had just begun. I was in my Mecca!

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Photos

City of Love?
Kathmandu , my birthplace and land of my conception

Dave O' makes a prayer
Prayer wheels in Nepal

The foothills of the Himalayas
View at day one of the Trek