Blogs from Nepal, Asia - page 3

Our final day of hiking up was here. Today, we would reach Everest Base Camp! Today was the first day I took a full diamox pill in the morning due to the increased elevation. It was going to be a long day, so I was trying to mentally prepare myself, but this was the first day that I was not feeling 100 percent. We were to hike about 3 hours to Gorak Shep, have lunch, say good bye to porters, continue to EBC and come back. Overall, about 9 to 10 hours hiking. We set off and even though the elevation gain was only supposed to be about 300m to Leboche, it was a bit difficult due to altitude. I don't know what was wrong with me, nothing I could pinpoint, just felt off. Slow. No ... read more

We got up and had our breakfast before starting day 4. By this time, I fully expected to be tired or sore or something. But I actually felt pretty great. I was still postponing taking the altitude sickness pills because I felt so good. I did try to stretch every night when we got back, nothing major, just getting out the kinks. I was pleasantly surprised at how good I felt and at this point we had done the hardest physical part of the hike with the steep slopes the previous two days. So, really, the trek is mostly just walking. You can take your time, stop as much as you want, and the hike itself is amazing from beginning to end, so you are mentally at peace as well. Today was going to be just ... read more

On day 2, we woke to have a basic breakfast. And our ginger lemon honey tea. I took a few photos before we left of the beautiful river and mountain views. We packed up our bags and our porters were ready to collect. It was a fairly early start and most of the first half of the day was either flat or a gradual incline. We passed a couple of small waterfalls, villages, and trains of donkeys carrying good, particularly water canisters or petrol bottles. At our first tea break, it seemed like there would be a traffic jam as two groups of donkeys going in opposite directions were brought together. However they clearly do this a lot and it was pretty cool to see just one group stop and wait while the other group passed ... read more

Nepal Eating tandoori shrimp in Calcutta, then fainting in Kathmandu Rose went ahead to Nepal on Thai International's non-stop flight. Ron had business in Bangkok and took a later connection through Calcutta (now Kolkata), where he had first entered India en route to Lucknow University. He ate tandoori shrimp for lunch at the Oberoi Grand Hotel downtown. That evening in Kathmandu, while we met with friends from Guam, Ron fainted. Rose stayed with Jim Edward's Icelandic wife and baby at their home in Kathmandu, then moved to Hotel de I'Annapurna, our host, when Ron arrived. After our first trip, Ron's third trade mission took American tour wholesalers to Nepal. He went with two of them by helicopter - piloted by an Australian nursing a hangover - briefly hovering over Mount Everest then landing at a remote ... read more

Hello again everyone! We have gotten some questions about our trip from you guys, so we wanted to have some fun answering those while reflecting on the trip as a whole. What was your favorite part of the trip? Almost every single aspect of the trip was a ton of fun, but the one part that stood out the most when we got to experience the cultures of the places that we visited. It is amazing to be able to connect with people from all the way on the other side of the world, and even though we're thousands of miles apart, we're all still human after all! What was your least favorite part of the trip? Without a doubt, this had to be our two-day-long journey from Dhaka to Kathmandu. Taking the bus was the ... read more