Blogs from Nepal, Asia - page 436

Gokyo, one of the three adventure destinations for this area, is another small town built with rocks and corrugated iron roofs held down by stones. What makes it really interesting is that it's planted next to frozen "Lake 3" at the foot of Gokyo Ri hill and under a ridge whose back half is sliding into the Ngozumba Glacier. The glacier looks like a lunar surface, rocks and dust covering unimaginably thick ice. There are creepy and monstrously huge ice caves and the eerie groaning sound of cracking masses of frozen earth. Wanting to do something spectacular while here, I decided on a hike up Gokyo Ri (to 16,800 ft altitude) for sunset and a view of Mt. Everest. The pain in my knees told me I should have made it a rest day but I ... read more

Well, compared to the Sikkim trek, the lower altitudes and more agreeable temperatures are "warming" me up to being here. It's quite a difference when you can comfortably sit outdoors. Some of the lodges even have hot water and electricity! This is luxury. No drafty huts. More chai stands and villages along the way than you could possibly need. I admit, this is not too bad. Some of the treks are long and steep but the mountain scenery is magnificent. Thomas and Marina are quite fun. Marina is all of 5 feet tall and carries a backpack about 7 feet tall. With her trekking sticks clicking along like knitting needles, she really MOVES and is always in the front of the pack. Of course, so is Mike. Thomas is about 6'5" and is always slower. Could ... read more

Nepal 2000 by Omar DeWitt (This is one chapter in a recently published book, The 23-Hour Day. Find out more about this book at http://23hourday.com) Sue and I joined a trip to Nepal run by Country Walkers to hike in the Annapurna conservation district. Our group, coming from various parts of the United States, was comprised of ten women and me, the token male. We met for the first time in the capital, Kathmandu. Kathmandu, like other third-world cities of its size and age, has narrow streets filled largely by people on foot. In 2000, vehicular traffic flowed somewhat on the honor system. There were a few signs and traffic lights, but mostly cars and busses and trucks just moved until something got in their way; then they tried to ease around the obstruction or ... read more

Cold comfort After a breathless trek to the next tea house, every evening the group settled down to enjoy themselves as best they could. Their activities severely limited by the cold. An absence of heating on the scale normally enjoyed by the average westerner plus a temperature of minus 12 centigrade created an obsession with warmth that can only be guessed at by the uninitiated. First there was the clothing: one thermal vest ,one T shirt, one thin jumper ,one thick jumper,2 pairs of trousers, a pair of gloves,a hat and at least two pairs of socks formed the basics at all times . This was topped off by a down jacket of such proportions that we rolled around the tea houses like Michelin men bumping into the furniture and each other, our arms stiffly encased ... read more

Hey everyone, So Kathmandu is nothing like I expected. I thought it was cold and there was nothing to do but trek, but it's amazing! In Kathmandu it goes up to about 25 C (that's about high 70s for you non-metric people) in the day. There's white water rafting (we're going on a 6 day trip soon), elephant safaris, cool villages and markets. Also trekking. I could spend months here. We seem to be giving the impression that all we do is drink. Some of you may be wondering why we just didn't stay home and do a round-the-world tour at Milwaukee's (that's a bar in Toronto that has about 150 beers from around the world). So in this message we won't mention beer anymore. Later today we're going to a slide presentation from one of ... read more