The roof of the world
Trip Start
Nov 21, 2008
1
64
Trip End
Mar 31, 2010
Kathmandu, Nepal
Friday, May 14, 2010
There were a few things I instantly noticed about Nepal. The air had a slight crisp to it, due to standing at the base of the highest mountians in the world. The people did not stare at me, actually they barely looked at me at all, excellent. Also I was expecting Nepalese people to be incredibly nice, judging from three guys I worked with in Sydney, and it was true. People in India are very nice on the whole, but it definitely seems like they're out to get you more than the Nepalese, who would be kind even for nothing in return. On the way to the guesthouse the car ran out of gas. We only had to walk a couple of blocks, and it was a good precursor to the country; Nepal: kind of broke down and busted, thus making you appreciate the nature.
The people at the airport with prepaid cabs to town wanted me to stay in their guesthouse. I agreed to since I wasn't really sure where I was going anyways. The rooms were nice but I had to bargain a little and sort of ended up falling into the trap of doing everything with them. I talked to the owner and told him everything I wanted to do in my short time in Nepal and dollar signs formed behind his eyes. He is good though, he does this every day. I really wanted to do the flight over the Himalayas and see Mt. Everest. Something I was sure was going to be expensive but I really wanted to do. I let out a sigh of relief when the price he gave me was a little less than I expected. I booked that and then had to have a will of steel not to book a treak with his company too. Seriously no matter how experienced the traveler sometimes its easy to get caught up in the situation and spend money withough knowing all of the information. Hey it's bound to happen sometimes. It was getting dark but I wanted to walk around the town a bit. The guesthouse I was staying in was a couple streets off the main drag which was fine, but I didn't really have my sense of the town on the first night so I didn't find the main part of town that night. I did go into a travel agent's office though and got an offer for the same plane ride I booked only $20 cheaper. Coached by the guy at this place I went back to my first guesthouse and tried to get out of it. Twenty dollars isn't a fortune but when you fee like you've been jipped (for what you know is a lot of money here) for the same exact thing you could have gotten for cheaper it's worth the hassle to try and change it. I couldn't cancel the ticket though so I ended up booking the trek through the new company and went on the Everest flight the next morning.
Departing out of the Kathmandu airport, on Buddha Airlines I took a flight with about 15 other people. We flew next to the Himilayan Mountian range so that I got a beautiful view of the jagged, snow covered peaks ripping at the sky with breathtaking beauty. Everyone was invited to crouch up into the tiny cockpit to see the 180 degree pilots view, Everest's mighty peak center stage. The wind is so fierce, and the mountian so tall that the peak of Mt. Everest is mostly black rock instead of snow covered. This experience was among the handful of times during my trip where I encountered such world-wide famous things and places so ingrained in the human consciousness, that the spirit and feeling surrounding it adds a whole new dimension. The Sydney Opera House, the Great Barrier Reef, the Taj Mahal, and Mt. Everest, plus countless sights of beauty that existed as a priceless secret, away from the eyes of the world. The flight was amazing and I really enjoyed it. Talk about a natural high! I was lucky to have snapped some good pictures so I can always remember.
I had the entire day ahead of me even after coming back from the plane ride. First order of business I visited the US Embassy to ask about the re-entry visa. There were forms to fill out, plane tickets to copy, and photos to provide. I only had one passport sized photo left so I had to go to the photo place to get some more taken. As is often the case the power was out until 2pm so I was told to come back later.
Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal with a population of 1.5 million. A small city, but in ways still a metropolitis, albiet a sleepy one. A very un-modern aspect of the city: the 8-hour power cuts per day during the time of my visit. I could have counted myself lucky I wasn't visiting during 16 hour spells of no power, but lucky didn't seem the word. As told later by Durga, my trek guide, Nepal has the most freshwater in the world which should supply power for all of their electricity needs, but instead they sell their water to India, and buy back electricity at a great loss. Firstly I thought 'wait, doesn't Michigan have the most freshwater in the world?' Maybe it's Michigan and Nepal, hmmm. Then I thought, damn- what a crappy way to live! Maybe there's not a lot of wealth over in this part of the world but shouldn't people and governments figure out logical solutions so their people can at least have electricity? Am I taking for granted luxuries, or is corruption so out of control that people are required to make such crippling sacrafices? Both, I presume, but I'll never know the whole story because I only have 7 days here and Durga's accent is kind of hard to understand.
Anyways, back to my day where I began a walk around the city thinking I could figure out where I was going. Not so much. After getting all turned around and sweaty walking, I caught a taxi to Durbar Square, an area featuring the old city of temples and palaces, displaying beautiful and unique Nepalese architecture. Asking to be dropped off in the middle of the square proved a smart choice when later after having a snack at a restaurant I tried to go back into the square and was asked to pay. That's okay, I had seen enough, got a few pictures of the buildings and captured a good one of traditional Nepalese men in their natural setting. Also inside Durbar Square is the residence of a living goddess- a prepubescent girl who is worshipped by all major religions in the area. She must be careful because the spilling of her blood (even through menstruation) makes her inelligible to continue being a living goddess. I love hearing stories like this that sound so bizarre to me. In other parts of the world what sounds crazy to me is normal.
I Walked on the narrow streets and wandered through the different shops offering truly hippie goods from probably one of the most chilled out places on Earth, how fitting.
When the power returned I got my passport pictures taken and stood there while the guy at the photo shop played with my image on photoshop. With all of my information in hand I walked down the dirt street to the Indian Embassy ready to get my re-entry visa. They were closed and wouldn't be opened on the only other free day I had in town. My heart sank fast and heavy in my chest. I pleaded with the guard and was let in to give my sob story to an employee who was still there. This encounter had to be one of my luckiest as I was granted my re-entry visa. I don't know what I would have done.....and I guess now I didn't have to worry.
During this time on my own I was reading lots. I enjoyed the literary entertainment as the perfect companion to my solitude. It was also quite fitting since there were little to no modern comforts here. That evening I walked through Thamel Street, the busy, eclectic, and hippie-backpacker area of Kathmandu. I found myself at a restaurant with live music, where I ate a strange version of Mexican food and enjoyed a beer before walking back to my dark hotel room.
My trek began the next day and I met the business owner of the trek company at his business. He then took me out to breakfast the next morning and I was starting to realize that the small group I would be walking with was in fact just me and a guide, Durga. We drove for about 45 minutes of so to the beginning of the trek and walked up, up, up, up, a big hill where we only continued to hike up into what I can only think of as the sprawling base of the highest mountian range of the world. I will think of the whole country of Nepal in this regard, and expect no arguements (especially since it makes my trek sound that much cooler!). In many ways the trek was a lot like other ones I have taken. The path leads through the woods, up and down hills, or small mountians (I still don't know the technical difference), through tiny, remote villages where they feed us and smile. The first day of the trek was the most difficult and I appreciated the fact that since I was the only paying customer I was basically in charge of the pace and could take a rest whenever I wanted. Durga and I made light conversation and walked a lot in silence. After all the whirlwind adventures I have been on, I'm so happy that I can enjoy the slow pace of a walk through nature, no matter where in the world. After about 8 hours of hiking we arrived at a small town comprised of one road snaking along the mountianside with two hotels and a few squatty buildings where people lived. Although the trek was a long one that first day, we had started out early and arrived by mid-afternoon. My first order of business was to take off my shoes and let my poor feet feel some of this fresh air. After lunch I sat on the roof outside my room and read for a while. Then somehow through the fear of boredome I laced my shoes back up and took a little walk down the dirt road by myself to explore the area. I was welcomed with gorgeous views of rolling earth that was carved out in steps for rice paddy farming. I assumed the Asian style of squatting and looked out over the beautiful scenery, simultaneously thinking and trying not to. Further on my walk some poor but darling Nepalese children played outside of a sad little building of a house. To their immense delight I took pictures of them and showed them their own images on the camera. Sometimes in passing little huts like theirs I would catch a glimpse inside and see how truly stark and depraved some people lived their lives. All over Asia, but especially in remote areas, I saw that some people lived with little to no posessions inside shaky houses with dirt floors. I saw stark poverty, the kind you never really see in America.
Back at the hotel I grabbed the padding and blankets from the other beds to double mine up. I figured it was okay because I was the only paying guest. Since we were in high altitude it was pretty cold at night and in the morning. Unfortunately the change in weather manifested itself into a cold and I was forced to scrounge for toilet paper to blow my nose over and over.
Day two was more of the same except we did run into some other small groups of people that I talked to along the way a bit. Some girls from Canada, two brothers and a dad from the Netherlands, and a solo French guy. Part of the supposed allure of the trip was that on night two I was scheduled to stay in this really nice hotel and have a sunrise view of Mt. Everest. When we finally got to the tiny town on day two I wasn't able to stay in the promised hotel because the trekking company hadn't made reservations. Although I was looking forward to a nice hotel it seems silly to get upset over such things when you're surrounded by some of the nicest and most chilled out people ever. I'm not trying to channel a New York attitude in the peacefulness of Asia. I did, however, get the prices of both hotels so I would be refunded the difference in price. I may be relaxed but I'm no dummy. The hotel I was put up in just down the street was really quite nice and felt fancy. It was the nicest room I had stayed in in months and I enjoyed the full length windows overlooking the countryside. My guide, Durga, was provided with money to pay for my accomodation and food during the whole trek. While I ate whatever I wanted, Durga ate lentils and rice for every meal, and seemed to enjoy it.
The next morning I dragged my tired ass out of bed to watch the sunrise from the top of the tall hotel I was supposed to stay in. The hope was to see the Himilayan Mtn. range and the sun rise over Mt. Everest. There were about 20 people from all over the world on this roof waiting to see, but when it became apparent that the fog was too dense to see anything I told Durga that I needed a couple of hours of sleep before we started day 3 of the trek. The view ended up looking like the sun was coming out of the middle of the sky since it didn't show up until it rose over the fogged over mountians.
Day three of the trek was supposed to be the easiest, but still it was challenging. I'm so glad that I know my limit is a 3-day hike. I am so not hardcore. I ended up walking with the French guy Julien for a while. At the end of the hike we came to a temple complex built in the same style as Durbar Square. The architecture and decorations were beautiful and ornamental. I enjoyed that the temples of Nepal had their own look and style. Our little group had lunch at a restaurant outside of the temple, I spend my last little spending money I had brought with me on the luxury of a Diet Coke. (For some reason Diet Coke was always more expensive then regular Coke, everywhere I went in Asia.) Durga and I were supposed to catch the bus back to town but we hitched a ride with Julien and his tour guide.
Once back into town I picked up my luggage from the trekking office, told the guy I had a nice time, and collected the difference in money from the hotel switch. They tried to hook me up with a new hotel to stay at but I wasn't impressed and found my own accomodation instead. After that I met up with Julien, the French guy. We goth wanted to visit this temple site just outside of the city. It was a bit insane that we decided to climb the hundreds of stairs to the top when we had just completed a pretty tough 3-day trek, we laughed at ourselves though and had fun. Once in the backpacker part of town I ended up helping him shop for souveniers for his sister and mom. He was shit at bargaining and had bad taste in the clothing and jewelry he did pick out. I tried to help, but also kept most of my opinions to myself. We were both traveling solo so we enjoyed eachother's company and had dinner together, where we shared a hookah, and had several drinks. When it came time to pay the bill we didn't have enough money and had to scrape together every last ruppee until we were close enough. There was almost a moment of panic, but we had to just laugh at ourselves in the end.
I had one more day in town before flying back to India for my one more day there. I was counting down the days on one hand until I would be home, back to my family and country, after more then a year overseas. I enjoyed breakfast and the view from the roof of my hotel, finished one book, traded it in and started another. I knew it was my last chance for a cheap massage and got one from a slightly shady place where I felt a bit exposed but didn't really care. There's no doubt that after so much travel I started to think in different ways.Sometimes you have to be more aware, and sometimes you have to let go. I had learned when to take it all in and when to question with vigor. I bought some souveniers to add to the luggage and cleaned out some things I was done with, finally pitching the hiking shoes that had done me well all over Australia and Asia.
Thank you Nepal for being so close to India but so different. I needed that week of fresh air and not being stared at, and I enjoyed the city of Kathmandu and the remote countryside where I was allowed to loose myself in nature before finding myself on a plane back to America.
