Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Everything worked out well with our flight to Lukla and is was an incredible flight.  We were able to get on one of the first flights of the day to minimize the chance of the flight being cancelled due to bad weather.  And I got the last seat on the left side of the plane so the views of the mountains were awesome.  Lukla airport was pretty impressive too, I have a video that I took of a plane taking off so eventually I'll try to get that posted somewhere. 

We spent Wednesday wandering around Lukla and taking pictures...I love the children here, they are so adorable and grubby and still entertained by the simplest things.  We stayed at Raj's family's lodge and it was a nicer than I expected for the teahouses, I mean, they are accomdations in a third world country so it is all relative I guess.  Now that is has been a few days and I don't have my map in front of me I don't remember the exact elevation but it is over 9,000 feet.  Bedtime is early, about 8:00 or so. 

Thursday morning we got up, ate breakfast, and headed up to Phakding which is only a couple of hours of walking.  Unfortunately, since we are sharing porters with this other tour group we had to stay somewhat near them for the walk but it wasn't bad because you are never alone on the trail.  I guess I shouldn't reallly even call it a trail since it is more of a "road" for the people here between places filled with Sherpas moving goods up and down it.  It was funny because Erin didn't realize that there wasn't any cars up here.  There literally aren't any wheels except prayer wheels.  Everything is hauled up and down by foot...it is amazing to see these guys.  We arrived in Phakding which is actually lower in elevation than Lukla ~8,500 feet

Friday was supposed to be a longer day of trekking up to Namche.  It only took us 4 hours to get there and I really started to feel the elevation the last couple of thousand feet that we climbed up to Namche at just over 11,000 feet.  We got into town and are kind of staying at a dumpier (is that a word) place but feel obligated to stay at Raj's family's places.  So far the rooms are super cheap, around 200 rupees or about $3.00 but they make their money on the food.  And, if you don't eat breakfast and dinner there then they charge you literally 10 times that amount.  Oh well, I can always eat:)  We walked around town a bit on Friday, checked out the view of some of the mountains nearby, ate lunch, took a shower for $4 (that was a treat), etc.  We will be spending a few days here to acclimate before moving on.

Today, Saturday, we got up and after breakfast went up to the National Park visitor's center to get our first view of Everest, Nuptse, and Ama Dablam, and others...it was beautiful, and such a clear day!  The mornings have all been very clear and blue skies but the afternoon the clouds roll in.  Erin has a cold so she went back and slept while Jay and I went and checked out the Saturday market, a stumpa that has prayer wheels set up so that the water flowing below them turns them, and tried to get into the gompa but it was closed.  Lunch, lounging, dinner, and now this.  Tomorrow we will do an acclimitization hike up to some other Sherpa villages, the Everest View Hotel (for the apple pie), the Hillary school, and other stuff along the way.  On Monday morning we will leave for Thame.  We have our Sherpa lined up, Nima, and his son.  Nima is awesome, such a cute old man and just has the greatest little sparkle in his eye.  I like that when we arranged for him the other porter that Jay already knew found a Sherpa from his village and one that has been up in the area where we are going, and across both passes, several times.  Him and his son will be with us until we reach Dingboche before our climb....if I remember correctly, November 5 or 6th.  So, I probably won't have email access again until then.

Monday & Tuesday

Yesterday (Monday) we met up with Paul and Jay and Raj for breakfast.  Raj is who we are arranging our climb through and Jay had met him through a friend of his that is a professional climber and a photographer for the Sherpa clothing company.  Raj is a climber as well as his wife who was a professional Sherpani climber and died 3 years ago on Cho Oyu.  He isn’t like the “typical” Nepalese; he has traveled all over the world to climb, is very successful with his climbing business, and also plays some part in the Sherpa clothing company.  The company sells outdoor clothing and the owners, who are based in the Seattle area are from Nepal.  We met them last night when we had dinner above their flagship Sherpa store here in Kathmandu that just opened and has a guest house above (Jay and Paul are staying there).  It was by far the best food that we have eaten so far, chicken momos (Tibetan dumplings), pear and cucumber salad, rice….and I can’t remember what else.  Plus, it was just nice to feel like we were having a nice home cooked meal.  

We were asking about the cost of land here in Kathmandu and he compared it to New York City prices.  I as assuming he meant the relative price since the average Nepalese family earns about $3,000 -5,000 / year but he said that they just purchased a small plot of land next to the Sherpa store for $4 million dollars….and that isn’t even in the heart of the touristy area.   That is unbelievable to me that land here could possible cost so much.  There is such a huge disparity between the rich and not so rich here.

 Earlier in the day we had wandered down to Durbar Square to see some temples, etc, and check out an area outside of Thamel.  Pretty much more of the same but eventually we were in an area that only had local people which is nice to see their markets and building fronts.  Durbar Square wasn’t anything all that exciting to me.  The temples and shrines aren’t maintained in any way and there is so much chaos that it isn’t practical to try to take out a tour book and learn anything about anything so you snap pictures here and there and move on.  It is interesting here though, loud, busy, smoggy or smokey from burning garbage in the streets…and my throat is beginning to crave some fresh air.  

Today Jay and I went to Swayambhunath (or Monkey Temple). It is a Buddhist temple.  Many of the temples and things around are difficult to tell whether they are Buddhist ones or Hindi ones since so much of the beliefs are shared.  Neither Paul nor Erin wanted to go because they don’t like monkeys.  I guess the story goes that the monkeys were placed to protect the grounds or something.  It was pretty impressive….just one of those things that you have to do.  Tons of prayer flags and wheels and stupas and monkeys!  You also got great views of Kathmandu valley….and the smog. 

Now we are back wandering around town after another meal….we are eating a lot…ahh, in preparation for our trekking?...that is the excuse we use at least!  We are playing it safe though and basically eating American food so that we don’t get sick here before our trek.  The water here is very, very bad as well as a lot of other things you have to stay away from.  No brushing your teeth with the water, etc.  I guess a study done showed 10x more fecal mater in the water here than there is supposed to be….nasty.  So far, so good though.

We decided to change our flight to Lukla from Thursday the 22^nd to Wednesday the 21^st so we will
be getting up at about 5 tomorrow morning to take off.  Luckily we got on the morning flight which has a better chance of going since the weather is clearer in the morning.  Then we will stay the night in Lukla for an extra day of acclimating at just over 9,000 feet.  I’m pretty excited to see the Lukla runway, it is short and there is a steep drop off of one end so if the plane doesn’t stop in time…it had better fly again.  Sir Edmond Hilary had paid to have it built to bring supplies in back in the day for schools he was helping build.  

I am going to head to a meditation class here shortly and then to dinner.  Sorry for all of the rambling on but I figured I’d better write now while I can.

Kathmandu

It is 8:00pm on Sunday night in Kathmandu. I got here today around 2:00 in the afternoon and met up with Erin at our hotel. The city so far has been pretty much like I expected - hot, chaotic, dusty, dodging bikes and cars on the streets, etc....but exciting at the same time. So far we have only wandered around the Thamel area which is the "touristy" area.

We just ate dinner and stopped in at an internet cafe where there was an email waiting from Jay. He has been up in the Khumbu region trekking and attempting to climb Mera Peak. Erin and I were supposed to meet him and his friend Paul at the end of the week where Paul was going to be heading home and Jay would join Erin and I. Apparently Paul had to be evacuated by helicopter from just below Mera peak base camp to Kathmandu due to AMS and the beginning of HACE (altitude related problems). He is fine now and he will be staying here in Kathmandu for a few more days before he heads home. So now we are going to track down Jay where he is staying and he will join us a few days earlier than planned. Too bad for Paul, he was a little worried about the trip to begin with and living in Indiana you don't get much exposure to altitude. Glad to hear he is doing well now though and "in good spirits" as Jay put it.

I'm wiped out from traveling but other than that doing great!

Enroute

17 hours of being on a plane and now I am in Bangkok waiting for my final flight to Kathmandu.  I think I figured out, that when it is all said and done with I will have spent 21 hours on a plane and 35 hours of travelling to get to Nepal.  My back and hip are feeling a little better after being able to lay down on the floor for a few hours rather than sitting.  And, the $10 foot and neck massage didn't hurt either:)  My bags made it this far too so that is a relief!

When I left Seattle yesterday the rain had started and I heard that it has been pouring there ever since....I guess I picked the right time to leave! 

Prep Work

It has been a stressful week trying to get all of the last minute arrangements taken care of before I set off.  But, I have a day and a half left before I leave and I think that I have everything squared away.  I began pulling my gear together to pack this past weekend....and realized that I needed to buy quite a bit more than I had expected so frantically have been running around town trying to find what I need.  It is always tough trying to balance out what I think I will need without overpacking.  I've managed to fit everything into one huge duffle bag and my daypack....just barely....and that includes not only my climbing and hiking gear, etc. but cold weather clothes, lots of medicines/handsanitizer, some food, and the library of books that I plan on reading.  Hopefully all of my stuff will make it to Nepal with me too!

Erin is flying out of Denver tomorrow night and I will be meeting her in Kathmandu at our hotel.  It is nice to know that I'm not the only one that was stressing out with the packing;)

Jay and his friend Paul have been trekking for 8 days in the rain since the beginning of October.  I heard from Jay the end of last week and they were getting ready to leave for their Mera Peak climb...I hope the weather improved for them but I probably won't know until we meet up with them in Namche.

It is beginning to feel "real" now...I can't wait to leave!!