Random musings

Random musings

Barber shops are a full contact sport

Yaks pooh at the beginnings of uphills

Birds in Kathmandu go nuts prior to sunset

Pull out your wallet in Durbar square and you'll immediately have 8 kids at your feet.

Gorka beer is better than Everest beer

Lukla lives up to every bit of terror it instills.

Besides Lobuche to Everest base camp, Porche to Namche certainly was a close second in terms of grit needed to finish. The only time I can remember talking to myself aloud except for the return trip from Hawi to Kona

Quick way to lose ten pounds, stop eating meat, and drinking alcohol for 3 weeks

Thamel is perfect in its chaos.

The kindness of the Nepali people is remarkable

Dashain is a huge festival time in Nepal and there are lots of dead animals...

A beer costs $3.5 and a hair cut costs $1.50 which includes a straight shave.

A tshirt from a random vendor costs $1.00 and a north face tshirt costs $16.00. Go figure.

Calling back to the states with a local SIM card 2.4 cents per min. With sprint worldwide roaming $3.99 a minute. Yay price gouging and yay taking 2 minutes to get a local SIM card

Entry visa to Nepal is $40. Preferred payment is US dollars.

Trip home = 5.5 hours to Doha, Qatar; 8 hr layover in Qatar; 14.5hr flight from Doha to Washington, D.C. ; 2.5hr layover; 2.5hr flight from DC to Minneapolis
Door to door ~ 34 hours

If you're coming to Kathmandu don't forget: hand sanitizer, a good head lamp, a good sense of direction, a keen sense for not paying strict attention to schedules, comfortable shoes, negotiating like crazy. Start at half the asking price....

Power outages occur daily to the toon of 4 or 5 times a day for anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours. Even at dinner have your flashlight ready.

Monkeys, cows, goats, dogs, and cats are mainstays on the streets.

23 days is way too long to be away from my girls (all three of them)

Veggie noodle soup is where it's at.

Porridge rules

Meat above Lukla is not advised

Meat in Kathmandu is a 50/50 endeavor

That ringing in your ears, nausea, and tingling fingers is the altitude.

The body is capable of amazing endurance if the mind is strong enough to will it....

Still trying to figure out Qatar

Mountain biking here is "slightly" more challenging then maple grove

Getting your ass kicked repeatedly builds resolve.

Quitting is lame except when circumstances dictate otherwise

Have you done anything recently that you thought there was a good chance you'd fail? (If not, reevaluate). Falling back into your comfort zone feels good at the time but doesn't lead to moving the ball forward....

Random acts of kindness...

So one of the last days up high in the Himalayas, I was walking down the trail by myself and came upon a little home.

Outside of the home was a little boy that was about 4 years old. As I approached he smiled at me and pointed up a little hill over his home and said "cow, cow!!" jn english. Sure enough, there was a cow grazing on some grasses about 50 feet above his home and hew was so excited to share his family pet and sacred animal with me.

I said "dhanyabad" which means thank you, to him gave him a high five and kept walking. About 50 steps down the trail something tapped my leg. I turned around to see it was the little boy and he had a cute little flower for me and said "thank you" in English as he have it to me. He was so cute. I knelt down and dug through my pack and gave him a pencil and pen as they are prized possessions in this area where things are hard to get.

The look on his face matched mine when I got the flower. His face lit up with excitement and surprise and he quickly opened the pen and started writing words and numbers on his arm! Not sure if his mom would be so happy about that but we each filled one another's bucket and I smiled the rest of the day with that great memory.

The below pictures are of the little boy, the flower, and his home.

Enjoy!

Mountain biking the Kathmandu Valley

Yesterday and today were big festival days today for the Hindu people and there were many celebrations along with animal sacrifices street side.

Both days I rented a mountain bike and road out if the city and into the surrounding valleys. I was able to ride for about 6 hours yesterday and 7 today. Lots of hard work but extremely rewarding with the amazing views and the ability to meet many friendly Nepali people.

The kindness and good nature of the Nepali is almost overwhelming. Truly remarkable culture of many different religions, casts, and nationalities blended harmoniously together.

A cool picture of some of the farm fields we rode through.

A picture of a giant swing made from 4 huge bamboo poles tied together and a really tall swing in the middle. Even the adults will go in them. The swings are built throughout Kathmandu by the hundreds and are only up for a couple of days for the festival and then are taken down until next year. Pretty cool.

Some random misc pics from the last two days.....

Back to Kathmandu

We walked our way back to Lukla and waited on getting on to one of the many flights that arrive and depart daily.

The little runway there is totally insane and it looks like its almost impossible for a plane to land or take off there. The biggest plane that can fly there is one that can hold 19 people total.

So now it is Monday evening and I will be on a plane back to Minnesota on Friday. Tomorrow ill be doing some mountain biking and then possible some whitewater rafting later in the week. There are many things to do and see here. There is also a Hindu festival of Dasine that goes for more than a week which has a lot of activities surrounding it.

I hope you've had as much fun following along as I've had keeping you posted.

The first picture is of the two porters that helped carry all of our stuff for the whole trip. They would carry up to 80pounds of gear with a strap on their head. Very strong guys. Their names are Lakba and Nema. Both are 21 years old.

The next picture is a 7 year old girl that was taking a reading break outside her house and staying warm in the sun.

The next is a typical lunch meal in the mountains of noodle soup with vegetables. Very tasty. I went 17 days as a total vegetarian. Go figure, it wasn't that bad!

The final is a picture of the Lukla airport and the tiny little space where they load and unload planes extremely fast! Usually a plane will take off in no more than 5 minutes after it lands.


Back in a few!

All downhill from here...

So the last few days have been anywhere from 7 to 10 hour days. Pretty epic but unbelievable mountain scenery and postcard shots at every turn.

We overnighted in Porche last night and was able to talk with an expedition that is going to Ama Dablam. Pretty interesting and hard core bunch.

Today started with a drop of about 400 meters in a half hour, only to go up 500 meters in the course of the next 90 minutes. You know when you start talking to yourself, out loud, and bovine else is around. That you ate deep in the 'pain cave' But with all that is hard, the pay off of amazing views was well worth it.

So after about 6.5 hours we made it back to Namche bazaar and to the relative comforts that come with it.

It's funny to think that being at 11.000 feet would seem so easy to breath am have zero altitude effects.

The weather has really been outstanding. Unbelievable clear blue skies every morning, with building clouds in the late afternoon, and then down jacket time for dinner. Repeat every day. Terrific.

Headed to Lukla tomorrow (7 to 8 hours) and then flying out from there to Kathmandu the day after. It will leave a couple of days to explore and do some other adventures in the valley there.

The Sherpa people are so kind and bend over backwards to help and be supportive. A really big take away so far from the trip so far.

Mountain madness as evidenced by my self portrait shots.😳

Oh and a side effect of being high up for two weeks, going vegetarian. Eating meat above Lukla is not recommended as there is really not a way to maintain/freeze it and spoilage leads to illness. So no meat for me for the last 10 days and counting. I would kill for a meat lovers pizza at this point!

Mt Everest base camp success!

Thanks for reading everyone.


We left a small village called Tengboche at 5am in the morning and hiked up to the last village before named Gorak Shep. We had tea and soup before continuing on to base camp. In total, it was almost a 10 hour day of hiking! Ugh but hugely rewarding and amazing views and sites.

The pictures include the little green awesome guy (which all of the Nepali children love) the little Kimberly lane coyote and a picture of me with my Sherpa guide Dulgee.

So the fun items you have entrusted to my care have made it to the base of the tallest mountain in the world! Pretty cool! They are safely tucked on my pack and will hopefully be returned safely to your class along with a rock from the base of Everest.

More updates to come...

Kala Patthar summit!

So the day after we trekked to Everest base camp, we awoke early for a climb to the top of Kala.

Kala is a mountain that has a peak height of 18,500 feet and has amazing views of some of the massive mountains all around.

We started at around 4:15am and it was super cold, and it took about 2 hours before I made the the summit. The views were amazing. I stayed up top for about ten minutes, took in all the views and took about an hour to get back down to the bottom.

Included are some pictures from the top and some views from the trails. I hope you like them.

We're in a slowish decent back down the way we came but the views are amazing. We've had great weather..

Saturday we were at Periche.
Sunday we hike to Lobuche 6 to 7 hours.
Monday we hike from Lobuche to Everest base camp and then overnight in Gorak Shep - 8 hours
Tuesday is an early morning hike up to Kala Pathar which is supposed to have amazing peak views if the weather is clear and then all the way to Periche (6 or 7 hours). 

Wednesday I will depart Periche and head all the way to Namche Bazzar. A LONG day more than likely 8+ hours but will be back to relative civilization and will have water, electricity etc.

I'll then spend a few days in Namche at a nice place we stayed on the way up.  Same place that President Jimmy Carter stayed many moons ago.  Far from luxury but comfortable warm and clean. From there I can do a bunch of day hikes and such and visit museums etc, chill out, or let my heels heal (lol) and relax/enjoy watching the yaks go by. Looking forward to it.

Days start with morning tea at 6:45 then breakfast at 7 and then on the trail by 7:45.  Break for tea after about 2 hours,  lunch after another 2 hours and then get in to the tea house around 2ish.  Sort gear, do an acclimatization hike and then back for afternoon 4:00 tea.  Dinner is around 6:30.  I literally haven't eaten meat since the 7th.  Not advised at altitude because of how hard it is to keep.  They don't eat cow so it's either chicken, yak, or canned tuna.  The cheese is made yak milk and so is the butter....yum?  The food gets a bit repetitive as the menu items from place to place are nearly identical.  Lots of soups, rice, and veggies. By the time Kathmandu comes I'll be ready for pizza!!  

Travel monkey made friends with a German hiker's marmottes - note Mt. Everest in the background!

Made it to Tengboche!

We left Namche Bazaar this morning at 7:30 and traveled up and down the valleys and all the while following a beautiful river that originates from Mount Everest.

It took us about 7 hours and climbing a total of almost 1,000 ft to get to the small village of Tengboche.

As we go higher up into the mountains the villages are a bit more basic in what thy have. This village and all the others further up have electricity bit only from solar power. It is interesting to note that they do have cell phone towers almost the whole way to base camp.

The pictures included show another great view of Everest and some other tall peaks along with a the largest Buddhist monastery in the Everest region and finally a view from a ridge line above the village that gives you an idea of the village's size.

I'm feeling good albeit tired and not having any real negative reactions to the altitude at his time.

Thanks for reading!

Acclimatization day at Namche Bazzar

The theory about going high altitude wise is to climb high and sleep lower and not to gain too much altitude on any given day. The risk of too rapid am ascent is fluid in the lungs or brain. Not good.

So today after breakfast we went on a seven hour hike and gained about 1200 feet and toured some of the near villages to Namche.

Saw some great temples and also had tea at the Everest view hotel which is the Himalayan equivalent of the Ritz. It was built by the Japanese a while back and basically the well off hailed ahelicopter up from Kathmandu for a night or two, see the beautiful scenery and the chopper back down. Certainly takes the fun out of a three day walk.

The first photo is of yak dung flattens into cakes and dried on the stone walls. They then dip them in kerosine and use them to heat their homes.

The next is a view of Everest ( the peak on the middle left). Super impressive even from this distance.

The next is a shot from a local temple in Kunde near Namche.

Next is a great birds eye view of the village of Namche and you can see how it's just sort of wedged into a little canyon. Cool place.

And lastly, the travel monkey returns to show is face in Nepal!


Enjoy!

Arrival at Namche Bazzar

Well we hiked for about 7 hours through some beautiful valleys and over the rushing waters of the river that comes all the way down from Mount Everest.

I've included some pictures. The fiat is one of five bridges we crossed today. They put pretty prayer flags on them and they bounce around like crazy when you walk across. It makes for an interesting experience. Oh, and you are over a 100 feet up over the water.

The next is of a cute little pupy we encountered on the hike today.

The next is a first grader on his way to school in the morning. He was nice enough to carry his sister back pack. They walk over 45 minutes to get to school. From where they live they are more than an 8 day walk from the nearest road or car.

The next is a picture of dulgee, he is our Sherpa guide for our trip and helps us with everything we need and keeps us going in the right direction. You might recognize what he's holding. 😏

The last is a really beautiful water fall we came across on our way up I Namche Bazzar, which is where we are for he next 2 nights which is at the altitude of 11,300 feet.

Feeling good and having a great time. Tons of Trekkers from all over the world.

Up into the mountains

So we were up and out of the hotel and to the airport by 7:00am to take advantage of the good weather for flying. If it is cloudy or windy they cannot fly.

The flight into the mountain airport of Lukla is totally insane and. Bit scary. There are videos online, but in short you basically land on the side of a mountain. YouTube it for all its glory.

We had a little tea and then we hiked up the mountain trails for about 4 hours and we are in a small village named Phakding.

Tomorrow we will go to a bigger town of Namch Bazzare.

Feeling good and having a ton of fun. Beautiful here.

Thanks for reading!