Nepal in Perspective(s)

Disgracefully long wait since plast posting on here. Apologies.
Nepal adventures could take up a week, but I will post the first recollections now and edit as I can. Photos by Ronan Dunlea, Kirsten Jost, Matteo Cullen. That's right. Matteo Cullen.

Day One – Kathmandu

Saw many temples, a cremation – mental. I might go back to that spot. Very public burial. Lots of monkeys about. Amazing blend of Hindu and Buddhist. For example, the living Goddess fulfils Hindu role but is from a Buddhist family. Highlight of the day was the sunshine. Durbar square was amazing as well with good views. A little hazy so no panoramic views. Trek starts tomorrow. Met Ashok, the guide, briefly. Staying in Hotel something or other. Guides seem friendly and we are in good form. Driver from airport also decent guy.

Day Two. First day of trek. We left the safety of Kathmandu for the hills. We have walked up to 2,600m today. Apparently that’s as high as we’ll get – I’m being pessimistic about this. Ronan still feeling the worse for wear, but slowly coming around, I think. Tonight we are in a guesthouse along a narrow mountain pass. Fairly bleak spot, but very beautiful. Hundreds of terraces abound in the surrounding valleys. Am starting, through Ashok the guide, to learn something about Nepali politics and the difficulties they face. Played handball today with a beautiful local child and took sunset pictures. On the way up we passed the army, rhododendrons and some monkeys. The rural way of life here hasn’t changed much in the 20^th century. A high point was sitting drinking yak butter, millet wine, coffee and sugar mixed together with the owner and some locals – though we didn’t eat his pricey chicken, fresh or otherwise.

Tomorrow more of the same, but longer. Ready for great sleep.

Day 3

A fairly hard walk through hills and dales. We stayed at about 2,500m all day, but there was some fairly serious climbing and going down. We passed a lot of kids on the way to school – some playing with catapults, running down the roads noisily and energetically. We did get a peek at some snow-capped mountains for a little while this morning. There should be snow tomorrow, we hear. We saw patches dug up by wild boar; a few unidentified red and yellow birds. Ashok was all over it with the Penguin Guide to Indian Birds. Almost lost the rag one time with the LSD for farting practically in my face – not pleasant, but nothing to get worked up about. I didn’t think we were capable of the walk we did today but we did it! Owner was nice and bed is welcome – it’s 9 pm! Ashok’s card tricks were great craic. Tomorrow – read Tolkein, stay chilled and with the group! Camera battery might be a problem.

Day 4.

Third day of trek. Spent a lot of today in snow, some of it deep enough to sink to your navel. Plus it was old snow. Beautiful view of stars tonight at 3,600m. We might go up higher again tomorrow! In a small “village”, Therapati, and in deep snow. Quite cosy after usual dal bhat and omelette. Adventure continues tomorrow. Odour – for men. Physical rating funf. Met two Germans. Very high up, and good views. Ronan’s card game and Ashok’s tricks continued.

Day 5

Stayed around in Therapati. Walked up small hill to 3,950m for views and snow fun. After tea and lunch went out tobogganing and breaking landspeed records with Bashu and Ashok. Ronan’s jovial nature soon had us chatting to Ella from England (really, not Norway?) and Herman the German and Anne. Needless to say they joined us for ‘Spoon Game’ later on. Went to bed at nine and it was viciously cold. Moving onto warmer climes tomorrow. A group of French trekkers came in after tackling the higher passes and they were cold and miserable. One guy had worked in Uganda and Burundi. Saw the Russians off on their way to the Gopje Lakes and the German hippies too. The Holy Lakes are impossible to see with heavy snow and ice at the moment. We had fantastic views this morning and built a snowman out of the snow at the top of the highest peak we climbed. Above Mt Fuji now!

Day 6

This was mostly downhill from Therapati to Tharkagang. It was unbelieveable how far we walked – down a whole mountain and up another. In the interim we crossed two suspension bridges with a beautiful alpine river. I wanted to jump in. We stopped into a small watermill, where we ate flour given by a man with a gurkha knife. Kirsten had a fall and has injured her foot a little. She’s walking but it looks painful. We stopped in a village for lunch with scenic views, and a little kid that looked like Ice Cube. Then it was uphill to Tharkagang. We met some folks in the village square busily carving furniture from huge logs. We drank from their stock of what seemed like alcoholic oatmeal. One hostel up there was full, so we stayed in a Sherpa home. We got to eat in the kitchen and hang out with Nina and her quiet brother and her beautiful sister. Wow.

Day 7.

Tomorrow is the last day of the hike. Saw some awesome langur action as we left the village – a troop of them staring from the trees and then fleeing as we approached. Cool to hear the lads arguing about whether Nina’s brother was her sister…stopped in an awesome village for a “cold drink” – lovely girls and beautiful scenery and Ronan found a man with a self-help book in Nepali! I had a bit of craic with the kids this evening. We could see a lot of people bringing chickens, etc to be sacrificed. Ronan got a National Geographic of two Nepali villagers with cows in the background. In many places, there are communist signs and flags. It seems they have a lot of popularity in the rural areas.

Day 8

The dawn was pretty amazing considering we were still half-way down a valley.

Two days without a camera is really staring to bug me, but it’s partly my own fault. I managed to get charged up at last somewhere in the valley after a long wait. Good to have a bit of juice after the panic. Today was almost all downhill