Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi everyone,
Hello from Nepal! Been here just shy of 3 weeks and really like it. Its nicer than India, in terms of the people (so friendly and much less hassley) and also the vibe - its very chilled out and is a nice hot (well in Kathmandu anyway!).
So obviously the point of my visit to Nepal was to walk to Everest Base Camp. The trekking trip lasted 14 days, starting with the scariest plane ride ever - to walk to Base Camp, you have to fly to Lukla, which is one of the most dangerous airports in the world and walk from there. The landing strip is on the side of the mountain and is only 100m long. The planes used are propeller and you can only really fly in the morning before 10am, as after that the winds and clouds are too dangerous. We flew early, but the plane still shook and wobbled, and we flew so closely to the mountains that David was able to see someone walking out of their front door! We were also actually lifted out of our seats (this made me realise there is a reason for seat belts) at one section which made our stomachs turn! The return ride was equally scary, but as you can see, the plane (and us) made it back in one piece hehe!
Anyway, the trekking started from Lukla (2860m) and over the next 8 days, we slowly made our way up to 5140m, which is the last village before Base Camp. We had a couple of days during this as acclimitisation days, where we would just do short(ish) day treks to higher altitude and back down to our teahouse to acclimatise to the altitidue. We also managed to visit some monasteries and a school along the way, in addition to the highest Irish pub in the world (apparently) and an amazing bakery in one village (Tengboche), which was up there with the other obvious highlights of the trip! The teahouses were extremely basic and freezing cold - the only heating was in the dining room, where at 5pm every evening, they would get out the dried Yak dung and burn it in the equivalent of a log burner, which was great for those few hours, but it would've been nice to have had even a fraction of that heat in the bedrooms. I've never gone to bed in so many clothes (in addition to my sleeping bag and a duvet), and waking up to see the condensation on the window completely frozen, often with the curtain also frozen to the window (and seeing our breath whilst in bed), suggesting the insulation wasn't at a particularly high standard. The facilities were basic too, as we didn't even have a sink in the highest areas and were expected to use the toilet water (they didn't have flushes, so there was a bucket of water sat beside the toilet which you poured down the toilet to flush it) to clean our teeth, but we decided to go luxury and buy some mineral water to wash our toothbrushes with!! The mountains are actually really expensive, as the only way to get goods up are through sherpas carrying it on their backs (or yaks transporting it), so all food, drink and essentials (i.e. toilet paper) were expensive, but it was amazing to see what and how much those sherpas carried.
One last rant before the good parts of the trip...our group's collective baggage was too heavy for our little plane to Lukla, so 3 bags got left behind...surprise, surprise mine was one of them. We were told they'd be on the next flight, so we weren't too worried until our guides told us the next flight couldn't land in Lukla due to bad weather and so returned to Kathmandu. No further planes landed that day or the next day, so in the end, our bags were helicoptered into Lukla (I must admit I thought that sounds pretty cool) and then it took a further day for the sherpas to carry them up to where we were staying. So I had 3 days of the same clothes, no toiletries etc, you get the picture. David was very good (though borrowing his trousers earnt me comparisons to MC Hammer), and I found out that using your finger as a toothbrush is surprisingly effective. Let me tell you, I was extremely glad to see my bag when it finally arrived!!
Ok, onto the important stuff. Base Camp was amazing - the actual site was pretty disappointing as the sign has disappeared (we trudged through both the old and new Base Camp looking for it), and there's nothing really there except for tents (and it was snowing and freezing at the time), but the sense of achievement was great. The morning after that we left our teahouse at 4.30am to climb Kala Patthar, a nearby hill (as the Nepalese call it, I'd call it an insurmountable mountain!) which at 5550m is the highest we went, as that's the place to go to get views of Everest (and the surrounding mountains). We were a little worried as it snowed the previous 3 days and was really cloudy, but luckily on that morning, it cleared up for us, so the views were spectacular and well worth the effort. Apparently it was -16 when we were climbing (which explains why despite wearing gloves, I felt like I was getting frostbite on the tips of my fingers and toes) it, and the climb seemed to go on forever. Walking at high altitude is strange - on other walking trips, my feet have burned (from the terrain) and my legs have burned (from lactic acid), but on this trip neither my feet nor legs hurt at all once we'd stopped in the evening. The walk was so tough though (toughest I've ever done) because you just couldn't breathe and your legs felt heavy just from a complete lack of oxygen reaching them. Its just like when you do a really tough training session and for 30 secs after a really hard drill, you can't breathe properly...it was like that for all the time we trekked. It was just a really strange feeling, especially above 5000m when there was a real noticeable difference. Only 6 (out of 14) of the group did the Kala Patthar trek, as some were suffering from altitude sickness, but apart from the chronic lack of breath and a slight sickness feeling in my stomach, luckily David and I weren't severely affected, though after the two hardcore days of Base Camp and Kala Patthar (7-8 days of walking per day), we were exhausted!
Descending back to Lukla was a much quicker affair, taking only 4 days (including one day of chilling out), and luckily we made it back to Kathmandu on our scheduled flight (lots of people get stuck for days in Lukla when there's bad weather, so we were very fortunate not to get stuck at all).
Kathmandu is a pretty cool city, as its very chilled and has some nice sights, but after a few days, there's not much to do, and it closes down at 10pm each evening! David and I ventured out to Bhaktapur yesterday on the local bus (surprisingly the bus was quite civilised), a well preserved medieval town, which we both really enjoyed and felt was worth the effort.
Laura...I've been trying to work out how to describe the smell of Nepal (this was discussed during a number of conversations whilst trekking)...the mountain people had a certain musty smell about them, which wasn't quite BO or s***, but just musty. Sorry I can't be more descriptive, but I can't quite put my finger on it!
So, this marks the end of my 3rd world adventure - I've really enjoyed it all, but am so looking forward to returning to the 1st world and being in civilisation!! I've loved Nepal, as the people (especially the mountain people) are so friendly and nice without wanting anything in return (unlike most of the people I met in India), but there are some signs (i.e. some people badgering you for money) in certain areas of Kathmandu which suggest it might be turning similar to India, but I really hope that doesn't happen.
Off to Aus now, so won't be writing a blog for a while (don't think anyone will be interested in my next few months of work!), but should be on the internet more, so looking forward to catching up with everyone and hearing the gossip. Sorry this has been such a long blog, but didn't think it could be separated into two blogs easily xx
- comments
Sarah Miles Sounds like you've been having an amazing time, I've loved catching up on all your travel news. Have a safe journey to Australia xxxx