Hi Everyone,

Hope all is well :-) All is well here.

We just finished a month in Nepal. After our epic two day flight from Honolulu to Kathmandu, we arrived safely to one of the most confronting cities in the world, something that we did not expect, and something that was shocking in light of the many developing nations that we have visited. Nepal is a sad and confronting mix of the negative effects of tourism and globalization on a developing nation, endemic corruption, ineffective governing, poor water quality and sanitation, of life threatening roads and construction, of the fourth worst air quality in the world all mixing with the majestic Himalayas and some of the nicest, but poorest, people in the world. Aside from the water, and the risk of being in the most unsafe city in the world if an earthquake was to occur and the atrocious air, their is sadly also a risk of government conflict and continual strikes. Luckily, we were there during the dry season, so the ever present risk of floods and landslides didn't happen either. I was very grateful for this as I took several bus journeys through areas that are regularly destroyed by landslides.

So, keeping all of this in mind, we were very happy to see Kevin's Dad, our first family, for seven months. Kevin and Nigel then set out to trek to Everest Base Camp and around the Gokyo Lakes for the next 22 days and I checked in to a yoga retreat to be baby sat, be vegetarian and find some zen.

I was very glad to meet some truly wonderful people that I know I will continue to be friends with for many years to come. The retreat all went to plan for the first few days but I unfortunately developed gastro for the fifth time on our travels, and got it three times in a space of 10days. After more toileting than yoga-ing, a couple of other girls and I left the retreat. I hoped to spend some time at a Buddhist monastery, practicing meditation, but they were full of other aspiring monks and mediation devotees and had no room for me. Luckily, Suzanne and Zoya were there to look after me and take me to Pokhara.
I had a lovely time there over the next eight days. Saw the sun rise at Sarangkot, took a boat ride on the Phewa lake and saw the Annapurna range. Luckily, a local restaurant served fabulous gnocchi which almost singlehandedly nursed me back to health (and the wonderful company of Susan and Zoya)! I just took it easy whilst KJ and Nige were trekking.

Meanwhile, in the Himalayas....

The trek was a memorable and unforgettable experience. We started off a little shaky with our flight to Lukla. Before we took off in our 15 seat twin propeller plane, I saw the pilot tapping one of the gauges as the needle seemed to not be moving. In true Nepalese fashion, the pilots still took off and about half way through the flight the pilots turned us around siting weather conditions at Lukla. On landing back in Kathmandu, we were informed that they weren't happy with the broken gauge and decided to get it fixed. We then had a 45min wait until we were off again. The runway at Lukla is one of the most dangerous in the world. It is situated on a cliff face with a 1000m+ drop, has a 15 degree incline and is only 450m long. So basically the pilot has to land right on the edge, slam it in reverse and use the uphill incline to slow the plane down and right at the last moment make a sharp right hand turn to avoid a solid rock wall. Needless to say, it was very interesting but absolutely fantastic, was smiling and giggling like a school boy.

So after our safe arrival we began preparing ourselves for our 18 day trek. The first few days were nice and easy as we gradually ascended through the valley up to the last major town on the trek, Namche. We had a rest day here, which wasn't really a rest day as we had to do a 500mt climb to the Everest view hotel. So sat down with a coffee and got our first real view of Everest. The next day out of Namche we left the Everest highway to start our trek to Gokyo. It was nice to leave the highway as many people were starting the trek and it was getting busier and busier. That night at our camp site, it proceeded to snow and snow all night. We woke up to a good foot of snow which was great for a few moments until we realised that we now had to trek through it, which we proceeded to do for the next week.

Our first major accomplishment was reaching Gokyo and climbing Gokyo Ri. Gokyo is a little town at 4,800mts. It is situated on the biggest of the 3 lakes that form the Gokyo lakes. Due to the minus temps and the snow, the lake was frozen solid. We had 2 nights in Gokyo with our full day climbing Gokyo Ri. Gokyo Ri is a small mountain at 5,360mt which gives you views of 4 mountains over 8,000mts. Upon waking up in the morning, we found again that it had snowed and covered the whole side of the mountain (the side we had to climb!) in a deep layer of snow. Due to this snow, the path was completely covered and we were trekking in the steps of the earlier trekkers. Only problem, about half way up, we overtook the earlier trekkers and had to kind of bush bash our way to the top. Upon getting to the top we discovered that the clouds were in and could only get views of one of the 8,000+mt mountains. It was a fantastic climb and still got some amazing views of the region, including one of the largest glaciers in the region. It is an amazing view to see and you realise when you look out from the top just how big the Himalayan range is. We were up there for about an hour before starting the descent. When we hit about a quarter of the way down, we found that the snow had all melted and turned the path into a mud pit, which made the descent a little tricky.

We then left Gokyo to start our trek across Cho La pass to get us back onto the highway and on our way towards Everest base camp and Kala Patthar. It is a good days' trekking to get to the base of Cho La pass where we camped for the night. It was a temporary camp where the porters had bring in our equipment. Upon arriving to the camp, we saw that all our tents had been pitched on ice so we knew we were in for a long and cold night. We were basically told to crawl into our sleeping bags on arrival. Stay in them until dinner and then basically jump back into them after. After surviving our first night in the wilderness, we crossed Cho La pass, which is at 5,350mts. Upon crossing, we obtained fantastic views of the valley, covered in a fresh gleaming white blanket of snow, surrounded by glaciers on the side of the mountains. It was a special moment and another one of the major accomplishments completed.

We then spent our second night in our wilderness camp. This one was a
little more luxurious as there was no snow. We woke to a gorgeous clear morning surrounded by mountain peaks. It was a great sight which we thoroughly enjoyed during our outside, open breakfast. We the had a couple of days trek to reach a town called Gorekshep which is the last town before base camp and sits at the base of Kala Patthar. The trek out to EBC isn't a nice trek, however you do get some great views of the glacier and the mountains surrounding Everest. We arrived at base camp (where base camp starts) and were able to see all the expeditions setting up for this summit. We were also treated to some great views of the valley that the climbers start up and were able to see the points of where camp 1 & 2 will be located. It was a special place and quiet surreal being there knowing that all these people will be attempting the climb. The next day was the start of our last major climb, Kala Patthar. Kala Patthar means 'black rock' in Hindu. It is a small mountain sitting at 5,545ms and gives the best views of Everest. We were once again very lucky and had another clear morning. We started the trek and after about 30min, we had a spectacular view of Everest, which only got better the higher we climbed. After about 1.5hrs of walking, we reached the top and was greeted with one of the best sites in the world. We had a nice clear view of Everest and all the surrounding mountains and valleys. Was unbelievable to think we had finally reached it and managed to get such an amazing view of Everest. After basking in the sight and some of John's whiskey for 20min, we then headed down back to Gorekshep to start our descent back to Lukla.

The descent was pretty uneventful. We were lucky enough to see the Sherpa memorial. Was a great sight to see that all these Sherpa were recognized for the amazing work that they do, but even sadder by the fact there will now be another 12 added to the memorial.

We were all grateful and happy to reach Lukla and then Kathmandu. We all had an amazing experience and one that we will never forget, glad that we had completed it and experienced it. Would recommend for everyone to do it.