Status Update: Packing Up

So 6 weeks goes by quickly, huh? Well, for the most part.

I left the peacefulness of the nunnery yesterday afternoon and returned to the loud, overcrowded tourist section where I get harassed by someone as soon as I leave the hotel (no, I do not need your trekking service, rickshaw, wood carving, or hashish – wait how much?  just kidding…).   I needed to run some errands and take care of some things here before I leave tomorrow.  My feelings about leaving have been all over the place the past week, but now that I’m back in the tourist section I’m kind of ready to move on.  That could also be because I just had a walking tour of what felt like all of KTM while I searched for something my mom wants me to bring her.   I’m tired and am almost looking forward to my 14.5 hour Doha -> D.C. flight where I’ll get to relax with some free alcohol, ben & jerry’s ice cream, and plenty of movies.  Almost.  I hope nobody else is expecting me to bring them back anything other than my Nepal travel tips (remember how I’m unemployed now? yea, I think that one is going to really hit once I get back).

I’m going to go have my last dinner of Israeli food with a friend now and then tomorrow I’m heading back to the nunnery to have lunch and hang out since my flight isn’t until tomorrow night.  Maybe if I regain my energy I’ll get a post about the nunnery and my fasting attempt up.  I know you’re all in suspense as to if I made it an entire day without talking.  So little faith.

See you in a few days, cheese enchiladas!

Fun With Nuns

You know what’s cuter than a 5 year old?

A 5 year old nun-in-training.  If I ever have kids I may have to make them shave their heads and wear burgundy and saffron colored robes.  I hope my future husband will be ok with that.

As you’ve probably guessed, I have found my way to the nunnery.  The American lady I mentioned before actually left to travel with one of the nuns, so I’m the only outsider staying there right now.  Supposedly I am helping to teach the young nuns English, but I wouldn’t say I’ve contributed too much.  There is a Nepali guy that comes everyday to teach them, so I’ve just been helping him with the class. 

It’s actually a pretty sweet deal because my room and bathroom here are larger than the ones I had at my hotel, and payment is just whatever donation I choose to make.  Although I don’t have HBO here.  They also feed me, or at least they do when they’re not fasting.

Today is a special puja, so most of them have been praying all day (I awoke at 4 am to the sound of a horn blaring and then chanting and other instruments followed – don’t worry I still managed to sleep until 7:30) and the kids only had a half day of school.

From what my new friend Lama Sopa told me (he’s the monk I kicked it with yesterday), tomorrow is a Hindu holiday where they sacrifice animals.  So tomorrow the Buddhists will fast and pray for the animals the Hindus killed.  Or maybe that’s who they were praying for today.  I’m not actually sure if I have any of this right.  (When I just googled it I found an article saying some Hindus  make animal sacrifices to satisfy the goddess Kali – why does my sister get to be named after a goddess while I’m named after a confederate anthem?)

Either way, tomorrow there is no eating, drinking or talking at the nunnery.  I can’t decide which would be harder.  I guess as long as I stay within the nunnery I will be participating by default since nobody will be talking to me or feeding me, but I can always choose to go outside.  Apparently there is no dinner tonight either.

Anyway, I’m having fun observing and hanging out with them.  But if you’ll excuse me, I have to go stock up on some snacks and water to smuggle in for tomorrow just in case I can’t make it.

Everest Marathon

Sooo, who wants to run the Everest Marathon??

It is billed as the highest marathon in the world and runs from Gorak Shep, the last village before Everest, back down to Namche. So basically you get to do the Everest base camp trek up and then run a marathon back down. Doesn’t sound grueling at all.

It was hard enough just to hike uphill in the area where the start of the marathon is. It takes minutes for you to catch your breath as the oxygen level at that altitude is only half of what it is at sea level. And the trail is so rocky that I know people have to walk some of it if they don’t want to break an ankle. My knees are still recovering just from my brisk walk down, I can’t imagine the beating they take if you throw running into the mix.

When I had just started hiking back to Gorak Shep from base camp, a lady jogged by me on the hilly, rock-covered glacier. At the time I just thought she was nuts. I kept waiting to hear her scream reverberate off of the mountains. Personally, I preferred to watch carefully where I placed my feet so I wouldn’t slip down the glacier. Later I heard from someone else that she was training for the marathon.

Since I’ve only done half marathons so far, I think I’ll start with a full marathon closer to sea level. But hey, I wouldn’t mind going back one day. I mean, in what other marathon do you have to compete for trail space with trains of yak while running by some of the world’s highest peaks?

(p.s. – if you’re interested, this short interview briefly describes what it’s like to be at the oxygen levels at base camp. this one has a little more description as well)

Homesickness

So I will admit that over the past week or so I began to feel twinges of homesickness.

I REALLY miss mexican food. 

Not to say that Nepali food isn’t good.  And it is really easy to eat as a vegetarian here.  But after a few weeks of new cuisine I really miss the western stuff.  And the menus don’t vary much (umm, at all), so it didn’t take too long to get burned out.

Since there are obviously no legitimate places to eat tex-mex here, I have had to replace mexican food with middle eastern food.  Mmmm I could eat hummus, tahini and falafel everyday.  And I do.  I had to come back to Kathmandu just so I could eat it.  (Sorry, I’m obviously hungry right now and all I can think about is food).

I am still trying to figure out what to do for the rest of my time here.  I’m not sure I can really top Everest.  I was going to do more trekking around Annapurna, one of the deadliest mountains in the world, but then I got sick and my knees are completely shot from the last trek.

I might call up the American lady I met a few days into the EBC trek.  She is staying at a nunnery for a few months and said I might be able to come visit and help teach English.  She also went to the University of Texas.  She also worked for KPMG once upon a time.  And her brother was my ENT in Houston.  Seriously, sometimes I’m really amazed/creeped out at how small the world is.

I would volunteer somewhere but I only have a little over a week left (crazy!), which isn’t really long enough since most places require a longer commitment.  Someone did just tell me about a montessori school they know of that might be willing to take even a short-time person…an option I guess.

Last week I met a mountain climber in an internet cafe.  Like a legit mountain climber who is on his way to climb an 8000 meter peak alpine style (no support team, no camps, just straight up without supplemental oxygen).  Oh, and him and his climbing partner are doing it illegally without a climbing permit.  I was going to ask if I could tag along and be their base camp manager…but they don’t have a base camp.  So that didn’t really work out.

There’s always the meditation centers.  Maybe I could find inner peace?  I wonder if they offer a money back guarantee.

We’ll see what happens next.  I hope to figure it out tomorrow.  In the meantime I’m just enjoying relaxing, not having a job or anything I have to do, and eating Israeli food.  Rough, I know.

Finally time for dinner.  Mmm falafel.

Down Time

That small cold I got in the mountains morphed itself into a full blown sinus infection, of course.  Luckily you don’t need the help of a doctor here.  Since I was able to diagnose myself, I also prescribed myself some amoxycillin…which I found at a stall selling medicine for the outrageous price of $1.30 for 10 capsules.  Take that, American healthcare system.   Anyone need me to restock their Vicodin supplies while I’m here?

So yea, not so much on the exciting news front right now.  Even though I’m sick I managed to make it through another bus ride to the town of Pokhara.  After a flat tire and more mountainside delays due to accidents, this one was only a few hours late. 

Luckily my hotel here has tv, and a channel showing american movies.  This makes curling up and feeling sorry for myself even more enjoyable.

P.S. – being sick in Nepal is still better than being in an office.

Way to Mt. Everest Base Camp

After nine days of hiking for anywhere from 3 to 6 hours a day, I finally arrived at Everest base camp.  After I last posted about the rough second day hiking to Namche, things improved.  The days up to Gorak Shep, the last town before Everest, still involved strenous ascents, but my legs got stronger and I learned to develop a slow rhythm that would get me uphill.  “1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4…” I would count over and over with each step when going up a difficult section.  After a few days of this I substituted the buddhist mantra “om mani padme hum” for “1, 2, 3, 4″ as it was a little more interesting.   Om mani padme hum got me up many steep climbs.

The trail is rocky and rough much of the time.  I can’t tell you how many times a day the high cut of my hiking boots saved me from sprained or broken ankles.  Or how many times my trekking pole saved me from slipping down a path.  Other than the trains of yaks being used to haul stuff (always step on the inside of the trail so they don’t push you off the cliff) and the Nepalis carrying up 80+ kilos of beer, food, building supplies, etc, we didn’t have to share the trail with many other trekkers as the busy season is just about to get under way.

Mission Accomplished

Just returned to Gorak Shep (5180 meters), the last town before Everest, from Everest Base Camp (5364 meters). Yes, my mission to go to Everest Base Camp and meet mountain climbers has been accomplished. Details later.

A Little More on Tibet

My first few days in the journey to Lhasa consisted mainly of driving.  Driving through tiny villages.  Driving through herds of goats and sheep and past some yak.  Driving over tall mountain passes.Passing through Chinese military checkpoints where they would verify that we were travelling with an approved tour guide and were all on the group visa.

I shared a hotel room at first with the American couple and then the 16 year old Spanish girl.  The first few days we had no shower (it would have been too cold to shower anyway), and of course no western style toilets.

By the second or third night about a third of the group had succumbed to altitude sickness, leaving the American couple (Jen and Adam), the solo Spanish traveller (David) and myself left to grab dinner.  We decided to have a beer at the restaurant by our hotel before going elsewhere for dinner.  We invited the young Tibetan girls working there to sit down and chat with us, and after another girl came in and professed her love for David and asked Jen and Adam to kiss about 15 times, we broke out into a dance party.  David’s admirer played music on her cell phone and the girls tried to teach us dances.  Then Jen and Adam busted out with the infamous lift from Dirty Dancing.  No lie.  Apparently they have practiced it.  That night was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Status Update: Everest or Bust

I have currently just completed day 2 of my trek to Everest base camp.  I believe right now I am at 3440 meters, or something like that…I don’t have my book with me.  I’m going to have to do this post as quickly as possible because I’m being charged 10 rupees/minute instead of the usual 1!  The higher we go the more expensive everything gets.

Early yesterday morning I hopped a flight from KTM to Lukla, the starting point for the trek.  Because the runway in Lukla is extremely short, only very small planes that can make short take-offs and landings can fly there.  The plane had seating for 16 plus the flight attendant – the smallest I’ve ever been on.  I can’t believe they even had a flight attendant whose only job was to serve us 3 little candies.  There were no safety instructions or in-flight entertainment.

After 45 minutes we landed in Lukla.  The runway is such that if you overshoot a landing you’re going to run into the mountain.  And if you don’t take off correctly you will plummet off a cliff. 

Welcome to China…err…Tibet

After a 5 hour van ride with my new travel companions for the next week, we arrived at the Nepal/Tibet border and crossed the Friendship Bridge into Tibet.  But before we could really enter we had to pass through Chinese immigration.  (For anyone needing a refresher on the relationship and history between Tibet and China, please see here)

First our baggage was scanned by machine.  Standard procedure.

Then all of our belongings were hand searched by Chinese soldiers.  Were they looking for drugs?  Guns?  Weapons of mass destruction?

No, just pictures or anything else to do with this guy:

Isn’t he cute?  Oh but dangerous, very dangerous.  (ps that’s the Dalai Lama – who I think is the most adorable person in the history of the world)

That’s right, they examined every piece of paper we had to make sure we didn’t have anything related to HIM.