Wow! What a week! I have learned so much about myself it's not even funny. I spent the week....hmmmm...learning to breathe, learning to meditate, and learning self-love and happiness. Sounds a bit crazy right? Learning how to breathe, etc etc. But I feel like I can REALLY breathe now, so freely and easily, I'm so light...it feels like 10 kg of weight has been lifted from my shoulders. And just happiness...I think just the pace of life in Canada was getting me down and negative at times, never feeling like I had time for anything or anyone. All that has changed. I know what I need to do and keep doing in order to keep this feeling of vitality and energy with me.
I feel like this past week was the purpose behind my whole trip. Yeah, I've seen and done many things over the past month but I know that this week was the most important, the sole purpose of being here, and a huge changing point in my life.
I was lucky enough to meet a man called Gajender in Shimla on my last evening here before flying to Nepal. He said he could see my negativity in front of me and that he has helped others in the past and could help me as well. He showed me many letters from other foreigners who he's helped (like 60 nationalities!) and I suppose it won me over. I couldn't get the meeting or this man out of my head for my weeks of travel and knew I had to return.
And...it was hard knowing that i'd be in the same place for a week, a place I'd already seen and explored, a place that was cold (highs of about 10) when I could have been on the beaches of Goa basking in the sun. But it was absolutely the right thing to do and I'm forever grateful to this place and this man and everyone in this wonderful country.
I'm leaving for the chaos of Delhi today and then Wed to Mumbai for the final few days of my trip. I haven't been running but know that the marathon will go well, I have such a mental strength now that outweighs the fact that I haven't been running.
Anyways, thought I should update...looking forward to seeing and talking to you all again in ONE WEEK!! AAAhhhhh!! :)
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Most Magical New Years Yet!
Happy New Years!!! All the best in 2009 everybody!
I rang in the New Year with thousands of Sikhs at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. It definitely goes down in my books at the most magical New Years yet. My train from Agra to Amritsar was late (well and initially I hopped on the wrong one! but got it sorted out and got on the right one shortly afterwards). It was about a 14 hour journey...but it was worth it...I arrived at about 10:30 pm and was lucky enough to get a room at the "Lucky" hotel in Amritsar...EVERYTHING was booked solid...many Sikhs throughout India come here for New Years...but they just let me use this room that they were doing a bit of construction on (i.e. no windows...it was LOUD on NYrs night!). I made it to the golden temple complex at about 11:30 pm and not realizing that I was right there, saw a stall selling hot milk tea (VERY VERY yummy...with ginger and cardamom) and biscuits. It's cold here and I go right to the stall and ask "how much?" "No no no! It's Free!" They say. Then realize I'm at the Golden Temple Complex. There are entries from all 4 sides of the complex, indicating that ANYBODY, any religion, any colour, class, creed, whatever...is welcome. The Golden Temple is extremely efficient...they have shoe stalls with boxes (you get a coin sized piece of metal with your number on it) to leave your shoes then walk barefoot into the complex. There is a 24 hour cafeteria free to all and again open to absolutely anybody.
Once inside, the golden temple is all lit up and it's just packed full of Sikhs, thousands of them. I see a few foreigners as well...4 or so...but pretty much we're a novelty. All sorts of people come up and shake my hand "Happy New Year" "Happy New Year." They chant something like "Bole Sohn Nahal, Sat Sri Akal." Meaning something like "Happiness to you, you're welcome." Somebody tried to explain that before I went in.
Just after midnight, they hand out more food...paranthas...deep fried toast basically. There wasn't really a countdown, but fireworks were let off sporatically through the night...from 11:30 til 12:30 or so. No big displays.
Love Amritsar though, I am getting even more attention here, not sure why there are so few foreigners, it's a really amazing place. But everybody either wants their pic with me or wants me to take their pic... :) They're hilarious. Most everyone is extremely kind and helpful, I have several addresses and phone numbers of places and people to stay with if I ever have the time.
Will try to get some pics uploaded soon...headed to Chandigarh tomorrow though.
Happy New Year!!!
I rang in the New Year with thousands of Sikhs at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. It definitely goes down in my books at the most magical New Years yet. My train from Agra to Amritsar was late (well and initially I hopped on the wrong one! but got it sorted out and got on the right one shortly afterwards). It was about a 14 hour journey...but it was worth it...I arrived at about 10:30 pm and was lucky enough to get a room at the "Lucky" hotel in Amritsar...EVERYTHING was booked solid...many Sikhs throughout India come here for New Years...but they just let me use this room that they were doing a bit of construction on (i.e. no windows...it was LOUD on NYrs night!). I made it to the golden temple complex at about 11:30 pm and not realizing that I was right there, saw a stall selling hot milk tea (VERY VERY yummy...with ginger and cardamom) and biscuits. It's cold here and I go right to the stall and ask "how much?" "No no no! It's Free!" They say. Then realize I'm at the Golden Temple Complex. There are entries from all 4 sides of the complex, indicating that ANYBODY, any religion, any colour, class, creed, whatever...is welcome. The Golden Temple is extremely efficient...they have shoe stalls with boxes (you get a coin sized piece of metal with your number on it) to leave your shoes then walk barefoot into the complex. There is a 24 hour cafeteria free to all and again open to absolutely anybody.
Once inside, the golden temple is all lit up and it's just packed full of Sikhs, thousands of them. I see a few foreigners as well...4 or so...but pretty much we're a novelty. All sorts of people come up and shake my hand "Happy New Year" "Happy New Year." They chant something like "Bole Sohn Nahal, Sat Sri Akal." Meaning something like "Happiness to you, you're welcome." Somebody tried to explain that before I went in.
Just after midnight, they hand out more food...paranthas...deep fried toast basically. There wasn't really a countdown, but fireworks were let off sporatically through the night...from 11:30 til 12:30 or so. No big displays.
Love Amritsar though, I am getting even more attention here, not sure why there are so few foreigners, it's a really amazing place. But everybody either wants their pic with me or wants me to take their pic... :) They're hilarious. Most everyone is extremely kind and helpful, I have several addresses and phone numbers of places and people to stay with if I ever have the time.
Will try to get some pics uploaded soon...headed to Chandigarh tomorrow though.
Happy New Year!!!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Agra and the Taj
There's a first time for everything and as far as I can remember, today was the first time that something man-made was able to make me cry from sheer awesomeness. The Taj Mahal. Wow wow wow wow wow. I had seen it from my hotel's rooftop restaurant yesterday and thought "yep, that's the Taj." But it wasn't til this morning (being the 5th person into the gate at 7 am) that it really just STRUCK me. It was a very foggy morning but it made the atmosphere around it so mysterious...the Taj just rose right out of the fog before me and I got to see the sun rise with it as a foreground.
The Taj took 11 years to build and was completed in 1653. You might think it's a religious monument (well in fact there ARE mosques here) but the Taj itself is not. It was built by Shah Jahan, the emperor at that time, as a resting place for his wife, Mumtaz (Taj) Mahal when she died giving birth to their 14th child. Shah lays beside her now. Most emperors and noblemen at that time had several wives, as did Shah Jahan, but he only truly loved Mumtaz and grieved for months when she died. The Taj (at least the main roof) is supposed to look like a teardrop from God for the loss of Mumtaz. If anybody's looking for some holiday reading, check out the novel "Under a Marble Sky" it's about the making of the Taj Mahal as told by the point of view of the daughter of Shah and Mumtaz (Jahanara) and is great because you learn the history but the book is an easy read and brings all the characters to life. I'm still not done but plan to finish on the train ride to Amritsar tomorrow then I'm going on a yoga retreat...I need some R&R desperately!
I think this monument is the most beautiful the world has ever or will ever see. I could stare at it endlessly, and as my last day in Agra spent what remained of my afternoon/evening just sipping Chai tea gazing at the Taj from the rooftop patio. It's just immaculate. I had the place nearly to myself to begin with but Indians also have vacation right now so it got busy...quite fast. Others there at first light were mainly photographers, there was one Slavic dude getting supper pissed off that people kept getting in his photos, he was yelling at one of the locals at the top of his lungs at one point!
I also got to see the many other sights of Agra (for $7 I had my own personal driver all day long!) and amazing as they were, they paled in comparison to the Taj. Should have taken an extra day and done the Taj on it's own on the last day. Agra Fort was also very impressive and was where Shah Jahan was eventually imprisoned by his own son (the bloodthursty Aurangzeb). His son afforded him views of the Taj from his prison, however.
I am still a local celebrity and I think I could actually make a living in India charging for my photo. Even Agra that sees so many tourists...I'm surprised by the number of people that want a picture with me!
Pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ErinSzumsky/Agra
The Taj took 11 years to build and was completed in 1653. You might think it's a religious monument (well in fact there ARE mosques here) but the Taj itself is not. It was built by Shah Jahan, the emperor at that time, as a resting place for his wife, Mumtaz (Taj) Mahal when she died giving birth to their 14th child. Shah lays beside her now. Most emperors and noblemen at that time had several wives, as did Shah Jahan, but he only truly loved Mumtaz and grieved for months when she died. The Taj (at least the main roof) is supposed to look like a teardrop from God for the loss of Mumtaz. If anybody's looking for some holiday reading, check out the novel "Under a Marble Sky" it's about the making of the Taj Mahal as told by the point of view of the daughter of Shah and Mumtaz (Jahanara) and is great because you learn the history but the book is an easy read and brings all the characters to life. I'm still not done but plan to finish on the train ride to Amritsar tomorrow then I'm going on a yoga retreat...I need some R&R desperately!
I think this monument is the most beautiful the world has ever or will ever see. I could stare at it endlessly, and as my last day in Agra spent what remained of my afternoon/evening just sipping Chai tea gazing at the Taj from the rooftop patio. It's just immaculate. I had the place nearly to myself to begin with but Indians also have vacation right now so it got busy...quite fast. Others there at first light were mainly photographers, there was one Slavic dude getting supper pissed off that people kept getting in his photos, he was yelling at one of the locals at the top of his lungs at one point!
I also got to see the many other sights of Agra (for $7 I had my own personal driver all day long!) and amazing as they were, they paled in comparison to the Taj. Should have taken an extra day and done the Taj on it's own on the last day. Agra Fort was also very impressive and was where Shah Jahan was eventually imprisoned by his own son (the bloodthursty Aurangzeb). His son afforded him views of the Taj from his prison, however.
I am still a local celebrity and I think I could actually make a living in India charging for my photo. Even Agra that sees so many tourists...I'm surprised by the number of people that want a picture with me!
Pictures at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ErinSzumsky/Agra
Monday, December 29, 2008
Varanasi
Never has a place alarmed me so much as Varanasi, India. I think I spent a good 3 hours with eyes the size of saucers and my mouth hung open when I took my first walk along the Ganges. I got there early on Dec 27 after spending nearly a full 24 hours travelling from Pokhara Nepal. The journey is a story in itself but a new American friend and I made it at about 4am after travelling by the bumpy and loud, local night bus from the border town of Sunauli.
Varnasi India is located on the holy Ganges River and basically people come here to bathe and purify themselves in public...it's also where they burn the dead (also in public). Within the first hour of walking around I came across the burning Ghat (I am not sure on the exact definition of a Ghat but it seems to consist of steps leading down to the river where people go to bathe themselves...the dead are also bathed before being burned). It's located not too far from the hotel we're staying at; I guess that's why it was so cheap??!
They are actually quite good with foreigners and give them the whole speal about burning and the dead. Photos aren't allowed at this Ghat, I wouldn't want them anyway! It takes some 200 kg of wood to incinerate a body and there are separate locations for low, middle, and high class burnings. 24 hours after the person dies, they are burned. they're wrapped in white cloth and then covered with yellow, orange, and gold wrapping then are brought down to the Ganges and washed in this shrouding. Then they start the fire from this 500 year old Shiva Fire and I think sometimes they send the corpse out on a boat to burn but I never saw this. They remove the yellow, orange, gold stuff before burning but keep the white cloth on. No crying is allowed - it is supposed to be a celebration because if the person dies in Varanasi they are set free of the birth-rebirth cycle. If the dead person is a pregnant woman, child, or holy man, they are not burned but are tied to a rock and sent to rest at the bottom of the Ganges. This River is where the locals cleanse and purify themselves...many of them go for swims! I ain't getting closer than a meter from that water!!! Yilch!
Anyways, the Ganges is a very interesting place, you can watch everyday life take place including people peeing for the world to see. Well that happens everywhere in India...but after a few hours you get accustomed to the sights: boat builders go about their building, cow patty driers gather cow dung and lie it in paddies to be dried as fuel for fires, cricket matches abound, and there are always about a hundred kites in the air at any given time, and there are constant row boats travelling along the Ganges full of sightseers or people heading to the Golden Temple.
A few pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ErinSzumsky/Varanasi#
Varnasi India is located on the holy Ganges River and basically people come here to bathe and purify themselves in public...it's also where they burn the dead (also in public). Within the first hour of walking around I came across the burning Ghat (I am not sure on the exact definition of a Ghat but it seems to consist of steps leading down to the river where people go to bathe themselves...the dead are also bathed before being burned). It's located not too far from the hotel we're staying at; I guess that's why it was so cheap??!
They are actually quite good with foreigners and give them the whole speal about burning and the dead. Photos aren't allowed at this Ghat, I wouldn't want them anyway! It takes some 200 kg of wood to incinerate a body and there are separate locations for low, middle, and high class burnings. 24 hours after the person dies, they are burned. they're wrapped in white cloth and then covered with yellow, orange, and gold wrapping then are brought down to the Ganges and washed in this shrouding. Then they start the fire from this 500 year old Shiva Fire and I think sometimes they send the corpse out on a boat to burn but I never saw this. They remove the yellow, orange, gold stuff before burning but keep the white cloth on. No crying is allowed - it is supposed to be a celebration because if the person dies in Varanasi they are set free of the birth-rebirth cycle. If the dead person is a pregnant woman, child, or holy man, they are not burned but are tied to a rock and sent to rest at the bottom of the Ganges. This River is where the locals cleanse and purify themselves...many of them go for swims! I ain't getting closer than a meter from that water!!! Yilch!
Anyways, the Ganges is a very interesting place, you can watch everyday life take place including people peeing for the world to see. Well that happens everywhere in India...but after a few hours you get accustomed to the sights: boat builders go about their building, cow patty driers gather cow dung and lie it in paddies to be dried as fuel for fires, cricket matches abound, and there are always about a hundred kites in the air at any given time, and there are constant row boats travelling along the Ganges full of sightseers or people heading to the Golden Temple.
A few pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ErinSzumsky/Varanasi#
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Feedback to Health Canada RE: the Flu Shot please include Nepalese strains in future flu cocktails!
MERRY CHRISTMAS from Nepal! More specifically, Pokhara, the 2nd largest city in the country although it sure doesn't feel like it. It doesn't even come close to the chaos that is Kathmandu.
As the title suggests, I was utterly struck down by the flu on Dec 23. I was JUST getting over a cold from Everest, then on the 22nd starting to feel worse again and by the 23rd I couldn't leave my room. Covered in 5 blankets (it's 25 degrees here) I still had the shivers, every part of my body was sore, and well...everything inside of me was coming out every possible direction. It wasn't pretty. I'm not 100% now but am on my way up and out of it, I've already booked a ticket back to the Indian border by bus tomorrow and either I'll go to Varanasi or to Agra (last minute decision and will depend how I feel).
It sure doesn't feel like Christmas here. There was a "parade" I guess you'd call it...a pretty lame excuse for one. Mainly a few motorbikers dressed up in Santa hats...with a few "floats" 2 to be exact, with streamers and yelling children. Hey at least they tried I guess. I felt good enough to walk around...me and one of the guys working at the hotel and his wife went to see some caves in the area and a waterfall and we climbed up to the World Peace Pagoda high above the city. On a good day you can see the Annapurnas but all week has not been good...today was the best...I guess I used all my luck on Everest because the weather there was PERFECT. So I'm done with Pokhara for now, I'll be back some day to trek the Annapurnas but not now, not until I forget all about the exhaustion that was Everest.
Speaking of which: PICS! Please check out:
Everest:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ErinSzumsky/Everest
Kathmandu:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ErinSzumsky/Kathmandu#
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! I hope there is plenty of snow and it feels like Christmas wherever you are!!
As the title suggests, I was utterly struck down by the flu on Dec 23. I was JUST getting over a cold from Everest, then on the 22nd starting to feel worse again and by the 23rd I couldn't leave my room. Covered in 5 blankets (it's 25 degrees here) I still had the shivers, every part of my body was sore, and well...everything inside of me was coming out every possible direction. It wasn't pretty. I'm not 100% now but am on my way up and out of it, I've already booked a ticket back to the Indian border by bus tomorrow and either I'll go to Varanasi or to Agra (last minute decision and will depend how I feel).
It sure doesn't feel like Christmas here. There was a "parade" I guess you'd call it...a pretty lame excuse for one. Mainly a few motorbikers dressed up in Santa hats...with a few "floats" 2 to be exact, with streamers and yelling children. Hey at least they tried I guess. I felt good enough to walk around...me and one of the guys working at the hotel and his wife went to see some caves in the area and a waterfall and we climbed up to the World Peace Pagoda high above the city. On a good day you can see the Annapurnas but all week has not been good...today was the best...I guess I used all my luck on Everest because the weather there was PERFECT. So I'm done with Pokhara for now, I'll be back some day to trek the Annapurnas but not now, not until I forget all about the exhaustion that was Everest.
Speaking of which: PICS! Please check out:
Everest:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ErinSzumsky/Everest
Kathmandu:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ErinSzumsky/Kathmandu#
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! I hope there is plenty of snow and it feels like Christmas wherever you are!!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Everest Base Camp and back
On December 15 at approximately 2 pm, I made it to the 5364 meter expanse on the Khumbu Glacier that is called "Everest Base Camp". The following morning I made it (hanging on by about a millimeter thick thread) to Kala Pattar at 5550 meters (for incredible views of the Himalaya ranges). The last 2 weeks have been the most trying, most physically exhausting, most gruelling, but also the most rewarding experiences of my life.
In 12 days, my group of 11 foreigners (plus 3 guides and 5 porters) and I trekked approximately 70 miles (not including rest day mileage), gaining then losing about 3 km in altitude (Min altitude: 2600 m, Maximum 5550 m). Most of us suffered from colds as well as altitude sickness and even food poisoning during that time. In 12 days I lost 5 KILOS (11 pounds), you just can't keep up with energy demands of trekking at high altitude. For the first time in 2 weeks, I felt "full" yesterday at dinner having stopped trekking and returning to Kathmandu.
Who else is crazy enough to sign up for this $hit?? 2 Irish Farmers (one is a sub 3 hour marathoner), 4 from the UK (including a personal trainer), 3 from the US (one serves in Iraq), 1 from Australia, and yours truly, the only Canadian on the trip. 4 of the 11 are marathon runners and everybody else is extremely fit in other ways.
So the trek starts from a place called Lukla which you fly in and out of from Kathmandu. There are no motor vehicles in this region WHATSOEVER. Transportation and carrying of goods is by yak or porter. Tenzing-Hillary Airport at Lukla is without a doubt the scariest airport I've ever been to. The runway is extremely short and the landing strip is 60 meters higher on one side (you land going uphill and take off going downhill). If you overshoot the runway, you hit an embankment, if you underestimate it, your plane falls off a cliff. There have been several accidents here, as you can imagine. The Nepalese pilots dress like Tom Cruise...with aviator sunglasses and leather jackets...they think they are IT, which honestly, they are for making the landings and take-offs safely. I gave about 5 sighs of relief on landing safely in Kathmandu.
Weather was perfect, couldn't have been better. Clear days (except the day we fly to Lukla and the day we leave). Got up to about 20-25 degrees at "low altitude"...3000m. Was very cold at night, no heating, often no electricity. We all huddle around by the fire at night. I am glad to have brought my -18 deg C sleeping bag, there were 2 nights when that wasn't even enough.
By Day 4 many of us have developed coughs (one guy started the trip with a cold and it quickly passed through all but 1 of the group members). I think I started coughing Day 3 and Day 4 it turned into a chest cough and cold. The effects of altitude sickness began probably at 3800 m - they aren't huge...mostly just sleep disturbances, and sleep-wake "cycles" of every hour or so instead of constant sleep. By 4900 m it was full blown altitude sickness. You are startled awake several times through the night because your body stops breathing. You wake up and hyperventilate, it's an awful feeling.
We got 3 "rest days" which were optional "torture days"...I partook in all 3 "torture days." One was from 4400 m to 5000 m and back down. The oxygen is getting really limited at this point (in comparison, the oxygen at 5500 m is HALF as much as at sea level). We climb up this pretty steep hill. I broke down getting up there...only 5 of 11 of us attempted it. You look at the hill and think to yourself "No problem, I can do that." In the back of your mind you keep telling yourself, "It's not sea level, it's 4500 or whatever odd meters." But it's hard to wrap your mind around it, you just can't understand why the hill should be so hard and why after taking slow steps up it, you hyperventilate. Again, a terrible terrible feeling...that you just can't get enough oxygen into your system. I thought this "torture day" would put me in good shape for trekking to 4900 m the next day. I felt fine until that evening when sometime thru the night (the coldest night yet...you DID NOT want to leave your sleeping bag unless ABSOLUTELY necessary)...a very intense headache started and I kept up the wake-sleep-wake-sleep cycles. In the morning, I'm completely nauseous. I tell the main guide how I'm feeling and he gives me a cup of hot water and tells me to take Diamox for altitude sickness. I throw up the water 10 minutes later but I think some of the pill stayed...I began to feel better 10 minutes later. Seriously thought I wouldn't be making base camp though, just so sick and so tired. Diamox is truly a wonder drug though, I only needed it for 2 days, but without it I wouldn't have been able to complete the trek.
Only 3 of us make the Kala Pattar excursion (5100 m to 5550 m), it was the coldest I've been in my life, only 0 deg C but who knows what it is with the windchill factor. Brutally freezing. I wanted to turn around so bad and go back down but my guide said "Erin if you don't keep going I will carry you to the top of the mountain." 3 SLOW steps up the mountain and you gotta rest, it is really that exhausting at altutude. Exhaustion at 5100 m is simply getting out of your sleeping bag at night to use the washroom then getting back in and zipping it back up. You're out of breath at that simple act. Heck, you're out of breath packing your sleeping bag up in the morning.
The only real event of the trip was at the end, Day 11...we had done a relatively easy downhill walk for 4 hours and were chilling out at a teahouse (2800 m) by the fire when all of a sudden one of the guys just collapses. No warning, he just faints. Normally when you faint you come to relatively quickly. He didn't. It took 45 minutes for him to speak again and another couple hours for him to get up and start walking. There was talk of sending him to Lukla by pony that night, none of us knew what to do. The owner of the teahouse waved hot coals (with incense) over his body to bring him back to life...the smoke from it is intoxicating, if the guy was having any trouble breathing at all, it probably would have suffocated him. The rest of us can't stop coughing. Luckily, he is fine and is able to complete the final 5 hour trek to Lukla the next day. All of us were quite scared though, it was just the accumulation of days and days of complete exhaustion. Made us all realize the dangers of altitude and exertion on this kind of scale.
Want to write a lot more about this but gotta meet up with the remaining 4 members of my group for dinner...am trying to attach pics but so far no luck.
Hope everyone is in the full swing of the Christmas Season!! Our Christmas treat came early when we were lucky enough to watch TV for an hour or so and saw George W getting shoes thrown at him! We all laughed hysterically for hours that night!
Write more hopefully tomorrow.
Erin
In 12 days, my group of 11 foreigners (plus 3 guides and 5 porters) and I trekked approximately 70 miles (not including rest day mileage), gaining then losing about 3 km in altitude (Min altitude: 2600 m, Maximum 5550 m). Most of us suffered from colds as well as altitude sickness and even food poisoning during that time. In 12 days I lost 5 KILOS (11 pounds), you just can't keep up with energy demands of trekking at high altitude. For the first time in 2 weeks, I felt "full" yesterday at dinner having stopped trekking and returning to Kathmandu.
Who else is crazy enough to sign up for this $hit?? 2 Irish Farmers (one is a sub 3 hour marathoner), 4 from the UK (including a personal trainer), 3 from the US (one serves in Iraq), 1 from Australia, and yours truly, the only Canadian on the trip. 4 of the 11 are marathon runners and everybody else is extremely fit in other ways.
So the trek starts from a place called Lukla which you fly in and out of from Kathmandu. There are no motor vehicles in this region WHATSOEVER. Transportation and carrying of goods is by yak or porter. Tenzing-Hillary Airport at Lukla is without a doubt the scariest airport I've ever been to. The runway is extremely short and the landing strip is 60 meters higher on one side (you land going uphill and take off going downhill). If you overshoot the runway, you hit an embankment, if you underestimate it, your plane falls off a cliff. There have been several accidents here, as you can imagine. The Nepalese pilots dress like Tom Cruise...with aviator sunglasses and leather jackets...they think they are IT, which honestly, they are for making the landings and take-offs safely. I gave about 5 sighs of relief on landing safely in Kathmandu.
Weather was perfect, couldn't have been better. Clear days (except the day we fly to Lukla and the day we leave). Got up to about 20-25 degrees at "low altitude"...3000m. Was very cold at night, no heating, often no electricity. We all huddle around by the fire at night. I am glad to have brought my -18 deg C sleeping bag, there were 2 nights when that wasn't even enough.
By Day 4 many of us have developed coughs (one guy started the trip with a cold and it quickly passed through all but 1 of the group members). I think I started coughing Day 3 and Day 4 it turned into a chest cough and cold. The effects of altitude sickness began probably at 3800 m - they aren't huge...mostly just sleep disturbances, and sleep-wake "cycles" of every hour or so instead of constant sleep. By 4900 m it was full blown altitude sickness. You are startled awake several times through the night because your body stops breathing. You wake up and hyperventilate, it's an awful feeling.
We got 3 "rest days" which were optional "torture days"...I partook in all 3 "torture days." One was from 4400 m to 5000 m and back down. The oxygen is getting really limited at this point (in comparison, the oxygen at 5500 m is HALF as much as at sea level). We climb up this pretty steep hill. I broke down getting up there...only 5 of 11 of us attempted it. You look at the hill and think to yourself "No problem, I can do that." In the back of your mind you keep telling yourself, "It's not sea level, it's 4500 or whatever odd meters." But it's hard to wrap your mind around it, you just can't understand why the hill should be so hard and why after taking slow steps up it, you hyperventilate. Again, a terrible terrible feeling...that you just can't get enough oxygen into your system. I thought this "torture day" would put me in good shape for trekking to 4900 m the next day. I felt fine until that evening when sometime thru the night (the coldest night yet...you DID NOT want to leave your sleeping bag unless ABSOLUTELY necessary)...a very intense headache started and I kept up the wake-sleep-wake-sleep cycles. In the morning, I'm completely nauseous. I tell the main guide how I'm feeling and he gives me a cup of hot water and tells me to take Diamox for altitude sickness. I throw up the water 10 minutes later but I think some of the pill stayed...I began to feel better 10 minutes later. Seriously thought I wouldn't be making base camp though, just so sick and so tired. Diamox is truly a wonder drug though, I only needed it for 2 days, but without it I wouldn't have been able to complete the trek.
Only 3 of us make the Kala Pattar excursion (5100 m to 5550 m), it was the coldest I've been in my life, only 0 deg C but who knows what it is with the windchill factor. Brutally freezing. I wanted to turn around so bad and go back down but my guide said "Erin if you don't keep going I will carry you to the top of the mountain." 3 SLOW steps up the mountain and you gotta rest, it is really that exhausting at altutude. Exhaustion at 5100 m is simply getting out of your sleeping bag at night to use the washroom then getting back in and zipping it back up. You're out of breath at that simple act. Heck, you're out of breath packing your sleeping bag up in the morning.
The only real event of the trip was at the end, Day 11...we had done a relatively easy downhill walk for 4 hours and were chilling out at a teahouse (2800 m) by the fire when all of a sudden one of the guys just collapses. No warning, he just faints. Normally when you faint you come to relatively quickly. He didn't. It took 45 minutes for him to speak again and another couple hours for him to get up and start walking. There was talk of sending him to Lukla by pony that night, none of us knew what to do. The owner of the teahouse waved hot coals (with incense) over his body to bring him back to life...the smoke from it is intoxicating, if the guy was having any trouble breathing at all, it probably would have suffocated him. The rest of us can't stop coughing. Luckily, he is fine and is able to complete the final 5 hour trek to Lukla the next day. All of us were quite scared though, it was just the accumulation of days and days of complete exhaustion. Made us all realize the dangers of altitude and exertion on this kind of scale.
Want to write a lot more about this but gotta meet up with the remaining 4 members of my group for dinner...am trying to attach pics but so far no luck.
Hope everyone is in the full swing of the Christmas Season!! Our Christmas treat came early when we were lucky enough to watch TV for an hour or so and saw George W getting shoes thrown at him! We all laughed hysterically for hours that night!
Write more hopefully tomorrow.
Erin
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Namaste from Kathmandu Nepal!
Hi guys...or rather Namaste! Thanks so much for your posts! I am doing well (but extremely tired...I never slept a wink last night in anticipation/worry of missing my flight to Nepal which ended up being delayed due to weather in Kathmandu by 3 hours). If only I would have known!
So I spent all my time at or close to Shimla, India. I absolutely loved this town, so much character and very safe. My treatment (and nearly everything) in India has been very random and unpredictable. I get curious stares from some, seemingly evilish stares from the odd few, but from most...help when I need it, answers to questions, and more friends and contacts! I also love how I have become somewhat of a mini celebrity in Shimla...I get asked to have my photos taken with the Indians...Shimla being a very very big tourist town (for Honeymooners in particular...not so much white folks... the 2 couples sitting around me on the train ride back got married Nov 23 and Nov 24!). I think I will start charging for photos!
I trekked with Mushy to Tattapani...not sure exactly how far this is but man, we had amazing views of the Himalayas in the distance, and of the surrounding mountains. We make it most of the way but decide for the last descent into Tattapani to take the local bus since it's getting to be dusk. Again, this region doesn't see so many tourists...Shimla does but mainly not white folk...and even fewer venture into the smaller villages from there. The bus pulls over and I am not kidding you, the ENTIRE bus full of Indians just stares at me wide eyed. It's hilarious!! At Tattapani there are hot natural sulfur springs...relieves the muscle tension of all the trekking. At over 2000 meters ASL the trekking is tough in spots, I'm short of breath. I ask Mushy whether he thinks I can make base camp and he thinks I can...provided the weather holds. He has more faith in me than I do...I am somewhat nervous for this...unchartered territory for me.
A few gripes about India:
- Garbage. It's everywhere. You are travelling on a UNESCO world heritage site railway...full of history and charm and stunning scenery. And everybody is eating their bags of chips and biscuits, whatever and just chucks the wrappers freely and easily out the side of the train. It irritates me when the locals do this, it irks me even more when foreigners do it because it's what everybody else does. I don't get it - why don't they have pride in the beauty of their country?? I feel like starting an ad campaign.
- Spitting. There are signposts around train stations etc. not to spit. But this is not enforced - everybody does it. And not only do they spit, they make terrible gutteral sounds getting whatever flem up from their stomach lining that they can. Sorry for the details, I just want you to feel my pain for a moment. I have gagged more than a few times because of people's "manners."
- Driving. Oh man...actually I have to note one important thing! No matter how crazy the roads, how unstructured, unsafe, or chatotic they are. Bus drivers STOP THE BUS when their cell phone rings! So there's one plus. Glad that Ontario is recognizing the hazard in this too. But I don't get it: some places there are no lines on the roads so people make as many lanes fit. But even where there ARE lane markers...little white dotted lines...people drive wherever they please and wherever they fit! Ahhhh, whenever I'm in a vehicle in India it is an extremely stressful white knuckle ride. I will be sticking to trains, they seem to run on time and are much much safer.
Lots more stories to tell, but I've had a sleepless night and gotta go to bed. Got into New Delhi Train station at 10 pm, decide to go directly to airport and forego the ~4 hours of restless sleep I'd get by staying at a hotel since I have to catch a 6:45 am flight to Nepal. Flight ends up being delayed til 9:30 or so due to bad weather (fogginess) in Kathmandu. Aaah, wish I had have known. But on checking in (I was one of the first) I get asked where I'd like to sit. I say "window seat." The guy assigns me my seat then asks "First time to Nepal?" "Yes." "You need a different ticket then." He assigns me one on the side of the plane with the best Himilaya views. Honestly on the flight it takes me awhile to notice. It is a bit cloudy and I'm lamenting over the fact that I can't see below me. Then I peer out at eye level....and.....wow....there they are....peaking way over the cloud line...the Himalayas. They stretch for miles and miles...what looks like a solid line of them. They don't look so big from the plane, but then again, what does? But on decent into Kathmandu, and realization of just how far above the cloud line they really are....I start getting nervous. I meet my trekking group tomorrow and the following day we fly to Lukla to begin the 2 week trek to Everest Base Camp at 5400 m ASL. I will therefore be out of touch completely for 2 weeks but will update you when I get back Dec 20 or 21.
Hope to get on here tomorrow though. Kathmandu is CRAZY (but love it!)! Took me almost all day today to get my bearings, steets are narrow but buildings tall, many shops look the same. Must keep an eye open for cars, bikes, walkers, autorickshaws, cyclerickshaws, motorcycles, the works.... :)
Enjoy all the Christmas festivities and speak soon.
Erin
So I spent all my time at or close to Shimla, India. I absolutely loved this town, so much character and very safe. My treatment (and nearly everything) in India has been very random and unpredictable. I get curious stares from some, seemingly evilish stares from the odd few, but from most...help when I need it, answers to questions, and more friends and contacts! I also love how I have become somewhat of a mini celebrity in Shimla...I get asked to have my photos taken with the Indians...Shimla being a very very big tourist town (for Honeymooners in particular...not so much white folks... the 2 couples sitting around me on the train ride back got married Nov 23 and Nov 24!). I think I will start charging for photos!
I trekked with Mushy to Tattapani...not sure exactly how far this is but man, we had amazing views of the Himalayas in the distance, and of the surrounding mountains. We make it most of the way but decide for the last descent into Tattapani to take the local bus since it's getting to be dusk. Again, this region doesn't see so many tourists...Shimla does but mainly not white folk...and even fewer venture into the smaller villages from there. The bus pulls over and I am not kidding you, the ENTIRE bus full of Indians just stares at me wide eyed. It's hilarious!! At Tattapani there are hot natural sulfur springs...relieves the muscle tension of all the trekking. At over 2000 meters ASL the trekking is tough in spots, I'm short of breath. I ask Mushy whether he thinks I can make base camp and he thinks I can...provided the weather holds. He has more faith in me than I do...I am somewhat nervous for this...unchartered territory for me.
A few gripes about India:
- Garbage. It's everywhere. You are travelling on a UNESCO world heritage site railway...full of history and charm and stunning scenery. And everybody is eating their bags of chips and biscuits, whatever and just chucks the wrappers freely and easily out the side of the train. It irritates me when the locals do this, it irks me even more when foreigners do it because it's what everybody else does. I don't get it - why don't they have pride in the beauty of their country?? I feel like starting an ad campaign.
- Spitting. There are signposts around train stations etc. not to spit. But this is not enforced - everybody does it. And not only do they spit, they make terrible gutteral sounds getting whatever flem up from their stomach lining that they can. Sorry for the details, I just want you to feel my pain for a moment. I have gagged more than a few times because of people's "manners."
- Driving. Oh man...actually I have to note one important thing! No matter how crazy the roads, how unstructured, unsafe, or chatotic they are. Bus drivers STOP THE BUS when their cell phone rings! So there's one plus. Glad that Ontario is recognizing the hazard in this too. But I don't get it: some places there are no lines on the roads so people make as many lanes fit. But even where there ARE lane markers...little white dotted lines...people drive wherever they please and wherever they fit! Ahhhh, whenever I'm in a vehicle in India it is an extremely stressful white knuckle ride. I will be sticking to trains, they seem to run on time and are much much safer.
Lots more stories to tell, but I've had a sleepless night and gotta go to bed. Got into New Delhi Train station at 10 pm, decide to go directly to airport and forego the ~4 hours of restless sleep I'd get by staying at a hotel since I have to catch a 6:45 am flight to Nepal. Flight ends up being delayed til 9:30 or so due to bad weather (fogginess) in Kathmandu. Aaah, wish I had have known. But on checking in (I was one of the first) I get asked where I'd like to sit. I say "window seat." The guy assigns me my seat then asks "First time to Nepal?" "Yes." "You need a different ticket then." He assigns me one on the side of the plane with the best Himilaya views. Honestly on the flight it takes me awhile to notice. It is a bit cloudy and I'm lamenting over the fact that I can't see below me. Then I peer out at eye level....and.....wow....there they are....peaking way over the cloud line...the Himalayas. They stretch for miles and miles...what looks like a solid line of them. They don't look so big from the plane, but then again, what does? But on decent into Kathmandu, and realization of just how far above the cloud line they really are....I start getting nervous. I meet my trekking group tomorrow and the following day we fly to Lukla to begin the 2 week trek to Everest Base Camp at 5400 m ASL. I will therefore be out of touch completely for 2 weeks but will update you when I get back Dec 20 or 21.
Hope to get on here tomorrow though. Kathmandu is CRAZY (but love it!)! Took me almost all day today to get my bearings, steets are narrow but buildings tall, many shops look the same. Must keep an eye open for cars, bikes, walkers, autorickshaws, cyclerickshaws, motorcycles, the works.... :)
Enjoy all the Christmas festivities and speak soon.
Erin
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