Annapurna Basecamp Trek

 (Yes...a long overdue post. Eventually I'll try to get everywhere on here!) 

Obviously I didn't carry around my netbook or had much time to keep up with my journal on my trek so I will do my best to recall the intrepid journey.  

So at Hotel Manang in Kathmandu ("fancy" hotel in Thamel which included a toilet and hot shower in the room-what more could I ask for..) I met the group I would be trekking with.  Representation from the UK, Hong Kong, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and US (which was only me).  Everyone was friendly and up for anything with no complaints the entire trip.  Essential for surviving a long trek together. We had a couple group dinners in Kathmandu.  I skipped out on a mornings Kathmandu excursions as I had already been to the places they were going to. Instead spent the day with another group member who also had seen all the sights already. After a day in the Kathmandu we were off to Pokhara. Pokhara is in the north west reigon of Nepal and is where the beginning of the Annapurna basecamp trek is. I somehow managed to pack the minimum 7.5kg of clothes and equipment I would need for the trek into a duffle (big deal for me)!  We all packed onto a big lavender bus-which was luxurious in comparison to the buses/vans I had previously been riding on. Cushy seats and air conditioning.  Just riding on that bus thru the same streets I've seen in Nepal made it seem like such a different place.  It's nice to know I got to experience what the reality of transport is in Nepal (I was only in one accident in the month I was there...) We drove a LONG 8 hours out of the city and thru more of a rural landscape.  It was a beautiful ride--lots of green, rice terraces, water buffalo, women and men in traditional clothes farming, bright animated painted trucks with cheesy quotes in bad English, less diesel smell the farther we got out of the city, rivers and rapids, suspension wires connecting mountain sides with a dangling box that people get into to cross on the wire, clearer skies, bus playing Nepali music, small roadside stands with food and snacks, people bathing in the taps on the side of the road, trucks on the small mountain side road playing chicken with each other until one swerves out of the way just in time...We had a few stops including a lunch break. After more driving we got to Pokhara to another "fancy" hotel.  We all went out to dinner together after roaming the Phewa lakeside shops where I picked up a few more things I'd need or the trek.  The next morning we rode another 2 hrs to the start point of the trek.

Everyday of the trek on the way up was different terrain/scenery.  Green bamboo forests, rhododendron forests (which reminded me of The Princess Bride), rapid rivers, long swinging suspension bridges, waterfalls, rocky paths, muddy paths, various animal poop, open fields of talking (don't know what how to describe their sound) goats and goats in trees, wheat and other farm terraces on hillsides, scattered small local villages, hillsides with sweeping layered views of faraway hills and giant snowcapped mountains, snow-hail-rain-sleet, snow storm during last trek to basecamp...many breathtaking nature 1000 piece puzzle picture scenes. Took many photos but started to have some trouble with my camera a few days into the trek. As in sometimes it would turn on and sometimes it wouldn't.  

We stayed in teahouses in small villages along the way.  The teahouse lodging was modest.  Most of them had rooms with two person accommodation. And by accommodation I mean thin ply wood walls and spaces for the beds which were just pads on wood platforms. Tiny rooms but sufficient for sleeping.  The bathrooms were just squat toilets and occasionally they would have western toilets but somehow i preferred squat toilets by the end of the trip-that was a surprising realization...i also preferred baby wipe showers than
the cold shower but did enjoy the occasional solar heated “hot” shower. the food was pretty much a fixed menu at every place so we ate many things over and over.  i chose mostly vegetarian stuff-egg noodle soup, fried rice, noodles, Tibetan bread, dal bhat, chapati, rosti, potatoes, etc..I did develop a Mars bar obsession on the trek and  I've never even had one prior to!  They were at every stop and teahouse and were hard
to resist after all the hiking.    

Everyday we would hike anywhere from 6-8 hrs.  Most of the time it was not just leisurely walking .  That or I was out of shape...but either way it was challenging, some days more than others.  The days were broken down into breakfast-hike-tea break-hike-lunch-hike-teahouse-free time and dinner-sleep.
2 weeks of that is long enough for me!  Not too short, not too long.  I think if it was any longer I would need to be doing a summit of some sort.

Health was a big worry for me for a bit as a decent amount of the group got terrible GI issues, including my roommate.  2 others were even unable to make it to basecamp because of it. II made me remember when I was younger (before 1st grade) I always had a fear of having GI problems when i was at school (i was an interesting child...)and would get sick to my stomach if others were sick just out of fear of getting sick also.  Surprising that I became a nurse.   I'm sure there's some psychoanalysis that could be done about that but anyways-one night when the peak number of violently ill people was reached I seriously thought I was going to be ill. But I powered thru.  Not to mention I started to chlorine treat my already boiled water, used hand sanitizer religiously, and tried to eat without touching anything.  I even ate my toast with a knife and fork.
Ok so the toast thing was probably over doing it, but hey I did not get ill!  I also didn't have to take any meds for acclimatization.  phew.

To spare you more reading here are a few highlights:
-the trek up to basecamp in a snowstorm
-hiking up to Poon hill before sunrise to watch it over great views of the Annapurna range
-sledding down a high, freshly snow covered mountain side near basecamp on a plastic bag in--backwards
-crossing the Indiana Jones-like suspension bridges…Dr. Jones!!!!!!!
-jumping in the cold Modi river rapids then going into natural hot springs
-finally getting to hang prayer flags at base camp (way more fun then hanging them on my fridge at home)
-getting to practice taking landscape photos in such a beautiful place  :)
-attempting to learn traditional Nepali dances
-experiencing substantial heat, snow, sleet, hail, and rain all in one day-peeing in a Bamboo forest…yes, I just wrote that. 

Day 12

On the way work to this morning my microbus was playing an american pop/hiphop CD that included Rhianna, NeYo, and Usher. It was kinda bizarre given the setting. Last day at the clinic today.  Have to say it was pretty uneventful (patientwise).  I think the most interesting patient that came in had been in a knife fight and was getting dressings changed and sutures out.  It was such a short time to work somewhere that I didn't really get attached to it all.  Everyone was great though.  Especially my nurse friend, Mina.  She helped me shop for nuts today as I need some sort of protein. I weighed myself today and saw that I've lost 3 lbs already and i'm sure it's all muscle. maybe from a kind of unbalanced diet. She also gave me some parting gifts including fancy tika and wished me luck on my trekking with a white silk scarf. I wouldn't have been able to do the school project without her help!

At home Shamiksha was sick and stayed home from school.  I watched their neighbor perform some witchdoctor type stuff. He was motioning pulling and sucking out the sickness and throwing it out...interesting. I started separating my stuff/re-packing for my upcoming trek.  Weeee! Everyone has been telling me that the area I will be going to is beautiful, clean, and "heavenly." Hope it lives up to the hype!

Day 11

Today was my last day visiting the school i was working with.  My morning started with trying to buy over 200 bars or soap, toothbrushes, and toothpaste.  You can probably guess that there is no Costco here in Kathmandu so it wasn't so easy.  Now that I think of it I've only seen one "grocery store" and it was in the tourist district.
So somehow we managed to get what we needed (almost everything-i was secretly hoping some kids would be absent just in case we didn't have enough for everyone)  from this tiny, dusty, hole in the wall "store."  Then we were on our way to the school with our boxes on top of the taxi ripping thru dusty side streets.  Oh btw, there was another
cow traffic jam this morning which made me late for work, or on time Nepali style.  We neared the school and some of the kids saw us and started yelling excitedly.  I think we caught them after their exams were over because they were all out of control.  After getting everyone back into their rooms we started visiting the different classes.  Before handing out the supplies
we had the kids review that I taught the other day and they did surprisingly well.  Well except maybe the youngest grade, they were all over the place.  Everyone was thankful and seemed happy to receive what we were handing out.  I was happy that they remembered what I taught them.  Hopefully they'll actually use the stuff!

Day 10

Today I took the day off.  And so the entire family did also (minus brother). I told them that I would take them shopping and so we all took a trip into the city to the Thamel district (tourist town).  This is somewhere they don't go to very often.  Everyone got very dressed up and were so excited to go.  We all took a long bus ride together out of the village.  So much traffic.  And it wasn't even because it was what we would call "rushhour" it was because there was a GIANT cow just standing in the middle of the busy road! And I've actually seen this on other occasions but it never usually causes that long of a jam.  It was pretty humorous, but probably only to me.  


I finally found an ATM that would work with my card, I was starting to worry I wouldn't.
And I saw the first and only western chain restaurants! good ole baskin robins, kfc and pizza hut. i thought of you agatha (pizza hut)! I'm surprised i haven't run into a mcdonals yet.  After we finished shopping I met with Manoj and we went to a travel agency and got my ticket to bangkok which ended up
being around the same price that i found on cheapoair.com but without the international tax.  so only like $214 total after local tax. they were trying to get me to buy a Nepal Airlines ticket which luckily Manoj previously informed me they have ONE plan for everywhere and were pretty unreliable.  so instead i am leaving a day later on a different airline which i've used before. better safe than sorry.  kathmandu's airport is no where i want to be stranded. 

Afterward we had some food at Northfield cafe (where i went my first day) because they also had free wifi.  i had chicken for the first time since i've been in the home stay and it was pretty awesome.  i also had coffee, bottled water, and used a toilet.  i think i was most excited about the toilet.  haha.  well, maybe the coffee too.  i haven't been craving meat as much as i thought i would be. probably because the meat that i see around here (dead or alive) kind of freaks me out.  today i saw something that was hairless and a cross between a dog, goat, and a water buffalo. and the other day i saw a goat slaughtered on the side of the road when i was walking to work.  well actually i saw someone holding something that was spewing blood into a bowl and it took me a second to realize that it was an animals neck/body, and that someone else was standing by it holding a goat head. mmmmmm...meat.
oh yea! remember the jolly guy who asked to keep my old chewed gum? he was there again at the cafe and he ran after me (in a non-threatening but creepy way) in the street as i was leaving asking why the (fake) email
address i gave him wasn't working. i just slapped a taxi as it was passing by me and jumped in.  i really liked that cafe
but something tells me i should try somewhere new... 

Day 9

So today at work I went with Mina (nurse) to the same school again to teach.  My Nepali was slow and less than perfect but they kids seemed to understand.  Every time i would walk into a room they would all stay up and say "Namaste, Miss."  So cute.  I did my teaching and some simple teeth and fingernail checks to i think 5/6 classes and we were done. We rode the microbus to and fro-Mina needed to get to work and i didn't mind because it was kinda hot outside.  The winter here is coming to an end and so it's less cloudy than when I first got here.  On a really clear day from the top of their house you can see
green hills/mountains and snow-capped mountains behind that.  Throw in sunrise and it's pretty amazing.  I tried to get some pictures but it just doesn't look the same.   

Back at the clinic I met a friend of Dr. Bipin.  Kate (from UK), who works with Volunteer Services Nepal. They take care of orphaned children.  About 6 yrs ago she came here to to volunteer work with the organization.  She ended up meeting a Nepali man (her tour guide) got married in the UK, came back and has been living here ever since.  She brought along one of her volunteers, a wound nurse
from New Zealand.  We all chatted for a while about Nepal's various health problems.  She also told
me about the long tedious process of the legalities and expenses of establishing a NGO. She is a dedicated woman.

Back home I am more comfortable and can now communicate enough to stop at some of the small shops
up the road towards my home, mainly to fill my stock of bottled water.  I know, i know.  I'm contributing to the plastic waste crisis here.  But i really enjoy a healthy bowel. It's nice to be going "home" now.  I really actually like walking up the small dirt/rock road through wheat fields next to ducks,goats,cows and seemingly friendly but probably rabid dogs.  It's more fun than walking home from the Belmont stop with the hip hop transvestites. Haha. Sarita and Shamiksha and I planned our next day of shopping.  I was also meeting with Manoj (works with NVC) so he could take me to a travel agent for my plane ticket.  After looking online I was getting charged international tax for buying off US flight search databases. Tonight I just worked on my community service award application (for Rush) and realized I needed to include relevant journal articles backing up what i'm doing...bleh.  shouldn't be too hard to find as long as the internet works long enough for me to look one up!

Day 7 and 8

I've continued to work at the clinic that the volunteer program sent me to.  The staff is great and the medical director is a great teacher and has an inspiring vision and is very compassionate about it.  However the volunteer work I am doing is not quite what I had in mind.  I thought I would have more to do clinically or elsewhere in the community. I've come to the conclusion that everyone in Nepal has some sort of baseline acute illness at all times.  Jk. that's very ignorant for me to say but the patients that I am seeing have these complaints on/off for long periods of time.  And everyone is always hacking up a lung. (yes i wear my mask) I'm sure it has to do with the lack of healthcare resources and poverty amongst many other things.
I wanted to do something more than just work at the clinic.  I wanted to do something more
along the lines of health promotion as SO many of the cases we see are ID and can be prevented
with proper hygiene.  It sounds so simple but for here it is lacking.  I wanted to hand out soap or something in the clinic-save the world, one soap at a time!  But I figure that is temporary and a minute significance and chances are resources would be misused (taken and sold) or taken by those who don't need it
as badly.   Dr. Bipin started talking to me about a slum area with some of the poorest conditions in nearby Balaju in that area.  He suggested I think about doing something there.  Turns out there is a school there.  So I thought that rather than just handing out stuff I could try and educate the school kids there on hand and dental hygiene (both are terrible here).

So now I will be working in the clinic and also working on this small project before I leave. 
Today I visited the area he was telling me about (not alone of course..) and the school.  The
kids are beautiful seem so disciplined and studious.  The area was near a very polluted river.  All the nearby houses were just shacks with metal tin roofs. I was introduced to all the classes and teachers and let them know what I wanted to do. All in broken Nepali/English as Mina (a Nepali nurse coworker) spoke little English.  So I've been full force trying to get Nepali grammar down but it's pretty difficult. So lots of phrasebook using going on.I was invited to come back the next day.  So I (using my phrasebook and some locals editing) made a short, simple lesson plan on hand and dental hygiene in Nepali language and will be teaching tomorrow. We'll see how that goes, haha.  I also plan to distribute some hygiene products (toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, etc.)to the kids hoping that their impressionable age will work to my favor and they will retain this information.  There are about 220 children in the school but a little bit of money (USD)goes a long way here.  If i can spend $400 freaking dollars on a SECOND i phone then I can spare some money to give basic supplies to 220 kids.  My nurse friend here has a family member who owns a store so she
said she could get the supplies for even cheaper.  I know it's not much, but if you could see
what this place looks and the conditions that these kids have to grow up in you'd want to do something also. No matter how big or small.

Day 6- Happy Holi

Today was the holiday called Holi (google it).  I was invited to go to the temple this morning.  Lots of incense, chanting, singing and clapping.  Afterward we got ready to celebrate Holi by getting water balloons and buckets.  Filling water balloons with the barrel of a pen and a plastic bag took way too long so we just started using buckets to throw water at each other.  Everyone in the neighborhood was out.  Some peoples
faces were painted with many different colors.  We used the power that is used for tika.  By the end of the morning I was covered in red and my clothes were soaked.  Keshab picked me up to do some sight seeing and see how Holi is celebrated other places.  We went to 2 different Durbar Squares (old palace squares) Baktapur and Patan.  On the way to these places you could see people everywhere in the
street with colors all over and throwing water.  I got hit with 2 more balloons in route, yellow and pink.  My clothes looked like they were tie dyed.  Even walking in the squares people just walk up to you and smear different colored powders on your face yelling "Happy Holi." It was like a party everywhere.  Other than Holi celebrations, the squares and streets all looked pretty much the same.

Back home I tried to wash the color out of my clothes.  Washing clothes is a long process involving retrieving buckets of water from a well and hand washing my clothes in a big silver bowl. It was kind of a workout. Note to self:never complain about doing laundry again! My pants are still kind of stained..  They look like 80's color splashed jeans.  Oh well, at least there's a good story behind it!