isiting one of the two countries. My journey to Nepal was not necessarily an accident but I had not actually planned on going when I did. My co-worker and I were talking about trips and I decided that I wanted to do a bike ride from northern Tibet all the way down to the border of Nepal. Given that I am or was by no means an athlete, my co-worker kindly told me that I was crazy given the altitude and the terrain (imagine going down pebbly roads next to trucks and all other forms of transportation starting at 20k elevation).After my reality check I decided that I still wanted to do something active and a little bit off the beaten path so I started looking into Nepal. Given the nature of my project in Australia, I didn't have much time to plan ahead. Approximately 3 days before I was to leave the country, I was given the go ahead to make plans - I organised an Aussie outfitter, World Expeditions: http://www.worldexpeditions.com, for the entirety of my trip while in Nepal to do the trek. My co-worker, who is passionate about mountains and hiking also joined the trip, which was great!
Upon meeting my co-worker in Thailand, we took Thai Airways to Kathmandu and were instantly in the heart of loosely organised chaos. I've been to some poor countries (So. Africa, Guatemala, El Salvador to name a few) but Nepal was by far th
e poorest of them all. Apparently they rank as one of the poorest countries in the world, I didn't know that going in but it became crystal clear once I arrived. In order to enter the country, I was required to get a tourist visa. The line to get through their customs was ridiculous. You think the DMV is bad? Go to Kathmandu. While I waited in line I talked to the guy standing behind me, a British bloke. He had moved out to Nepal for several months on a whim and was just returning from a short holiday in Thailand from his holiday in Nepal. He told me welcoming stories of Kathmandu like the prostitutes that his 'friend' had over at his place and who stole all his money and belongings. He also talked about the children that beg in the streets that use the money to buy glue and get high from sniffing it. As I stood there, taking in his freakishly scary stories in the hot, chaotic environment, all I could think about was being somewhere I had only dreamed of going to one day and it finally being a reality.After about an hour of waiting, I picked up my bag and made my way outside where our guide was to pick us up. We took out some cash and was on our way to the hotel. At the hotel, we were kindly greeted by the staff with a warm-hearted namaste, something I'd hear a hundred times over during the course of the trip. Namaste is a common greeting for the Indian Subcontinent and means "I respect that divinity within you that is also within me". The Nepalese say this with a kind bow and most formally with hands clasped together as if praying and bowing.
The rooms at the hotel were extremely modest - the beds were super thin and smelled like spices. I love spice in food but in my sheets? Not so much. On the bright side, the window faced some local buildings with local people so I was able to do some observing (some would call it stalking) in a non-invasive way. That day my co-worker and I walked around town and had a Nepalese dinner. In the evening, I just read up and tried to ignore the spice market in my room and the overly ginor
mous spider in the bathroom. The next day we went biking through the foothills of Kathmandu. This was actually a lot of fun as we got to really see how the locals live. There are no lanes, everyone just goes about their way pushing and moving along with the people around them. It was sort of hard getting out town proper initially but once in the hills, it was better. Aside from the pollution and random men urinating on the sides of the road, it was a beautiful sight. Imagine rolling green hills and rice paddies as far as the eye could see.We biked with our guide, a Nepalese pro-biker, through the hills, the cities, the rice paddies and even the countryside. It was a lovely day and great way to see the city however it was scary for two reasons: 1) the fact that you ride side-by-side amongst trucks is never a safe situation and 2) upon getting back into the city we were amidst my first riot ever! The people were protesting, burning tires and shouting over the loud speaker on the way to our hotel. Looking back, it seems cool because I've never been in a riot and can appreciate new experien
ces, but at the moment I was scared and had no clue if the people were going to do stuff to the three of us because we obviously didn't fit in with our tourist clothes and bikes. Luckily they did not, we made it safely back to our hotel, picked up our bags and got on a tuk tuk (ghetto rickshaw bicycle) and headed over to our hotel to meet the rest of our group. Just a quick aside about the tuk tuk, it cost about $2 USD to go about a mile from our destinations. What was amazing about this ride is that it was bumpy and slow, however our driver probably weighed less than me, had a bike that looked like it had gone through the garbage disposal and was reincarnated AND he carried me, Mara, our heavy bags...guessing that it was about 2.5x his total weight!!Upon meeting the group, I was a little surprised as the group was very mixed in age. With the exception of a t
eenage boy, we were the youngest in the group by a number of years. There was an element of excitement amongst the group - for many of us it was the trip of a lifetime. We had one bag that each of us could bring which could weight no more than 25 pounds for the entire trip - needless to say, it was important to pack efficiently. The next day we left early for the airport to Pokhara, our departure point to the Annapurna region. Once we arrived, we were picked up by our group operator and taken to the base camp for lunch. There we met the 17 people that would support our trip from the head chef and foreman to the porters and TT (Toilet Tent) boy.I had caught a cold the night before in Kathmandu which made the journey a bit harder, however the scenery was so surreal and the air was so fresh that I quickly forgot my physical ailments. The first camp we hiked up to was called Australia camp in honor of the first campers to settle on that land. The camp overlooked mountains as far as the eye could see. Every day I woke up to the porters singing and making breakfast (that's my kind of life!). While appreciating the beauty and splendor of the area our cook put together a fantastic 4 course meal. Since the outfitter caters to westerners, all of the food and drink are purified beforehand. For a country so poor and relatively unsanitary, I don't believe anyone on the trip had stomach viruses.
After a fantastic dinner, we all retreated and prepared for the long trip ahead. Dinner was usually served at 5pm and everyone was usually in bed by 8pm - overall we had a really early schedule. It probably didn't help that most nights it rained and was on the cold side. Since the bathroom tent was outside (but covered), I think we all tried to avoid drinking too many liquids to avoid the dreary trek to the toilet tent. The other thing that the rain brought was leeches! During the day, we would constantly check for leeches that crawled up on our hiking shoes and somehow managed to make their way up to flesh. In the evenings, since we ate dinner usually on a grass field, it became difficult to avoid them. I'm proud to say that I am the only one that wasn't leeched by a leech - that just goes to show you how paranoid I am about creepy crawlers! The other travelers weren't as lucky. One of our mates got leeched on his forehead while he was asleep.
Some hiking days were better than others but I can confidently say that each was beautiful and unique. We passed through a number of villages and got to see how people lived on a day-to-day basis - it was quite humbling to see how little people lived on yet seemed so happy and full of life. If we hiked down to a base camp, the next day was surely a hike back up the next mountain. Given that there were no roadways, yet alone cars, the pathways were not necessarily marked but were fairly clear. With every person that was passed, a friendly smile and 'namaste' was usually exchanged.
The kids LOVED getting their pictures taken. They would stand up straight and have small smiles that could not hide their enjoyment of interacting with the foreigners. Afterwards, they would run over t
o me and ask to see their picture and quickly laugh and run off to continue to their destination. I enjoyed this simple yet genuine interaction almost as much as the landscape. The porters were also an interesting group. They carried the tents, our bags, the food, tables, chairs, kitchen supplies and other miscellaneous items. They carried most of the weight on their heads and what was more amazing is that they didn't have hiking clothes and fancy shoes...they just wore jeans and flip flops. Guess it's in the blood or something! All the guys enjoyed singing so in the morning before our trek or at night at camp, you would often find 3 or 4 of the guys singing. As we all got closer, they called me 'congee'. At first I was weirded out and not sure how to respond given that 'congee' is Chinese ride porridge. It turns out though that it means little sister in Nepalese - much better than porridge :)On a walk as long as ours, I had a lot of time to think about the most simplest things (what's for dinner) and more complex things that tend to arise when I'm on holiday and out of my daily routine. The experience I had in Nepal was unforgettable and in some ways has altered how I view poverty and the value of material goods on a society. It goes without saying that I will one day go back to Nepal - hopefully bringing something back to the community, more than just me and a pair of hiking shoes.
