Month: February 2013

Annapurna, Nepal

Today’s word: Treacherous

Joel

My day started at 5AM, or possibly earlier because I didn’t sleep very well. Altitude? Waiting for my alarm to ring? Probably a combination of both. The 5AM start was so we could get up Poon Hill before sunrise and witness the spectacle of morning light on the Himalayas.

Of course, this is what everyone does, so there were scores of Trekkers aiming for the same peak in ice cold darkness. It snowed up here a week ago, maybe about a foot or so. The trails along the ridge overlooking the Annapurna Range were now sheets of ice from hikers and some daytime melting. Getting up Poon Hill was steep and slippery, but then we had to descend after sunrise for our breakfasts and bags so we could continue along the circuit towards Annapurna Base Camp.

For a while I thought hiking in the snow was challenging and fun, but after about 5 slips and falls, and a gashed open hand from a sharp rock while trying to brace myself, I just wanted to get the descent back down below snow level. It was an extremely treacherous section that everyone was really struggling with. At one point my guide took off his shoes and socks and put on his shoes and socks – in that order, with his socks over his shoes. It worked! He was able to keep from slipping for most of the rest of the descent.

I would say today was my hardest day so far with three steep ascents and the ice and snow. Most of the trail was through forest with views of the snow-capped peaks between the branches. There are huge forests of rhododendron trees all about to burst into bloom here in probably two weeks. You can see some trees open and many others with red buds starting to open. Also seen on our hike today were wild orchids, wild monkeys, and a deer (evidentially rare – my guide had once ever seen one while trekking before).

I commented at one point to my guide, while struggling up a steep hill, that I would never have survived the Everest Base Camp hike. We reached a peak altitude of 3101m (a bit over 10,000 feet) today, and I found it very hard to climb. The Everest Base Camp reaches altitudes of 5500m (18,000 feet). He said I would not have had any problem with the Everest Base Camp hike because it takes longer and has a much more gradual ascent that allows you to acclimatise much better. You are supposed to only climb 300 meters a day at higher altitudes but because the Annapurna Circuit is so hilly they don’t have a choice unless hikers really only want to hike 2 hours a day.

By evening only one couple, from Israel, showed up at the guesthouse (at about 2500m), also extremely fatigued from dealing with the day’s hike. We also were inundated with donkeys home from a tough day on the trails, extremely ecstatic to have some time off. I’ve never seen mules roll around in the grass and run and play before.

Now half way back down the mountain, tomorrow is supposed to be a short hiking day with a hot springs visit in the afternoon. Looking forward to that!

Annapurna, Nepal

Stairs, Stairs, Stairs

Joel

Started off bright and early before the other lodgers to tackle about a 3000+ stair climb and the hardest day of my 5 day trek. Or so I was told. One of the New Zealanders who I met this morning at breakfast said later in the day that it was the hardest hike he’s done in Nepal yet and he’s been here hiking for quite a while now – so I guess it was! There was a lot of climbing but I really didn’t think it was too hard – but it certainly helps to have someone carrying you pack for most of the way.

My guide’s name is Deepak and he’s 21 years younger than me, so I don’t fret too much when I run out of breath and he’s still quietly breathing through his nose. He was born and raised in a small village just like the ones we’ve been walking through so he can explain what life is like for the locals from personal experience. He’s also a registered guide with the Nepalese government and was required to undergo 45 days of training on culture, history, flora, fauna, anthropology, first aid, etc.

It has been an amazing hike so far that gets more and more Spectacular the higher you climb. And colder and colder. We ended the day’s 20km hike at a ridge (at 2760m) staring straight in the face of the world’s 7th and 10th tallest mountains. There is snow around our guesthouse from last week and it was 10C in my room, but I scored a wonderful private bathroom with a great hot shower and I brought plenty of warm gear to put on.

The guest house had a warm cozy ski lodge atmosphere by evening when the lit up a big warm fire in the dining room and served me wonderful hot vegetable curry on rice with Masala tea and hot apple crumble with custard for dessert.

Annapurna, Nepal

Annapurna 5 Day Trek

Joel

Started my five day trek on the Annapurna Circuit with my guide/porter. That is, he’s offered to carry my bag for me if I’ll carry his much lighter one. Sounded good to me! We swap from time to time, but he seems happy to carry mine. He’s guessing it’s about 13 kilos, which really isn’t that bad – but his bag is only about 5 kilos.

Today is the first really clear day I’ve seen in Nepal since I got here. There were some thunderstorms last night that seemed to have cleared the skies out. It was very nice to wake up this morning and see all the snow capped mountains from my hotel room.

So far the hike has involved a lot of climbing, but it has been very tolerable with someone carrying my pack. The trail started out as a dirt road, but became more of a mule track as we got higher. There are nice guesthouse all along the trail with comfortable mattresses, squat toilets, hot showers, meals, and electricity. So far we have passed mostly terraced farm plots that are used for rice in summer and other crops like wheat and vegetables at other times of the year.

My guide has been very nice, bright, and a good English speaker. He is from the country where his parents still reside but now lives with his own family in Kathmandu. He guides people regularly on the circuit I’m on as well as a more difficult and higher altitude trek to the Everest Base Camp. Today we climbed from about 800 meters to 1550 meters, the first few by taxi to get out of Pokhara and up to the Annapurna trailhead.

In the evening the guides got together for a private dinner, but not before making sure their clients received their dinners and had all their questions answered and needs addressed. I ended up eating and talking with a young American engineer from Minneapolis working in India for six months and his traveling companion from the UK whom only met for the first time a few days ago in Kathmandu.

Nepal, Pokhara

Canoeing with Crocodiles

Joel

On my last morning near Chitwan National Park, my hotel arranged for me to get up extra early for an early morning cruise in a dugout canoe along a crocodile infested river. How charming! Actually, it was incredibly beautiful and we did pass about 5-6 crocodiles along the way, lurking just below the water or sunning themselves along the banks. Yes they we dangerous, but no, no tourists have ever been bitten by them. We also saw quite a few deer down along the river for an early morning drink. It wasn’t hard work. We just had to sit there while a man with a pole, Venice style, guiding our boat down the properly flowing river channels. Afterwards we ended up at an elephant breeding center, much like a crocodile breeding center we visited a day earlier as part of our jeep safari.

I enjoyed my stay neat Chitwan, and I appreciated the red carpet treatment I received from all the staff at my desperate hotel, but I was looking forward to getting away from all the attention. I was also getting sick of being overstuffed with food three times a day that you felt must be consumed so as not to insult your hosts. They seemed to be serving me the same thing every day in slightly different variations. I had chicken for every meal (except breakfast) and suspect they bought one for me and carved a little bit off for every meal to mix in with the same ingredients in different ways. The meals also seemed to get a little more westernized as we went when chips were thrown in, which was not their forte and not what I wanted.

I also grew a bit wary of being attacked my mosquitoes in the middle of the night. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out they they were getting in my room, but they were constantly buzzing my ears to keep me away. It is malaria country, I was told back in Perth by my travel doctor, so I have been taking my expensive medication – but there are also other nasty illnesses that come from mosquitoes that I would rather not have anything to do with. I put up a mosquito net one night, but it wasn’t quite set up correctly without a hook in the ceiling and a bed that was too big for it, so I couldn’t be bothered messing around with it the second night.

Speaking of food, there is one particular Nepali delicacy that I have grown fond: Masala Tea. It is a blend of tea, cinnamon, and a few other spices (coriander?) blended with milk and sugar. I’ll have to figure out how they make it.

After my crocodile canoeing, my driver dutifully showed up to take me on another wild drive to my next destination. This time to the central Nepali city of Pokhara. Pokhara is a backpackers haven and gateway to countless outdoor adventures in the middle of the country – including my trek along part of the Annapurna Circuit. It was a crazy drive that my driver seemed a bit more aggressive with than the drive he did for me a few days ago. It was probably my fault for pushing back our departure time so I could go canoeing in the morning. I think it messed up his plans to get back to Kathmandu before dark.

Fortunately, when I arrived safe and sound in Pokhara at the sister guesthouse of my Kathmandu stay, I was giving their very best room up on the top floor with spectacular views out over the city and lake district with huge mountains looming up in the background. It is probably the highest hotel in town, so it looks down on everything else. Hopefully they will have a similar room waiting for me when I get back from my hike!

Chitwan, Nepal

Safari City

Joel

Woke this morning to the smell of burning spliff resonating from some farmer’s field nearby. Perhaps he was just having a crop burn off in the cool, damp, early morning hours. Today was safari day and first up, after breakfast, was the safari-on-an-elephant’s back safari. I have been on the back of an elephant’s back before and know two things: 1) It’s not the most comfortable experience continually rocking back and forth and side to side, and 2) it is not very ideal for trying to take pictures and change lenses with big bulky cameras. I reluctantly agreed to do the elephant ride as long as I could also do a jeep ride when I negotiated my tour with my Kathmandu hotel manager.

As it turned out, it was actually a really good way to see the wildlife. We weren’t actually permitted within the boundaries of the national park, but were permitted to explore trails in the surrounding buffer zone. Because elephants are natural dwellers in the area, the other wildlife didn’t seem to flinch when we approached them. I’m not even sure they knew humans were on the elephant’s backs! I was able to get very close to a whole range of native wild animals including a big adult rhino and lots of deer – just chilling out in the shelter of the forest.

Afterwards I was taken to where the elephants are rewarded for slugging 5 people around on their backs for 2 hours – a bath. They love water, so they walk them down to the river so they can drink countless gallons and spray and submerge themselves to cool off and clean up. They were allowing tourists to stand on the elephants backs for the experience of getting a good luck nostril spray, but I declined, not knowing how clean the river was of how sanitary it was to have elephant snot fired at you.

In the afternoon I headed out for a jeep-based safari that actually went into the national park for four hours. The safari required that we be paddled across a river in dugout canoes to get to the cheap Indian Tata vehicles. Unlike my solo safari in Sri Lanka, I had to share the vehicle with six others – although they were all very nice and equally interested in what I was interested. There were British, New Zealanders, and Germans on board. At first we were not having much luck, possibly due to it being a warmer than average day for the middle of February, but by the time we started to head back and things started to cool off we saw all kinds of great things. There were several rhinos, an Asian bison, an Asian bear with two cubs on her back, countless deer, wild boars, numerous peacocks, lots of crocodiles, several monkeys, but no tigers! The tigers are supposed to be pretty rare, but just over the border in India there are quite a few. All in all, a very good day I would say.

Chitwan, Nepal

Pothead and Peacock Central

Joel

Woke up early in the chilly Kathmandu air to wolf down my breakfast and meet up with my driver so we could get on the road to Chitwan National Park in south-central Nepal near the Indian border. It was about a 4 hour drive on mainly switchback mountain roads that descended about 1200 meters back to the warm sunny plains. Although the traffic didn’t seem quite as crazy as it was in Sri Lanka, there were some horrible looking accidents and many, many broken down trucks and buses left out in the middle of the narrow road for everyone to try and negotiate around. Also, the road conditions were atrocious at times due to landslides that must have hit during the summer monsoon season. Lots of dried muddy stretches with massive pot holes. As it turns out, the road is the main drag between Kathmandu and India.

I arrived at a compound behind a gate with staff members dressed like Gurkha military soldiers. Probably not just a coincidence because Gurkha is a town just up the road from here. The gate rolled open and about five guys descended on me with juice on a tray and help with my bags. I was escorted into the reception area where I was greeted by the manager. He proceeded to sit down with me and go over, point-by-point, my schedule (with military precision) for the two days that I’m there. I will be awoken early in the morning to go on safaris, canoe trips, elephant rides, etc. All meals will be furnished as part of my stay at precise moments in time.

Oddly, while it is a moderately sized compound, I didn’t see any other tourists staying here. I have all these staff members at my beck and call, but it looks like they have no one else to serve. They seem very eager to please! Perhaps its a new hotel and they are keen to establish their reputation.

The hotel room itself is like many I have come across in my travels through Sri Lanka and Nepal. It appears on the surface to be a modern, well presented premises, but then you start to notice lots of broken and unfinished things about. The TV doesn’t work, or the air conditioning doesn’t work, or you sit on the bed and a large slat fall to the floor beneath you, or there is hardly any water pressure, or the fixtures in the sink haven’t been secured to the counter, etc. You simply pretend not to notice and when asked say you think everything is great!

By the time my late afternoon tour rolled around, it became apparent that I was, in fact, their only guest. It is a little weird to have an army of staff constantly standing around watching me eat and asking individually whether everything was okay. One guy in particular appears to be the one who will be taking me around on tour every day. He is very nice and quite passionate about the local culture here in the flatlands and the wildlife in the area, which is always nice. He’s not from the area so he is looking at things as an outsider as well.

Among the interesting aspects of the neighborhood, patches of marijuana freely growing everywhere. The locals were harvesting bunches to sell on to India and Kathmandu – even though it is still illegal here. They didn’t even seem to mind me taking pictures of them working their crop, stopping to proudly smile next to their piles of freshly cut weed.

Chitwan National Park is another UNESCO World Heritage Site. Evidentially, Nepal has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country in the world – so much so that it is not permitted to have any more. The park is supposed to have elephants, rhinos, tigers, deer, peacocks, and plenty of other exotic birds. I will see what I can find tomorrow.

In the evening I was taken to a town hall where the locals perform traditional dances for the tourists. Most of the dances appeared to require very tight coordination because sticks were flying around smacking into each other – each being held by a separate dancer. One wrong move and someone’s head was going to get split open. Fortunately that didn’t happen!

Kathmandu, Nepal

Dunbar Square

Joel

After my usual rooftop breakfast, which is part of my accommodation deal and a bit chilly first thing in the morning, I had planned to visit Durbar Square. Durbar Square is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (one of many in Nepal) and renowned for its architectural styles. It is a compound of Hindu and Buddhist temples built between the 12th and 18th centuries. I didn’t think Nepal was too bad on the hustling front until I visited this place, then I found them everywhere! Hustling you for tours, trinkets, donations, you name it. Then they try to give you the guilt trip when you turn them down.

Inside the complex it was nice and peaceful since the hustlers were not allowed in. Some of the wood carvings on the building facades were quite amazing. Inside was a museum with endless photos and relics from the last Nepalese king, who died in 2001.

Part of the fun of visiting the square was walking through the marketplaces to get there. After getting lost in Bangkok and walking way out of my way, I decided to start entering coordinate information into my GPS watch so I always know I’m heading in the right direction. It is a little bit of a pain to set up, but very nice to use when you need it. It requires that I track down the exact coordinates for where I want to go (which can be tricky using an iPad – but major landmarks have their coordinates published in Wikipedia). I then need to convert them to the format my watch wants (there are 3 and Wikipedia only publishes 2) which requires visiting a GPS calculator site I know of, and then I need to tediously entering the correct numbers on my watch. Once the coordinates are in there, the watch can easily be set to simply display an arrow that points me in the direction I want to go. Getting back is easy because it is much easier to have it direct you to a lace you have already been through its waypoint recording feature.

Anyway, I’m sure glad I used it this morning because I set off in the completely opposite direction convinced it was the right way. I thought something must have been wrong with my watch when I suddenly realized I was totally disoriented. It doesn’t give turn-by-turn directions, but you can guess what streets to go down by keeping an eye on the arrow.

The walk to Dunbar Square was really cool and full of shops of butchers, produce, cloth, metal work, grains, and other local staples. Retailers still relied on balancing scales with weights to determine pricing. There were very crowded narrow lane-ways full of people, motorcycles, bikes, and the odd cars. After seeing the raw flesh lying out in front of the butchers without any refrigeration for hours, I think I will probably return to being a vegetarian again while I’m here!

Afterwards I had my momo dumplings for lunch. Made sure they were meat free. They were very nice and came with a tangy sauce for dipping. I hear I will be eating them quite regularly in the mountains.

Kathmandu is known for its horrendous air pollution due to old cars, low quality fuel, and surrounding mountains (which you often can’t even see due to the smog). Lonely Planet actually advises you to bring a face mask and tells you that you’re likely to have a throat infection after a few days. One of the characteristics of Nepalese men that I notices in the mens toilets back at the Bangkok airport is that they like to hack and spit, which is disgusting, but possibly related to living in such a polluted environment. They do it constantly in the streets of Kathmandu. Fortunately, Pokhara is supposed to be much cleaner, so I’m looking forward to my travels onward tomorrow.

Kathmandu, Nepal

A quiet day in Kathmandu

Joel

A nationwide strike is in effect all day today. This has forced all shops to close and most traffic to quietly disappear. People are still walking the streets, possibly with nowhere to go, and there were some marches with people chanting earlier this morning. I also heard a low flying police/military helicopter buzz overhead around lunchtime. I was advised by my hotel not to leave the immediate neighborhood, so I’ve snuck out for a lunch nearby but will likely remain indoors for the rest of the day. The strike appears to be about an upcoming election in June that certain people don’t think should go ahead.

So far I’ve been eating all local food, which has been very nice and similar to Indian or Sri Lankan. There are a few other local delicacies on the menu, like momas, which look like little dumplings, that I hope to try soon. The Nepalese people have been very friendly with little hustling – other than a few odd drug dealers and mysterious dance club herders in the streets targeting what few tourists they can find this time of year.

Fortunately, I was able to work out a plan for my visit here with my hotel. Instead of throwing all my eggs in the Everest Base Camp hike basket everyone has been prodding me to do (which would have taken all my Nepalese time, lots of money, and been extra cold and snowy to do this time of year, climbing to 5000+ meters), I’ve opted for a bit more variety.

I’ve decided to head to Chitwan National Park with another personal driver and another safari (both in 4wd and on an elephant’s back). Afterwards my driver will take me to the scenic city of Pokhara, by a big lake and surrounded by huge mountains. While in Pokhara I will do a nearby 5 day trek along some of the nicest sections of the famous Annapurna Circuit, which normally takes an entire month to complete in its entirety. Trekking in Nepal consists of hiking from teahouse to teahouse for meals and comfortable accommodation, so minimal gear should need to be carried. I will have a personal guide for the trek, but no sherpa will probably be needed. Afterwards I will remain in Pokhara for several more days, hopefully getting some mountain biking in, before flying back to Kathmandu for a few days before flying out to Korea.

By the evening, the strike appeared to have ended and the shops began to open again. It is quite an amazing little neighborhood here in Thamel. All of the streets are like little alleyways lined on either side with countless shops selling crafts, counterfeit outdoor gear, maps and books, and food. The lane-ways are decorated above with strings of little flags that crisscross back and forth. There are absolutely no franchise stores anywhere sans an oddly placed Baskin Robbins stand and countless fake The North Face stores.

For dinner I had the pleasure of eating at a little restaurant across the lane-way that appeared to be run by a few Japanese guys who were training up some local Nepalese. The place was packed and I was forced to eat at a breakfast bar in their kitchen. It was very interesting to watch them cook my meal in front of me and see all the frantic stress they were going through trying to keep up with everyone else’s order. Lots of fried garlic smoke to choke on, but lots of fun.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Dog man can but cat man do

Joel

Had to get up early to catch my flight to Kathmandu. Not that the plane was leaving all that early, but the logistics of getting to the gate always require numerous hours of necessity. At the last moment I realized that I was probably a bit short on Thai Baht for a taxi from my hotel, so I decided to hoof it towards the nearest Skytrain to see if I could navigate to the airport via public transportation. Even though a bit of hiking with all my luggage plus 3 train transfers were required, it worked out pretty smoothly in the end.

The pack I’m using has been lying dormant since my last big trip, but I really appreciate having it with all its versatility and flexibility. It is canvas, which is a bit on the heavy side for hiking, but durable enough for baggage handlers. It has shoulder straps that tuck away behind a zipper flap so they don’t get caught in airport luggage machinery, but when you need to pull them out and use them, like for hiking distances and jockeying between trains, they sure are nice to have.

Just a short flight to Kathmandu from Bangkok. Relatively speaking, anyway: 4 hours. The plane was deserted. A 777 with 9 seats across and only one other person in my row! Not exactly peak season for visiting Nepal. The flight in was quite spectacular because it comes up over flat India where you notice the hills starting to climb as you cross into Nepal. Soon enough you are flying just above some pretty spectacular mountains as the plane started to descend. Of course you think “Where are they going to land this thing with this terrain?” but then the hills level off as you get into the valley of Kathmandu and the big flat runway can be seen on the plain.

Since Kathmandu is down in a valley it is not really as cold as you would expect in February. But at 1500 meters it certainly is a lot cooler that what I’ve been traveling through over the past 2.5 months. No more hot sweaty tropics for a while, which is a bit of a relief. Kathmandu appears to be a very crazy place with Sri Lankan – style traffic chaos but with even worse roads. Some of the city streets appear to just be mud. I would hate to see what they’re like in the monsoon season.

I had arranged for my hotel to have a driver meet me at the airport. He took me to this groovy little section of town with skinny little alleys running everywhere that were full of crafts shops and backpacker guest houses. I’m one of very few guests in my hotel at the moment. Peak season is in October, November, and December, but this is supposed to be the second best time to be here.

A few facts of life in Kathmandu have already made appearances here. There are rolling blackouts every day of the week. About 8 hours on and 8 hours off. The streets go dark but most of the hotels and shops run on generated or stored solar power, so things go on business as usual. Also, there are frequent strikes here in which you are advised not to leave your hotel. My guest house manager told me there was one planned for tomorrow, but I have not been able to have this confirmed online so I’ll have to play it by ear, I guess.

Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok Snacking Tour

Joel

Back in Bangkok (after 4 previous visits while visiting the rest of Thailand 7-8 years ago), I had just enough time to swing through my favorite snacking neighborhoods and have a nice Thai massage.

On my first day I felt like a zombie due to hardly catching any sleep on the redeye from Colombo. Fortunately my hotel let me check in early so I could take a nap in the afternoon. On my second, rested day, I hopped the skytrain to the riverboat to cruise up northwest of the main temple region so I could stroll along the roads with countless food tables selling everything from fresh squeezed fruit juice, coconut flavored popcorn, fresh fruit, homemade candy, and every kind of Thai dish imaginable. My aim was to walk back through Chinatown to the main train station where there was access to the subway line.

Unfortunately, Bangkok is one of those cities with a road network that twists around and doubles back like a plate of spaghetti. I ended up getting very lost and walked much farther than I had to due to my disorientation.

Bangkok Snacking Tour

I decided to recover by having a 2 hour Thai massage at my favorite place “Let’s Relax”. A proper Thai massage is actually quite painful and includes a lot of deep tissue work and elbowing, but you definitely feel very revitalized afterwards. At times it feels like they are trying to pry the meat off your bones, but it is definitely worth it. A 2 hour massage costs around $25. Cheap!

Otherwise, I spent most of my time running errands around town getting ready for being back in the 3rd world for the next few weeks. Bangkok has a population of about 14 million and is very modern compared to most Asian nations. It has excellent public transportation in the form of skytrains, subways, river boats, canal boats, and buses, taxis, and tuk tuks. It is also full of big modern shopping malls that the masses seem to enjoy hanging out in, probably to get out of the tropical heat.