Category: Nepal

China, Kathmandu, Nepal, South Korea

I shall go to Korea.

Joel

Or should I say, “I shall go to Korea if I can only get through China on the way!”

Eventful day, starting off with another strike in Kathmandu that left all the roads deserted of cars – but not people or rubble (put there by protesters to hamper vehicular traffic). After our Air China flight finally took off, we flew right past Mount Everest, mostly shrouded in clouds, on our way to Lhasa, Tibet. It’s so tall that it pokes straight through the top of the clouds!

We started our descent into Lhasa with warnings about turbulence and then the pilot suddenly announced in Chinese that it was too dangerous to land there so they were going to skip it and fly straight to Chengdu. Many were cheering and I thought it was someone’s birthday, but then they translated it into English. Skipping a layover sounds nice, but that meant we arrived here two hours early and I was left with a total of seven hours to kill without being allowed to go anywhere. I’m not sure how many on the plane were being disadvantaged by the decision, but they were remaining quiet.

Once I arrived in Chengdu, I had to face immigration without a Chinese visa. They were actually very nice about it, but they did confiscate my passport and tell me I wasn’t allowed to leave the airport terminal. At one point I had 5 Chinese officials escorting me around. I get the impression they don’t deal with too many transient visitors. The Chengdu airport is huge and full of empty gates and there are very few people who appear to be using it. Even so, they forced our plane to park way out on the tarmac with 90% of the gates empty and forced us to bus in. I managed to squeeze some Yuan out of an ATM so I could get some dinner after finally finding out how much it was worth so I knew not to overdraw or underdraw my account.

When my passport was confiscated, I immediately expressed concern about how I was going to get it back (as I have never been asked to surrender it before). I was assured by an official that whenit came time to check-in for my midnight flight, the passport would be waiting at the check-in desk for me to pick up and the flight staff would know about the whole situation.

Normally the earliest you can check-in in person is about 3 hours before your flight takes off, so I had to waste many an hour shuffling around the huge empty terminal as it closed more and more shops in the evening. So I finally get my chance to check in and I get to the check-in counter. Of course, the staff know absolutely nothing about it. Furthermore, they are unable to check me in without a valid passport so I was completely stuck. As it turns out, my passport was not at the check-in counter, but sitting in an immigration office about 300 meters away – behind a security zone, which required a passport and a boarding pass to get through, and next to the emigration queue that also requires the same plus a valid visa from the Chinese government.

Nobody at the check-in counter knew what to do about this conundrum until I quietly mentioned that I actually had two passports (which I never disclosed to the Chinese officials, but then again, they never asked). This got everyone excited because it provided the partial solution to the problem: I was now able to get my boarding pass, which allowed me to get through security and closer to the immigration office.

In the end, I was escorted through security by an airline official straight to the immigration office that held my other passport. They were able to get the managing Chinese official to come out and he very nicely went to great lengths to expidite my acceleration through the final emigration line – even going so far as to actually fill in immigration forms for me so I could legally leave the country I was denied access to visiting in the first place. Now my passport has a Chinese emigration stamp even though I was never technically in the country.

I don’t know if I was their first ever transient passenger, but they obviously need to grease the wheels on their processes… But maybe its just the Chinese way of conducting business. Other countries usually provide a last-minute-escape route for transients only there to catch connecting flights which you usually find just before you get to the immigration desks. This just keeps you in the emigration holding zone in the airport and allows you to circumvent the issue – although I have heard Canadians complaining about having to go through U.S. customs when trying to simply go south of the USA.

Everyone was always very nice, polite, and respectful in this episode, as you always are when dealing with government officials, and nobody ever suggested or even implied that I had ever done anything wrong, but…. what a circus!

Fortunately, I made it into Seoul as scheduled and was able to negotiate the extensive train and subway network with my luggage to find my hotel.

Kathmandu, Nepal

Bookend Strikes

Joel

It’s my last day in Nepal so I decided to explore a street I’ve been driven down numerous times that contains the old palace, which is now a museum. Unfortunately, the museum is closed, so I pony up my two bits to see the famous “Garden of Dreams” next door instead. It’s an odd intersection because there is a large compound across the street being protected by U.S. military officers, but it isn’t the embassy. Instead, I discover later, it’s an “American club” for diplomatic staff and expats – no tourists allowed. Sort of a country club with baseball field, pool, etc. I remember seeing something similar in Colombo, but I never heard of such a thing in Australia.

Anyway, the Garden of Dreams was quite nice. It is an old garden that had fallen into disrepair prior to 2006 when it was fixed up and restored to its original splendour. It is located behind a big wall, protected from the noisy, dirty, busy street that runs between the old palace and the American club. There were a number or restaurants and cafes inside, so I decided to kick back with a cup of coffee to enjoy the surroundings a little longer. A little bit of paradise insider big noisy dirty Kathmandu.

Upon leaving the gardens it suddenly struck me that there were no cars around and all the stores were still closed. Another strike? You bet! Another strike to bookend my Nepalese experience. One strike the day after I first arrive, and another strike the day before I leave. There were police with machine guns on the street corners of Thamel, my neighborhood, so I thought it best to retreat to my hotel room since everything was closed and the streets were looking a bit edgy.

Fortunately, by evening, I was able to find quite a few stored open to buy some last minute souvenirs of the place. Nepal has been lots of fun, but it does have a lot of problems and I am looking forward to moving on tomorrow!

Kathmandu, Nepal

The News from Nepal

Joel

In the newspaper today, it was disclosed that Nepal ranks #8 on the miserability index. That is, Nepal is considered to be the 8th most miserable place to live – just below Syria and Kosovo, but above Namibia, Djibouti, Turkmenistan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Liberia, and Zimbabwe. Must have something to do with the persistent power outages, air pollution, noise pollution, crumbling infrastructure, and lack of employment opportunities. There are big plans to invest in a range of infrastructure improvements in Nepal over the next ten years now that the political situation has begun to stabilise somewhat.

I hopped on a Yeti flight today (yes, they even have an airline named after the Abominable Snowman). It took me back to Kathmandu from Pokhara for the last few nights before I fly out. I was instructed to make sure I had a seat on the left side of the plane so I could admire all the Himalayan peaks as we made our 25 minute journey. I didn’t think it would make too big of a difference with all the haze and smog that has accumulated since my hike, but we did punch our way up over most of the diffusion in our simple prop plane so I could see all the peaks along the way. And yes, they were pretty cool to watch as we flew past.

Now back in Kathmandu, I ventured out for a haircut while the offering was cheap. Like many things around here (including taxis), there always seem to be strings attached to any price that’s been quoted. One of the bizarre customs with hair cutters in Nepal is that they also provide all kinds of massage services. This has put me off many times, but I did stumble across one place that already had two Westerners getting haircuts, so I thought I would get mine done. I tried to find out the price before we started and I could only get “As you wish” as an answer. Finally, after getting him to mention 200 ringgit (just over $2), he started in and pulled out the exact same clippers I use to cut my own hair. After finishing with the cut, he starts slipping in little additional services that were related, like shaving the back of my neck and behind my ears with a straight razor. But then he starts mumbling something about putting some ointment in my hair and he starts in on his head massage. Then, before you know it, he’s trying to work his way down to giving me a back massage – at which point I had to cut him off, knowing the actual haircut was finished. The whole thing was totally bizarre.

Nepal, Pokhara

The Mountain Museum

Joel

My last full day in Pokhara saw the thick haze return to obstruct most of the views of the Himalayas, so I thought I should go check out the International Mountain Museum. Getting there became the usual drama in places like this. All you want is a simple taxi ride to the museum and everyone’s eyes light up like it’s a potential sales opportunity for a day-long chauffeur job. It makes you think twice before going anywhere that requires a cab!

None of the cab drivers around here want to use their meters, so you need to negotiate a price before you get in. Then on the way there they try to entice you into seeing all the sights around town you haven’t been to yet. Then they insist on a round trip fare and say they will wait for you while you see the museum. “Half hour?” they ask. “Um, actually, how about 2 hours. I like to take my time.” I read the museum was quite large. They look at you like your crazy and I’m sure the financial appeal of the deal suddenly doesn’t sound so good. I send him off telling him to come back in 2 hours and not wait so he has the opportunity to earn from others, but I’m not sure he ever left.

Anyway, the museum was quite interesting and it actually did take me a few hours to get through it. There was information on each of the world’s highest 20 peaks (even more interesting after hiking past some of them) and who were the first to climb them. There was information on all the local plants and animals of Nepal, as well as Yeti(!) There was gear donated to the museum that had been used to get to some of the summits. It was interesting to see how rudimentary some of it was by today’s standards. Most of the gear seemed to be donated by Asian expeditions and not from the West. There were also displays on each of the native groups prominent in different regions of the country, like the Sherpas of the Everest area.

It seemed as though the 1950’s were the big years to conquer all the summits. There is still one left in Nepal that has never been successfully climbed, but the Nepalese government stopped letting people try back in 1963. It’s called Fishtail and it is very steep and difficult to ascend.

One of the most interesting displays was of all the garbage they have cleaned up from Mount Everest. One climber who eventually made it to the top was so dismayed by all the things left by previous climbers that he organised a regular cleaning campaign to collect the waste and fly it out. Among the debris were pieces of broken ladders (used to get across crevices in the ice), big piles of cooking stove gas canisters (some flattened by ice pressure over time), old ripped up tent fragments, and big piles of oxygen tanks – some dating back to the 1960’s.

Nepal

Classy Customs and Other Cultural Observations

Joel

The Nepalese have a custom they use when handing you money, food, or menus. They extend the item with their right hands while channelling respect with their left hands by touching their right elbows. It’s actually quite classy, I think.

Otherwise, I always find it interesting when political borders don’t really match the cultural borders in most countries. There always seem to be transitions taking place from region to region. Nepal is predominantly Hindu, but the majority of people living in the mountains are Buddhist – which is closest to Tibet/China. Some of the traditional Nepalese music you here sounds either very Chinese or very Indian to me. Many of the TV shows you see look like Indian shows. Every time I attributed a cultural element I encountered to another country, my trekking guide quickly corrected me and said it was Nepalese. The traditional dress worn by both women and men here also look similar to dress worn in other mountain regions to the northwest of Nepal.

Nepal, Pokhara

Pokhara MTB

Joel

With just a few days left of my stay in Pokhara, I’ve took a day of rest to recuperate from endless Annapurna stair climbs and descents and lined up a bit of mountain biking for this morning in the nearby hills. Like all my other pursuits here, I’ve found myself with a personal guide to show me around. Or at least I did initially. An Australian guy from Victoria came and joined us at the last minute. It certainly seems a bit slow here this time of year, but that is good for me. Nepal seemed pretty busy with Chinese tourists when I first arrived, but that was due to the Chinese New Year holiday period in China – which is over now.

Hills? More like mountains! The mountain bike circuit, which was supposed to be their least hilly, kicked off with. 500 meter climb up to the top of a ridge overlooking the city of Pokhara and its neighboring lake. Too bad the place has become so hazy again – the views would have been quite spectacular otherwise. From the top it ran along a gentle roller-coaster ridge hugging track for a while before a quick descent down to a huge plateau of rice paddies next to the lake. From there the ride was fairly flat all the way back into town. About 700 meters of climbing in all and 30kms in length. Our guide offered to take us up the another mountain on the other side of the lake, but we both politely declined.

I don’t know what it is, but every time I have ever rented a bike overseas, I have always had a problem with the seat post continually sliding down until the bike becomes too hard to peddle and I have to stop and raise it again. This has happened to me in Fiji, Egypt, and now Nepal. Otherwise, it was a much nicer bike that I have been able to rent in the past.

The bike tour operator was actually a front for a local mountain bike club. Good mountain bikes are prohibitively expensive for many Nepalese, so the club would conduct tours for tourists and get the tourists to pay fees that were high enough to finance good bikes for the club members who would ride them the rest of the time.

Annapurna, Nepal

Final day of the Annapurna Trek

Joel

The final day of my Annapurna Trek was pretty straightforward. Up early for breakfast, down another steep staircase all the was to the river to cross a bridge, back up the other side, rinse, and repeat. Eventually our track widened to a roadway where a half dozen 4wd vehicles hung around waiting for tired hikers to ferry out. We passed by them and continued to hike on the road as it gradually just became one long decline back along the river to where we started 5 days ago.

Overall, quite a spectacular hike. It was also very interesting also to pass through all the villages and see how many Nepalese earn their keep. Now back in Pokhara, in my choice room with spectacular views, my legs are very sore and sick of stairs! I do have a bathtub which I should put to use.

One bit of irony from the experience of passing through countless villages that rely on spring water to drink and mules for deliveries: they always had power 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Here in Pokhara I’ve been back now for six hours and still now power. It seems to be off more than its on. How to the villages get power? They generate their own through micro-hydroelectric generators that use channelled water from nearby streams. We passed quite a few of them. Each required a substantial amount of work to set up and each could only power about 40 homes, but they are very lucky to have power when they need it.

Annapurna, Nepal

And more stairs!

Joel

After a long recuperation sleep in a below average guest house… Well, it was okay except for all the signs/rules for guests including “do not put packs on beds.” Which begs the question: If their beds can’t handle my pack, how are they going to handle me? It was in a nice spot over looking a big river valley and received some nice warm morning light. Hardly and other trekkers sans an Israeli couple. I asked for cornbread with my breakfast in the morning and received a huge fried pastry like a papadon made with corn and sprinkled with sugar, which was quite nice.

From about 2/3 up the side of a mountain, our trek led us straight down many switchbacks and stairs to a suspension bridge over a river and back up the other side. Eventually we reached a stretch that had been wiped out by a monsoon landslide four years ago and we had to take a huge detour way up to a higher altitude than we started.

Along the way there were terraced farming plots of wheat and other crops, including some marijuana. It was amazing to thing these people spent their days working their ways up and down these huge mountainsides. We occasionally came across couriers with massive packs of fragile cargo on their backs like eggs or bottles drinks which could not be trusted on a mule’s back.

There were a number of massive landslides around that claimed many lives. One in particular contained a huge rock that looked to be about the size of a ten story office building that lay about half way down the hill. There were many memorials next to the track for those villagers who died in the landslides.

We arrived at another wonderful guesthouse around noon with amazing views of snowy peaks and deep river valleys. Plus my room had an attached bathroom a big bed for me with private mountaintop views from my bed. Probably the nicest guesthouse yet. And it was just a 20 minute walk from some wonderful hot spring pools. It’s about 1800m above sea level.

My legs have become very stiff and sore and my feet have finally bubbled up a few blisters from all the steep stair climbing and descents, and the hot springs sounded like just the ticket to treatment. Unfortunately, they were straight down another long set of never ending stairs to river level. We paid a visit for about an hour of soaking and my legs felt much better in the end. The pools were man made along the side of a beautiful ice cold snowmelt river. during the summer monsoon season the baths get destroyed by the flooded out river and they need to be rebuilt every spring – so a small fee was collected at the entrance for financing the annual construction.

The climb back up seemed a lot easier. Back in the guesthouse, the manager is a good friend of my guide from ten years ago – so they have been enjoying each other’s company quite a bit. The manager also happens to be one of the better cooks I’ve come across on this trek, so I’m quite happy.

Tomorrow we finish off our trek by following the beautiful crystal clear snowmelt river back out to where we started – with hopefully minimal hills. I haven’t heard a car horn in 4 days now and I’m savouring the tranquility before we get back to Pokhara and the traffic that leads to it.

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.