Ok, I have a new favourite country. As soon as we landed in the airport, I knew there was something special about the place. The airport arrivals area was pretty small with a low ceiling and dark wood counters and railings to accompany the brown and orange decor. It was like being in a hotel lounge in the 1970s, except the wasn't any cigarette smoke. The line up to get a visa was painfully slow, in fact, everything seemed to happen slowly, but in the most peaceful and dignified way.
Our drive into Kathmandu from the airport was hot, dusty, full of honking horns and quick brakes, but I loved it. The city felt so alive! We stayed in Thamel, an old and very touristy district and I loved it too. The character that a place gets when people, cows, dogs, scooters, vehicles and chickens are all trying to get somewhere or do something is really remarkable - there are layers and layers of things going on everywhere you look. A few months ago I may have described it as overwhelming and dirty but now I appreciate the uniqueness of it and want to soak in all of the details, knowing I will only be there for a short time ( and knowing I can retreat to my quiet hotel room when I've had enough)!
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| Our crew on a street in Thamel after stocking up on supplies for our trek |
The Nepali people that we met were so wonderful. There was a gentleness about them and a quiet wisdom too. We hired a wonderful guide named Bibek for our trek, and though I'm sure he was much younger than me, I learned a lot by observing his approach to life. One thing that I won't forget was when he talked about how he has to pay to send his daughter to school, and how people in his village don't understand why he spends his money to educate a girl, telling him that he will never gain his money back. My mom said what I was thinking which was something to the effect of "tell them that she'll show them, just you wait!", in a feisty voice. To which Bibek replied gently, "I don't say that, I just tell them let's see, let's see". What a lovely, respectful approach, and that was how he was with everything. I had such admiration for him, he works so hard for his family, and earns so little, but has committed to try to send both of his kids to English school (which is costly for him) so that they have a better chance. He would love to move his family to Canada actually, but there are many barriers to him being able to do so (he tried to arrange it after the earthquake in Nepal a few years ago). To see how hard it is for him to make ends meet, and how much he would love to come to Canada and lead a simple life working in a hotel or restaurant (his ideas) really cemented for me how lucky we are, and how easy things are for us.
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| Bibek and Chris at one of the many beautiful viewpoints along the trek |
Through our time with Bibek and our 2 porters, Suman and Suk, we learned a lot about Nepali life. We spent 10 days on the trek with them, chatting on the trail (when it wasn't too steep to talk!) and in the evenings when we played cards together or sat and had tea. Suman and Suk are both porters, meaning that they carry people's heavy bags up the mountain for a living. They earn a minimal living this way, and neither has any family to take care of them, so both will do this until they are too old and then they will have a difficult old age because they won't have much money. Neither of them spoke much English so Bibek told us about their lives, and about his. Bibek, as a son, will be expected to help his parents through their old age. They still live in his home village which is a 3 hour walk from Kathmandu, or he can take a bus there in the dry season when there is a road. He has moved to the city because there are, as he says, no opportunities in the village for his family.
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Maya with Suman, one of our porters. Both porters carried the packs by attaching them to a strap on
their forehead rather than on their shoulders.
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Nepal was stunningly beautiful, the mountains are awe inspiring, I really couldn't get enough of the views. There was a magic in getting up at 6 am and seeing the enormous peaks with the sunrise on them, and then catching glimpses of them through the day, though the fog tended to roll in, as did the rain and hail storms in the afternoons. We were so lucky the day we made it to the Mardi Himal base camp, we had clear skies the whole morning and the views just kept getting better.
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| Me breathing in the mountain view. The red rhododendrons are Nepal's national flower and we were lucky to be there when they were flowering. |
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| Us at the Mardi Himal base camp with our porter Suman and our guide Bibek. Grandma and Suman didn't come all the way to the top that day. |
The whole experience of the trek was incredible. It was hard sometimes, but we knew we could make it until the lunch stop, or the next teahouse. All along the trail there were prayer flags, and everyone we passed on the trail stopped to chat or just said "Namaste" with a smile, everyone seemed so appreciative of just being there.
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| prayer flags along the trail |
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| A typical selection of teahouses in one of the villages - we would have lunch at one, or spend the night |
The teahouses, though sometimes very rustic, were wonderful gathering places to hear the stories of others, play cards, and sip on milk tea.
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| journalling and staying cosy in a large teahouse at high camp after the day's hike |
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| one of the more rustic teahouses, we stopped here for lunch |
I won't lie, the bathroom facilities were rough, sometimes really rough. And man, my knees hurt after 9 days of trekking. But when we left the trek and headed back to the city I wasn't ready, I wanted to spend way more time out there. Getting back to Nepal to do a longer trek will be a life goal for me for sure, and, if Bibek hasn't found his way to Canada by then, I'll definitely hire him as my guide again!
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