Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Back into Civilization

Today, Tuesday Oct 29, we arrived in Chame.  It's a small place almost under the mountain Annapurna II which is one of the big ones, just under 8000 m.

A jeep track reaches this far and our hike today followed it quite a bit.  We climbed about 800 m.  Our high point in a few days will be Thorung  pass at over 5400 m so we have some climbing to do.

There are signs of civilization: our cell phones work for the first time since we started our trek in Arughat.  Also there is an Internet cafe which I checked out.  There was a young kid running the place.  Cost was NRs 10 per minute.  I gave him my smartphone, he entered the password, pointed at the clock and it was started.  It worked well.

There are a few shops along the road selling wool hats, mitts, and other kinds to clothing.  Too early to start shopping.

Nepal is having an election soon.  There have been many posters promoting various candidates and more showing how to vote.  The hammer and sickle is displayed on one poster.  I assume the communist party or some such.  I believe they were having a political rally down the street.  You could hear it but we stayed away.

Tea Hut Menus

We've had some fun trying to interpret some of the menu items at the tea houses along our route.

As for choice, meat items really don't exist.  I tried for yak curry once, but it wasn't available.  I almost had chicken chillie  for supper today, but it wasn't available either.

I had expected to have my choices limited to dal (lentel) concoctions, but I actually haven't even had it yet.  I am, however, getting tired of fried rice dishes of any kind (ie: veg) and macaroni.  Potatoes can be had in fried or mashed fried, known as potato roastie.  We generally get a few orders of French fried potatoes, often listed as "chips".  Usually they are good, except for the odd time when they are served cold. 

Condiments include the ubiquitous ketchup and a green curry sauce.  Salt and pepper are, well, we're not sure.

One menu item was fried egg, followed by "same as fried egg".  Someone needed to try that but there were no takers.

We've seen "corn flacks", and some still curious delicacy called "hot paris". 

Their soups are pretty good, especially after a day of hiking.  Our favs are veg noodle and chicken noodle.  The noodles are much like ramen noodles but the flavours are better, the broth is thicker and they are hot, probably with lots of salt.

Three of us tried pizza today in the mushroom and veg (separately) versions.  They were pretty good.  At least they didn't use ketchup as the tomato base as we had feared or a chappati as the crust.

Yesterday, we discovered lemon tea.  Actually it's more like hot lemonade, but a welcome change from black tea, which is served at all meals.  Some of us have taken to asking for hot water to which we add our own herbal teas, in an attempt to reduce our caffeine intake, especially after lunch.

We are always served a hot lunch, usually a tomato pasta, fried potatoes or fried rice.  Today, for the first time, we has a small helping of cole slaw.

Meals are high in carbohydrates but little protein, other than eggs, which we can get scrambled (only fair), or fried.  When they list veg egg soup, they mean veg soup with a fried egg cut into pieces and added to the mix.  Apparently the concept of egg swirl soup is a foreign concept.  Most dishes that include egg come with a fried egg plopped on top.

We've seen things like "mixed spaghetti" and " mixed pasta" and wondered.  I discovered yesterday that the "mixed" means "all dressed" so my mixed spaghetti was a combo of veg, mushroom, tomato and cheese.  Cheese is rare and quite boring.

Their oat porridge has been excellent, but even when grated apple is listed as a topping, they usually come as plain.  Thick and creamy.  Milk isn't available unless specially ordered and it's always hot.

The culinary adventure continues.

Heading to the Trailhead

Thursday, Oct 17/13 - we leave KTM to start our trek.  This will be by bus.  Just getting out of the city takes almost 2 hours of grinding along in traffic, traffic that seems to go where it wants, weaving in and out, bikes passing, overtaking on blind corners, relying on heavy use of the horn to warn or chastise.  The dust and diesel fumes are a constant presence.

For lunch, the bus stops right on the road in a small village we are passing.  See photo.

After a lunch break and almost 4 hours, we leave the pavement for another 4 hours on what reminds me of a BC Forest Service Road.  It's single lane, rough, rutted and occasionally muddy.  The difference  in that there are frequent trucks and buses coming the other way, creating passing problems.  Backing up, or edging by each other, each vehicle squeezing to the very edges of the track.

Not to mention people walking who must stay well to one side as large vehicles pass.

The other buses are very crowded, brightly decorated, some with classic horns.  Front bumpers with slogans like "slow drive long life" or "Jesus Travels"

We finally stop and walk the last km or two, cross the Buri (Buddhi?) Gandaki river which we will follow for a week or so to its source at Larke Pass.

The Hotel Manaslu, our home for the night is along the path through the village.  We are served tea and biscuits and go for an exploratory walk in the village.  The "hotel" is more of a tea house, but I discover that beer is less here than in KTM.  Go figure.  I forego the beer for today but tomorrow....

The real trek starts tomorrow.  We are told it will be about 7 hours.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Samdo - Along the Trail

It's Friday Oct 25 and we arrived in Samdo after a 3 hour hike this morning.  Another day of blue skies and big peaks around us.

Unlike the last settlement, this place is pretty neat and sits up on a hill below a large mountain with views in all directions.

After lunch, I hiked up the trail a ways to a valley that headed to Tibet.  It's only a short distance away, perhaps a few km at most.  Then another fellow and I hiked up a steep hill behind town.  More great views.

However, by 3:30, the mountains were casting a long shadow and the temperature started to fall.  It will be a cool one tonight.  Good thing this place is built better than some of the others we've stayed in.

Local Culture

It's Wed, Oct 23.  In the past day, things have changed a lot.

The narrow valley we've been in from the start has opened up with better views.  We can see Mt Manaslu not far away, the first 8000+ m peak I've seen in person and now it's just across the valley.

We're in Lho, a Tibetan and Sherpa village at about 3180 m.  We had a short day hiking today so there was time to visit the monastery and wander around.  It's harvest time and people are in the fields cutting barley and digging potatoes, all by hand, of course.  The barley is ground and used to make a dough called tsampa.  People with large baskets carry the harvest from the fields down to the village.

This village seems more prosperous, neater, and better built than some lower down.  There are a couple of gompas, a long Mani wall and many colorful prayer flags.  It has a very different look.

The monastery sits on a nearby hill which provides a great view down across the fields.  Mt Manaslu provides the backdrop.

We're high enough that it's starting to get cold, especially when the sun drops behind that 8000 m range.

A Matter of Altitude

After a couple of days at close to the same altitude, we've started to climb.

Yesterday we gained about 500 meters to around 1800 m. Tuesday  we ended up at 2600 m.   On Wednesday we stopped in Lho which is at 3180 m.

There is still a ways to go.  In 3 days we will be sleeping at over 4000 m and the next day we will climb over our first pass at around 5100 m.

It's important to gain elevation gradually or risk altitude sickness.  Many of us also have a medication, Diamox, which we can take to help us acclimatize.  I haven't decided what to do.  I'd like to see if I could do the climb without the med, but that risks coming down with altitude sickness which would mean the end of the trip for me.

We're at Sama now (Thurs), at an altitude of around 3500 m.  I've decided to start the Diamox in the morning.  I feel fine, heart rate normal, breathing good, lots of energy, but I don't want problems on this side of the pass.  The only option is to get over that 5100 m pass. 

Some of the chemistry of Diamox... It's a diuretic, helpful because at altitude the body tends to retain water.  This can cause problems in the lungs and the brain.  The drug also inhibits an enzyme that controls how much CO2 is bound up in the blood.  This is important because the CO2 level is one of the triggers that speeds up the breathing rate.  So far, my breathing and heart rates are pretty normal.

After one dose of Diamox, I'm showing no side effects and I feel fine after our afternoon activities.

PostScript:  Our climb from Daramshala (Larke Phedi) at 4480 m to the pass at 5100 m was uneventful.  I felt a little bit of leg fatigue and needed to pant a bit here and there, but at the summit I felt very good.

Unfortunately, an older French man in another group collapsed just at the summit.  Two from our group, Kobus and Mark, administered CPR but to no avail and he died from cerebral edema.

The unfortunate part of this is that his symptoms were probably visible the night before and certainly during the climb.  The most significant issue here is nobody in his group (including their guides), noticed or did anything.  Odd because we knew that he was having trouble as we came up from behind and were going to warn the group.  He collapsed before we reached them.

The episode certainly reminds us how important careful acclimatization is and also having the watchful eyes of other group members around, not to mention being aware of how your own body is responding.

Moving North

We entered the Manaslu Conservation Area just before we stopped for the day.  We're just south of Jagat and although we haven't seen the actual town yet, I assume it's larger than the small settlements we've passed through in the past couple of days.

There are 2 or 3 guest houses here and it's a busy place.  There are the people stopping for the night, guides,  people passing through, porters with their loads and the usual contingent of old men sitting on the stone walls watching it all.

It was much less humid today and there's a wind here, something new for this trip so far.  It's cool enough that I might be able to use my sleeping bag for the first time.

After lunch we were held up by mule or donkey pack trains.  Some were being reluctant and they slowed us down a bit.

Tomorrow we pass the entry to the Tsum Valley.  At time in the planning stage, there was a plan afoot to hike up into that valley, but it was scratched from contention because of time constraints.  Instead we hike from Jagat to Deng.  As we turn the corner we will be heading more northwest, towards Larke Pass and more serious elevation gain.  The pass is over 5000 m.

On Safari

Our entourage is certainly not what I'm used to.

There are 10 clients, 5 guides including a head guide (manager or sirdar and a cook), and 7 porters.

Each morning, we pack any unneeded gear in large duffel bags, carrying our warm clothing, cameras and such.  The porters tie 2 Duffles together and carry them to the next stop.  The guides lead and follow us along, guide's pace all the way.

Late morning we stop at a tea hut and have a hot lunch and tea.  Then we continue until we reach our destination.  Cookies and tea , give our orders for supper.  After we're fed and watered, most of us go to bed, after giving our orders for breakfast. Many of these places don't have electricity so there's little to do once supper is over.  Going to sleep at 7:30 had the expected consequences.  I just can't sleep for 10 hours.

Anyhow, it's not my usual way of hiking, but as our trip leader put it... When you hire a trekking company in Nepal, you're going on safari.

I will say that I'd never get into a trip like this again .. It's way too controlling, too much time standing around waiting for people to catch up...  And I hate being "guided" down a trail like a bunch of children.

The scenery, however helps to make up for some of the annoyance.  And two of us will have two weeks on our own once the trek is over.

The Walk .. Day 1

Today was a long day and fairly challenging.  It was also warm and about as humid as a sauna.  We were all dripping wet all day.

The views, however, got increasingly amazing as we hiked up the Buri Gandaki gorge.

We stopped at Lapu Besi.  Besi, by the way, means gorge.  There are many places here named xxx Besi.  This evening, for example, we are at Khorlabesi.  At lunch, we were at Machhakola.  That translates to "Peace River".  Kola means river.

Although the monsoon is supposed to be over, it just pelted down at times during the night.  Not sure how long it takes for systems to move out around here, but it hasn't been all that nice since we arrived other than for a couple of days.

Safe Drinking Water

Other than health care, nothing gets people in BC going more than a good discussion about water.

Here, we act as if no water is safe to drink.  I've written about the precautions we take.  Last night, the guides boiled up water to fill our bottles.  At supper, we were given 1 litre bottled water.  I've seen a lot of that in the past days; large pallets and piles of water.  As everywhere, it contributes to the general litter.  I think some are collected for recycling but given the amount of litter, I'd say its a program that needs some work.

So, why is the water so unsafe?

In a few words, poor sanitary practices.  Dishes are washed outside under running taps, people wash themselves the same way and it appears toilets (where available and used) drain downhill to the nearest stream or river.  None of this would be easy to fix and with poor government resources, any change will be slow in coming.

To be fair, there's a lot of surface water, it's warm, lots of animals and people around. Animal dung is simply everywhere.  As a result, the 3 of us who were here first are prepared to filter, UV treat and chlorinate all our water.  So far the process is working.

To answer a question I'm sure you've been wondering about... In KTM the toilets were the regular sit type.  (One brand name is "hindware").  On the trail they are the Asian squat type.  A tap and a small bucket are used after to flush.  And you know where that's going.

A Very Public Life

Third world countries are crowded.  People live their lives on the streets and there seems little opportunity for private space.

Two recent examples:

During one of our walks through Thamel (one of the classic tourist regions of KTM), we encountered a domestic dispute.  What we first heard was yelling and then we saw a man lashing out at two or three boys in a cart.  We immediately detoured so as not to risk getting caught up in the fracas.

In less than a minute, a crowd gathered and people up and down the street leaned out to see and hear better. 

During our city tour, we visited Pashtupati, the place along the river where the dead are cremated.  There were a few going on and two just starting.  The other bank of the river, where we were, was fairly crowded, all watching the dead being handled.

The onlookers and my presence as one of them, made me somewhat uncomfortable, but I guess privacy is not expected in such places.

Additionally, as we hike along the trail, we are almost walking through people's houses.  Everyone's life is lived in the street, or the trail, on the front step.  We walk by people cleaning corn, weaving baskets, washing at the water tap.  These villages, or collections of houses, seem much as they would have been decades or centuries (?) ago.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Kathmandu .. The City Tour

Today we were taken on a tour of 3 of the 7 World Heritage Sites that are in the Kathmandu Valley.
Details will have to wait because there was too much information in a short time that was hard to absorb. 
We saw temples, stupas and a riverside cremation site.  Most seemed to be combinations of Hindu and Buddhist.  In Nepal they seem able to coexist quite well.  Seems like a model others could follow.
The tour and the new hotel location show a very different side of the city.  Where we are now there are paved streets, crosswalks with traffic cops, regular stores, few or no beggars or high pressure hawkers....

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Kathmandu - Getting Back to Normal?

Yesterday was the last day of Dashain, the Hindu festival that we seemed to have arrived in the middle of.  We've seen many walking the streets, adorned with "tikka" (those red dabs of makeup on the forehead) and some women in fancy silk saris.  Many shops have been closed.

Today, and more tomorrow, business will be getting back to normal.  Although we thought the streets were only moderately busy, we've been told that will change.

Wednesday is the day that we might get a "city tour" with our Sherpas.  Maybe we'll see what "normal" is around here.

Kathmandu - Street Cleaning

Some of the mixtures of smells one experiences as you walk the lanes and alleyways comes from piles of rotting garbage.

This morning I walked slowly up JP School Road at 6:30 am.  Shops were closed, only the occasional car passed me, one or two taxi drivers tried to solicit my business and a few women were out sweeping refuse into little piles.  It's not clear that those piles will ever get taken away.

At some piles, apparently refuse from restaurants or guest houses, a few people were digging through the remains, sorting and selecting.  Ubiquitous English sparrows pecked around the edges.

Later in the morning we did a longer loop north and back along the river.  This appears to be where the dump is.  There were several pigs rooting in the piles.  Some pictures have been posted.

It's been wet since we arrived.  These are soggy piles of garbage now.  I can only imagine their condition during a spell of hot weather.

Kathmandu at night

No, this is not what you are probably thinking.... It's about a feature of many 3rd world countries - Nepal, for instance, a lack of power.

Basically, Nepal doesn't have the generating capacity to supply the demand.  So, at various times of the day, the lights, essentially go out.

Last night, for instance, I was lying awake shortly after midnight and what lights I could see outside just went out.  An interesting aside can be seen when you fly into KTM at night and drive into the city.  A city of 1.7 million people is remarkably dark.  Few streetlights ..  that dark shape we passed was a cow on the edge of the road.

It's called load shedding.  Some businesses have generators but are unable to buy enough to meet that need either.

Nighttime in KTM ..  A time for sleeping (what I'm telling myself right now).

Monday, October 14, 2013

Staying Healthy

Whether by good luck, good management or a combination of the two, we hope to stay free of intestinal and other disorders while here.
We've been told that the water is "lethal", and having been here two days I'd be surprised if anything wasn't contaminated in some way.
We've hopefully covered the basics with the water.  I have a 0.2 micron filter and some bleach for chlorination.  Joel has a UVc Steripen and Kobus has bleach as well.  Water treated in one or more of those ways is all we drink unless the water has been boiled.  Tea is OK.
Fruits and veggies are always suspect because you don't know what they've been washed in or how they've been handled.
All of us have hand sanitizer.
You always brush your teeth with treated water.  Never from the tap.
I'm assuming that when showering you would keep your mouth closed.  This could be an academic point because we've yet to see any hot water from any tap.  Only running cold water, so I'm staying dry.
Food from street vendors is probably not a good idea.  Sadly.
Restaurants are best if they have been recommended.

Kathmandu - Day 1 continued

It's still raining...  According to the Sherpas we talked to this afternoon, it's because the Hindus have been sacrificing a lot of goats.  Every time they do that... All the blood, it always rains two days later.
We still spent some more time wandering around and were directed to a good restaurant where we each got a large pizza (there's ethnic food for you) for about $6 each and a 660 ml beer for about $4. We were hungry so we combined lunch and dinner....
We're not feeling too jet lagged considering but it will probably be an early evening.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Kathmandu .. Day One

Arrived on time, with our bags, halfway around the world.  Raining in KTM today, and there was some mix-up with my carefully planned accommodations, but our trekking co had made alternate arrangements so we were fine. 

We're having breakfast on the patio of our hotel.  It's the end of a holiday today so it will be quiet, I suppose.  Trying to recover from over 21 hours of travel with 19 of them on the plane.

Definitely 3rd world.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Down to the Waiting...

So.  Three of us have made it to the Vancouver airport.  It was a bit of a concern getting out of the West Kootenays, as it always is, because the Columbia Valley was fogged in.  Fortunately it cleared by mid-morning so my flight with Pacific Coastal went fine later in the afternoon.

A quiet night at a nearby hotel... Up early (way earlier than I needed to be....) and off to YVR.  Got checked in and met Joel and Kobus who were coming from Ottawa and Calgary.

Security was fast..they just wanted to look at my water filter.  I imagine it does look a bit strange in the scanner image....

Now we wait, have some lunch....

Next post will likely be from Kathmandu in a day or two.  How many hours are we on the plane??  About 19 total, I think.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Nepal - Almost Ready

Packing is mostly finished.  Jobs around the house are mostly complete.  Very little remains other than the waiting.  I start later on Friday with a short flight from Trail to Vancouver.  The long haul to Asia leaves just after noon on Saturday.