Our farewell dinner was quite good. I had roasted chicken, dal bhat and some chicken curry. Dawa got us some chocolate cake. He said that out of the 100 or so groups he's been with we were the best. We gave him a hard time saying that he must say that to all the groups, but he claimed to mean it. I was warm. It made for quite an announcement since I had had such trouble being warm on the trek. We played games like Pass the Bottle. Anne and Wendy had some of the craziest game ideas. In Pass the Bottle we made two teams which included our porters and guides. Then we raced to pass a bottle from between our knees to the next person's knees. Stefan joined us for the festivities.
We drank rum, sang and danced. (That's what was missing on this trek -- alcohol.) We did a slightly different version of the hoki poki than I'm used to. There was an attempt at the chicken dance. I think the locals were very much amused. The Sherpas (including Dawa) sang their songs and performed their own dances. It was fun. I was feeling better because stars had become visible outside the windows.
Bill had quite a bit to drink. He started calling Anne and Wendy POMs. I learned this meant Prisoners Of her royal Majesty. He also told Deb that he suspected nurse Deb with sleeping with Dawa our first night in Namche from the sounds he heard coming from her room. Eventually Bill had to be taken to bed.
I gave Dawa 700 rupees as a tip for the three porters and two Sherpa guides. He had suggested between 500 and 700. I also gave Wendy 100 rupees for the caps she had bought the porters. I went to bed around 10:30. More clouds seem to have rolled in, and I could no longer see the stars. I fell asleep hoping it would be clear when I woke up.
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I woke up around 4:39 AM and could see stars outside my window. I had a dream about observing John Travolta acting out some plot. I got up after 6:00. The skies were clear and sunlight was beginning to fill the valley. I packed and had to change the battery in my camera. I didn't finish my breakfast of oat porridge and hot lemon. Bill was pretty hungover.
At 7:36 Dawa passed out our helicopter boarding passes -- Asian Airlines again. We waited in the frisbee area just outside the lodge right next to the airstrip. It was a hard wait. Around 8:50 the siren sounded to announce that a helicopter had taken off from Kathmandu. Eventually a helicopter, a plane and another heicopter arrived before ours did. It was a little nerve-wracking, but it finally came. It was great to see.
Dawa suggested we sit on the right side this time. We had to go through security again. I wasn't sure just how I would have picked up any exposives or guns on the trek, but it was pretty painless. I sat between Wendy and Deb. We were given cotton and candy again. The views were great. It was hard to believe the trek was ending.
Arnou suddenly started crying from sudden and terrible sinus pain. It seemed to get better fairly quickly.
Kathmandu now seemed so polluted and deliciously hot. We were driven the short distance from the helicopter to the airport terminal. It seemed a little ridiculous after all the walking we'd already done. A bus shortly took us to the Shanker Hotel. Rob and I were given room 111. I repacked after getting my passport and plane tickets and returning the Peregrine gear. My plane reservations had been confirmed for me. I took a wonderful shower and shaved nine days of growth away. I traded Rob $20 for 1100 rupees.
I was so happy to be back in Kathmandu. My legs never did get all that sore and I never got any blisters. I had some raised itchy bumps that reminded me of hives around my waist towards the back. Perhaps it was from wearing the same clothes for so many days.
I went to Global Communications where I picked up email from Sara and sent her a message (300 NRs). On my way back to the hotel I stopped in at the Ambassador Hotel and bought wool sweaters (1500 NRs) for Sara and me. I changed another $20 for 1073 rupees at the hotel desk and talked with the others in the front garden. It was so weird to be back, warm and clean. I bought a Sprite and water (29 NRs) from my favorite shopkeeper and took his picture. I wish I had his name and address, so I could send him a reprint.
I returned to Global Communications and called Sara for one minute, and she called me back. When I got back to my hotel, I got a message that said my flight to Delhi tomorrow had been delayed. I would now leave the hotel at 2:00 PM instead of at 9:30 AM. This made me nervous again. Schedules don't mean as much in this part of the world.
I bought a Peregrine T-shirt from Dawa for 200 rupees. I changed another $10 at the hotel before dinner. We met at 6:00 PM in the hotel lobby. As we headed out for Thamel, I gave Dawa four of my AA spare batteries. He had asked us earlier if he could buy them since they were so hard to get.
We ate at the Rum and Doodle and treated Dawa. We ate outside with lit candles. The restaurant has foot-shaped boards with messages and signatures from trek groups all over its walls. We filled one out titling it Dawa'a Virgin Tour since it was his first trek as trek leader. We had steak, Cokes, Sprite, French fries, cauliflower and cheesecake. It cost 400 rupees.
I'm not sure just when it was, but towards the end I brought up Paul Cook to Deb, Arnou and Rob since they had been on the Annapurna trek with him. I didn't want to talk about him earlier in case they liked him a lot more than I did. It turns out he was quite an object of humor on their trek as well.
Dawa said he'd take me to the airport tomorrow. When we got back to the hotel, Deb, Rob, Wendy, Anne, Bill and I talked in the Kunti Bar for a while before turning in. I was in bed by 10:45 PM.
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I woke up around 6:00 AM. It was hard getting back to sleep. I showered first and met the others for breakfast at 8:30. We wrote down our addresses and had photocopies made for each of us. I window shopped in the hotel. My hat would have only cost 60 rupees here. It was hard to believe that the best deals seemed to actually be in the hotels. I went back to my room and watched music videos while waiting. I'll never forget some videos I saw during my stay in Kathmandu. There was one by Sting, another was a disturbing remake of the Bee Gees 'How Deep Is Your Love' and there was one by the Foo Fighters.
At 1:00 PM Rob and I came down to join the others in the lobby. Dawa was there and we joined the others for lunch. Dawa had coffee, and I didn't eat. Sara had hidden a couple of cards in my luggage and included a picture of us from my 29th birthday. I showed the others her picture since they had heard so much about her during the trek. A call at 2:00 told me to take the jeep outside to the airport. I checked out and was given a card for the doorman that basically said I had paid my bill and I could leave with my bags.
My fellow trekkers gave me quite a send-off. I took one last picture of them. It's hard to think that after sharing such an experience and getting to know each other like we did we would most likely never see each other again. We came from all over the world and to be together in one of the most remote places I've ever been. Leaving them could not be anything but a loss.
Dawa and three other men joined me in the jeep. It would take me thrity-seven hours to cross the world and get home from the time I left the Shanker Hotel. Two men got out of the jeep and Dawa got a bag at the Himalayan Adventures office on our way to the airport. We also went by Dawa's home. Dawa told me he has a brother-in-law in New York.
Dawa couldn't go into the terminal with me. I gave him $20, shook his hand and said goodbye. Then, I was on my own again. I was a bit confused in the terminal. My noon flight had been delayed until 5:30. I first had to pay a 600 NRs embarkation tax to fly to India. I took care of that at a window and was given a special pass. The line for Royal Nepal flight #205 to Delhi was stalled for a long time. Having my bag checked and getting through passport control up some stairs took a while. I was going to have to pick up my bag in Delhi. I had written on a form I had to fill out that I was on holiday rather than trekking because they collect trekking permits on departure, and I wanted to keep mine as a souvenir. I got through to the huge waiting lounge without a problem.
I spent the rest of the Nepali currency I had (that I knew of) on a chicken sandwich (140 NRs). The plane boarded before 5:00 PM. While I was in line to board, a girl (Indian I think) told me she had been there this morning for the flight and had been waiting all day. I told her that I had received a call the day before notifying me of the delay. She said no one had called them.
We had to walk outside to reach our Airbus A310. Our luggage was on the ground, and we had to identify it and have it placed on the baggage train before it would be loaded into the plane. I remember noticing an American family with I think 3 kids with maybe two girls. They looked well off and had apparently been on a Mountain Sobek tour.
My seat was 9E in the middle of the plane. There was a woman on my left, a man and a monk on my right. I wish I could have had a window seat so that I could get one last look at Kathmandu, the valley and the mountains. I could only catch a few glimpses of the outside through the windows from where I was.
The captain told us we'd be flying at 35,000 feet with a flight time of about 1 and 1/2 hours. I could see Kathmandu on my left as we took off after 5:40.
I felt strangely sad. I watched my compass as we turned West/Southwest towards Delhi. As I was watching it, I realized that my compass had become not just a tool but a momento of my adventure in Nepal.
The captain pointed out the Annapurnas to our right. I could just barely see mountains after we broke through the clouds into the sunlight. The clouds looked like a sea of cotton.
I had to fill out an Indian disembarkation card again. I had a Coke with my meal. As I sat in my seat reflecting on the past four weeks, I felt more connected with everyone around me. I realized that we are all in our own ways just trying to cope with life. It wasn't a particularly new thought, but it seemed more pronounced at that moment.
Indira Gandhi Airport was a hot 29 degrees Celsius. The place was almost familiar. I had no problem getting through passport control and getting my bag. At 8:00 PM I went outside only to come back inside after climbing up some stairs to reach an Air France ticket counter. I had to carry my bags and show my tickets to get inside. There I was told that the counter wouldn't open until 11:00 PM which meant I had three hours on my hands for waiting. After 9:00, I had my big bag X-rayed. They taped the lock and returned the bag to me. At 10:00 I was second in line waiting for the Air France counter to open. It was an experience to watch the workers prepare the counter for opening.
When the counter finally did open, I was able to get window seats for my remaining flights. I had to pay a departure tax of 300 Rs. Then, I went through another security check to enter the departure lounge. I had another 3 hours to wait before my plane took off.
I bought a small pizza and a 7Up for 55 rupees. For a while the flight status board on the wall said that Air France 177 to Paris was delayed. It was 11:22 PM, and I was tired. I checked out the duty free shops which were ridiculously expensive and tried to stay awake. Before midnight, a young man came up to me and asked me if I'd fill out a survey on their transit lounge. I definitely didn't give the bathrooms good marks -- they'd need to install western style toilets first. There was at least one water fountain, but on the question concerning it they needed one more multiple choice option on the questionnaire: There's no way in hell I'm even going to consider drinking out of the water fountain.
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Delhi -> Paris -> Chicago
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The message board said Air France flight 177 was on time, but we couldn't enter Gate 3 yet. I had some apple juice and tea for 50 rupees and spent time sitting on some steps and watching people. There were quite a few mosquitos around. Around 1:18 AM I went through another security check and was waiting in Gate 3, and at 1:45 AM I was sitting in seat 42K on an Airbus 340-300.
My flight was scheduled to take off at 2:05 AM, but we didn't take off until around 2:45 AM. A little Indian boy sat next to me on my left. It was his first time on a plane, and it happened to be with me. He kept talking and talking with me when what I really wanted to do was rest. He said he wasn't going to sleep, but I knew that resolve wouldn't last. His father, mother and sister sat across the aisle.
I ate and then managed to sleep most of the time. The movie was 'Get Shorty.' I had seen it before and hadn't thought much of it, so I pretty much slept through it. After about a ten-hour flight, we got into Charles DeGaulle Airport around 8:00 AM -- just 20 minutes after we had been scheduled to arrive.
I waited at Gate C88 for my 1:25 PM flight home on Air France flight 54. It was going to be a long day as I continued to chase the sun across the sky. Boarding was supposed to be at 12:45, so I took some time to walk around. Things were really expensive. I became hungry and considered eating some left-over Snickers bars, but I didn't expect to find a water fountain as easily as I would at home. I was surprised when I managed to find one. I could see a Concorde jet outside the window.
I took a melatonin pill to help minimize jetlag, set my watch alarm and zoned for 3 hours (or tried to). There was a crying baby, a German (I think) family, etc. around me which made resting less easy. At 12:55 PM I was on board a people mover that took us to our plane. My seat was 6K, so I had to go up the stairs again on a Boeing 747-200. A woman asked me to take her picture for her, so I did. I saw a bunch of high schoolers who had been on a three-week trip to Spain and were looking forward to getting back home. One of the guys initially sat next to me but went downstairs after he was asked so that a man's wife could join him.
I ended up watching 'Sabrina' again. It was still Lent, so I grudgingly passed up a beef stew meal for fish. Of all the days to prolong during Lent, it would have to be Friday. We were scheduled to arrive at 3:25 PM in Chicago. By the time we landed my legs felt like they were atrophying. Passport control was easy and customs never checked my luggage.
And so ended the hardest vacation I have ever had in my life. I lost enough weight that I was below what I weighed in college seven years ago.
Then came the culture shock. It was so weird to be back home. That night sitting on the couch watching The X-Files seemed unreal. Getting back into my routines seemed familiar yet fake somehow. I was still on mefloquine for a week after getting back, and it was then that I had one of my most nightmarish dreams of a woman turning into a monster. It was frighteningly vivid.
I would come to explain my trip to India and Nepal to a friend that it felt as though another room had been added to the house of my mind -- another place or dimension I could step into. (Of course, the mefloquine probably hadn't worn off yet.) The trip was very enriching even if it was hard on me. The hat I wore while trekking has since been washed, and it shrunk so much I can no longer wear it. Still, I have no plans to throw it away. Any comments, feedback or corrections are most welcome. Please email me at nowak@comm.mot.com
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Indian tourist visa: $40 (cash)
Meningitis, Typhoid, Hepatitis A vaccinations:
Mefloquine(anti-malarial), diarrhea medicine, antibiotic:
binoculars (8x21):
long underwear, film shield, iodine tablets, DEET insect repelent, backpack, fleece gloves, shell gloves
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