Trip Participants: Helen & Robert Pederslie and Eveline & Eric Alkemade
Trip Summary Description:
11/1/92 Singapore - Kathmandu - Pokhara
11/2-11/6 Trek to Ghorepani and back (normally 7 day trek squeezed into 5)
11/7 Pokhara - Kathmandu
11/8 Kathmandu - Mt. Everest (1 hour r/t photo flight to Everest)
11/8 Kathmandu - Singapore
DISCLAIMER:
This travel log was written solely for the purpose of providing the trip participants better means to remember this trip after their memories begin to fade. Therefore, if you like it-we will be happy for you, if you don't like it-don't come to us with a lawsuit for mental hardship! :-)
Email Address for Comments/Questions:
76244.1411@compuserve.com (Robert Pederslie)
I SURVIVED NEPAL!!!!!
Our flight to Nepal on Sunday morning, November 1, had an hour stop-over at Dahka, Bengladesh. They didn't let us out, but passed out complimentary playing cards. Couldn't see anything from the airplane though, what a drag. Upon arrival at Nepal, we were ripped off by the official porter. He carried our luggage for a total of 30 feet, and wanted 50 Rupees (US$1) for it. Oh well, at least we learned to say no to all porters. It was a mess at the Kathmandu airport. Luckily, Eveline spotted a sign for the 'Alkemades'! The local trekking company, Pabil Tours, sent someone to pick us up. Since we had about a 4 hour layover, it was a great way to kill the time. We all piled onto this Volkswagen minibus and went to the Pabil office, where we met Tenzing Sherpa, our local agent. Apparently, Sherpa could be your surname, and Sherpa could mean where you were born and raised, and it could also mean your profession, so there are MANY Sherpas around. Tenzing was very nice and smooth, he mapped out our itinerary, took all of our passports and return flight tickets (GULP! He claims that he needs them for our trekking permits and that he does this all the time.), issued us four sleeping bags to take on the trip (they might not make it there otherwise because the rest of the crew travel on the local night bus), and then took us to lunch at Hotel Sherpa (Sherpa again!). We were all very conservative in our food choices, so we all had spaghetti bolognaise. Not bad. Driving through the narrow streets of Kathmandu reminded me of the scenes from Indiana Jones. Everybody would blare their horns at the pedestrians and cars and bicycles. We saw holy cows every where we went. In Nepal, it is a MAJOR sin to kill a cow. Cows lead a very good life there. They don't need to do anything at all, just eat and sleep. I envy them.
Our flight to Pokhara that afternoon was uneventful other than the fact that the plane was VERY small and we felt quite claustrophobic. Poor Robert had to sit at the aisle because there was so little leg room. This time we were ready for the most enthusiastic porters at the airport. Protect your luggage and keep on saying 'no' until they leave you alone. We quickly found our head man, Lakpa Sherpa (Lakpa means that he was born on Wednesday...I read this from our Nepal book), and then we rode to Kaare where we had our first night of camping. By the time we reached the campsite, it was nearly 7 pm, and the sun had already set. Our tents were already set up neatly. The moment we got there, 'Cookie', the chef, already had hot tea all ready for us. We sat around and had our choice of tea, coffee, ovaltine, and some energy drink. They even make milk from powdered milk. Everything tastes a bit funny because of the water. Cookie also served some cookies with the tea. I had thought that perhaps tea was 'it' for the evening, but to my surprise (and delight), Cookie then served us a full dinner consisting of soup, Yak cheese sandwiches, Pizza (!), etc. Following dinner was the usual round of tea again. We also had these green oranges that tasted like Mandarin Oranges. Neither Eric nor I liked to peel oranges. At LAST I've found someone else who hates oranges! Well, Eric and I acted like babies each time, and Eveline and Robert would have to peel the oranges for us. A nice dog called Kukuur (I guess that means dog in Nepalese) was there the entire evening. Turns out that the places that we stayed at during our trip all had dogs that look just like Kukuur ('Family', as Eveline would say), but the first night's Kukuur was my favorite. She had a very nice face, and guarded our tent all night long. Eveline brought Uno cards, but we decided to just call it a night since there was no electricity. We were very proper in our hygiene that evening...we all brushed our teeth and washed our faces before bedtime. This proved to be the only time we did this during our 5 day trek...we were just too dead tired to care after that day. We all dressed in the same sweatsuits (from C.K. Tang's budget floor) for bedtime. The locals must have thought that we looked mighty funny.
The rooster woke us up at dawn. I had never been awaken by a rooster before. By the time I got up, Cookie already has a nice basin of hot water ready for us. He also gave us hot tea and cookies. I fed mine to Kukuur since they weren't too tasty. The view from our campsite was truly beautiful in the morning with all the red and orange colors in the sky. Ahhhh...so far so good! I had to find a spot for going to the bathroom in the morning, the trick was to find one where no one could see you. I finally gave up because all the locals were staring at me wherever I went. What helped was that I didn't wear my glasses so I couldn't see if they were all looking at me intently when I did my business. One thing that I learned from this was that I didn't care about who saw me when I did my business anymore. Anyway, back to breakfast.... Again, I thought that the cookies and tea were all we would be having for breakfast, but then I heard this chicken squealing loudly for quite some time....we had fried eggs for breakfast that morning, on toast. There was also porridge, which Eric liked. I was too chicken to try it. I figured that if I get hungry on the trail, I'll just have the granola bars and the dried fruit we brought, and of course I could always have the Cheese and Crackers 'to feel good'.
We finally started on the trail at 7:30 am. Tenzing had told us that normally, the trekking should start at 8:00 am, but then we found out from Lakpa that we should be starting at 7:00 am everyday! Oops! The trail started out nice enough. We were going downhill on a paved road. I was in a GOOD mood, thinking that this trekking business shouldn't be too bad after all. We saw herds of donkeys or mules along the way (I could never tell them apart...Eveline gave me a long explanation on their difference, but I couldn't remember anymore). Some of them wore bells around their necks. We then came to a point where we turned and started walking up these stone steps to a village. I guess this was where the REAL trail started. You have to be really careful about where you step. The stone steps were rickety, and many were loose and uneven. Besides, there were always plenty of shit along the passageway. The best person, in my personal opinion, to follow during the trek was Eric. Robert always took the 'tough' route...he always liked to step on high rocks and skip around. Eveline always took the 'shit' route....well, actually, that would be the easiest route because the animals took that route...only problem was that I was not fond of stepping into giant mule muffins. We eventually came to a resting place where there are many 'restaurants' selling mineral water and soft drinks, and Eric bought this silver and wooden ornament. Robert thought that it looked like an ashtray....he was so mean. From the resting place, we could see our first SNOW-capped mountain! How beautiful. Lakpa then pointed out where we would be having lunch. It was to be at Birethanti....looked nice enough, but it's WAY WAY DOWN the mountain. So we began trekking down the steep trail down the mountain. Parts of the trail looked like a river bed. I was having alot of trouble because I was a 'scaredy cat' and didn't want to take my chances on the slippery rocks. One of the guides helped me out alot. Most Nepalese don't wear proper shoes. They either wear thongs or nothing at all! Couldn't believe that our porters with their huge loads (up to 60 Kgs -- that's about 130 Lbs) would run up and down these trails on thongs! We had thought that our duffel bag would be too heavy for one porter, but it turned out that the poor porter had to carry our bag PLUS two others. They would strap all the bags and pile them on top of this rattan basket. The basket had a very long strap which the porter would put against his forehead. It was totally amazing at what they could carry! Looked very painful though. I was very embarrassed that these porters would actually overtake me on the trail. Well, I could understand that when they were going downhill. Basically, they just start running and hop from one rock to another...they couldn't stop even if they tried. Going uphill, I would go about the same pace as the porters...well, maybe I was a bit better than them going uphill...but I was only carrying my fanny pack (boy, a whole Lb!) and they were carrying huge loads. Robert was very nice and told me that I didn't need to carry a pack. Poor Eveline was jealous because her 'dear husband' wouldn't let her do the same. But Eveline was a real mountain mama. She and Eric had done lots of trekking before. Actually, now I wished that Carl and Angela had joined us in our trekking trip, even if Carl were still very tired from his illness. Then I wouldn't be the weakest one in the crowd....hee hee! But seriously, it was a good thing that Carl followed his Doctor's orders and didn't go with us. It would have been too tough! I got a nice fever three nights in a row from over-exertion. Luckily for me, the fever would subside by dawn. Anyway, after a long, hard journey down the muddy path where I saw many torn thongs and shoes along the way, we finally arrived at Birethanti where Cookie had already cooked lunch for us. Lunch was excellent because we were starving! Cookie even made this 'banana' pie. Only the boys tried it. It looked like a pie, but the bananas didn't look appetizing enough. Upon arrival at the lunch place, Cookie quickly brought us 'orange juice', which tasted alot like the tea and all other drinks. We couldn't mask the strong taste of the water. We ate LOTS and then had a short nap after lunch. BIG MISTAKE! Our poor muscles were so tired and stiff after the rest. Miraculously, I was the only one who seemed energetic after lunch. Well, the extra energy didn't last long. Along the way, we noticed that some of the villagers would sit on these pelts which reminded me very much of Kukuur. Apparently, they didn't waste much in Nepal. What better way to remember your dog than to make a pelt out of it!!!! Eveline then taught our guides to say 'Yelling Cucumee'. Long story... But the result was that these people would scream 'Yelling Cucumee' in a high-pitched voice for the rest of the trip. Eric decided to teach me another Dutch word other than 'Hooooiiiiii' which was basically 'Hello' in Dutch. Now I would say 'Hooooiiiiii' all the time, so it was time to learn more. So he taught me to say 'Drop Lul'. I guess I was supposed to met a new Dutchie, and say 'Hoooooiiiiiii, Drop Lul', but then I would have to run for my life! 'Drop Lul' meant something like 'Licorice Brick'. Couldn't figure why 'Licorice Brick' would cause such violent reactions from Dutchies. Ah hah! Eveline just told me that I heard Eric wrong. 'Drop Lul' meant 'Licorice PRICK', not Brick. Ahem.....Now I finally understand! Ha Ha! We also met a couple along the way. He was Dutch and she was German. Eveline didn't think that they were actually travelling together. Both were on an extended holiday. They had been trekking for some time and were much fitter than we were. They carried their own backpacks. |
