Nepal in pictures

Morning ritual - tea with yaks milk

Trekking day 1 with heavy backpacks!

Crossing our 1st of many bridges. 4 hrs in to day 1 - 4hrs to go!

Looking at our map - to avoide getting lost again!

Day 1 complete - 8hrs later!

Jimmy, Chitre and Katchima aka crazy Belgian!

1st day of snow - many to go freezing my best bits off!

Pic with one of the local kids

Sign post for Winky

Jimmy in the snow storm

More snow...

Trying to defrost the fingers and toes

Top of La Throng pass 3570 meters

Shelter at last

Chinese laundry - clothes soaked through from the snow

Pituresque

View of the pass we just climbed

1st class shower and toilet facilities

Fingers crossed wont be needing it

Outside one of the many beautiful Monastries

Gompa

Amazing views with Lukla as backdrop

Turning the Prayer wheels for luck

Mani prayer wall on way up to Namche Bazaar

Tourists

Highest bridge of Himalaya, just below Namche

1st views of Everest

View with Namche as backdrop

Road to EBC

King of the world

More amazing scenery

Monk prayer book

Tengboche is frozen

Jimmy with Everest in background



Decent from Namche



Light load for a porter

Lukla airstrip



Back in KTM - Jimmy after being blessed by a Saadu

Streets of Kathmandu





Nepal - the last stretch

Hey guys,

I think the best way to capture Nepal the way we did is to load a whole bunch of pictures with some comments below each one. Before doing that I will let you know where we took it from me being unable to breathe up in the mountains. We packed our bags and started to head down the mountain SLOWLY for two reasons, one the snow had turned to ice making it extremely slippery, two because I was not really with it so Jimmy had to constantly watch out for me and make sure I was not about to going flying off the cliff. We trekked our way all the way back Lukla over a two day period and booked our flight for the "warmer" climate of Kathmandu (seriously Kathmandu felt like a tropical island after being in the mountains - you know it's cold when the toilet water is frozen...). We woke up early the following morning, eager to get on our 7:30 flight back to civilisation.

For those of you who dont know anything about Lukla airport, let me give you some insight. Lukla sits at 2840meters, in otherwords it is a town on a mountain top, Lukla airport is at the edge of the mountain, the landing strip is a cool 460 meters long (and sits at a 12% gradient - some extra info from the pilot). It is the most dangerous airport in the world to fly in or out of due to the fact that when landing, if the pilot is too low the plane crashes in to the face of a mountain, if he is too fast he crashes into the coffee shop at the end of the runway strip, when taking off from Lukla if he does not have enough speed and height you crash into yet another mountain face. Now I am not one who is usually afraid of flying, I have had my fair share of small aircrafts with some minor problems along the way, electrical failure springs to mind. But now, it was not Jimmy flying the plane and this time there were some serious obstacles in our way should the pilot not be on his A game that day. Our first attempt at leaving Lukla was unsuccessful, the clouds rolled in so the plane was sent back to Kathmandu. We hobbled our way back to our tea house, which is conveniently situated on the far side of the runway and ordered some tea to defrost.

We thought we were going to be hanging around a while, 20 minutes later the owner of the guest house said "guys you better run, your plane is about to land and they dont wait for passengers". We sprinted as fast as we could leaving four lungs behind us, I have never in my life had to run so fast and so far without breathing, we were rushed through "security" and boarded the plane all in a matter of 10 minutes and before I could even get my seat belt done up, we were taking off - no time to reconsider taking off from this daunting airport. All was good, the take off was great and the views spectacular until I noticed two rather aged hands gripping my chair... I turned back just in time to notice an 80+ local vomiting into her barf bag which is the size of a small chip packet, this wonderful experience continued for the duration of the flight, for 30 minutes I had to sit practically on the pilots lap as she wretched into her barf bag over my seat - charming to say the least. Jimmy was most entertained!

Back in Kathmandu we had our first shower in 7 days - no hot water up in the mountains and when you looking at minus temperatures keeping clean just does not seem so important anymore.... Here is a result of keeping your hair tied up for a week through extreme climate conditions.

Who needs hairbands?

We spent 3 days in Lukla eating "normal" food and organising our trip to Thailand which is where we are now. Updates on Thailand to follow...

Lukla and into the Nepal Himal

After we arrived in Lukla we enjoyed the warmth of the Paradise Lodge and instantly felt the price increase that comes with the higher altitudes. EVERY single item that is produced for sale or arrives/appears in Lukla has been brought up by either aircraft (seldom) or has been painstakingly brought in from JIRI, the last stop on the 'highway'  or rather 'death mountain pass'. When I say 'brought in' I mean stacked ontop of someones back and carried up the trail for around 7, maybe 8 days. It's crazy the amount the local folk manage to carry on their backs. We were told they often carry loads of 120 KG's !!!! Yes, we felt bad complaining about the 15 kg's strapped to our vertebrae..... 

Typical load - this is one of the smaller loads locals carry

Items seen to be carried include: 2 couches; washing machine + tumble drier set (one man's back);  Building log's/wood and the list continues. All sorts of shite. And damn it looked heavy.

When a family member say's to another, 'I'm off for tea at Penelope's house', he/she means 'see ya in 3 or 4 day's - i'll be back after my 80 kilometer 'lil walk around the mountain!' 

Brings a whole new meaning to: 'Mommy can I play at Guadalope's house?'

Off the story there..... Sorry, sidetracked..... We stayed in Lukla the following day and it was then we almost threw in the towel. We were used to the 'purpose of the day', ie getting up in order to trek the 7 or 8 hours onto the next destination, but today was meant to be a chill day. Man we hated every moment. We froze and longed for the beaches of Thailand. You'd have thought it'd be welcomed but no, we spent the rest of the day shivering and spending unnecessary amounts of money on stuff we didn't need. We visited the Irish Pub (every town in the world has an Irish pub, even at 2840 meters above sea level!), Starbucks (yes, that too - closed unfortunately) and drank copious amounts of EVEREST BEER which was great. We even spoilt ourselves to some Chilean red wine (R200 a bottle) - we were longing for the red poison and it tasted oh so good in the mouth! The rest day finally came to an end with some dodgy weather that started to set in and we were off to bed at the usual 7pm.

Cacey arriving in Lukla - FINALLY!

Jimmy and Chitre arriving in Lukla sporting sexy pant

Starbucks chain store worms it's way into Lukla of all places

Night in Namche with familiar faces

Infamous Fukding

Trek day 8 comprised of our routing from Lukla to Namche Bazar at 3440 meters. This trekking day is usually done in a two day period with an overnight stop in Phakding (great name for a town and yes it is pronounced Fuk-ding) but as we had already turned ourselves into trekking machines the past 6 day's and felt the need to go go go we decided to do it all in a day. Man, what alotta up! We negotiated our way through check posts, military checkpoints, black ice, snow, high suspension bridges, yak trains, donkeys etc. All in a days work. 7 long hours later we arrived in Namche Bazar and walked straight into Kachima and Cecile, our foreign mates who we had said goodbye to the day before. Awesome. We had some 'Rakshi" (local wine spirit or something or other) and talked about our routes we were due to take the following day. Most folk acclimatize in Namche as is the recommendation in the Lonely Planet guide as well as in other trekking manuals, we on the other hand decided not to after our horrible day drinking in Lukla. It was all systems go the next morning as we set out alongside Kachima and Cecile. Today's trek would take us to the town of 'Tengboche'. We wandered together along a well established trail, passing monestaries and Gompa's (Budda prayer things stationed way up in the mountains) and took many photo's. It was also our first sighting of the mighty Mt Everest that dominated the skyline. Shortly after saying our goodbyes to Kachima and Cecile (they were off on an other route to a base camp called 'Goyko', our initial planned route), the weather quickly deteriorated. At 3500 meters plus, the effects of altitude could now be felt. Cacey experienced many breathing problems due to a combination of asthma and high altitude and had to stop on a regular occasion. I was too plodding along at a greatly reduced pace. The weather continued to reduce visibility and we were again back in the same blizzard conditions we had experienced a few day's prior. We finally reached the top of the climb to Tengboche and wandered off in the wrong direction, looking for an open tea house to settle into. A couple of minutes later we walked into a monk (the only guy outdoors) and he instructed we follow him, hopefully to a warmer place with open doors and a fireplace. the monk just so happened to be off for a prayer session and we were in luck. He led us to the only open tea house in the village. We burst through the doors and thawed our frozen feet against the fire. Man it was great to feel the toes again. We dumped our bags and tried in vain to dry our soaked gear. It was so cold even the toilet water had frozen over so taking a 'boytch' proved difficult - haha! Later that afternoon we chuckled as we watched the younger monks ski down the slope with homemade ski's. Hardcore bunch - X-games watch out, the Monks be coming......
Inside the tea house we continued to sip on the local tea and we noticed Cacey's condition slowly deteriorating. By deteriorating I mean she was feeling light headed, stumbling, mumbling a few words, feeling very very tired etc. This was to be the first signs of AMS (Altitude Medical Sickness). That night we tried to sleep aware that we should possibly be descending in order to alleviate these symptoms of AMS. The next day Cacey's condition had gotten worse. Tying a shoelace proved difficult but we said we'd try a little 'hike' round the block to assist with the acclimatisation process. The hike proved unsuccessful and after every 10 or so steps Cacey had to sit and gasp at the thin air available to her. She was almost delirious. Moving was now troublesome. She definitely had a case of AMS and the next day it was decided to descend at first light. AMS claims an average of 3 lives per year in the Himalaya's and we couldn't take any chances. After an afternoon nap we (slowly) decided to visit the Tengboche Monastery - the largest Monastery in the Himalaya's. 

First view of Everest

Prayer wheels

The ceremony firstly involved no exertion, ie. Case could join in on the festivities. The monks near the monastery were all draped in red cloth and wore red sandals or shoes, some even wore red Crocs (highly UNfashionable!) They started proceedings with the blowing of huge sea shell horns from the highest window of the building. This served as a prayer call to ALL the other monks in the village (population i'm guessing at max 50). After a few minutes the other monks walked in through the large decorative entrance and we followed suit, removing our shoes before entering as a sign of respect. Inside the walls showed intense detail and colour and the monks all took their places on small stools in the centre of the room. These stools faced a few candles and insense sticks all infront of a large figure (their god). The room smelt of tea and shortbread. The watch registered a temperature of 2 deg C! It was freezing inside! Glad I brought my plakkies.... FAIL!
The monks covered themselves with red blanket and began to chant off in unison. Jargled words came out of their mouths as they mumbled off prayer and they seemed to be in a higher state of meditation. They were then each poured a cuppa tea and the prayer/meditation stopped whilst they sipped on their brew. This process occurred - pray, tea, pray, tea, meditate - for about 45 min's and then suddenly they were finished. They stood up and walked out the room as we were now allowed to take photo's and wander about the monastery. An awesome, albeit cold, experience.

Monk prayer stations

What you would typically find in a monastery - note all the intricate detail

The next day Cacey's condition had further deteriorated and she now needed assistance with even the small things like walking to the toilet. Time to descend. NOW! We went back the route we came and at a town called 'Phunki Tenga', considered leaving Cacey there to recover as I continued to Everest Base Camp (EBC) alone. We were a mere 3 days from reaching EBC. Phunki Tenga had only the one tea house which sported not a long drop but a hole in the floor of each 'room'. It sure was no PH-UNKI town. I could not leave her there and we both decided that this trip was about us and the journey and that EBC would always be there. THE JOURNEY WAS THE DESTINATION and what a journey we had had! 12 day's in the awe inspiring Nepalese Himalaya's - WOW! EBC could wait........

 

Trekking day 1-6

The next morning we hauled ourselves out of bed at 05h30 and proceeded to get dressed at the speed of light - the watch was regestering +2 deg C inside the room. We were given these shawl type things as a blessing from the Guest house owner, wishing us well on our trek. Our packs felt heavy as we walked to the start of the trail. Alot of stopping and starting ensued as we tried to get comfortable, gloves on, gloves off, top off, too hot, too cold, take photo's etc etc. It sure was beautiful out there. We followed some single track past temples and 'Gompa's' (Nepalise prayer posts) and after around an hour we found ourselves lost. Already. We enquired with a few locals in the village we got to as to the whereabouts of our destination 'Shivalaya'. They chickled and pointed to the top of a ridge so we took their word for it and trekked up up and up some more. We proceeded to get lost again - yes we did have a map, but no GPS, and we all know GPS is the future. After bumping into a Belgian guy and some japanese dude we met the night before we decided it was safest to follow them as they were on the same trek as us. Eventually we made it to our half way point of Shivalaya after 4 and a half hours! this was going to be a long day out. We had lunch with the Belgian who was the strangest character. He read our 'Galactic portal codes' to us and how the 'gods of the mountain' must have been upset with us and showed us the wrong path etc. that is surely why we got lost. We drank some tea together and ate some 'Momo' for lunch (dim sum) and continued to compare maps and discuss the further routing for the day which seemed to go up. Alot of up in fact. After lunch we proceeded up the path that followed up the 'hill', except this hill was 2 times the height of Table Mountain's Platteklip george! Yes, after 4 and a half hours we were faced with a 1400meter climb! Thats platteklip road to the top, and then again and then some.......

 

Trying to figure out where we went wrong



We climbed and climbed and went up and up forever. No flat, just up. We were nearly at the top when Cacey had an emotional break down. If only she knew we were right there - 100meteres to go. She plucked up the courage to continue and after 4 hours we emerged at the top and walked through the dense cloud into the little town of Deurali, perched at 2750meteres up. What a sight. charlie who we met the night before hoffered us some whiskey to warm us up and felt bad for us carrying all that kit all that way. We decided then and there to 'load shed'. This load shedding included the scrapping of a great deal of our medical kit, something our mothers would not approve..... We skipped the shower, went to find a porter and some food and gave him about 4kilo's of each of our bags contents. This left us with reasonable 10 and 14 kilo packs. Much better. We were to pay the 15year old porter R50/day + food. Bargain. What a win. This was a Bonnies-best-buy moment.

That night we sat round the Yak dung fire with the Charlie and the Belgian and discussed the following day's route and shared stories. Another story emerged from the Belgian that he had once upon a time been locked up in a Thai prison! Interesting fellow. By 18h00 we were bushed and were off to bed before our 6am wake up call the following morning. At breakfast our mate Charlie came running down asking if we had felt the earthquake?! 'Ummmm, nope!'
He was convinced he felt the earth shudder in the wee hours of the morning and after some word with the locals it was confirmed that we had slept through our first official earthquake. Must have been tired huh?

Every monring we woke up at sparrows and as we climbed higher and higher and slept at increased altitudes the temp got cold. Very cold. At the one point you can't believe, it was -5 deg C inside our room (nifty watch tells the temp) - getting up in the mornings proved difficult to say the least. Cacey found a way to get fully clothed inside her sleeping bag - too clever.
The nights were spent conversing with charlie and the Belgian and another french lady who couldn't speak English. Charlie would show us slide shows on his Apple of when he climbed Everest in 2003 and tell us of his experiences as to how he got to Nepal. This man had swum the length of the Thames River, then swam the English channel, then hopped on a Le Bicycle and rode across France, Belgium, Poland etc etc, a few others, Kurgestan, Kazakstan, Turkmenistan, got hit by a truck, got hit buy a car, flew home to the States to see his family then flew to China, rode across china to Tibet and was now in Nepal to climb Everest for the second time! Machine! 8 months he had been at it, the whole trip lasting 1 year.

The days trekking usually consisted of a 2 hour start armed with our gloves and jackets and then we would stop for some tea. Glorious tea! We would then go up for a couple hours, then down, then up and approach our agreed upon town for the night after anywhere between 6 and 8 hours out on the trail. We were going to be machines after this trek for sure!

After the first 4 days we had trekked for 28 hours! Solid.
We had estimated we had both lost at least a kilo a day - Oprah should take her mate Gale on this trek - that'd do the trick as nothing else seems to work.
On the 4th day we left the tea house and as we stepped out the door it proceeded to rain. After we climbed up (as usual) for about 15mins it started to snow. It was beautiful at first but then proceeded to turn into an all out blizzard. We continued to trek. cacey had been sick since day one so this didn't help matters at all. The day took us over the 'La Thorung Pass' at 3570meters (3 hours of up) and the temp had gone to approx -10 deg c by this stage. We pressed on through the foot deep snow.. At the top of the pass we were shocked to see a monk/lama fellow kitted out in his red drapes walking all jolly sporting his sandles and no gloves to be seen - WTF? Crazy man! Maybe that was the real YETI?



Freezing!

 The next day we proceeded to trek for 7 hours through the ensuing blizzard and had become accustomed to the cold temeratures and 50 meter visability. Up and over another 3090meter pass and as we descended the snow turned into a muddy slush. We passed underneath the cloud base and were presented with the most beautiful views. Snow capped peaks surrounded us with green lush valleys below. All the little villages 1000 meters below looked so peaceful. Down to the village we go then. We were sure that we had been following Charlies footprints in the snow the entire way to our village. As we searched the town for the tea house Charlie was staying at, we found no sign of the man. We had a bucket shower (first shower since we started) and proceeded to sit in the 'sun room', sheltered from the snow and rain that was belting down outside. We were glad to have finished for the day. We hung our drenched kit up over the yak dung fire and thawed our fingers and toes by putting them INSIDE the fire. After a full 11 hours the Belgian and the Le French walked in, soaked to the bone. They had been taking their time froloking in the snow and rain. Blinded not by the blizzard but by love. They seeemed to hit it off and were now an unofficial trekking couple. We started to worry as Charlie had not emerged. We were not sure if he had continued to the next town or was stuck out there in the snow. Then, out of nowhere, the man walked by the sun room and we called for him. He sat by the fire and told us how the snow had covered the pathway and he had gone up a 4000 meter pass in the wrong diection! He then fell on some black ice, injuring his knee and if that wasn't enough he got chased by a dog who latched onto his ankle while he tried in vain to hit the dog on the pip with his trekking pole. Funny stuff. He said he had had a 'bad day' - no sh1t!
That eveing I had the crappiest pizza you have ever seen, along with a side of purple tomatoes. The Belgian read our fortunes to us, smoked his chirra pipe and he accurately told us what our personalities and backgrounds consisted of. Wise man (35yo) he was. It really was an accurate portrayal.



Snowwy

The final day 6 had arrived and we had to trek to a village called Lukla. This is the highest one can fly in the Himalaya and the place where 99% of the trekkers begin their trek. No, not us. But in hindsight we were alot fitter by the time we reached lukla and breezed past the other folk on the trail. Along the way to the village cacey slipped twice on the black ice. this stressed me out as right to the side of the narrow trail there was a 1500m, maybe 2000m sheer drop down to the river below.



109 meter suspension bridge - give way to the YAK trains!




Sunset at SETE (day2). Gompa down to the left



A typical tea house - kidding. But nice views after the blizzard

 Finally after 6 days and 42 hours out on the trail we had reached Lukla and our rest day. We checked into the Paradise Lodge  situated right alongside the 460meter runway (For my sake - Jimmy) and nestled down by the fire and ate and had some much needed rest.

Breathtaking views of the Himal