Well folks, I am back in India. It is Round 2. It started off not so great yesterday but today is good. I'm now in Rajisthan, Jodhpur to be exact, but I'll get to that in due time. First I want to talk about my trek!
The trek was awesome, and it kicked my ass big time. My calf muscles are dead, and it is very difficult to walk both up and down stairs. I started the trek by taking a local bus from Pokhara to Nayapul. We sat three to a seat (clearly) and I had this little Nepali boy on my lap who was so cute, until he started vomiting into a plastic bag! Thankfully I had Johnny Goldstein from my Wiretap podcasts to keep me somewhat sane. When the bus drove through Nayapul I jumped off and headed through the little town to where all treks start: across a suspension bridge in a little town called Birithani. As I was crossing the bridge, I saw 3 trekkers about my age up ahead, so I booted it to catch up with them, thinking it would be a lot easier hiking for three days straight with some company. The three were: Vicki: an American from Minnesota working for the state department in Afghanistan (she informed me that she drinks Tim Hortons coffee in Kandahar-how weird is that?, Emmanuel: a French Canadian jingle writer from Montreal, and Malcolm: a journalist/bartender from Georgia. We all bonded, and I decided to do my trek with them.
The first day wasn't so hard. We only had about 4 hours of walking, and only increased our altitude by about 600m (Nayapul is 900m and Tikkedhunga, where we spent the night is 1500m). Walking through all the little villages and with ponys and donkeys carrying loads of stuff, while the bells around their necks ring, was so peaceful, and a nice change of pace from the craziness I've experienced over the past weeks/months. A lot of the scenery was rolling hills and leveled land for farming, which I saw a lot of when I was trekking in northern Thailand 3 years ago.
Day 2 was a killer. It took 3 hours to get to the very next town because it was basically straight up about a million stone stairs (more like 2800 I think) to Ulleri which is at 2000m elevation. Malcolm wasn't sure we were going to make it all the way to Ghorepani that day, but my stubborn brain told me that not getting there wasn't an option. Of course it started raining, but thankfully by that time we had made it to the part of the day that wasn't as steep and was covered by a lot of greenery and trees (lots of waterfalls too!) This was also where we saw a lot of the rhododendrons blooming on the trees which was amazing. We finally rolled into Ghorepani (2800meters) around 5:30pm, after a good 9 hours of walking. It was cold too! Once you get that high, and the sun goes down, it isn't that pleasant. We all had a big dinner of dal baht which is the Traditional Nepali meal of a big platter with dal, rice, curry, pompadam, and something they call pickle. Delicious! We also had apple pie (or the Nepal version of it) for dessert and then it was off to bed at around 9pm bundled in all the clothes I brought, plus some of Vicki's clothes and as many blankets that I could muster up from the staff.
We got up at 4:30am the next morning to make the brutal trek up to Poon Hill (3200meters) for sunrise. It almost killed me, and about 15 minutes from the top, I almost threw in the towel because I was finding it so hard to breathe, but I rested for a few minutes, got it together, and finally made it to the top just in time to watch the sunrise over multiple snow capped peaks of the Himalayas. It was really specially, but cold as hell, so I didn't stick around for too long before heading back down and having a leisurely breakfast with my three pals while listening to The Black Keys (we hooked up my ipod to some old speakers the guest house had, and it was awesome!). Then it was time for us to part ways, as the guys were heading further up to get to Annapurna Base Camp, and Vicki and I were headed down because we both had to get to Kathmandu the next day for flights the following day. Well, you would think that walking down a mountain would be a piece of cake after walking up it, but actually it is so killer on your knees that it doesn't go much faster. Vicki hurt her knees, and it made for a very long day. We didn't end up back in Nayapul until 6:30pm (just 14 hours after we started climbing for the day, no big deal). Took a taxi back to Pokhara, and the next morning, a bus back to Kathmandu.
I spent my last evening in Kathmandu buying copious amounts of bootlegged DVD's (Project Runway Seasons 1-7 anyone?) and bartering for some beautiful pashminas, before having dinner with my nice Maritimer friend Jessie. The next morning I headed to the airport to catch a flight back to Delhi, and then Jodhpur, but clearly the flight was delayed, so I missed the 2nd flight and ended up having to stay in Delhi for 1 night which is exactly what I was trying to avoid. Now, I won't go into all the sorted details of what went down at the airport between me and about 30 Air India employees, but I will tell you that at one point I asked a security guard with a gun to shoot me. I'm glad he didn't understand enough English to know what I said. After first attempting aggression, then reasoning, and then finally just bawling my eyes out like a child, the surly manager of Air India took pity on me (or just wanted to get this crazy white girl out of his face forever) and gave me some vouchers for a pretty nice hotel. I spent last night watching Dexter and Community on cable. Nice.
I finally managed to get on the plane today to Jodhpur, and hopefully leave Delhi behind forever. That is one city that hates my guts, and the feeling is mutual. I have to tell you that on the plane I watched a Bryan Adams concert, and THEN, an episode of Juste Pour Rire gag real straight from Quebec. So puzzling, but I appreciated the Canadian content.
When I stepped off the plane, it was 34 degrees. Hot as hell. But, the awesome thing is that I immediately felt the chiller vibe of Rajisthan. People here are nicer, and a lot more relaxed. Thank god. I will take crazy heat over harassment any day of the week. After finding a decent hotel, I took a rickshaw to the biggest palace built in the 30s by one of the Maharajahs. It was beautiful, and the inside is preserved in the Art Deco style.
Tomorrow morning I'm heading further west, almost to the border of Pakistan, to Jaisalmer, to hopefully do a couple days in the desert on a camel. Lawrence of Arabia styles.
For some reason, this computer won't let me upload multiple photos (isn't India one of the major leaders in IT? How does this make sense?) So, you will have to wait to see more than just 2 pics from the trek.
Hope everyone is well. I hear that Canada is warming up now, thank god. Until next time...
The trek was awesome, and it kicked my ass big time. My calf muscles are dead, and it is very difficult to walk both up and down stairs. I started the trek by taking a local bus from Pokhara to Nayapul. We sat three to a seat (clearly) and I had this little Nepali boy on my lap who was so cute, until he started vomiting into a plastic bag! Thankfully I had Johnny Goldstein from my Wiretap podcasts to keep me somewhat sane. When the bus drove through Nayapul I jumped off and headed through the little town to where all treks start: across a suspension bridge in a little town called Birithani. As I was crossing the bridge, I saw 3 trekkers about my age up ahead, so I booted it to catch up with them, thinking it would be a lot easier hiking for three days straight with some company. The three were: Vicki: an American from Minnesota working for the state department in Afghanistan (she informed me that she drinks Tim Hortons coffee in Kandahar-how weird is that?, Emmanuel: a French Canadian jingle writer from Montreal, and Malcolm: a journalist/bartender from Georgia. We all bonded, and I decided to do my trek with them.
The first day wasn't so hard. We only had about 4 hours of walking, and only increased our altitude by about 600m (Nayapul is 900m and Tikkedhunga, where we spent the night is 1500m). Walking through all the little villages and with ponys and donkeys carrying loads of stuff, while the bells around their necks ring, was so peaceful, and a nice change of pace from the craziness I've experienced over the past weeks/months. A lot of the scenery was rolling hills and leveled land for farming, which I saw a lot of when I was trekking in northern Thailand 3 years ago.
Day 2 was a killer. It took 3 hours to get to the very next town because it was basically straight up about a million stone stairs (more like 2800 I think) to Ulleri which is at 2000m elevation. Malcolm wasn't sure we were going to make it all the way to Ghorepani that day, but my stubborn brain told me that not getting there wasn't an option. Of course it started raining, but thankfully by that time we had made it to the part of the day that wasn't as steep and was covered by a lot of greenery and trees (lots of waterfalls too!) This was also where we saw a lot of the rhododendrons blooming on the trees which was amazing. We finally rolled into Ghorepani (2800meters) around 5:30pm, after a good 9 hours of walking. It was cold too! Once you get that high, and the sun goes down, it isn't that pleasant. We all had a big dinner of dal baht which is the Traditional Nepali meal of a big platter with dal, rice, curry, pompadam, and something they call pickle. Delicious! We also had apple pie (or the Nepal version of it) for dessert and then it was off to bed at around 9pm bundled in all the clothes I brought, plus some of Vicki's clothes and as many blankets that I could muster up from the staff.
We got up at 4:30am the next morning to make the brutal trek up to Poon Hill (3200meters) for sunrise. It almost killed me, and about 15 minutes from the top, I almost threw in the towel because I was finding it so hard to breathe, but I rested for a few minutes, got it together, and finally made it to the top just in time to watch the sunrise over multiple snow capped peaks of the Himalayas. It was really specially, but cold as hell, so I didn't stick around for too long before heading back down and having a leisurely breakfast with my three pals while listening to The Black Keys (we hooked up my ipod to some old speakers the guest house had, and it was awesome!). Then it was time for us to part ways, as the guys were heading further up to get to Annapurna Base Camp, and Vicki and I were headed down because we both had to get to Kathmandu the next day for flights the following day. Well, you would think that walking down a mountain would be a piece of cake after walking up it, but actually it is so killer on your knees that it doesn't go much faster. Vicki hurt her knees, and it made for a very long day. We didn't end up back in Nayapul until 6:30pm (just 14 hours after we started climbing for the day, no big deal). Took a taxi back to Pokhara, and the next morning, a bus back to Kathmandu.
I spent my last evening in Kathmandu buying copious amounts of bootlegged DVD's (Project Runway Seasons 1-7 anyone?) and bartering for some beautiful pashminas, before having dinner with my nice Maritimer friend Jessie. The next morning I headed to the airport to catch a flight back to Delhi, and then Jodhpur, but clearly the flight was delayed, so I missed the 2nd flight and ended up having to stay in Delhi for 1 night which is exactly what I was trying to avoid. Now, I won't go into all the sorted details of what went down at the airport between me and about 30 Air India employees, but I will tell you that at one point I asked a security guard with a gun to shoot me. I'm glad he didn't understand enough English to know what I said. After first attempting aggression, then reasoning, and then finally just bawling my eyes out like a child, the surly manager of Air India took pity on me (or just wanted to get this crazy white girl out of his face forever) and gave me some vouchers for a pretty nice hotel. I spent last night watching Dexter and Community on cable. Nice.
I finally managed to get on the plane today to Jodhpur, and hopefully leave Delhi behind forever. That is one city that hates my guts, and the feeling is mutual. I have to tell you that on the plane I watched a Bryan Adams concert, and THEN, an episode of Juste Pour Rire gag real straight from Quebec. So puzzling, but I appreciated the Canadian content.
When I stepped off the plane, it was 34 degrees. Hot as hell. But, the awesome thing is that I immediately felt the chiller vibe of Rajisthan. People here are nicer, and a lot more relaxed. Thank god. I will take crazy heat over harassment any day of the week. After finding a decent hotel, I took a rickshaw to the biggest palace built in the 30s by one of the Maharajahs. It was beautiful, and the inside is preserved in the Art Deco style.
Tomorrow morning I'm heading further west, almost to the border of Pakistan, to Jaisalmer, to hopefully do a couple days in the desert on a camel. Lawrence of Arabia styles.
For some reason, this computer won't let me upload multiple photos (isn't India one of the major leaders in IT? How does this make sense?) So, you will have to wait to see more than just 2 pics from the trek.
Hope everyone is well. I hear that Canada is warming up now, thank god. Until next time...
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