Kathmandu

Tuesday and Wednesday, May 7th and 8th

Kathmandu is dirty. I've always thought of it as exotic, but the reality is narrow, badly maintained "roads" teaming with people, animals, vehicles, and shops. Walking is an exercise in relaxed vigilance, walking confidently but not stupidly beside, between and in front of vans, cars, motorbikes and tuktuks. After our first journey from the airport to the tourist district, we thought we'd do better on foot. Now we know better - even a car without belts might be safer than walking these streets. 

Our first day was devoted to logistical details: getting our trekking permits and plane tickets from our travel agent, changing money, and making last purchases. For about $10 we bought a supply of diamox (altitude drug), ciproflaxicin, and an inhaler for Meg. Lunch was momos and noodle soup for another $5. 

An early bedtime was a must after two days of travel that had netted me a mere two hours of light sleep. But I stopped before bed to sit out on the balcony of our 5th floor room awhile, enjoying the cool evening breezes. The "quiet" road still teamed with activity, including the roaming dogs, cops on slow moving bikes, scooters with whole families and a wandering cow. Roosters are obviously allowed, along with all manner of crow, pigeon and other birds. Nepalis are a bit wary of having their picture taken, so I enjoyed the opportunity to use my cameras unobserved. 

Today we headed to the airport early for our flight to Lukla. Now, the international terminal is tiny, but similar to other small airports I've visited. The domestic terminal is something else. Still and video photography was "strictly" forbidden, so imagine one large and very shabby room reached by a dirt path through a construction zone. We spent 5 very loud hours there, along with almost all the other domestic passengers scheduled to fly today - most flights were delayed or canceled due to weather. Even though I knew that was possible, and built days into our schedule for it, I was disappointed.

But silver linings came through for us again. We banded together with some other Trekkers (spell check insists this word is capitalized!) to get a ride back from the airport and find a place to stay. And we're starting to discover how people cope in this loud and overwhelming city. Our new hotel is off the main tourist road, up on the third floor, and facing a courtyard. For lunch we were on another courtyard, with trees, birds, and a modicum of peace. After a few hous of peace, the bustling streets look exciting again. 

Garbage is another issue.  This morning we saw piles of garbage all over the street. We finally realized that people with shovels load it in to baskets, which they take to garbage trucks that wouldn't fit on these streets. So that's not such a bad system. But it's falling down somewhere, because the rivers look like garbage heaps and smell like open sewers. It makes me wonder. Nepali people seem very bright and extremely hard working. Why haven't they managed to clean this up? 

Cross your fingers that my next post will be from Lukla or Namche. I'm grateful that the pilots won't fly unless they think its safe, but I'm ready to start trekking!

You know you're far from home

5/7/2013 a note from Meg

One of the things I love about traveling is those events, large and small, that make it crystal clear that  I'm far from home.   A sampling from today;

Soft brown cows calmly roaming the streets, unmolested by the tumultous traffic

A caccaphony of barking dogs and car horns outside our hotel window

Looking through a window as I left our restaurant after our lunch of delicious dumplings and realizing that the dumpling wrappers were skillfully hand  rolled by a group of teen aged boys joking and chatting in the kitchen rather than emerging from a package

Walking through town to do errands, dodging cars, bicycles, motor scooters and another walkers, all sharing the narrow streets in a sort of friendly chaos 

The beautiful, truly free range chickens ranging from new chicks to full grown chickens we encountered in the street around one corner

Things I'm grateful for as a traveler today:

Lemon soda when I needed to get started drinking again- tart not sweet and just right for the moment

Our helpful travel agent Nirmal who walked us through the hard parts of the day

Our new friend from the airport yesterday and today who shared her sense of coming home with us (thanks Saloni)

The ceiling fan in our hotel room

What have you been surprised or grateful for while traveling?

The world is a big place

Tuesday, May 7th

There's a zen-like attitude that I try to take while traveling - settle in, relax and try not to think about how long it's taking. Because it's taking a very long time. 

We left around noon on Sunday. Wendy and Adam dropped us off and then headed over to the May Day parade. Security was pleasantly quick and we even got a glimpse of the parade as we flew over Minneapolis. OHare is huge - we walked as briskly as we could amyong the throngs of people, visiting almost every concourse during our three hour layover. 

Flight two was on a giant 777, from Chicago to Hethrow. We lucked out and got seats with a little extra legroom, and Meg managed to nap. I don't sleep well on planes in the best of times, and with my tail bone injury, it's almost impossible. So I watched the sunrise over the North Pole and the clouds on the ocean below, which looked like the surface of the moon. In some ways time is passing very quickly - night lasted just 6 hours. 

I can't wait to see a map of Hethrow, to try to figure out where we were. A long walk, a bus, a trip through security, more walking and a tram were required to get us to our new gate - 1 1/2 hours in all. Flight three takes us to Dehli on British Airways. Some lucky souls get lie flat seats, but I'm feeling pretty pampered even in economy class, with extra leg room and a fabulous lunch. Good thing I'm not counting calories - the Indian butter chicken (kind of like Tiki Masala, but better) and caramel chocolate moose was amazing. The video system is better than American Airlines too, with dozens of movies, tv shows, games, and even audiobooks. 

It's a good thing we were relatively comfortable - it took more than 8 hours to cross the bulk of Europe, over the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, over the desert areas of Afganistan and northern Packistan, to Dehli, India. 

We hit our first major snag in India.  We stumbled blearily off the plane in India to the international transfers area at 11 pm local time, after more than 20 hours of travel. We were sent to line one, and then told to wait for "15 minutes". We were looking forward to getting horizontal, but it took a full two hours before they waved us along. Meg said she felt like the impatient American tourist, but I tried to consider it just another part of the adventure. And it had a huge silver lining. We made friends with a wonderful young woman named Saloni.  She's in grad school in the Bay Area, but headed home to spend the summer with her family. The three of us found a quiet and free corner where I got a couple hours of sleep. 

Despite my fatigue, I feel better and better as the trip progresses. Everything is well within my plans so far. We're really going to Nepal!

Coming next: we actually arrive in Kathmandu. 

Tomorrow is the big day!

Meg's Pack: 26 pounds

Some people can pack in an hour. I've been packing for 9 months. Way back in February, I made a list of every item we planned to take, and then weighed it. I created categories, summed up the items, and displayed the result with pie charts. A bit over the top? Just maybe. 

My analysis suggested that Meg and I would each be carrying about 26 pounds. 

All the stuff

So today was my deadline. I laid it all out on the floor, from clothes to passports, cash to snacks.

Then I pretended that I was going to start hiking out the front door, and packed both packs. Success! Meg's 40 liter pack came in at 21 pounds, while my 65 liter weighed 30 pounds. We might even out in the long run, but right now, Meg's back is sore and mine isn't, so that's good.

Then I unpacked, and packed it all over again - for the plane. We're taking one piece of checked luggage with the hiking stick and Swiss army knife. I'm checking the sleeping bags too, since we could rent bags if our luggage got lost. And we'll each take a bag with items we'll want during the flight. 

I spent some quality time with the American Airlines and British Airways phone staff today too. They tell me that we get one free bag all the way to Nepal, and that our carryons are free up to 50 pounds. We're still not checked in, but we have our seat assignments all the way to Dehli. 

So think of us tomorrow, crammed into our tiny airline seats as we fly half way around the world. Literally. Minneapolis to Chicago to Hethrow to Dehli to Kathmandu. 

10 Days and Counting!

Our Route

Every picture I see of this region features snow-capped mountains, and when I calculated their heights, I understand why. Even the smallest is TALL! This is a quick sketch of our route:



Day 0: Arrive in Kathmandu at 8:30 am, very tired after more than 24 hours of travel. Meet with travel agent, wander around Thamel, and try to adjust to the time change and new altitude - almost 4,400'.

Day 1: If all goes well, take an early flight from Kathmandu into the mountains, landing in tiny Lukla (9380'). Hang out a little while, watching other planes land on the steep and short runway, before trekking several hours downhill to Benkar (9154'). Drink a lot of water.

Day 2: Meander a little further along the Dudi Kosi river to Jorsale, where we'll enter the Sagarmatha National Park. From here, climb the steep Namche hill just over 2,000'. Most trekkers consider this the hardest day of the entire trek, though some complete the hill in 2 hours. We have all day to complete this task.

Day 3: After the tough climb to Namche, we get a "rest" day, spent exploring the village and taking a hike up to the Everest View Hotel. Perhaps we'll be lucky and get our first glimpse of Everest in the distance. Namche is a major trading hub of the region, and has all sorts of services, including electricity from a small hydroelectric plant.

Day 4: Saturday morning is market day in Namche, so we'll sick around to shop first thing, before we head up the hill and out of Namche. Our goal for the day is Tengboche, which includes both a monestary and a bakery.

Day 5: after morning services, we will leave Tengboche and head down the hill to the nunnery in Deboche. Then we head up again to our lunch spot in Pangboche, before settling in Dingboche or Pheriche.  There are more lodges in Dingboche, but Pheriche is home to the Himalayan Rescue Association, with their daily talks on the dangers of altitude.  

Day 6: Day hike, perhaps up toward Island Peak.

Day 7: The going is getting tough at this point. Today we'll be be above treeline, heading up the glacial valley toward Everest. We'll pass the tiny village of Dugla but our goal is the larger settlement at Lobuche. Many of the lodges here have sun rooms to get out of the wind and get warm.

Day 8: Our big day! We plan to hike to the last settlement, Gorak Shep, and then hike further to the top of Kala Pattar, at just over 18,000 feet. By doing this as a day trip from Lobuche, we can go back down and sleep lower, which will be more comfortable. But we're unlikely to get the classic sunset view of Everest.

Day 9: Starting our descent, from Lobuche perhaps as far as Pangboche. 

Day 10: From Pangboche, we head uphill again, into the Gokyo valley, which is far less traveled than the main Everest Base Camp highway. 

Day 11: At this point, we can travel as fast as we are comfortable - we're not limited in the altitude we need to gain each day, since we've already been above the high point in this valley. 

Day 12: If we're lucky, we'll make it all the way to Gokyo, where we can climb Gokyo Ri for a nice lookout. 

Day 13: Apparently one can hike all the way from Gokyo to Namche in one day, but only the very fit. I suspect we'll go about 2/3 of the way. 

Day 14: We might stay in Namche, or just pass through for lunch. If we can make it to the bottom of the Namche Hill, our final day will be much more pleasant. 

Day 15: The last bit of the trek is uphill. And even though the air will feel rich, people say it takes a long time to reach Lukla. 

Day 16: Hopefully we'll get on an early morning flight back to Kathamandu, and arrange bus transportation to Chitwan National Park for the following day. 

Day 17: It takes 6 hours to reach Chitwan, which bodes to be extremely hot and humid, especially after the high mountain air. 

Day 18: We'll take the requisite elephant ride, mostly because it's possible to get closer to the animals, who aren't bothered by familiar elephants. We might also take a canoe ride through the park. 

Day 19: In National Parks there is no guarantee of seeing animals, so it's always best to budget at least two days to try. 

Day 20: Return to Kathmandu. 

Day 21: Enjoy Kathmandu before catching late afternoon flight to Dehli, Hethrow, Chicago, and finally Minneapolis. 

Cotton

I love cotton. Most of my life, I've tried to surround myself with cotton: shirts, pants, sheets, socks, and shopping bags. I have high thread count cotton, pima cotton and organic cotton. But on this trip, there's a rule: No cotton.

That's because wet cotton feels awful. Damp. Cold. And it dries slowly unless you apply quantities of heat, wind or time. It's easy to get a chill standing around in sweaty cotton, and it's hard to try cotton overnight in an unheated lodge room.

So I've been slowly outfitting myself in head-to-toe not-cotton.


Down coat: Thick down coat with thin nylon cover. Windproof and packable. 26 oz.

Fleece pullover: Softer than cotton, this pullover is great for layering, and so comfy I don't want to take it off. 7.5 oz.

Wicking top: These things are made of polyester, and I usually hate that.  But these are supposed to pull moisture away from your skin and dry fast. I'm giving the the benefit of the doubt, but so far my first one from Savers feels pretty good. 6 oz.

Convertible pants: I've never had a pair of these, but Meg and Adam love theirs, so I've ordered some. The nylon dries fast, is lightweight, and the legs zip off to turn them into instant shorts. My kind of dual purpose! 10 oz.

Undies: Again, I've always worn cotton, but I ordered some microfiber ones from Jockey last summer, and was astonished to find that I actually like them. Maybe better than cotton. When they get sweaty, they dry faster! 2 oz.

Socks: I still love the feel of a nice clean, dry, thick pair of cotton socks. But once they're dirty and damp, I'd much prefer wool. Smartwool brand convinced me that wool didn't have to be itchy, but eventually I found out that most merino wool does the trick. 5 oz.



Headband: I'm sure hats are better. They're certainly warmer. But I hate winter hats - I much prefer a simple headband. So that's what I'm taking. 1 oz.

Scarf: I'm a real convert to dressing in layers. I bundle up in coats, hat, scarf, and mittens when I first start walking, then slowly peel off all the extras. And cashmere is so soft and warm. I love the bright red, though it clashes dreadfully with my pack! 4 oz.

Gloves: I found these wool-blend gloves at the grocery store near my mom's house in Kansas, but they're great. Thick, warm and soft. But I might take my thinner pair from Target that are neon yellow. 3 oz.

Half way home last week, you can see that I'm all warmed up. I've already stowed my headband, scarf, and gloves. I'm wearing my packa (pack cover + rain/wind coat) but I've taken off the front jacket part. And I've even pushed up my sleeves, despite the snow on the ground. I'm toasty and dry in my not-cotton layers.

Everest Base Camp - 5 weeks and counting

Suddenly, our May 5th departure seems really soon! After more than 6 months of daily preparations, the trip is now less than six weeks away. Will we be ready?

Almost a year ago I read this Smarter Traveler article on the World's Tallest Mountain and realized that regular people like me could actually get up close and personal with Mount Everest and the region around it. The price tag was right too - especially if I didn't take one of those all-inclusive tour deals. And the physical challenge seemed right too - I'd have to work at it, but it looked possible. But who to go with?

My first choice was Meg. Her travel skills complement my own, she hikes about my speed, and she like challenges like this. But she was really busy and not that interested, so I looked around for other choices. It wasn't easy! And lucky for me, eventually Meg caved. I think she realized that she'd be insanely jealous if I actually went without her. But I had to agree to do most of the trip planning, since she's very busy with teaching and AMAZE (AMAZE Video) this year. I don't mind.

Lukla airport

The first hurdle was the plane tickets. Nepal is basically on the other side of the globe from Minnesota, and no single airline flies between the two. I spent days researching all the routes and airlines, then more days trying to book flights. I spent hours on hold with American Airlines. Eventually I got a representative, who took my details and had another office actually price my ticket. They called back the next day to tell me that the $1,400 ticket I found would actually cost $7,000! Each! But I persisted, and was absolutely astonished one day when I clicked Buy and it came back with a "Thank you for your purchase". We got the tickets for a "mere" $1,600 each. We fly from Minneapolis to Chicago to Hethrow to Dehli to Kathmandu. Then we take a Twin Otter plane to the tiny airstrip at Lukla, gateway to the Everest Highway at just over 9,000 feet.

The next step was getting ourselves ready. We weren't out of shape, but hiking from 9,000 feet to just over 18,000 feet demands a bit more fitness. And then there's the weight. At 230 pounds, I realized that I could either carry my fat or my gear. I picked the gear! Then I had to figure out how to lose weight. Ugh. My savior has been an online app, My Fitness Pal, which lets me track both calories in and calories burned. I've learned SO much about what I eat. It also give me "credit" for every calorie I burn. So it helps with both fitness and weight loss. And slowly, but surely, I've been making progress. I'm down 60 pounds, to 170 pounds. Meg looks positively thin these days. I'd like to lose a bit more, but I think I can make it now.

June 2012

March 2013

Meg rollerblading at the dome, March, 2013

So is it safe?

Lots of people have asked us that. And the answer is.... mostly. The biggest dangers are altitude, yaks, and digestive issues, and we've got a plan for each one. Ascending too fast can certainly kill us, but it happens pretty gradually. So we're armed with the symptoms and a plan for each. We're actually better off than many travelers - if we're feeling unwell, we can just change our plans. We have no group we need to keep up with. The rule for yaks is pretty easy too - always make way for the yak! Digestive issues are always possible when the flora and fauna are so different, but we're equipped with a Steripen and we plan to use it - a lot!

More preparations to come - breaking in the boots, a huge shipment from Amazon.com, and the latest on our route.

Toby and Meg