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

Roteang Village

Finally, the event that brought us all the way to Cambodia - we got to visit Roteang orphanage and village. What a delight.

Elephant, the center director, picked us up at our hotel Saturday morning in his car. No tuk tuk today! As he drove us out to Roteang village, he told us more about the project. It was started by a pediatrician from New England, Nancy Hendrie. In 1998 or so she traveled through Cambodia, visiting orphanage after orphanage to provide medical care. Elephant was her driver, as she worked 12 hour days and saw hundreds of kids. After that trip, she decided that more had to be done, so she started the Sharing Foundation. In 2000, it opened an orphanage in Roteang, about 30 minutes from Phnom Phen. I get the sense that it was meant to both offer excellent care to some of the children with the greatest need in Cambodia, but also to serve as an example of what orphanage care could and really should be.

Check out their website, http://www.sharingfoundation.org/ . In particular, take a look at the video on their home page. It's only about 7 minutes, but it's excellent. In the past 10 years, the Sharing Foundation has expanded way beyond just the orphanage. They now run all sorts of programs for the village kids, including English classes, computer classes, sewing school, mechanic training, high school and college sponsorships, and programs to get village kids to school.

On our visit, we first stopped in the fields. Workers were hauling water and weeding, while their kids attended school in two simple rooms right near the field. That's the way the program works: the foundation rented land for farming, which is available to families in the village IF they send their kids to school. That's the only requirement.



Next we stopped at the sewing school. I thought that was particularly interesting since I like to sew myself. The "school" building is simple - just an ordinary village house. The upstairs is one room, filled with 4-5 treadle sewing machines, a serger, and space to cut. Girls learn to make "simple" clothes first - mostly school uniforms. I always think that's funny when I hear it - I think that tailored shirts are pretty advanced! They also make beautiful bags which are sent back to New England to be sold, profits coming right back to the village.

Then we headed to the orphanage itself. It was lovely. Once through the gate, we parked, and saw a clearing with buildings on three sides. On the right was a tiled building for the Montessori pre-school. On the left was the new Mary Jane dorm building. And straight ahead was the original building where the babies sleep in "dorms" (large rooms for mats). The main building has a wide tiled porch where a bunch of kids and their nannies were hanging out. We handed over the pile of children's books we'd painfully lugged from the U.S., and were gratified to see kids slowly swarm over to pour over the new offerings. There was already a couple bins of books out for them, but I know I always want new books!

Out behind the main building was the kitchen, eating hall, and a beautiful playground that Elephant brought in from Thailand. I have no idea how he got it into a vehicle, but people are very creative at hauling things in this country! The kids eat in little clusters with their nannies, on mats. I think that's a pretty traditional way to eat in Cambodia - we saw families eating that way later in the night market in Phnom Phen. And out back we saw the laundry. Imagine laundry for 84 kids and their nannies! Each nanny does laundry for "her" kids. It's quite a measure of the quality of Roteang that each nanny only has 2 children, and only 1 for special needs kids. The nannies stay for a long time, so they really end up acting just like parents. It's a pretty good life for both the kids and the nannies, I think.

Also out back is their own school for the first and second graders. They found that the village school didn't do so well with that age group, so they set up their own classes. When we peeked in, the kids were hard at work. Between the Montessori pre-school and their own high-quality first and second grades, the orphans probably start school way ahead of most village kids! But that's great.

And finally, mom got to meet the students that she and Echo sponsor. They are village kids, not orphans. But after attending English classes for several years, kids are now eligible for high school scholarships. Without them, kids are lucky to attend the public school where the teachers may or may not show up, the classes have 70 or more students, and it's hard to get books. With the scholarships, kids go to "private" classes that only have 30 or so students, with decent teachers. The money also pays for their books, uniforms, and transportation to the high school. It's a good program. And it was fun to actually meet the kids. They were shy but fun to talk to.

After a tour of the new dorm building and a visit to the computer lab (PCs for most work, and one child/one laptops for word processing), we headed back to the city. We continue to be impressed. Apparently Cambodian officials are too - they complain that the orphanage is "too good." I'm sure it's inconvenient for this facility to be setting such a good example, when other orphanages struggle to have one nanny for maybe 8 children. But I think it's great. As they say in the video, this feels like just a drop in the bucket for the problems in Cambodia, but to these kids, both the orphans and the many, many kids in this and surrounding villages, this work changes their lives. Don't feel shy to donate to this organization - now that we've seen their work I'm even more impressed with how far they stretch each dollar and what good work they are doing.

After our visit, I had to buy a bouncy toy like these for Iana. I hope she likes it as much as these kids do!

last night

It's our last night in Phnom Phen. I'm behind - I haven't told you about our wonderful trip to Roteang. I'll do that next. But I want to tell you about our last day here while the images are fresh.

Tonight we walked back from dinner. It was a lovely night - hot and humid, but filled with gentle breezes and tons of people out having a good time. We strolled along crowded sidewalks and crowded parks, watching colored fountains give us a light and sound show. Crossing streets was a challenge. Mom insisted that we couldn't get killed on the last night of our trip. With so much traffic and no street signs, crossing is an art. We'd watch for gaps, then confidently edge into them. And miraculously, it always worked out. We also kept promising mom that when she couldn't take it anymore, we'd get a tuk tuk the rest of the way home. But she persevered, and we walked all the way home. I was glad for the walk before we sit for umteen hours tomorrow.

This morning we bravely ventured forth to the Killing Fields. At our hotel they strongly advised going to the Killing Fields museum first, a high school that was used to torture people during the Khmer Rouge. Once people had given up the names of their families, they were sent, along with those families, to be killed outside of town. We decided that we could handle the grim subject if we were outside in the sunshine, but not in a dark high school.

In  case you're lacking in this history lesson (I was), here's a short summary. In 1975, Pol Pot decided that Cambodia should become an agrarian communist society. He systematically targeted all intellectuals, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and even people who wore glasses. He emptied the cities, sending people out to the countryside. Between 1975 and 1979, somewhere between 1.7 and 3 million people were killed, either directly (killing fields) or indirectly (starvation, lack of medical care, landmines, etc.). The population of Cambodia at the time was 7-9 million, so this was a huge loss. Eventually the Vietnamese came to liberate Cambodia and stop the killings, but all sorts of awful things continued for awhile.

Even those this happened over 30 years ago, there are all sorts of impacts we can still see on Cambodia. The biggest thing is the education problem. If you'd survived the Khmer Rouge, do you think you'd want your kids to go to school or end up appearing to be an intellectual? Probably not. Also, all the teachers were gone. So there is a huge education gap that hasn't been fixed yet.

In addition, I see a huge population problem. 30 years ago there were 7-9 million people here. After the Khmer Rouge, there were still 4-6 million people. Now there are around 14 million. I can believe it. Families seem to commonly have 4-6 kids, often more. We've seen a LOT of kids here! Both Elephant and Mr. Sambah believe that the solution to overpopulation is education. I think they're right. Educate the kids, and they won't get married and have their first kids at 14 or 16. If these kids get jobs other than farming, they won't need so many kids to help out. In fact, they will naturally opt for fewer kids and more opportunities for each kid. So when we get home, we'll be sending money to both of the programs we visited. They're both grass-roots efforts to make big change at a village level, both directly, and by providing inspiration and example.

Well, that's it for now. We head home in the morning. It's odd - we leave Phnom Phen around noon, and arrive (hopefully) in Minneapolis around midnight. It sounds like the journey takes 12 hours, or 36 hours, but actually it takes 24 hours. Go figure that out!

The Fast Bus

Friday morning we packed up and hopped on the "fast bus" to Phnom Phen. Our plane flight to Siem Reap cost about $85 each. The fast bus, actually a 15 passenger van, cost $10 each. They told us that it would take 4 hours, compared to the 50 minute plane ride, but we wanted to see the land between the cities, so that sounded good to us.

Upon boarding, we were given a pantomime "lecture" about seat belt safety, and asked to put on lap belts. It's been a long time since someone lectured ME about wearing seat belts!

The guide book told about the beautiful new road between Siem Reap and Phnom Phen. I think I was expecting a bit more than we got. This major thouroughfair is a 2 lane highway with 2-3 foot median sandy median strips, overhung by trees and vines. It's shared by every type of transportation you can imagine: people walking, biking, motoscooters, motorbikes, tuk tuks, cars, vans, trucks and big buses. There must have been some rules to this madness, but I'm not quite sure what they are. They seemed to involve quite a bit of honking on our part, as we were the fastest thing around. So basically, we spent 5 1/2 hours (not 4!) weaving around traffic.

On the bright side, we did get to see the countryside. I found it really interesting. Most villages seemed to have the same sort of traditional house we'd seen before: simple wooden house on stilts with the area below set up for use during the dry season with hammocks, bed frames for sitting and sleeping, and space to store bikes, motorbikes, etc. It does appear that most people in Cambodia still live in a village, some more remote than others.

Arriving in Phnom Phen was a shock. Once we got into town, the traffic got thick, still composed of all sorts of vehicles. I liked this one with all the bananas!

The French colonized this city, leaving in 1953, and it's still possible to see their influence. There are some French restaurants, but mostly I was surprised at how charming a city this is at times. Saturday night we took a tuk tuk around town and felt really elegant. People were all over the place, and there were several delightful multi-colored fountains. To the left, see the Independence Monument, all lit up.