The trek in Nepal was beautiful, amazing, breathtaking (both scenically and physically), majestic, painful (more later), bonding, relaxing, and lots more. I took hundreds of photos, 20 of which just have to be good by accident alone. Our flight to Lukla was delayed a couple of hours, but from there we were able to stay on the planned route. We went up toward Everest Base Camp, enjoying incredible views of the mountains along the way. Though it got a little nippy at night, the cold was balanced by first class service. Great food and service all day long. I think some of us gained weight during the trek. Reminds me of a triathlon buddy who likewise likes to consume more calories during a race than he expends. I soon learned to limit each multicourse meal to a single plate. Worked fine--at least my jeans still fit. We were served tea/coffee in our tents every morning at 6:00, followed shortly by a nice big bowl of warm 'washing water'. Wipe off (a great great treat--happened every evening, too), pack up the duffeland day pack, and then to breakfast, a warm meal of porridge, eggs, toast, coffee, yumm yumm yumm. Hike for a few hours, maybe stop in a teahouse and sit in the sun somewhere along the way. Then a warm lunch is waiting, prepared by the cooking staff who had packed up the kitchen and hauled it way the booty up to our lunch place. But at least the cooking staff had company. The camp boys tore down camp and packed everything up (sometimes warming frozen tent support joints in their mouths--I saw it!), loaded it onto the yaks or zokyus, passing us during the day to get ready to set up camp for the night. They weren't alone, either. Total support staff for the 6 of us was about 14. I think if I had asked them to carry me they would have done it, no problem. I gotta remember to tell the story about how I tried to beat one of the Sherpa guys up a hill... he was carrying a big backpack, probably 60 lbs, and I had a daypack and a nice warm lunch in my stomach. No big story, I guess. It was about a 2 hr climb at about 12,000 ft, I thought I'd see how hard it would be to get him out of breath, then I'd take it easy on him so he wouldn't get in trouble from the trip leader for not staying with me; but, I nearly killed myself working so hard and I'm pretty sure he never got much above his resting heart rate. He must have thought it was funny. What a stud.

Dinner each night (after we got to wash up again, put on nice clean camp jammies and a big down jacket) was great, night after night. Rice, curry chicken, cheese puri, water buffalo, fried chicken, pizza (no joke), apple pie, even cake, fruit every night. Feast after feast. And I forgot to mention tea/coffee and cookies each afternoon after washing water and before dinner. It was a little like a spa, like great attention and servcie all day long. The nights were a little long, and sometimes cold, but we didn't sleep that high (12,900 max), so it wasn't very much below freezing most nights. Still cold to venture out to the toilet (that's a whole other story, the toilets).

I had a problem with a root canal that was done a few years ago. Six days in it strated to hurt. I started an antibiotic, it got a little better, then worse, then worse. The trip leader, Sanjeev, had some clove oil, which helped a couple of nights. A couple of nights I was really bad, waking up in quite a bit of pain. Had some pain killers that helped me through the days, but a pounding heart and an absyss don't go well together, especially at altitude. Back in Kathmandu a couple of days ago I had a chance to see a dentist, which I declined, hoping, wishing it would go away. But on the 2nd of 2 days in Kathmandu, the day before I was to fly to Bhutan, it got worse again, so I asked to see a dentist.

In an earlier entry I stated that for getting my haircut in Kathmandu I was brave.

The dentist took one look, one xray (I'm sure I doubled my lifetime dose from that one exposure) and said she'd have to remove the root canal, relieve some pressure, clean it out and see me again, on her day off, on my way to the airport the next morning. The procedure would take an hour, because one has to be careful--it's not just like removing a bad filling. Aye carumba. But I had to do it. The right side of my face was so painful that I couldn't blow my nose without a great deal of discomfort. And I could only smile with the left side of my mouth--a kind of sinister smile, not from one to be trusted. I had to do something to relieve the pain before heading to Bhutan...

Let me say that the dentist, Dr. Angela Prada, was fantastic. But I was still scared to death. She asked that we do it without anestetic, but I think beads of sweat formed on my forehead and started streaming down my face. Then she suggested that the area was very sensitive and inflamed from the infection and that also I'm a big baby, and she gave me a shot. Not just any old shot, you know those dental shots, in the front of your gum, right above a tooth, in front? Like you smile and somebody inserts a great big needle right there. Ouch. Okay, enough you say. An hour later she was done, puss dripping out as the pressure was relieved. She plugged a piece of cotton in there, told me to pull it out after dinner (I took a picture!), and then stop by in the morning so she could fill the hole. I get to stop by and see her after my Bhutan trip so she can do a more permanent job. Oh, and if I have more trouble in Bhutan she said I can just sterilize a needle and dislodge the temporary filling. Then try not to get food in it. Yikes.

I'm in Bhutan now, flew in this morning after stopping by to see Dr. Angela. My mouth feels okay. Time for more ibuprofen, and hope that it gets better soon. Last night and this morning it felt so much better. Now I'm back at altitude and it's evening. Hmmm.

Bhutan is paradise. I will love it here, no question. Tshering will take me on a personal trek, something beautiful and physically strenuous, cause I made the mistake of claiming that I'm both in shape and aclimated. We'll have a staff of people to support us, same kind of thing as Nepal, though I hope it's not quite as elaborate. Maybe I could trade one of the dinner courses for a dentist.

The country is so peaceful and beautiful. Today we visited a great cultural museum and drove to the end of the valley to see Eagle's nest, a place we'll hike tomorrow afternoon after the local market, a test, I think, to see if I'm really up to the big trek as I claim. Then the next day, Monday, we're off.

I'm sorry for not reaching any of you via email. The root canal took most of my attention and much of my time in Kathmandu. And believe it or not, I can't get yahoo to let me reply to email from the connection, though obviously I was able to write this blog entry.

I miss you guys. Can't wait to get back, tell you more, and show you the photos.

Tomorrow at 4:30 am, assuming the hotel wake up call process works, I'll be up and out to catch the plane to Lukla, the entry point to the Khumbu (Everest region).  Finally, the outdoor hike is going to begin. 

What's happened since I last checked in?  I got a haircut.  The other 5 people of my tour showed up.  Today we were guided tourists, complete with a little bus and 2 guides.  We saw a cremation along the river.  We tool out picture next to old bearded guys who have given up all possessions and sit around with colorfully painted faces.   The old guys have a name but it's okay that i can't remember because the guys we saw were only actors posing for Rupees -- the real guys gave up everything, so why would they sit around and charge for photographs?

The haircut was fun.  I went high end.  Low end is where both parties squat in the square with cars and bikes honking by.  Medium is where the haircutter gets to stand because the haircutee is in a chair, but there's no door and no sink, and only skinny people can fit into the establishment.  My place had both a door and a sink.  I also got a head massage and a back massage.  The guy actually offered to continue with a full body massage.  No thanks.  I couldn't imagine how all that could have happened in a barber chair, but I bet he had a plan.  For the back massage he plopped a pillow on the sink and pushed me forward, planting my face in the pillow.  It worked.  For a 80 lb really skinny guy, he sure had strong hands.  Ahhh.  Haircut was good, too.  Whole thing was less than $10.  Brave I am.

I think this internet kiosk is shutting down.  I'm the only one left in here.  Quick, click 'Post' before it all goes away...  More when I return!  I'm really really really happy that it's time to get out of the city and head up to the mountains. 

Scaled them down and threw them up here.  Not enough time to edit and sort, but hopefully they'll give you an idea of the city.  I have a few movies with sound that would be really nice here, but I'll need to find a faster upload pipe first.  20 Rupees/hr, even advertised as broad band, doesn't buy enough bandwidth to transfer anything big.     

The solar charger, working on the Ipod, overlooking the hotel courtyard from my room.

Safe meat handling

 

These are called rickshaws.   One of the guys gave me a ride a couple of miles up a hill for 60 Rupees (less than 1 USD).  He was wearing a sweater, pushing hard on his wooden pedals.  His wheels were whobbly.  I bet he'd be stronger than I on a road bike; but, I didn't tell him.   And no way would I cart around fat lazy tourists. 

Dental work.  No kidding.  I think he was pulling a tooth, but I couldn't watch. 

This temple is called Swayambhunath, also known as Monkey Temple.  Wild monkeys all around, but I couldn't lower myself to the level of average tourist--no cookie eating monkey pictures.

This is how I got these pictures uploaded.

 

This scene really had potential, I think, but I didn't get it right.  Maybe I can get lucky and crop it.

 

I wonder if that streetlamp really comes on at night.  If so, do they need a light in their living room?

Many people would touch the cow and then make a religious gesture. Sacred, right?  But it wasn't so sacred when it started munching on the street vendors' goods.  Kinda ruined the bowl of fresh tofu.  Mooo.

What does the purse guy do if he wants some peanuts?  You can tell  he does.

That's more chairs than would fit into a Ford 4x4 longbed.

Today's trip from Bangkok to Kathmandu was amazing.  The hotel in Bangkok was very nice, 10 min from the airport, perfect for a quick overnight stay, but I couldn't sleep.  Though it made no sense I thought it was jet lag that kept me up all night--silly since I had been travelling for 24 hrs to get to that Bangkok hotel bed.  Really I was getting excited about the trip.  At the airport this morning I felt the first real anticipation about the trip when the agent gave me a window seat on the right side of the plane.  Though it was overcast in Bangkok I somehow knew it would be clear and beautiful in Nepal.  Then when the Nepalese attorney sitting next to me said it would be soon that we would see the mountains, I felt the anticipation again.  As the Himalayan Range first came into view the scale was hard to believe.  So far away and still so high above the plains of the land around.  For the next 30 minutes, as we got ever closer to the peaks towering above the clouds I enjoyed the feelings of awe and exhilaration.   Those mountains are impressive.  No wonder people want to climb them.  As we got closer and the angle changed, it was easy to identify Everest.  Today I saw Mt. Everest and all the other peaks for 100 miles on either side.   Very very cool.  

Kathmandu is like being inside a highly concentrated ant farm, only not nearly as organized.  It's a mix of every developing urban place I've ever been, plus all the energy of that scene where Indiana Jones is driving through Shanghai trying to escape the bad guy.  Maybe it was  Short-round driving, can't remember.  It's crowded, trash everywhere, smoggy, puddles of nasty milky liquids, potholes, potholes full of trash, potholes full of nasty liquids, dogs, cows, noises of everything (horns, engines of scooters, cars and trucks, cd vendors, people, whistles).  Any space not being used is a place where trash collects. 

People drive on the left side of the road, at least most of the time they stay on the left, so it takes a little practice to know where to look.  A motorcyle bumped into me today--didn't hurt (much) but seemed to really upset the motorcycle guy--so I'm sure I must not have been following the rules.   

It's an amazing economy, this little city. Nobody can be making very much, because everything is so cheap and most people look poor.  As compared to the Philippines, where I remember a good percentage of the people sitting around doing nothing, it seems here that most people at least try to serve some sort of function.  They sell everything, fix anything, sweep, dust, clean.  I saw a guy walking down a crowded street today carrying 2 couches by himself.  They were on his back.  He was bent over at the waist with a strap over the top of his head.   I couldn't have carried one of those by myself.  

The people I've met so far are really really extra really nice.  There's a better adjective than nice.  They're proud, respectful, caring, all of those things.  The guy on the plane was very gratious and helpful.  He gave me the window seat that I thought I had but really didn't.  I let him offer 3 times during the flight and then accepted (learned that from a great book I'm reading about Bhutan).  The trek service had a nice guy from the office pick me up at the airport, and then the trip leader was waiting for me at the hotel.  The trek leader spent lots of time getting me settled, talking about how important it is that I not drink the water, offering suggestions about what I might do with my time.  The trip leader just got back from a trek to Base Camp.  He was there last week and he said it was cold.  The only thing that worries me about this trip is the cold.  I think he should have told me that Base Camp was warm.  

I went into a tiny optical shop and ordered a pair of prescription sunglasses, mostly so I can have a spare pair on this trip.  Knock-off RayBans, ready in 2 days, for $25.  The hardest part will be finding his shop again.  He's gonna get the lenses with the correct power and then grind them by hand to fit the frame.  It's worth the $25 just to see what he will make. 

I like to get my hair cut in crazy places, so Kathmandu ought to be a big opportunity.  I walked into a barber's shop.  I asked "How much?", he replied "However you like".  I don't know if he was talking about the length of the cut or the price, or both.  Just a little too much uncertainty; maybe I'll try another place tomorrow.

It's almost 9 pm and I've going to find some food.  I haven't eaten yet in Kathmandu.   A beer would be good, too.  Some spicy food and a beer.  Bottled beverages only.   That's my plan.