Off the Couch and On the Road

We had woken, packed, eaten, dressed, walked, flew, landed, drove and arrived in Kathmandu before the shops were even open. My first shower in many, many days was insanely long and it was the first time I was truly clean in about two weeks (maybe a bit longer, but I wouldn’t ever admit that to you, would I?).

I handed a garbage bag full of disgustingly dirty clothes to a poor little Nepalese man before catching up on internet and eating a huge plate of french fries for lunch, and wandered around the shops for the afternoon before catching up with the group for dinner at 6pm.

Technically, our tour was over once we arrived at the hotel, but noone was flying out until the next morning at the earliest, so it was a good chance to relax with a beer and some pizza as our last meal together. I don’t actually know when I will be flying out of Nepal, anytime between tomorrow and two weeks from now – so this time next week I will either still be here and perhaps volunteering at the orphanage, or I will be in Italy.

Some time ago I would have been paraletic with fear that my plans weren’t set in stone, but it’s nice not knowing what you’re doing sometimes, living day to day, flying by the seat of your pants, so to speak.

As long as you trust your travel agent. And know somebody in London.

-Sarah

The few days before Christmas are always hard. You try to finish as much work as you can before holidays, shopping malls are packed with last-minute-mums and the rush to get Christmas cards out (and to who?) is a continually postponed chore. But despite this, everyone is so damn happy – because no matter how hard it is, it’s almost Christmas, right?

On that last day, it was like we could hear the sleigh bells ringing, the end was that close. It was all uphill, 200m over about 4 hours, but the mood was so light you would be forgiven for thinking the increase in oxygen had affected us. We couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces on arrival in Lukla that afternoon, and celebrated with some red wine and yak steak with fries for supper.

It was the simple things we missed most, a proper bathroom, clean clothes, and being warm with a full belly. And although a lost my Sketchers shoes (damn it), my beanie, a bit of weight and a lot of sleep, I gained an insight into Nepalese Himalayan culture, and the most spectacular scenery in the world that no photography could ever do justice.

Especially my photography, because I doubt it does anything justice.

-Sarah

A theory. The ability to face the challenges of travel is directly proportional to the length of the trip itself. I had a month in Indochina, and on the last day I was ready to leave. Similarly, we have 3 hours of trekking left on this trip, and I’m pretty sure 3 more hours is all I have left in me.

We had an easy walking day, passing hundreds of sherpas heading up to Namche Bazar for the markets, where locals and businesses buy and trade their wares. We arrived back at Phakding, initially the first stop on our journey, at around 3.30pm and a few of us sat in our sleeping bags talking about food (we tried to change the topic, but man, we were hungry).

It was our trekking guide’s birthday, so we had a special dinner – fried potatos, vegetables, eggs and cheese (why haven’t I discovered this 14 days ago?) – and the family that owned the tea house, the porters, our guide and the rest of the group drank beer and hideous Nepalese distilled wines and cocktails for the rest of the evening, with traditional music and dancing to boot.

It was fun for a while, save that I haven’t slept properly in about a week so I didn’t drink, and struggled to keep my eyes open until 9pm, when I surrended and collapsed into bed. Maybe if it had of been Smirnoff Blacks and Ministry of Sound I would have stayed awake longer, but western dancing takes much less effort than heaving your body from a squat position and up whilst kicking your feet out. Man, I can barely walk up a mountain, and that’s just walking.

-Sarah

We were the only guests in the tea house at Khumjung, and so joined the family sitting around the fire, watching Nepalese TV and listening to stories by the father, a sherpa who climbed almost to Everest’s summit, and who witnessed the avalanche yesterday that sadly killed some sherpas at Khumbu Ice Falls.

We ate breakfast in their kitchen the following morning, the kids still sleeping by the fire, before our easiest day yet, an hours walk downhill back to Namche Bazar. I had a shower, the first in many, many days, and walked into town to experience relative civilisation including internet, pringles and burger and fries (albeit a vegetarian burger, if you saw the meat the sherpas carried up the mountain, you would be going for the vege option too).

-Sarah

Because of the length of my last few entries, I have decided to keep this one brief. Today we trekked 500m down a mountain and then up another about 400m, over 7 hours.

There are lots of details about the mountains, the slightly warmer weather, and our tea house that almost killed us to get to despite the spectacular views, but really, all you want to do is look up Yahoo Entertainment and read about Victoria Beckham’s new sunglass range, right?

So, today we trekked 500m down a mountain and then up another about 400m, over 7 hours.

You’re welcome!

-Sarah