Around the world

Well since I was in Nepal, I decided to trek up to Everest Base Camp. As they say, when in Rome ... My trek totaled 16 days and it was both a fun and laborious experience. When the snow melted, I made it to Kala Pattar, a peak of 5,636m or 18,500 ft, I visited Everest Base Camp, I got stuck in a snow storm and I met a bunch of really cool people while drinking hot cocoa around a Yak shit fire.

On the peak of Kala Pattar I got a panoramic view of the numerous Himalayan peaks including the top of the world, Mount Everest. Even sitting at 5,636m we were dwarfed by the peaks around us. Mount Everest was still two vertical miles higher than us with an elevation of 8,850m or 29,035 ft. While I was at Everest Base Camp I talked with an American/Canadian expedition team who I later heard were skiing down Everest and I had tea with a Korea group climbing a peak next to Everest call Lhotse. When I was in Gorak Shep, a three guesthouse town and the jumping point to both Kala Pattar and Everest Base Camp, it snowed for 36 hours. When it stopped snowing, I built a snowman, I got into a snowball fight and we all got amazing views of the numerous Himalayan peaks. Along the way I met a lot of cool people. After a day of hiking, we wound have tea or hot chocolate, chat, play some chess and warm ourselves around a Yak shit fire, yes, Yak shit. There were no trees to burn so the locals used Yak shit as fuel. I would say that the Yak is what the Buffalo was to the American Indians, they use it for everything.

But the trek definitely pushed me both mentally and physically. On the second day of the trek, my guide and I ascended 1000 vertical meters or 3300 feet and the last 300 m were straight uphill. All this hiking while I was carrying my 14 kg or 30 lb backpack. On another day, my guide took to me to a peak at 5100m or 16,700 ft to acclimate. It was cold and while we were hiking, it rained, and then snowed. It was some miserable conditions. Also, the elevation puts a toll on your body. The elevations makes it harder to breath while we hiked and slept. One of my friend's could not sleep because when he laid down he had a hard time breathing. That being said, the trek was well worth doing and something I would do again.

In between and after my treks and rafting, I hung out in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Royal Chitwan National Park. Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is crowded, noisy and dusty. In Thamel, the tourist area, there are a bevy of guesthouses, restaurants, and bars to satisfy anybody's needs. I visited a couple of temple and some of the sights but most of my time in Kathmandu was transitioning from one adventure to another.

From Kathmandu, I visited the town of Pokhara. Pokhara was a nice respite from the noise and crowds of Kathmandu. It is a small town adjacent to Lake Phewea Tal. While I was in Pokhara I kayaked on the lake, visited the numerous restaurants in town and took it easy.

Royal Chitwan National Park is a large wild life reserve southwest of Kathmandu. While I was there, I went on a jungle walk, saw a cultural show and went on a elephant safari. To summarize my jungle walk - it was two hours of walking through the jungle and getting attacked by leeches, tree branches, and razor sharp grass and not seeing a thing, good times. On the elephant safari I did see a rhino and a baby rhino which was cool but the elephant ride was pretty uncomfortable. The elephant ride was like riding a bike down some stairs for two hours. I am so done with elephant rides! My favorite part of my visit to Chitwan was seeing the Tharu cultural show. They did various ceremonies and dances which included drums, fire and a peacock.

I was in Nepal for nearly two months and it was hard to leave. If you like the outdoors, Nepal is the place to visit. There are a plethora of outdoor activities to suit anyone's needs. If you have a chance to visit Nepal, you should definitely go.

For the fifth consecutive year, my friends, John and Parry, and I met in a country abroad. This year's destination was Nepal. Our trip to Nepal would be our longest and most adventurous trip. During our three weeks in Nepal, we trekked for 8 days through the Langtang National Park and rafted and camped alongside the the Sun Kosi rivers. During our adventures, we played cards, tossed the frisbee, dranks some beers, played more cards and just reminisced about the good `ole days.

The Langtang National Park is situated about 150 km north of Kathmandu. Langtang offered a great trekking environment and the allure of less tourists. We trekked for 8 days through Langtang. Unfortunately, for most of our trek it was cloudy and rainy. We were greeted with rain, more rain, leeches, and hills that would go up 400m and down 400m. Although the trekking was tiring, each day we seemed to be getting stronger and stronger and felt less tired. Finally, after four days of hiking, we made it to Kyanjin Gumpa with an elevation of 3870m or about 12,700 ft. For a couple of hours the clouds cleared and we caught glimpses of the peaks surrounding Kyanjim. While we were in Kyanjin Gompa, we met a South African who was training to climb a 8000m peak in Tibet. We would later meet up with him in Kathmandu where we played cards and enjoyed some "quiet" beers until 3 am. During our trek, the mountains were hidden behind the clouds. Finally, on our final day of the trek, the sky was clear and we got amazing views of the mountains.

After trekking, we went on a rafting trip down the Sun Kosi river. Over the next eight days we traveled 270 km down the Sun Kosi and we went through the gnarliest rapids I have ever seen. The Sun Kosi starts off with rapids of class I and class II and slowly works up to class V rapids. The class V rapids had names like Jaws, the Meatgrinder, Dead Man Eddy, to name a few. On our second day rafting we hit our first set of rapids. As we worked our way through the rapids, we hit a wave and Parry was promptly ejected from our raft and so was our rafting guide. After the rapids, we asked our guide the class of rapids; we surmised that they were maybe class III or IV rapids. Our rafting guide, chuckled and replied that those rapids were maybe class I or II. Oh boy! And just as advertised, the class V rapids were crazy. The waves were between 10-15 ft high and they would toss the raft around. My friends sat in the front of the raft and they squealed like pigs when we were in the rapids. Pretty comical but the class v's were a pure adrenline rush. The rapids were definitely not for the weak at heart, but they were festive! At night we camped on the side of the river, made camp, ate dinner, tossed the frisbee and talked about the days rapids and the upcoming rapids. It was a great trip. It was a good start to my time in Nepal.