Mombay Airport

This morning, Jen and I got up early as usual, packed our bags (as usual) and went downstairs in our hotel to get some breakfast before leaving for the airport. Dorgee was there, pacing (as usual). We ate a quick breakfast, loaded up the taxi with our bags, took some last minute pictures with Dorgee, and were off to the Kathmandu Airport. It was a foggy morning and there was very little traffic. We pulled into the airport, found where we needed to go, said goodbye to Dorgee, and were off. As we stood in line at the ticket counter, we kept hearing other people say that their flights to London were delayed and I thought - so glad I'm not going to London! As we got to the ticket counter, the woman told us that we were unable to check in due to the weather conditions. Apparently no one with a connecting flight could check in because everything is delayed.

We waited and waited and then they finally let the people flying to London check in before us. A man approached us who worked with the airline and asked where we were going. We told him Colombo, Sri Lanka and he said that we couldn't check in because we would miss our connecting flight in Delhi, but that he'd look into other options. He took my itinerary and left and we didn't see him again for about 45 minutes. Everyone else was gone at this point except for one man who was just sitting with his luggage on a cart (we couldn't figure him out). Turns out that 45 minutes would be the shortest time we had to wait today...

He finally came back and told us that our only option was to fly to Mumbai/Bombay at 1:15 p.m. and then take the 2:10 a.m. flight to Colombo, arriving at 4:45 a.m. the next morning. I told him that this was not okay and we needed another option. He disappeared for another 15 minutes and then came back. Nothin'. At this point all dreams of having a nice, free hotel room in Colombo that Jen had booked for us using her points at the Hilton vanished and the harsh reality that we'd be living in airports ALL DAY today replaced it. Lame. SOOOOO lame.

We waited for a few more hours in Kathmandu and finally boarded our flight to Mumbai after passing through 3 security pat-downs. I don't get that. How the heck am I going to pick up a weapon in the few seconds since you last patted me down??? Once we landed in Mumbai (Jen calls it Mombay!), a lady with the airline asked us if we were flying to Colombo. We told her yes and she told us to wait. There were about 8 of us and they were going to give us the "special" treatment since we'd gotten the short end of the stick today. We waited and she led our small group to a room next to the security headquarters where men with guns kept coming in and out and both men and women in uniform seemed to be checking in and out. They told us to give them our passports so they could get us our tickets. 2 HOURS LATER, we finally had our passports and tickets returned to us. Yeah. Jen and I played MASH and pretty much planned out our lives while waiting for our passports to come back.

So then, the lady takes us through security and parades us through the airport to the "Executive Lounge" for some "refreshment". This consisted of coffee or tea and then a sandwich - none of which I eat or drink. Awesome. Just waited for over 2 hours for nothing! I left hungry and so frustrated. I tried to find food in the airport, but everything either had gluten or a really strange person working the cash register that had a new lame excuse for why he couldn't get me food each time I tried to order (the cash register doesn't work, you can't pick just one item to order, it will cost you 4 times more than what it costs everyone else...). I finally buckled and went to KFC (which my family will laugh at because they know I hate it) and got chicken fingers, then spent time picking off the gluten coating. :) Good times!

I have been sitting here in the Mumbai Airport for the past 8 hours with just 2 more to go and have seen some very interesting things. After wandering the great vastness that is this airport (it's actually ridiculously small for an international hub), we decided to crash at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on their cushy overstuffed chairs. At first, things were silent and all that we could hear was this ridiculously annoying music playing that takes old classics like "On Top of Old Smokey" and puts an orchestra to them, making it an elevator music classic. I think we've heard the loop about 30 times now.

Anyway, there was this family that caught my attention that began to gather near us. I think that they are Sikh. At first they looked like any other family with a mother, father, and 2 sons, but then more and more of them came. It seemed that each time I looked up, there were more of them here! But the thing that I think amazed me more than anything was their happiness. I guess that I have seen a lot of people in the past 6 weeks who are a bit oppressed by either religion or culture, but these people were smiling and laughing and so enjoying this sweet little baby boy. One of the fathers in the group kept throwing him up in the air and making him laugh as his 2 boys (probably about 8 and 6) looked on and laughed. I think it is amazing how much joy one little baby can bring into anyone's life - such perspective!

I know this nightmare will end. I know we'll eventually get there. I know one day I will be home again. Sometimes we have to just wait and wait and wait to get where we need to go.

The Final Descent

Today we woke up early, ate a quick breakfast, and were on the trail by 7 a.m. Today was different. Today we would get off the trail and be done. Both the porter in his terribly broken (and somewhat drunken last night) English and Dorgee kept saying "All downhill - down, down, down." I'd heard this before and was somewhat leery of this description, but determined to suck it up and do whatever needed to be done to accomplish this trek. Dorgee told us it would take 5 or 6 hours to get off the trail. Three hours into the descent, he told us we had 15 more minutes and we were there! We were fast today!

The descent was truly beautiful! We went in and out of many villages on the mountain that were just so clean and quaint. We also descended down by a raging river and saw a few waterfalls. I think we also saw more people on the trail today than I had ever seen. There was a very, very old sweet Nepalese woman who was walking with her grandson who was carrying her things in a basket on his head. This woman was FAST! She kept passing us!

Where we stayed last night......

We got to the bottom of the trail around 10:30 a.m., got a taxi, and began a very crazy drive back into Pokhara. It felt like we were playing chicken with everything you could think of. We almost hit a chicken, a cow, some horses, a child, a huge bus, and countless cars. I finally just couldn't look straight ahead because he was such a bad driver! He dropped us off at an inn in town that Dorgee's friend runs. We left our bags there and went shopping in town for 2 hours, then came back, packed all the stuff that we just bought, and took another taxi to the airport in Pokhara. We took a flight back to Kathmandu, but Dorgee had to be on another flight because there was no room, so he landed just before us. We were originally going to fly back in the morning, but Jen and I were nervous about it being too close to our flight.

Once at the airport in Kathmandu, we watched the WORST baggage claim I have EVER seen. They would pull up the cart at a platform outside with all of the bags on the cart, then hold up the bags one at a time. If the bag was yours, you'd give them your claim ticket which they would check and then give you the bag. It was utter chaos and disorganization. So crazy! We let Dorgee claim our bags and then we went to find a taxi. After beating the taxi drivers off with a stick, Dorgee loaded us into this teeny little taxi and we began driving through the streets of Kathmandu.

Kathmandu is crazy with its driving - just like India. The whole "invent your own lane if you'd like" rule applies here too. It was interesting to see. We got to a part of town that was a bit more touristy and pulled into a hotel that looked like the grandest place ever compared to where we have been for the past 5 days. We checked in, and then Jen and I were off to find dinner. We found a Mexican place around the corner (since I was craving Mexican food) and it was the funniest thing ever - Indian version of Mexican food. Rice, grilled chicken, and spicy beans.

We went back to our hotel, worked out the money situation with Dorgee, and went to our room to pack. Apparently Kathmandu has had a power outage for the past 80 hours and counting. Most places have back up generators, but we had to schlepp our bags up to the 4th floor because the elevator is out (which is really the 5th floor because they have a 0 floor for the first floor). Good times in Kathmandu!

One More Day!

Friends,

Sorry that I haven't posted for so long - turns out that in the outbacks of Nepal, there is no internet available! I am off the mountain and have learned a lot. We are flying back to Kathmandu tonight (I'm currently in Pokhara) and then we are off to Sri Lanka in the morning via New Delhi for one final day until our flight back home! So grateful that it is nearing the end! I have posted all of the entries that I wrote over the past 4-5 days...

Now Entering the Jungle

Today was a short day - only 3 hours of trekking, and almost all downhill!!!! We had breakfast this morning looking out at the gorgeous Mount Annapurna and its nearby peaks. I finally discovered the best breakfast EVER here - rice pudding! Since I can't eat carbs and need energy, I've been eating eggs or potatoes for almost every meal. Today I realized that rice pudding and hot chocolate are filling and tasty! Their rice pudding here isn't too sweet - mostly like a cereal, so it is just right with some cinnamon.

We set out on the trail and saw a sign that read "Do not walk alone in the jungle." Jen and I learned in Bhutan that jungle usually means forest and the translation is changed somewhere along the way. Today I discovered that Nepal has just about every climate that you can think of right here on this circuit! We seriously walked through this beautiful jungle with mossy trees, streams, and monkeys playing in the trees. It was just gorgeous!

Today was all downhill and although there was no more ice or snow, it was a bit slick. I lost my footing more than once and only fell once on my rump (but embarrassingly enough it was on dry rock stairs). Good times! I can feel the aches in my body today from that first day of crazy uphill. My body just wants a rest, but I think it is good that we are still moving and getting the muscles moving.

The town we are staying in today is my favorite thus far. The town is called Ghandrung (elevation 2040 meters). It is quaint and nestled on the side of a mountain with terraced fields and breathtaking views of the mountains that jut up behind. My legs felt like jello after just 3 hours of going downhill on mostly stairs or slippery little rocks. We pulled into our Annapurna Guest House and ordered lunch. I tried something new this time - potato egg salad. It was actually really good and somewhat similar to potato salad! I haven't been super hungry out here and usually eat the same thing for lunch and dinner - potato soup. You can't go wrong with it - it has a lot of flavor and is tasty and I love it. I guess that I am a bit over the potato soup and ready for some different food.

Today Jen and I got warm showers - our first since Bhutan. It was so nice to wash my hair and feel clean for a minute and then try to figure out how to dry off my entire body and my long thick hair with my teeny little hand towel that I brought - good times!

I am so looking forward to tomorrow being our last day! 5 hours of trekking and then an evening in Pokhara. SO CLOSE!!!

We All Have Poon Hills

This morning we arose at 5:15 a.m. and were out on the trail by 5:30. Our mission was to hike to the top of nearby Poon Hill to see the sunrise and have an incredible view of many of the mountains of the Annapurnas that surround Ghorapani. The hike is supposed to take one hour, so we had enough time to get there before the sun. Last night I was awoken around 11:30 p.m. to a thunder and lightning storm outside and the end result was apparently some amazing hail! The whole town was covered this morning!

We started up the trail, covered in ice and snow and I was feeling the effects of the day before. Mostly my hips felt like they had aged by about 70 years and I had a hard time moving them. We crept along, straight up the hill. There is a horrible streak of deception in this area because you see a sign that welcomes you to your destination sometimes 45 minutes before you actually get there. We kept crawling up the hill and I thought that I'd never get there, but kept remembering that if I could survive the 9 hours of torture from the day before, I could surely survive one more hour of it. Once we arrived at the top, there was quite the crowd of people who had made the trek. We looked around and noticed that everything was covered with clouds. Not one peak in sight. The sun rose, even though we couldn't see that either. Dorgee brought us some hot chocolate and said that we would wait for a bit for the clouds to clear. They never did, so we went sliding back down the hill.

After breakfast, we set out on the trail again. I was excited because it is all downhill now that we have reached our highest peak! I checked in with Dorgee to make sure of this and he confirmed - "Yes, down." The first 2 hours of the hike were straight uphill. I was cursing Dorgee, I was cursing my friend who told me that this hike was a "walk", I was cursing the snow and ice that made me take baby steps that ended up turning into skate-fests, I was cursing myself for not being a hiker and loving every minute of this. I realized that I was in a really bad place mentally. I realized that the problem was that I did not have realistic expectations. I am the type of person that if I have realistic expectations going into something, I will mentally prepare myself and work through it all. My wise friend Jes who traveled through Africa for a month with me back in July 2009 always said going into experiences "lower your expectations." I honored the moment of frustration of not being able to get clear communication from my guide as to what really I should be expecting and then remembered to lower expectations. I will be going up hill a lot today - yeah, it's not what I thought, nor is it what I want to do, but it is what it is.

I think the hardest part of today was the bitter cold and the ice, snow, and mud. I felt like my feet were constantly unsure. I had to keep readjusting. During especially slick parts when we were going downhill, Dorgee would come and hold my hand and help me down slowly, giggling with a "hee hee hee" every time that I'd slip a little. He is hilarious! Holding my hand is much better than what he did when we were coming down Poon Hill. Back then he would grab the back part of my upper arm and pinch so, so hard and just hold on. Ouch!

Anyway, we slowly crept up and down and up and down the mountain. Our final destination today was Banthanti (elev. 2520 m). It's a teeny little village and our room was about the size of my closet. We were frigidly cold and could hear everything that happened in the whole place since a piece of plywood was used as the wall. I could hear our neighbor breathe, sniff, and anything that he said out loud! The view here is beautiful - we can see many of the mountains in this beautiful mountain range!

We went down to dinner shaking, again so cold, and there is a blanket that goes clear around the whole table with a little pot underneath with charcoal in it. It warms us up nicely. We shared a bathroom with a lot of people tonight and there is no sink, so chewing gum is how we are brushing our teeth. I think Jen and I have become one with our filthiness - we can't shower anymore because it is WAY too cold and usually there isn't even a sink and we are cool with wearing the same clothes day after day after day! It's amazing how Nepal can just change you like that!

However Long and Hard the Road

This morning began early in Birethanti, with breakfast at 6:30 a.m. and our journey on the trail beginning at about 7 a.m. I was stoked! I had prepared myself mentally for this adventure. My friend told me that it was like a walk through villages and I was excited to see the sites. Dorgee had told us the night before that today would be about 8 or 9 hours of trekking, so I geared up. Now those of you who don't know this side of me, I hate hiking. Hate it. Never have liked it (much to the dismay of my family) and I don't know that I ever will. I keep trying it out - keep trying to learn to like it, but there's something about my body that just doesn't like climbing up mountains. This was different - I am trekking the Annapurna Circuit for 5 days and it is going to be amazing. The weather started a bit chilly and I was glad that I had purchased a warm coat for cheap in Bhutan. It's hard to pack a backpack for 6 weeks of vastly different climates and experiences! Soon the coat came off and it was just my jacket. I loved seeing the small villages and saying "Namaste" to everyone that we passed. This is a very wonderful greeting that they have here which translated means "I recognize the godly in you" - what a beautiful greeting!

Hours into our journey, the nice little ups and downs and walks past waterfalls became more serious - much more serious. The pathway turned upward and climbed and climbed and climbed. We had steps that went up, up, and away for what felt like forever but was probably only about 2 or at the most 3 hours. This is when things got harder for me mentally. My friend had told me that this was a walk and this is NOT a "walk". I felt every part of my body scream out, "STOP!" when I knew that there really wasn't any other option other than to keep on going. I had to fight these thoughts and emotions that kept creeping into my mind telling me that I couldn't make it - that I was too slow - that there's no way that I will ever get to the end. We took lots of little stops which helped me and our dear Dorgee carried my smaller backpack for me (the porter ties both mine and Jen's bags together and hauls them everywhere - it's amazing!). We finally reached Ulleri (elevation 2180). I had the thought that this may be the place where people go to die, but I pulled out of it. I still had much ahead of me. We had lunch and met some nice people about our age from Australia. I also discovered that my camera somehow got broken while dear Dorgee was carrying it and it has an error message that will not leave. So sad!

At one point Dorgee asked me how many kilos I was to which I replied, "I have no idea!" He was asking to see if he could carry me! Absolutely not. At lunch he suggested that since we had 4 or 5 hours left of trekking that we stop at a different spot today that is halfway there (so 3 hours away) and change our plans a bit. My stubborn side kicked in and I was determined that even if I was the weakest link and the one that was holding things up a bit, I would NOT give up.

As we made that 5 hour trek to Ghorapani, I felt like God was teaching me so many lessons. I remembered the words of a dear neighbor who taught me an invaluable lesson years ago from her own life. The gist of it is "Look how far you've come." I have remembered and used this thought many times in my life, but it was at this point in my journey that it overwhelmed me to truly think, look how far I have come. Keep going! Don't give up! Don't turn back. After feeling humbled by this thought, I had the overwhelming thought that God was teaching me a very important lesson at that very moment - to have patience with myself. So often I feel like I have to do things within a certain amount of time or a certain way or be accomplished in certain areas, but this is not true! Things happen in the way that they need to happen and timing is everything. As long and I put my best effort into everything, the returns will come and be so worth it in the end. Some things don't just happen to us in life, we have to wait for them and prepare for them and ultimately, those are the things that we treasure the most.

These teachings seemed to consume me as I felt overwhelmed with God's love for me and his acute awareness of me and my situation in life. He knows what I desire most and He knows where I struggle most and yet He still loves me! I felt empowered by these lessons and tried to hold onto those moments for the rest of the day. I'm not going to say that it got easier - it sure didn't, but I remembered what I had already accomplished earlier in the day and knew that if I could do that, then I could do what was ahead.

We arrived in Ghorapani (elevation 3194 meters ) around 5 p.m. or so. I was so, so, so happy to see the sign welcoming us to the town, and then Dorgee took us to the place that we were staying that was on the far end, up many, many more flights of stairs. Let me just say that today alone has put every hike that I have ever done to shame. Table Rock Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa was brutal - my friend Jes and I were doing stairs up to our knees for hours. Nothin'. Tiger's Nest in Paro, Bhutan that I hiked on Friday with Jen that had lots of snow and ice. Still nothing. Try going up flights of stairs for 8 hours straight, increasing elevation by 2,000 meters, then we'll talk. ;) I know for some people this is super breezy, but that's the beauty of it all - we all have different challenges in life.

We had a nice dinner here in our teeny little cold guest house while a group of Koreans yelled stories around the fire. We are starting to get used to the idea of going to bed at 8 p.m.

Some of the sites along the trail....

Namaste from Nepal

It was with sad hearts that we left Bhutan this morning. I loved Bhutan, but have to admit that after this long on our journey I'd rather be flying home than to yet another country. At the Paro Airport in Bhutan, we waited for our flight to be called and noticed that all 3 flights that morning were departing from the same gate - all under one door that was marked "Exit". Our flight was called and we followed the herd out the door, walked across the tarmac to our plane, and found our seats. I begged Jen for her window seat since we were going to fly straight over the Himalayas and Mount Everest and I was at the ready with my camera. I think the flight lasted 45 minutes and the pilot kept coming on and announcing the famous peaks of the Himalayan range, all right outside my window! I'm no expert on the names, but I do have to say that Mount Everest does not look that big in comparison to the mountains around it.

We landed in Kathmandu and got in line for our visas after filling out the form. I had to get a quick passport photo of me taken which ended up looking like a booking photo - probably THE worst picture I have ever taken! I look tired, dirty, unhappy, and a bit drunk - none of which are true! I don't think that any other human beings will ever see that photo - they threw it in a pile with many others. Jen and I cleared for a visa for only $25 USD each as well as through customs quite rapidly - they just waved us through. We left the airport and that is when the chaos began. It felt a bit like we were back in dear India with people rushing up to us and almost taking our bags from us and moving us to their taxis. I looked around for about 1 minute and then there he was...a very small man approached me and very kindly said with a thick accent, "What is your name?" I said' "I'm Heather are you Dorgee?" It was!

Dorgee Sherpa is our guide. Our friend connected us with him since he used his services out here on the Annapurna Circuit a few years ago. It has been interesting emailing with him because he doesn't completely understand English, so he would ask again and again when we were planning on coming. After the sixth or seventh email (mostly while we were in India), I got nervous that he wasn't going to come through. Also, my "out of the country" auto response that I have had on my email really threw him off - so much so that I had to remove it from my email account. He kept emailing me back time after time asking, "Are you not coming to Nepal? Your email said that you are not coming until the 26th." Bless his heart.

This is little Dorgee with Jen

Dorgee put flower leis made out of golden marigolds around our necks and smiled and then said, "Come!" We followed his 5'1" and probably 90 lb. frame down the walkway and into traffic, dodging cars and wondering where in the world he was taking us. He loaded us into a taxi while men stuck their heads in our car windows saying, "Tips, tips!" and rubbing their fingers together. We drove literally around the corner to the local airport and got out, loaded out our bags and were off. Good thing we had Dorgee to navigate us because this airport was nothing but confusing! He made us sit down and we waited as he got our bags checked and everything ready for our flight. We then went through security again, and much like India, there is a side of security for men and a side for women. After getting thoroughly patted down and my lei taken away, I was in the "terminal" waiting for the flight. Dorgee had us wait until our number was called in Nepalese and off we went, only the women and men have separate ticket lines (again). We loaded onto a small shuttle and once our entire flight was on (including a man carrying our checked bags by hand to the plane), we were bussed over to the mini plane. I had an aisle seat and Dorgee and Jen were in the seats across the aisle from me.

Once we landed in Pokhara (our final destination in terms of flights), we got out and walked into the small, small, small airport. There was a rack that was aboutt 15 feet long that they would set the checked luggage on once they unloaded it. We picked up our bags and followed Dorgee. He said something to me and Jen about a friend and lunch and we were off. After we left the airport, we began to walk through the parking lot. I was beginning where our car was when a very nice SUV pulled up. Dorgee seemed to swerve towards it when he walked and I thought, "Yes! Our car!" Then he just kept walking. I was confused. He walked straight out of the parking lot and down the street and just kept going as cars began to rush past us. What in the world is going on?

Finally he dodged out in traffic and crossed the street. We walked up a street and one of the first houses that we came to on the left, he stopped at. A kind women came out and spoke to him in rapid Nepalese. He turned to us and said, "My Aunty." It was all beginning to make sense. His aunty was making us some lunch. We went in and sat down and she brought us plates of chicken curry and rice and Dorgee gave us oranges from his bag. It was great! We next loaded into a teeny, tiny hatchback car that barely had 4 doors. We fit us and Dorgee in the back seat, our bags smashed behind us, and the driver and a man we soon discovered was our porter in the front. We began our 2+ hour drive, winding up the mountains from the sprawling city that is Pokhara (which really surprised me). Our driver meant business, honking at anyone who got in his way and getting where we needed to go as fast as he possibly could. I'm telling you, the fact that his car was small and wimpy meant nothing to him! He was zooming around much bigger vehicles, fording streams, and climbing muddy hills that no vehicle that size should be able to climb!

We finally reached our destination - a small little village called Birethanti that rests at about 1080 meters above sea level. It was getting darker when we arrived and we unloaded at a small little "guest house". Our room is a pretty good size and we have our own bathroom. I think that both of us have had a bit of anxiety about this part of our journey due to the unknown circumstances and amenities. So far, so good!

Some views of the Himalayas from Bhutan to Nepal....

Mount Everest!!!!