Minus the bed bugs we had a great time in Bigu. The hike up was definitely one for the books, but I am very thankful to have experienced "trekking" as it is called in the Himalaya.
The journey began with a sunrise bus ride from Kathmandu to Barabise. You may be thinking "oh a nice relaxing bus ride with gorgeous views, time to mentally prepare for the hike, sleep, etc." Well my friend, that is exactly opposite of what this bus ride turned out to be. First off, I'm convinced the bus was a 1970s factory reject built by 3 blind yetis. Driving in Nepal as I explained earlier is a roller coaster in itself. No one stays in their lane, they drive in the middle of the road, and drivers are determined to pass every single vehicle ahead whether or not there is another coming directly at them. Keep in mind this is all done on mountain roads with no guard rail.
From Barabise we had a quick breakfast of noodles then headed for the trail. We hiked 7.5 hours to get to Photeng tea house, our lodging for the night. Tea houses sound quite grand but in reality the accommodations are as minimal as they can get. Imagine a one room tin and log house from the 1700s with a small fire pit in which to cook by candlelight. Sleeping arrangements consist of a small plywood bed with a thick blanket as a mattress. The Sherpa family we stayed with were amazing hosts, and their 6 year old son, Napolond (Napoloeon to us) had the most adorable cheery round face accompanied with a Curious George personality. He was intrigued by all of our gear and especially my honey roasted cashews. I will forever remember this particular tea house mostly because this stay initiated my first experience with BED BUGS. All I can say is it is absolutely miserable to wake up in the middle of the night because you're itching so badly.
Day 2 consisted of 6.5 hours of hiking, a dog bite, and an endless ascent of stairs. Day 3, 5 hours of hiking allowed us to finally make it to Bigu! Like an oasis in the desert, whew! I almost couldn't believe it. I don't think I have ever been so excited. We were exhausted and there's no way we would've made it up the mountain without our porters. I am so beyond words thankful for their strength and endurance all the way to Bigu. Our small daypacks seemed to weigh more and more as the days went by so how they hauled our load, I have no idea.
The nuns in Bigu were incredible, such beautiful spirits. We enjoyed every second of our time there. We especially loved teaching them English. My class, the older nuns, were so smart and inquisitive. So eager to learn English, that they even spent extra time going over their notes and asking questions after class. Ashley had the intermediate class, while Michelle and Melissa split the youngest nuns into 2 beginner classes.
Pictures of our time in Bigu to come soon!
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
Around Kathmandu
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| Kathmandu Valley from the Monkey Temple |
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| Hard day at work |
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| Boudhanath Stupa |
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| Chicken feet for breakfast? |
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
I don't know how they do it...
I will never look at a washing machine the same. Today we've officially been in Nepal for 1 week and already experienced 2 power outages, an earthquake, washing clothes by hand, and simply stated, life in Kathmandu. One of the craziest things here is driving and when we're not in a taxi or microbus, trying to cross the street on foot is a whole different story. I'm convinced the drivers think they're in a video game with 5 lives left. So even if they do crash into an oncoming vehicle, they'll just be sent back to the starting line. I really don't know why they think it's necesary to pass the car in front of them when there's a bus coming straight for you about 30 feet ahead but somehow they swerve around in their 1986 suzuki taxi and squeeze in. However, we've arrived safely at our destination every time. I don't know how they do it, and I didn't even mention the road conditions.
The past 5 days have been our orienration to the city and to Nepal. We've either had Sita, our language and culture teacher, or Sam, Ashley's friend take us on sightseeing trips every day. We've seen Swayambhunath aka the Monkey Temple (known for all the monkeys that hang around), Bodhnath Stupa, Durbar Square, Pashupatinath (a Hindu temple on the banks of the holy Bagmati river). Here they cremate bodies and throw the remains in the river. Yea, we saw the ceremony happening for a young woman who had passed away and we saw her face. It was pretty creepy.
We have had the opportunity to go to an area of town called Thamel, pronounced Ta-mel, where all the westerners hang out. I have to admit, it is a welcomed respite from the craziness that is Kathmandu. The endless honking of car horns continues, the streets are filthy, the stray dogs abound, but at least we can head to the Himalayan Java coffee shop and get a blended mocha or have fresh hummus at our favorite spot Or2K an Israeli restaurant.
We all are really excited because on Friday we'll be heading to Bigu to work at a monastery and a Sherpa school for 2 weeks. We'll be teaching English and Math as well as helping around the grounds. In order to get there we'll have to take a 4 hour bus ride out of the Kathmandu Valley and then hike for 3 days. I'm really looking forward to trekking in the Himalaya. It'll also be really nice to get some fresh air. The air quality in Kathmandu is extremely poor. Because we're headed into the mountains we'll have no Internet access for 3 weeks (trekking time plus time in Bigu). No Facebook for us! There is one phone that makes international phone calls so I'm sure we'll all try to use that a few times.
It's finally sunny today so we're all doing our laundry and since the volunteer house is solar powered, taking showers. Off to the baby orphanage today.
Hugs and kisses to everyone!!
Namaste!
The past 5 days have been our orienration to the city and to Nepal. We've either had Sita, our language and culture teacher, or Sam, Ashley's friend take us on sightseeing trips every day. We've seen Swayambhunath aka the Monkey Temple (known for all the monkeys that hang around), Bodhnath Stupa, Durbar Square, Pashupatinath (a Hindu temple on the banks of the holy Bagmati river). Here they cremate bodies and throw the remains in the river. Yea, we saw the ceremony happening for a young woman who had passed away and we saw her face. It was pretty creepy.
We have had the opportunity to go to an area of town called Thamel, pronounced Ta-mel, where all the westerners hang out. I have to admit, it is a welcomed respite from the craziness that is Kathmandu. The endless honking of car horns continues, the streets are filthy, the stray dogs abound, but at least we can head to the Himalayan Java coffee shop and get a blended mocha or have fresh hummus at our favorite spot Or2K an Israeli restaurant.
We all are really excited because on Friday we'll be heading to Bigu to work at a monastery and a Sherpa school for 2 weeks. We'll be teaching English and Math as well as helping around the grounds. In order to get there we'll have to take a 4 hour bus ride out of the Kathmandu Valley and then hike for 3 days. I'm really looking forward to trekking in the Himalaya. It'll also be really nice to get some fresh air. The air quality in Kathmandu is extremely poor. Because we're headed into the mountains we'll have no Internet access for 3 weeks (trekking time plus time in Bigu). No Facebook for us! There is one phone that makes international phone calls so I'm sure we'll all try to use that a few times.
It's finally sunny today so we're all doing our laundry and since the volunteer house is solar powered, taking showers. Off to the baby orphanage today.
Hugs and kisses to everyone!!
Namaste!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
We made it!!
We made it to Kathmandu!
It still hasn't hit that we're actually here...in Kathmandu...in Nepal.
Let me rewind just a little but and tell you about our adventure to get here. We left San Francisco at 12:45pm on Monday and flew 15 hours to Hong Kong. Fortunately we had movies, wine, and interesting characters on the plane to pass the time. One of whom was a woman sitting across the aisle from us who we named Wanda. She tried to share every food item she had with us and we even learned that she tried to sneak a family sized jar of mayonaise on board but unfortunately it was confiscated. So if anyone out there has an extra jar, there's a needy mayonnaise lover waiting in Hong Kong.
After a short layover we hopped on another plane for a relatively quick 3 hour flight to Bangkok. We were blown away by how huge and modern the airport is; literally every wall is made of glass. It's incredible! Spent the night at a hotel Ashley had booked online and headed straight to sleep. We were able to sleep in a bit which was so nice considering how off our body clocks are. This morning about 11am we headed to the airport. It was nice to see some of the city since we got in so late last night. However, the smog in Bangkok is unreal. It is so thick that you can barely make out the skyline at certain points. One we got to the airport, we looked up and down and still could not find the Nepal Airlines desk! We began to wonder if it really even existed. We asked a couple of people who told us a general area to look for them. Turns out, the airlines don't have any permanant desks so they just open up based on what times their flights depart. So, needless to say, we had to wait around for about 3.5 hours until the desk opened up. The upside of the fiasco, no baggage fees!
Long story short, we made it to Kathmandu! There were times on the flight in today I wasn't so sure if we would, but we did. Hallelujah. We got our visas approved and Ashley's friend Sam picked us up. Tonight they are putting us up at a hotel in the Thamel (tourist area) of Kathmandu. There's a large group of volunteers leaving in the next few days and then the 4 bed room will open for us and we'll move in. The hotel is quite cozy and ahem...vintage to say the least. But they've got showers for us to use and beds for us to sleep on so that's all that really matters. We all look forward to tomorrow morning because we'll be heading over to the orphanage. Until then, I'm off to get some much needed rest.
Many more adventures and pictures to come!
It still hasn't hit that we're actually here...in Kathmandu...in Nepal.
Let me rewind just a little but and tell you about our adventure to get here. We left San Francisco at 12:45pm on Monday and flew 15 hours to Hong Kong. Fortunately we had movies, wine, and interesting characters on the plane to pass the time. One of whom was a woman sitting across the aisle from us who we named Wanda. She tried to share every food item she had with us and we even learned that she tried to sneak a family sized jar of mayonaise on board but unfortunately it was confiscated. So if anyone out there has an extra jar, there's a needy mayonnaise lover waiting in Hong Kong.
After a short layover we hopped on another plane for a relatively quick 3 hour flight to Bangkok. We were blown away by how huge and modern the airport is; literally every wall is made of glass. It's incredible! Spent the night at a hotel Ashley had booked online and headed straight to sleep. We were able to sleep in a bit which was so nice considering how off our body clocks are. This morning about 11am we headed to the airport. It was nice to see some of the city since we got in so late last night. However, the smog in Bangkok is unreal. It is so thick that you can barely make out the skyline at certain points. One we got to the airport, we looked up and down and still could not find the Nepal Airlines desk! We began to wonder if it really even existed. We asked a couple of people who told us a general area to look for them. Turns out, the airlines don't have any permanant desks so they just open up based on what times their flights depart. So, needless to say, we had to wait around for about 3.5 hours until the desk opened up. The upside of the fiasco, no baggage fees!
Long story short, we made it to Kathmandu! There were times on the flight in today I wasn't so sure if we would, but we did. Hallelujah. We got our visas approved and Ashley's friend Sam picked us up. Tonight they are putting us up at a hotel in the Thamel (tourist area) of Kathmandu. There's a large group of volunteers leaving in the next few days and then the 4 bed room will open for us and we'll move in. The hotel is quite cozy and ahem...vintage to say the least. But they've got showers for us to use and beds for us to sleep on so that's all that really matters. We all look forward to tomorrow morning because we'll be heading over to the orphanage. Until then, I'm off to get some much needed rest.
Many more adventures and pictures to come!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Enjoying San Francisco!
I really owe it to Melissa and Michelle who waited for me at the San Fran airport for ummmm approximately 6 hours until I got in at 3 pm. I was supposed to get in at 2pm but needless to say, we were delayed another hour because one of the airplane toilets wouldn't work. Come'on people hold your bladders! was pretty much how I felt, it was just a short 2 hour flight from Phoenix into San Fran.
Eric picked us up, we took over his car with all our bags and we were on our way to exploring the city. We went to the house from Full House, down Lombard St. and enjoyed some pizza in North Beach.
Oh and I found out our flight is 14hrs 55 min from San Fran to Hong Kong, 1 hr layover in Hong Kong, 3 hrs from Hong Kong to Bangkok. Yep, that means 19 hrs of traveling. Still can't believe we're actually doing this.
Today's adventures include, The Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf and maybe Alcatraz.
Will update soon.
XoXo,
Anna
Oh and I found out our flight is 14hrs 55 min from San Fran to Hong Kong, 1 hr layover in Hong Kong, 3 hrs from Hong Kong to Bangkok. Yep, that means 19 hrs of traveling. Still can't believe we're actually doing this.
Today's adventures include, The Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf and maybe Alcatraz.
Will update soon.
XoXo,
Anna
Monday, October 24, 2011
Awaiting the adventure
Namaste!
I'm excited to tell you about an incredible opportunity I have to travel all the way to Kathmandu, Nepal. I'll be working at the Nepal Orphan's Home (NOH), or more affectionately known as Papa's House. I hope you'll consider taking this journey with me as we venture into the craggy peaks of the Himalaya.
I'm excited to tell you about an incredible opportunity I have to travel all the way to Kathmandu, Nepal. I'll be working at the Nepal Orphan's Home (NOH), or more affectionately known as Papa's House. I hope you'll consider taking this journey with me as we venture into the craggy peaks of the Himalaya.
I'll be traveling with 3 good friends I met while working up in Alaska. We all have a heart for adventure and the wind at our backs. The four of us, Ashley, Michelle, Melissa and I will meet up in San Francisco and from there head to Bangkok exactly 2 weeks from today. We plan to spend 2 nights in Bangkok to adjust to the time change. We'll then fly from Bangkok to Kathmandu...hopefully we'll be over the jet-lag. 3 days after waving goodbye to the USA we'll arrive in Kathmandu...with all our packs in tow.
Until then, we're reading our Nepal guidebooks, getting our packs ready, and saying our final goodbyes to those we wish could trek along with us.
Houston to Nepal: 8480 miles
Time Difference to Nepal: +10hrs 45 min
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| Where exactly is Nepal? You might ask... |
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese
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