Nepal - Pokhara and Kathmandu

Alas my time in Nepal has come to an end. After Chitwan, Dale, Denise and Elron (who we met on the trek) went to Pokhara, in the west and another major trekking area. The mountain range is called the Anapurnas and they are stunning.

The one morning we had there, we went for a mini hike up a mountain to a stupa (temple, pagoda). We started on a trail. Halfway up we got attacked by leeches. Elron was wearing sandals and had them all over his feet. Dale had blood all over his ankles and Denise had leeches trying to get through the mesh of her running shoes. After fighting them off for a while, we continued on the trail, but then lost it and were in the middle of the forest. We could see the stupa through the trees above us, so decided to keep going and bushwacked our way towards it. We got attacked by leeches again, on more than our feet because we were in the thick bush. Denise fell and slid on her ass down some mud. We FINALLY made it back to the trail. Leeches were everywhere! Elron got out his lighter and burned them off Denise's ankles then used his Leatherman pliers to pull a bunch out of her runners. I escaped relatively unharmed, with one leech bite on my ankle.

This all happened before 11am. We headed back to the town and got lunch. Then we lounged around our guesthouse for the afternoon. It was hot and it was the first day that really felt like vacation. I read my book in a hammock. Our guesthouse had a pomegranate tree. Never seen one before.

We spent 2 nights there and then got the bus back to Kathmandu. Elron was flying back to Vancouver and Dale, Denise and I were on our way to Bangkok. The 2 days in Kathmandu involved a lot more lounging and eating. We met up with Christofer from Sweden, aka Swedish Meatball or Swedish Sensation, from our trek. We visited the Monkey Temple, which was spectacular. Lounged around more and ate more.

We flew to Bangkok with Royal Nepal Airlines. Our flight was schduled for 8am. I went to their offices the day before to confirm our flights. Not on the phone or online, but in person. It had been delayed 3 hours. Their printer was not working so we did not get new tickets. RNA doesn't issue e-tickets either. On the day of our flight, we arrived at the airport on time, to learn that our flight had been delayed another hour and a half. Once we got checked in and to the gate, the plane didn't leave until another 45 minutes after it was supposed to. For us, it didn't matter because we had no connection in Bangkok. But I can't imagine how the delays might have screwed up other peoples' days.

Now we are in Bangkok. Leesa and Romi are flying in from Seoul in a few days. Our other friends Beth and Mike, who also taught English in Seoul are here too. After a few days here, we'll go to Cambodia.

Nepal - Chitwan National Park

After the trek, we stayed with the large group of people that we met. One girl, Alex, has been a volunteer teacher in this area for a few months and encouraged us all to come and stay with her. She lives in a hotel, so we got on a bus a few hours after landing in Kathmandu and headed to Chitwan National Park.

This are was beautiful and feels like an entirely different country from the mountains we were in for the last 2 weeks. As the bus was pulling into the lodge, we saw elephants wandering through the fields. The horizon looked like we were in Africa, not Nepal.

The next morning, we got up super early and went with our guide, Gopal. He took us on a canoe down a river, where were saw crocodiles, amazing birds, and water buffalo. We went swimming in the river and bathed with the elephants. That was one of the coolest things ever. The elephants would lie down in the water and we scrubbed them. I was able to climb onto the elephant by grabbing onto its ears and getting hoisted up by the trunk. Some of us would stand on an elephant and then it would sit down and throw us off. Pretty awesome.

We also went to an elephant breeding center. I was a little disturbed by it at first, because the elephants were chained to poles. But after talking to Alex about it more, I have an appreciation for it. The community that raises and takes care of the elephants are so respectful and caring for these animals, and having the breeding center keeps the elephant population healthy.

I also did and elephant safari. It sounds like fun, but it is very uncomfortable to sit in a box on an elephants back for 3 hours. But we saw rhinos and they are cute.

In a short time, we sure did see and do a lot in Chitwan. Tragedy struck the village when we were there though. Nepal is very poor, and in this region, people live in mud huts along the side of the roads and then tap into the electrical wires from there. One of the kids that she teaches got electrocuted by a wire in the house and suffered burns to over 70% of his body. He was rushed to the nearest hospital but he ended up dying shortly after. He was only 9 years old. Alex was really upset by the whole thing, understandably. In a small village like this one, everyone was affected.

The next morning, after some bird watching in the fog, we hopped on another bus to Pokhara. We had to say goodbye to everyone which is never fun. Kimi, Stewart and Peter were all staying in Chitwan with Alex, Aaron had to go back to the US because it was time to work again. Christofer was heading back to Kathmandu and then India. Dale, Denise, Elron and I headed to Pokhara together.

In Nepal

I have been in Nepal for almost 3 weeks now. I did a succesful trek through the Mount Everest region to the base camp and back for two weeks. It was exhausting but wonderful. My friends and I met tons of new people and then travelled with them from Kathmandu to Chitwan National Park for a few days. I am now in Pokhara, in central Nepal and going back to Kathmandu in the morning. Denise, Dale and I leave for Bangkok on the 29th.

I have loads of stories and will get them up in the next few days. I just wanted everyone to know that I am healthy and doing well.

Miss you all!

Day 15 - FINALLY back to Kathmandu

We left Lukla at 6.30am. Since the runway goes downhill it was the craziest take off EVER. Dale and I just looked at each other with nervous laughter as we barrelled down the hill.

I have not showered in 15 days. I have been wearing the same outfit, including underwear, for the last 3. I have only cleaned myself with baby wipes. I feel skinny from the trek, but I really smell bad. All of the clothes in my bag are gross and half of them are going in the garbage.

Now we are going to Chitwan National Park, in the south of Nepal, with all the people we met on the trip.

Day 14 - Back to Kathmandu, until our flight got cancelled

We got up at 5am this morning to get to the airport for our 6.30am flight back to KTM. We were scheduled on the second plane back. It was clear in the morning.The first plane arrived, unloaded, reloaded and took off. 3 more planes from other carrieres came and went. Then nothing. After killing 4 hours in the airport, which was deserted, we went for lunch and then found out our flight had been cancelled. Although the sky was clear near the airport, they cancelled it.

Although we were annoyed that we had to stay another night in Lukla, we made the most of it. We mostly just bought a lot of alcohol and sat in the back of this guy's store and watched Animal Planet. It was Denise, Dale and I. The couple from San Fransisco, Thor and Myling, were there and the Dr. Anna from Germany was there too. At least we had each other.

Day 13 - Almost finished

We arrived back to Lukla early because we wanted to change our flight to leave a day earlier. This hike is so easy! Our flight did get changed and I am so excited to get back to Kathmandu and clean some clothes and have a shower!

Day 10 -12

The hike down is a different kind of exciting. "I'm done and now I want to get out of the mountains!"

We got stuck in the rain on day 10. Even though I had on a gore-tex jacket, I was soaked from the rain dripping off my hair and going down my neck, soaking my shirts. The whole group was soaking, so when we got to our guest house, we peeled all the stinky wet clothes off and took over the living room, drying them around the fire. The man who owned the guest house was a guiding sherpa. He led groups to the summit. He has summitted 6 times, in 21 separate expeditions. He charges US$35,000 per person for an expedition to summit Everest, that lasts a few months and does not include gear or airfare to Nepal.

Yesterday we hiked to Namche Bazaar. We met a great couple from San Francisco, Myling and Thor.

Today was an easy downhill day. The air keeps getting thicker and thicker. When I do go up a hill, I don't need to take a break and I am not breathing heavily once I get to the top. Its great. I did cough up some blood today however, which is the remnants of coming down from high altitude and the horrible cough I developed. My guide said that its nothing to worry about.

Still no shower, but I did wash my face again and then soaked my feet in warm water.

Day 9 - Kala Pattar (5550m)

As if yesterday wasn't hard enough, today was going to be another day of challenges. We woke up at 5am because we were hiking to Kala Pattar. This is a peak near the base camp where the views are the best in the whole area, whithout going up to a ridiculous elevation.

We were to ascend 400m. The reason why we had to go so early is because the weather in mid-morning and the afternoon is really bad. When we woke up, the sky was completely clear. We could see the moon in the west against a vivid blue sky. All the snowy peaks around us were clear. So we started the gruling climb up the hill.

I had to take 2 breaths for every step. My body or muscles did not hurt, but more I felt that my heart was going to explode right out of my chest. The group was ahead of me. They all got to the top, but I couldn't do it. I finished about 20m from the top. But I was ok with that, because when I looked around, I could see Mt. Everest above with the sun rising behind it. I did it! I was in the prescence of the tallest peak in the world. I took photos and ate a snickers bar, without which I would have died. My camera battery died soon after, but I got lots of pictures and just sat on a rock looking at the peaks around me.

Then my friends came down and we headed back to the lodge. I had to go to the bathroom (#2) so I was almost running.

We packed and left Gorak Shep. Now begins the quick descent back to oxygen.

Day 8 - Baby steps to Base Camp (5140m)

Today was the hardest day EVER!

We woke up really early to get to Gorak Shep, which is the highest point to stay unless you are part of a summiting expedition. We hiked for 2 hours. We got rooms in the lodge in Gorak Shep and then had lunch. Lunch took too long, which then delayed the departure for the hike to the base camp, which was 6 hours total.

Normally, hikes are supposed to shorter coming back, but this was not. As we walked towards the base camp, it seemed like we were supposed to be getting closer, but it never came. We hiked over a glacier with rocks and streams and small crevaces all over. It was very challenging. Ever step we took was treacherous.

We got to Everest Base Camp (EBC) after 3 hours. There was one expedition team setting up and one that had been there for a few days. The one that was already set up was a South Korean team. One guy brought out some popcorn and tea for us. Alex and Elron brought whiskey to drink, and then gave some to the South Korean. It was really cool talking to them. They were going to be there for 2 months. One guy had summited the year before also. They even said we could stay at their camp for the night. We really had to leave though because it was still a 3 hour return hike and the sun was also going to go down in 3 hours. We said goodbye to the SK team, got some pictures and left.

The hike back was awful. Again over the ice and rocks, but with an empty belly and the stress of knowing it was going to be dark soon. Every step took so much energy. We finally got back to the lodge as it got dark. I inhaled a snickers bar cause I was going to pass out. Denise was so out of it and tired that she couldn't make a complete sentence. Elron, Christofer, Hannah and Kimi all got sick too from the elevation. I went to bed fully clothed and without brushing my teeth. It was so friggin cold.

Day 7 - Labouche (4910m)

We are so high above sea level right now. I can't believe it.

We hiked for maybe 5 hours today. Everything looks like the moon. There is rock everywhere and very little vegetation. We went through a memorial area that has plaques for people that have died climbing Everest. It was cool to see, and very sad. People are from all over the world.

Our expanded group is quite a lot of fun. At night, we sit around the lodge telling stories and jokes. I havn't laughed this hard in a long time.

I finally washed my face today. It felt amazing.

Day 6 - Acclimatization Day in Dingboche

I've been having lots of strange dreams thanks to the malaria medication I am taking and all the sleep I am getting. Lots about Frank, old jobs and friends, dreaming that I am in Canada when I am supposed to be in Nepal.

Today we stayed in Dingboche to acclimatize. We did a day hike that took us up to 5000m. I quit part way up the hike because I had no energy and wanted to save it for the next day. I made it up about 200 m and then turned back. I sat in the sun and read my book. I also watched the lodge owner try and hook up a radio antenna.

I'm also losing my appetite. I hardly ever finish all my food at meals. I pass my leftovers on to the boys in the room and it gets eaten anyway. The altitude sickness medication is also giving me tingly fingers and toes. I really miss my chiropractor. I need him to realign my hip and knee.

The people we have met on the trip are awesome. There is Alex from England, Aaron from Washington DC, Christofer from Sweden, Kimi from Toronto, Elron from BC and Peter from England. Tonight we sat around the lodge talking. Christofer has the best questions for Aaron, the american. He loves the movie Borat. Aaron is a lawyer and was talking about the death penalty and how the US just stopped killing kids and retards. Christofer misunderstood and thought the US just stopped killing retards and children all together.

Day 5 - Baby steps to Everest (Dingboche 4410m)

This morning we woke up and went to the Monastery to watch the monks pray. Women were not allowed in the monastery without permission, so a few of us had to wait outside until we got the word.

Inside there were about 20 monks sitting on benches facing the middle of the room. They were praying together and it sounded like chanting. Listening to them all together was very hypnotizing and melodic. They prayed for an hour and had tea. After, one monks stuck around and answered some questions for us. This was on of my favourite things on the trek.

After packing and eating, we hiked for a few hours and then had lunch. I developed a horrible headache at this point. It felt like my head was in a vice, and then I started to feel nauseous. We made it to Dingboche, the next stayover and I just got in my sleeping bag and fell asleep for a few hours. When I woke up my headache was gone.

After eating dinner, I had to go back to bed.

Day 4 - Tengboche 3860m

Another day of uphill hiking. Today I learned that going slow is easier on my heart and lungs. Small lesson to learn, took a few days though. It was inspired by a 54 year old woman named Sharon from Ireland who was going really slow but set the pace for us.

We hiked to Tengboche. We arrived at the lodge just in time to miss the rain. We settled into the living area and met some people. There was a group of girls from the US that were doing a guiding course and had all sorts of books about wilderness medicine and stuff. They were camping up to this point too. It was interesting to talk to them. One was an EMT, one was a backcountry ski guide, the other was a ski instuctor in Colorado. They had all sorts of cool stories.

One girl from the other group that went through the same trekking company, Alex, bought a bottle of whiskey and wanted to party. The EMT from the guiding group wanted to take her blood pressure to see how alcohol and altitude would affect it. It was all very entertaining.

Day 3 - Hanzel...so hot right now

Today was an acclimatization day in Namche Bazar. Its important for us to take our time getting higher or else we'll get sick. We did a day hike to get higher.

I started feeling nautious partway up so I started taking altitude sickness medication called Diamox. Its more for prevention.

We hiked to a hotel that was up on a ridge, and is the first place one can see Mt. Everest. It was too cloudy so we just sat on the deck and had some snacks. Hanzel showed up too and we learned that he summited Everest in 2005. We went to the highest airstrip in the world, at 3720m.

We went for lunch, hiked back down to Namche, did some shopping. I felt pretty beat and was in bed by 7pm.

Day 2 - to Namche Bazaar 3440m

I woke up early, 6.30. We ate breakfast, packed and left for the trail.
Denise started having problems with her boots right on the trail. She had some hot spots yesterday but didn't treat them in time and ended up with open blisters. She had to take her boots off and hike the rest of the way in our guides flip flops. This was a long day of hiking also, climbing 800m in elevation.

After lunch, we had a very difficult uphill hike. It took about 2 hours. Along the way we met a Spanish TV show crew. The host guy looked like Hanzel from Zoolander, blond hair, tanned, rugged. That bacame his name for the rest of the trip.

Dale also received this horrible skin rash that we called leprosy, on a sleeper train in India. It looked like a spider bite that had spread all the way accross his neck. He had the name of some local plant that would clear it up, titi pati, so our guide made a paste and appllied it to his neck. It looked much better a few hours later.

We arrived in Namche Bazaar in good time. It was cold and foggy. We changed our clothes and wandered around the area. Denise and I were pretty tired, her more of a write-off than me. Hiking for 6 hours in sandals can do that to a person. I couldn't finish my dinner. The altitude and exhaustion were starting to affect me.

Everest Base Camp Trek - Day 1

I arrived in Kathmandu last night, exhausted from flying and trying to sleep in the Bangkok airport. Denise met me at the airport which was an awesome surprise. We got my bags and headed to the guesthouse her and Dale were staying at. We had to leave right away though because we had to meet our trekking company people. We met our guide, got some rental sleeping bags and then got some dinner. I was too tired to take in anything around me, although the area of Thamel in Kathmandu seems pretty cool.

Back at the guest house, I unpacked, repacked, redistributed. Denise and I decided to share one pack for the trek. It was off to bed because we had to leave the guest house for our 6am flight the next morning.

In the morning, our guide, C.B., met us at our hotel and we went to catch a shuttle to the airport. On the shuttle was another group of trekkers that were going through the same company as we did. There were 5 of them and they were around the same ages as us.

We got to the airport and waited around for our flight to leave. We were flying to Lukla, which is about 9000 ft. above sea level. This airport is pretty famous because the runway goes uphill and is just long enough to land the kinds of planes we were in. The flight was beautiful. I could see the Himalayan peaks in the distance and terraced fields below. Then as we approached Lukla airport, I looked out the front of the plane and saw the mountain with a small runway in the middle. It was pretty scary, but so exciting. Dale, Denise and I were all looking at each other in nervous laughter as the plane touched the tarmac and then slammed on the brakes.

Lukla was moist and cold. The air definitely felt thinner. We collected our bags and met our porter, Shree, and then went for breakfast. Our porter carried Denise's and my bag, Dale's pack and then his own. He strapped them all together with a bungee cord and then had a peice of fabric that he put accross his fore head for more balance. Not the best system, but it worked for him.

After breakfast, we had a short walk to our first night's stay in Phakding. It only took 2.5 hours and the elevation was lower than that of Lukla. The idea behind acclimatizing is to train high and then sleep low.

We had lunch, went for a small walk down to the river and then came back to the lodge when it started to rain. After dinner, Denise and I were ready for bed and it was only 7pm. In the mountains, once the sun goes down, its pretty much just time for bed.

Day 1 of the real vacation - Inchon Airport

Being the genius that I am, I didn't check the flight information before I came to the airport. So when I got here, I found out that my flight had changed and was going to leave 2 hours later than originaly. So I have 3 more hours to kill before I have to get on the plane to Bangkok. Awesome. However, this is an awesome airport to be stuck in. I'm at a free internet lounge. There is amazing shopping and great food places to choose from. Its a nice aiport all around. I'm also nursing a hangover so having great food options is helpful.

I had a good last night in Seoul. I saw lots of friends and had lots of drinks. I was sad to say goodbye to people but so not sad to say goodbye to Korea.

And what is my plan now? I am going to Nepal to trek to the Mount Everest Base Camp with Denise and Dale, who have been in India for the last 5 weeks. On September 29, we are flying back to Bangkok and meeting Romi and Leesa. Dale is going home. Denise, Leesa, Romi and I are then going to Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, back to Thailand, then to Malaysia, Singapore, Bali and the Philippines. Leesa is staying in Singapore to visit her sister, who lives there. Romi, Denise and I all fly home from the Philippines in December. I'm flying back to Vancouver on December 21. Life's rough eh?

Day one of vacation

I moved out my apartment today. Yippee!! I left my place with my daypack and 3 bags and I felt like a bag lady. I really could've used a shopping cart. So I spent the day wandering around the city and eating by myself. All my friends were working so I was all alone. I hiked up to Seoul Tower. I sweated a lot. I ate some indian food.

Last night, I left work for the last time and the owners didn't even say good-by to me. Ass holes. My friend told me about a website that I can go on and blacklist my school. I'm thinking about it but its not really my personality.

Here's to 3 months and 19 days more of vacation!

My Legacy

It was a tough year, no doubt. I had an open mind coming here and the years served me very very well. I worked much harder than I thought I would. It goes to show that every single teaching experience is diferent when teaching ESL. My school was a slave driver, other schools are more like daycare. My advice to anyone thinking about coming is do it! But what you hear from people will be diferent from others and from your experiences.

And how will my students benefit from my period of sojourn? Well, several of them can now succesfully quote certain (appropriate) lines from the movie Borat. They now know that Sam is a girl's name as well as a boy's. They know what a farmer tan is. Hopefully they'll remember the diference between RICE and LICE. I got some really sweet letters from a lot of students which really made my time here worthwhile. I will really miss my students.

How did I benefit? I'm really good at photocopying. I can drink any Korean under the table (its not hard). I can run a classroom. I can navigate new cities and meet new people. What a cool place to live for one year. But not cool enough to stay forever. I will miss the conviniences like 24 hour restaurants and buying beer at any corner store. The transportation system is amazing and I will miss it. Korea, you are a pain in my ass and I will miss you.

Its my last day...

ITS MY LAST DAY AT WORK!!
I can't believe its over! I have 3 classes to teach today, but no sweat. I got paid my final check and my bonus so I have a fat bank account ready for traveling. I'm leaving the school at the perfect time because all the new teachers got a new set of assholes yesterday. I think that this year of work might shave off a few years of their lives.

I had a nice weekend. Romi and I went to Suwon to see a large fortress wall. It was pretty interesting. We just explored. In the cab on the way to the subway station, the cabbie hit an old man on his bike that was going to cross the street in the wrong place. This poor old man was getting yelled at, and his bike's wheel was all bent. Romi and I snuck out of the cab during the yelling match. On Sunday, I went out with the people I did private lessons with for the last few months. Yeah, I taught private lessons. I'll be open about it now because my contract is over. I DID PRIVATE LESSONS. I made good money and got to know this awesome couple. They are married and have a 1 year old daughter. Anyway, they wanted to take me out for the day and for dinner. We went biking around some islands by the airport and spent the whole day together. We went for lunch at his parents house and then out for an awesome seafood dinner. It was so spicy and I had some pretty bad heartburn afterwards. I think spending time with them and talking to them was one of the best parts of the year because I got to ask them questions about Korea and see how they live. I will really miss them.

Tonight I have to clean my apartment and then move out tomorrow by noon. I don't leave until Sunday so I have a few days to be a bum around the city. I will be a homeless bum. I'm staying with Romi and Leesa. I'M FINISHED WORK!!!!!!