So remember the good old days of riding the bus to school and always wanting to sit in the back seat to catch some air while going over bumps? Well fast forward 20 plus years to Nepal in what turns out to be an interesting journey. The difference this time is that it lasted an ass hurting 9 hours. Granted the trip only cost me a whopping 7 dollars, I think I should have been paid to ride this bus. I have been on some miserable bus trips, but this one was by far the most physically painful one... I will get to the hiking bit, but I have to let you guys go through the pain that I did for the trip back to Kathmandu...
So being the only white guy on the bus of course I get thrown on the most uncomfortable seat in the far way back. Wood bench with about an 1/8 of an inch padding, and of course 2-3 nails sticking in my ass... So what do I do, pull out my flip-flops and rain jacket and use them for cushioning. So here I am with 2 bags of over 40lbs. on my lap sitting on my rain jacket and flipflops in the far back seat with windows that do not want to stay shut. Could this get any worse? Of course 5 minutes into the trip (which my ass was already sore now) we pick up a drunk Nepalise man. He stumbles all the way back and flops himself right next to me. He precedes to snuggle up to me, which he passed out leaning on my shoulder and drooled for the next 9 hours on me. With windows not closing Ihad to put on all my warm clothes and that was a bitch with the little room I had. We stopped once to get out and stretch (form a line of 40 people peeing on the side of the road) wish I would have had a camera for this moment. Well after 9 hours and numerous bumps and bruises I made it back to Kathmandu. In the rush out, I forgot my rain jacket and sandals (comfy chair). I ran back and chased the bus down and luckily the drunk guy passed out on my stuff, otherwise they might have been taken... Sorry about the rant, but this bus trip was only 140 kms long (about 90 miles) how the hell did it take 9 hours... Ohhh I love mountain busing in the crazy countries... Now on to the Trek...
So I left Kathmandu for a 7 hour bus ride to Besi Shahar, of course when I get out, the power goes out to the whole city. I am out wandering around trying to find a place to stay, I find this dump of a place for about $1 a night, with shitty food...
So morning comes and I can finally get into the mountains, my first day is a 22km trek to the town of Ghermu. Fantastic trek, minus the fact that they are building a road along this trek and it is a shame that they are doing this. I did not meet one fellow trekker for the first 5 days on this trek. Which was nice, but also somewhat scary sometimes. When I would run into a local they would always ask "where you from?" and "are you alone?" Of course I say "American, and yeah I am alone After the first instance, I thought to myself, lets just say "I am Canadian and I have a bunch of cage fighter friends about 5 mins behind me" just to avoid any possible conflict. Nepal people are very nice but you never know. Day two I headed to Tal, where I met a great Australian and we stayed up late at night discussing the world's problems and figuring a way to solve them. We conclude we are going to start are own country, so if you want citizenship get in line.. These first days were just a warm up to the great views coming up. Every step closer, I could start to see views of the Annapurna Himalayas. I mainly passed small villages along the way and many waterfalls. (and also marijuana fields)
After Tal started to make my way up the valley. About 2 hours in two locals came running down towards me waving their hands. Before I could say anything there were these massive explosions and debris flying everywhere. They were in the process of blasting the hillside to continue the road extension to Manang. This is a shame in my mind, because it takes away from the beauty of the hike. So if you want to do this trek, you have about 7 more years until this road is complete, so get on it. After talking to the locals it is going to be horrible for these tea houses because they will be bypassed by vehicles rather than trekkers. I arrived in Chame in the early evening and took a freezing shower (which was to be my last one for the next 10 days). The views of Annapurna were spectacular and this was just a preview of things to come...
Upper Pisang was my next destination. This is where the views became out of a storybook. This mountain range was out of this world. (I have a link below for some photos) I visited a few religious sites and sipped some tea and ate some pasta. The going rate for rooms at these tea houses was anywhere between 75 cents-2 dollars a night... Food was about 10 bucks for all 3 meals, but I was carrying in food to keep the costs down. In the morning I took the upper route to Braga (smaller village outside of touristy Manang). This was a cosy little place to stay, and again I was the only person in the village. Kind of comforting, but it would be nice to talk to someone once in awhile. I did however take up reading, First book read in over 20 years thank you very much. I decided to the read Lord of the Rings. For your information the Movie was better than the book...
Next day made it up to Manang (20 mins) headed up to Glacier viewpoint to check out the fantastic views of the Glacier Valley. Of course I wanted more, and after asking around they said there is no trail to the Glacier and of course "it is too dangerous" but what the hell. I hike down, crossed a half frozen lake and 1.5 hours later I was at the terminal face of Ganggapurna Glacier. After dodging falling Ice and Rocks and taking numerous photos I made my way back down to Manang for some Dak Baht (rice and curry dish local to Nepal). Here I met many people from all over the world and shared stories of are travels...
After Manang headed up to Yak Kharka which was an easy day, but just rested and soaked up the views, as I acclimated for the Thorung Pass (5,416meters). Here I met a fellow American which we were to spend the next few days together. In the morning we headed to Base Camp (highest point with beds before the pass) wandered around here and took some photos. In the morning we got up early and did the pass. I took my time and enjoyed the views. The top was very cold and windy and we could only spend about 10 minutes there before the frostbite kicked in... The next 1300meters of downhill to Muktinath was hell on the old knees. Good thing we did the Pass that day, cause a storm was coming in. Ended up staying at Bob Marley's Guesthouse, which I loved and enjoyed a long sleep and lots of eating, with even a quick game a billiards. The next day we jeeped and bussed down to Tatopani, which was a great choice because or the rain and snow. Here is where I had my first meal with Meat. I ordered a big ol steak, and ate it in comfort of the dining hall, as I watched the pouring rain out the window. I was thinking to myself how much snow was falling in the higher altitudes... Turns out the Pass was closed with all the snow that fell, I hope my friends were able to make it over..
In the morning hit up the hot springs and packed up. Everyone decided to go via bus back to Pokhara but I needed to visit Poon Hill (beautiful views) So with no rain, but cloudy and cold, I made my way up to Ghorepani. This hike was a straight up hike from where I was. The first 4 hours were fine, while the last 3 were cold and wet and snow. Stayed at this real cute guest house (again the only one here) and chatted with the owners a bit. The weather was still cloudy and snowy, so I was thinking it might not work out to go to Poon Hill. The owners said "wake up at 530 and if cloudy go to sleep, If clear start the hike" I awoke around 3 to take a piss and it was so clear out that I nearly shit my pants when I walked outside to see the full moon shine down on the mountains. I was so excited I could not go back to sleep. At 530 I started the 45 min hike to the top, of course there were many people starting also from the other areas of the trail. I figured there to be about 100 people on the top of Poon Hill when the sun was rising (this did not take from the beauty of the mountains and the rays of light hitting the valley. After about an hour of gazing 360 degrees around the beauty around me I headed back down. I passed by many people that did not get up early enough for the mind blowing views. After breakfast I made the descent down to Nayapul which was 2120 meters (nearly 7000ft downhill) mainly on all rock stairs.... My legs still hurt (going to get a massage soon).
After getting to Nayapul I caught a bus to Pokhara and had a bit to eat and checked some email and viewed my photos. I asked a local when the last bus left to Kathmandu. He told me the time, and in that same breath he told me that I would regret the ride... Wish I would have listened to him...
The link below is to some photos of my Annapurna Hike. For some reason I can not upload photos here... Go ahead and enjoy...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=281504&id=648237018&l=b62df60328
Friday, February 18, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Israel and Dubai...
Finally some down time on this trip... Just sitting down in a friends living room watching the sandstorm pass over Dubai. So Israel was a treat. Was not planning on going, but what the hell, I was only 30 minutes away while in Amman. I was hearing horror stories of the crossings from everyone... "It takes all day" "they strip search you" "You have to win Ben Stein's Money in order to cross" Well to let you know it only took about 15 minutes. I did however did not get my passport stamped. I had the option of getting a piece of paper stamped instead (some nations do not allow you entrance with an Israeli stamp) The waiting for the bus to fill up on the Israeli side was the longest wait (we ended up buying an "extra" ticket to make the bus full). So after about 40 minutes we (Jeff, my new travel companion) arrived in the heart of Jerusalem. Wow what an amazing city, as the bus winded down the hill there were breath taking views of Old City and the Dome of the Rock. We got dropped off in front of the Damascus gate to Old City. We had no idea where the hell are hostel was, and with no map, we got suckered into a expensive taxi ride for about 5 minutes... Oh well...
Israel is a very expensive city, but if you do it right, it can be cheap and rewarding. After settling down and relaxing a bit and getting some Israeli money we headed out on a free "Old City" tour. The tour lasted about 3 hours, and I learned more about religion in that time frame, then ever before. One of the most interesting thing that I learned is that the The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the place where Jesus was crucified and buried), which is considered by most Christians to be the holiest of churches, is actually managed by the Muslims. That is right, a Muslim family each morning at about 6am opens it up to the public with the one and only key to the place. At 6pm they lock it up. I thought this was quite interesting. This place brought about one of the more "awkward" moments of the trip. I do not mean awkward in a bad sense, but that is how I felt. So I come all this way, and of course I might as well go see this "rock" that Jesus was laid to rest. Basically, it was like waiting in line for a sold out rock concert, but here, they only allow four people in at once. Waited in line for about 30-45 minutes, and when it was my turn I ducked down into this little room about 3 feet wide and 8 feet long with a slate or table of rock. (the moment to sum it up was kind of like waiting for wal-mart to open on black Friday) As soon as I got in there everyone got on there knees, and started kissing the rock, and pulling out everything they had carried in with them and rubbed the rock with so much passion. I was kind of weirded out by this, but hey this is coming from someone with pajama pants on and nails painted.
Also on the tour we wandered around all four "quarters" of the old city. They included: Christian, Muslim, Armenian, and Jewish. This makes up roughly about 40,000 people in this tiny area of Jerusalem. Pretty crazy here. I think visiting the Western Wall (holy place for the Jews) was my favorite sites of the Old City.
It was powerful watching all the people gather at this one place for prayer.
Some of the other highlights of Jerusalem was visiting Mount Olives and soaking up the views of the Old City. Also wandering around the Dome of the Rock, which since we are not Muslim we could not go in it, but it was wonderful to see it from the outside. Also checked out the place where the Last Supper took place, that was interesting in itself. I came to wonder throughout... how sure are we today, that these "supposed" places where Jesus was, are actually the exact place that these events happened. Hmm oh well maybe it is faith that keeps us thinking that it is. Enough about religion and belief, Do what makes you happy, now on to the rest of the story...
The rest of the time we spent in Jerusalem were used to wander the markets of the Old City and eating a lot of Hummus. Yummy... Oh one more thing, try to avoid jaywalking in Jerusalem, they are very uptight on that one.
We decided to check out Bethlehem (Palestine) and the "place" where Jesus was born on day three of or trip to Israel. This turned out to be about as chaotic as the "place" of his death. To make matters worse only one person was allowed in at a time. We got there just ahead of the mad rush. The one thing I enjoyed about Bethlehem was that we were in Palestine. Wow interesting stuff, I kind of got the gist of what is going on here, from both sides of the story that is. I was intrigued by the wall that is being built which is nearly complete but adding more daily. Reminded me of the Berlin Wall, but 3 times as high...It is a kind of sad story here, and a shame of what is happening...
After Bethlehem, we headed to Tel Aviv. Not to much exciting stuff here for me. If you are looking for a night life and nice beach, here ya go. Jews for Jesus ambushed us on the beach, this was quite fun. I love people who are young and do not even know a thing about life yet trying to tell you how to live yours. Oh well we had our spat "discussion" and she said she was going to pray for us when we left. I said thanks and enjoy. Spent about 24 hours total in the Old Jaffa and Tel Aviv area and decided to make are way back to Jerusalem. While riding on the bus to the boarder I came to one solution to all world problems- that is: Leave everyone alone, and do not think your belief is better than mine, oh and tip your waiter if the service is good.
Dubai... to sum it up in one word... WOW... Get off the plane and while getting a taxi, I think I was passed by 3 Porshe's, a couple Ferrari's and Bentley's and 5 Masseratti's. Sorry I do not know how to spell Luxury. But I can spell KIA.
I was blessed to have a place to stay in this crazy money town. Thanks Katie (her last name is being withheld do to her celebrity status in town). This town has grown so much in the last 20 years you cannot even explain it, you will have to see it for yourself. To compare, lets start with the Malls... Mall of America 520 stores... Dubai Mall- over 1200 stores. And to you saying well we do not pay tax on clothing in Minnesota. Well do not want to burst your bubble, but there is no tax on anything at these malls... sorry MOA you lose, just like the Vikings... sorry to bash my home area, it is all in good fun. So get to Dubai, what is the first thing someone does? Head to the Indian Embassy woo hoo... Which, to let you know it takes a bit to get a visa, so that means a no go to India, but more time in Nepal for me. That is a double woo hoo.
So the main thing I wanted to see is the Tallest building in the world. The Burj Khalifa also known as the Burj Dubai. Coming in at an astounding 828m or 2717ft, it is the tallest man made structure in the world...
Since it was 80 degrees out, you would think naturally to hit the beach. Well I did that, but I wanted more so naturally I went skiing. Yes I said skiing. Again only in Dubai. There is nothing you cannot do in this city.
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