Nepal

Hello Everyone!

First of all, we must apologize for taking so long to get this blog put together. Since we got back to Alaska seven weeks ago, things have been very busy between the holidays and work and all sorts of other crazy stuff. But, here it goes, at long last...

**To start, we must issue a disclaimer. The photos and video herein do not do justice to the incredible beauty and awesomeness that is Nepal. In person, the mountains are bigger, they tower overhead, and they surround you. In person, you smell the yaks, the dust, the crisp mountain air. In person, you taste the dal bhat, the momos, the lemon tea, and instant black coffee. In person, you can experience the amazing culture, the hospitality, the genuine consistent happiness of your Nepali hosts. So, yes, go visit. Now more than ever this tiny mountain country needs our support. Okay, now let's get started.**

To accompany this blog we put together a short video of our trip: https://vimeo.com/251268355 Also, for more photos follow @mt.massive_productions on Instagram and Mount Massive Productions on Facebook.

We left Anchorage and travelled for about 48 hours before reaching Kathmandu. We spent one night in Honolulu, flew to Shanghai and enroute lost a day, then changed airports (got an Uber across Shanghai at rush hour), then flew to Kunming, in the Yunnan province of western China on the eastern edge of the Himalaya. Here we spent 14 hours on the airport's polished marble floor because the airport hotel was full. We were awoken every 30 minutes or so by the screeching, loud blare of Mandarin from the airport's loud speaker.

Jennah camped out on the floor of the Kunming Airport.

The following day we flew to Kathmandu, and despite being completely exhausted, we met our guide, Sudip, and had dinner with him and the owner of our guiding company, Arjun. We also repacked and managed to get some much needed sleep! Early the next morning we caught a short flight to Lukla and the starting point of our trek.

The domestic terminal at Kathmandu's airport.

The flight to Lukla was one of the most exciting of our lives! The airport in Lukla consists of a 1,729 ft runway (very short!) that has a brick wall on one end and a cliff on the other. The airport is billed as "the most dangerous in the world".

The runway at Tenzing-Hillary Airport

Finally we got to stretch our legs and start hiking. We only trekked two hours this first day and spent the night in Pakding. We were blown away by the sights, sounds, smells - the size of everything around us and the bright colors. The porters, the pack animals, the rugged terrain, it was all so impressive and more than we could have imagined. Buddhism is very common in this region and all along the trail there are temples, prayer wheels, pray flags (ubiquitous in Nepal), and mantras written into stone.

Stone carved mantras and a large prayer wheel

Gardens and villages between Lukla and Namche

Our second day was much longer, we hiked for about 6 hours from Phakding to Namche Bazaar. Namche is the largest city in the Khumbu region and the main center for commerce. Most treks pass through here and spend at least one day to acclimatize. The trail to reach Namche is well used, as it is the main route for all food, drink and supplies to reach this area. Nothing is flown in up here, there are no roads, everything must be carried by porters or pack animals. Suspension bridges are common along the trail. They get kinda bouncy, but are very stable and secure. Porters and pack animals have the right of way everywhere, especially on the bridges. We got our first glimpse of Everest while approaching Namche. It was as impressive as we had expected, despite being so distant from this vantage point.

The famous double bridges. Actually the top one is the trail to Namche, and the other is the trail the Thame.

Our first glimpse of Everest, seen here with snow blowing off the summit.

Namche is an incredible city, built on the side of a mountain, surrounded by deep gorges and towering peaks. It is a study in contrasts: there are Irish bars, restaurants, and cafes with leather sofas, espresso machines, and Jack Johnson playing on their patio while teams of yaks and donkeys pass by on the cobble paths carrying heavy loads to higher villages.

Namche Bazaar.

The streets of Namche Bazaar

On our rest day in Namche we visited the Tengzing Norgay Memorial and hiked above Namche for a better view of Everest, Lohtse, and Ama Dablam. Towards the end of the day we visited the local "Gompa", or monastery. The gompa here isn't used much, just for special occasions, and only one monk is currently holding down the fort (or gompa).

Namche's gompa

After getting back to our teahouse Nate rapidly came down with a cold - an upper respiratory thing caused by the excessive dust during the last three days. We didn't wear masks/buffs while outside, so we quickly adopted that practice for the remainder of our trip. The weather in November and December in Nepal is very dry. It didn't rain a drop while we were there. Due to Nate's illness, we took an additional rest day in Namche.

Nate put all his effort in to killing the cold he developed and it worked, he was feeling much better by the next morning and we made our way to Dole. We followed the route to Everest Base Camp for half of the day, then made a turn off towards the north, and quickly left the crowds and the wide path. We ascended then descended and ascended again before reaching Dole, which is perched on the side of the valley, shaded by the surrounding peaks and very very chilly at this altitude (13, 780 ft).

Dole

Typical teahouses consist of a common room with a single, small stove that burns yak dung and is only on for a couple hours during dinner. The rooms are very basic, with thin mattresses, a pillow, and maybe some blankets. Outhouses are usually pits at this altitude, with buckets of water to flush. There is no insulation in the rooms, so sounds and the cold both pass through unimpeded. Temperatures easily got below freezing most nights. Jennah used her own 0 degree bag, plus another provided by our guide, plus 2 heavy blankets some nights. The following photos are typical tea houses from our trek.

A typical communal dining room

A typical guest room

A typical tea house, dining room on left, rooms in middle, pit toilets on right.

Yak dung- typical fuel for the fire

Typical meals - dal bhat and momos - with lemon, ginger, honey tea.

Typical Nepalese children, super cute.

From Dole we hiked a very short few hours to Macchermo. Although we wanted to continue, our guide suggested we stay in Macchermo as planned to avoid altitude sickness. Probably the right choice, you want to avoid overexertion at that altitude. We therefore had more rest time to explore the village, read, and play cards.

Macchermo

Finally the day we had been waiting for was upon us! From Macchermo we hiked about four hours to Gokyo, where we had a quick snack, checked in to our tea house, and then continued up to Gokyo Ri. Gokyo Ri is at 17,500 feet in elevation. This was the destination of our trek and the moment we had spent months anticipating! It was such a relief and felt like such an accomplishment to finally reach it. Our uphill hiking pace had been so slow all the way from Lukla, both to prevent altitude sickness but also because of the altitude. The views were amazing. Everest felt so close and so big from here. Other 8,000 meter peaks visible from here included Lohtse, just off Everest's right side, Cho Oyu to the north, and Makalu distant to the southeast. Below us was Ngozumpa Glacier, covered in dust and rocks, stretching for miles along the top of the valley we just ascended. The Gokyo lakes chain is also below us - glacial fed lakes that shine bright blue in the high sun.

Climbing up to Gokyo Ri

Jennah on top of Gokyo Ri, we made it!

The team - Sudip, Nate, Jennah, and Santos - on the summit of Gokyo Ri.

After spending about an hour on top of Gokyo Ri, we descended back to Gokyo, feeling relieved to have made it to our destination. We visited a bakery and bought apple pie. Gokyo, sitting at about 15,500 feet, is a unique and barely hospitable place. There are beautiful views in every direction, including the view of Cho Oyu, up valley, to the north.

Cho Oyu after sunset with alpine glow

The lake at Gokyo

After just one night in Gokyo we had to descend (our extra day in Namche stole from an extra day in Gokyo). We retraced our steps past Macchermo to Dole.

In Dole, Nate awoke with a stomach ache and we determined that he had food poisoning. The likely culprit was the apple pie. The hike that day was one of Nate's toughest. He didn't even have the energy to carry his own day pack on the uphills. Finally arriving back in Namche was such a relief, but more of a relief was beating off this illness (with the help of antibiotics) and feeling much better the next day. Unfortunately, that next day Jennah was sick with a bad head cold. On this day we didn't have a choice, we needed to hike from Namche to Lukla to catch our flight the next day, so Jennah summoned all her strength to make it all the way back to Lukla! Needless to say, we didn't take many photos on those last two days as it was all we could do to just hike.

We should pause here to mention the porters. Nepalese are generally smaller in stature, but they are tough as nails. Our porter, Santos, probably carried half his body weight in gear (our gear). And actually, he had it easy, we saw some porters with at least a dozen cases of beer strapped to their back. Other were carrying actual couches, mattresses, large pieces of plywood, and just about anything else you can imagine.

Two mattresses 

A full couch.

Large bales of hay

A very large piece of plywood

Also amazing were the yaks, dzo (male yak/cattle hybrids), donkeys, and horses. They were all so docile. They seemed to know right where they needed to go, and they just kept a nice steady pace to get there. Most wore bells around their neck which added to the auditory ambiance of the environment.

Yaks with Ama Dablam in the background

This old yak in Gokyo must have been retired. He just stared into windows all day.

We are amazed that anyone gets anywhere in Nepal. There is little to no organization at airports and no lines. There are usually two steps to a process when there could have been just one. In Lukla, while we waited for our plane, a man at the door yelled "two", our flight number didn't have a two in it, so we thought nothing of it. Luckily our guide was paying attention and we caught our flight back to Kathmandu.

Nate waiting in the line, er, crowd, at Lukla airport.

A stray dog relaxes in the Lukla airport

Back in Kathmandu we had one night before flying the next day to Pokhara. We enjoyed a hot shower, ate a salad (greens washed with filtered water) and did laundry. We also explored the crowded, busy streets of Thamel, the tourist district of Kathmandu.

The streets of Thamel district in Kathmandu

A temple covered in pigeons in downtown Kathmandu

In Pokhara, we had one night before catching a plane to start our mountain bike trip. Early in the morning, before sunrise, we jumped on our bikes and rode to the airport - only about 15 minutes - but it was an exciting ride as we didn't have headlamps, so we couldn't really see the road and we were riding on the left for the first time. We thought that might be the riskiest part of the bike trip, we were wrong.

Mainstreet Jomsom as we prep for our ride

After arriving in Jomsom and collecting our bikes, we started riding towards Kagbeni. It was only about two hours to this very windy little village in the lower Mustang. We were back up in the cold country again and the nights were pretty chilly. On the mountain bike trip we were guided by Aayman, one of Nepal's top ranked mountain bikers, and an honest, friendly little guy (5 feet of gristle). When Aayman was a boy his parents left him and his siblings to make money in the city, but Aayman ran away to find his parents and lived on the street for some time before being taken in by people in the mountain biking community. Those same people have helped to make it to the top of his sport and travel the world doing it. Also joining us was Bud, the owner of a Toyota dealership near Buffalo, New York, and Mick, an accountant from London.

The countryside near Kagbeni.

Our second day was full of climbing. From Kagbeni we rode uphill for about 4 hours to Muktinath. While we were fairly well acclimatized, the other two flatlanders did amazingly well keeping up. Although it is likely a good thing that we only had one night at high elevation or they would have succumb to AMS.

Looking towards our destination of Muktinath

Just riding along with an 8,000 meter peak looming overhead.

The view from a temple above Muktinath

The remainder of our bike trip was downhill, starting with singletrack down from Muktinath. The trails were loose and sandy, but to be riding beneath an 8,000 meter peak is something special. After 1/2 a day of singletrack we reached Jomsom again and had to fight a stiff headwind as we headed down the Kali Gandaki River valley. The ride was a mix of sandy, bumpy jeep track and old, trekking paths. We spent that night in Tobuche, at a nice little Inn owned by a Nepali woman and a Dutch man. The lodge was by far the best we stayed in, there was a fireplace that was burning at all times and they even had a small fire going under the breakfast table in the morning to keep your legs warm!

The team at the high point of our ride before three days of downhill riding.

Jennah looking concerned before riding across another suspension bridge with a stiff crosswind

The suspension bridges were interesting to ride across

Our fourth day of riding was pure adventure riding. There was some single track - on old trekking routes. It was fun to ride on cobblestone paths through little villages, dodging chickens, dogs, and little children that jump out of stone huts. There was also a bit of jeep track riding, but the jeep tracks here are not smooth or flat, there were plenty of features to keep us on our toes. There was also plenty of road construction, which without the safety precautions of the US, made for some interesting riding.

Checking out the deepest gorge in the world* from the top of Annapurna to the waters of the Kali Gandaki.

A small obstacle on the ride

Our last night before returning to Pokhara was in Tatopani (or hot water). There is a hot springs there which sounded great, but it's not exactly clean. They likely don't change the water too often, and this town is positioned at the end of the Annapurna circuit, so there are lots of dirty trekkers bathing here that haven't showered in two to three weeks. We decided to skip it!

Looking up the Kali Gandaki River valley from Tatopani

Our last day of riding was all on jeep track for about two hours to a town called Beni, where we caught a van back to Pokhara. Unfortunately the van driver suffered from mental insanity - he was super aggressive and dangerous, driving too fast, passing on blind curves, and making us all very fearful. We were very thankful to make it back to Pokhara alive. In Pokhara we decided to splurge and go for the deluxe sweet at Tripadvisor's #1 ranked hotel in town. For $37/night we got a large suite with a private balcony and a nice view of the city. We highly recommend this hotel.

Canoes on Phewa Tal in Pokhara

The view from our rooftop suite in Pokhara

We had one full day to spend in Pokhara, which we spent hiking up to the Peace Pagoda, shopping, and getting well-deserved massages. We returned to Kathmandu the next day and spent one last night in Nepal before beginning the long journey back to the western hemisphere. On our return trip we fought jet lag by spending five days on Oahu. Hawaii and Nepal are about as different as can be; it was a much needed recoup before returning to work and the AK winter.

Kathmandu from the roof of our hotel on our last night in Nepal

Our trip to Nepal exceeded all expectations. We were amazed at the beauty and the culture. We felt completely safe 99% of the time (the van ride being the exception). Everyone was smiling and happy and friendly, despite living on so little and in such a difficult environment. It reminded us how little we really need to be happy in this life.

We owe a huge thank you to our guide, Sudip, and our porter, Santos, for helping us get to Gokyo Ri, we could not have done it without them. And thank you to Arjun, the owner of Shiva Excursion, for his hospitality and making our airport transfers so easy. He came highly recommended to us, and we highly recommend him to you. If you ever plan a trip to Nepal, start with Shiva Excursion (www.shivaexcursion.com). Also a big thanks to Aayman, our mountain biking guide, for showing us the way. Most of all, thanks to Nate's parent's, Bobbie and Rick, who house and dog sat for us while we travelled. The trip would not have been possible without your help and your willingness to spend a month in Alaska during the darkest, coldest time of year - there is a reason we left when we did! The dogs miss you, we can't spoil them like you can;-).

If anyone would like more information about a trip to Nepal, please contact us, we would love to share our experience and provide what advice we can. Namaste!