Because nothing says "I love you" like beating the shit out of strangers in a public square.
The pictures will speak for themselves...
The pictures will speak for themselves...
https://photos.app.goo.gl/K91a3xZoR21U19fE7
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
All I've Got Are These Damn Nepalese Coins
I actually did bring back some coins from Nepal. I'm going to try that line next time I'm at the laundromat.
Anyhow, The most important thing to do when you get to a new country is get acquainted with its booze. Nepal is home to Everest beer, which has a picture of the famous sherpa Tenzing Norgay on the label and tastes like it contains one of his urine samples. Or you can try Tongba, a hot, alcoholic, millet-based beverage. Yes, I know what you're thinking, after drinking Tongba I am also surprised that the millet craze has not swept across the western world. But you need some booze in you to try and absorb the chaos that is Kathmandu. There's pretty much no order to the traffic, cars look like they're about to plow into each other, people are walking in the middle of the streets, it's a free-for-all. Most of the buildings look as though a bomb went off in them, and there are beggars and touts everywhere, especially in the tourist district. There's garbage in the streets, and, if you're lucky, cow shit. Lots of it.
Traveling to Nepal made me very much appreciate what I have. It's a very, very poor country. There are a lot of people living in squalor, without clean water or electricity. Many of the dwellings that you see are made of cinder blocks cemented together, with corrugated tin roofs that have rocks on top of them to keep them from flying off during high winds. People bathe in the cold water outside if they bathe at all. The main river that runs through Kathmandu is overrun with garbage. You walk through parts of the town and you feel like you're walking through the set of some post-apocalyptic movie. I felt like a kind of voyeur. It's weird to walk through there and think that pretty much anytime you could take off and go back to your world but that all the Nepalis have to deal with it every day of their lives. What can you do though? Give to Oxfam I guess, volunteer when you can, vote your conscience, and try to be a responsible consumer. Or, ignore it and just be happy that beer is cheap and your room only costs $2 per night. We went with option B. We stayed in Kathmandu for a couple of days because the airlines lost my luggage, but after that it was off to Pokhara which is the launching point for treks into the Annapurna conservation area.
You have to be in top physical and mental shape to attempt a trek to Annapurna base camp (ABC) at 4280 meters (over 14,000 feet). I... am neither. That probably explains why I spent most of the time trying to figure out how I could throw myself into a canyon without doing too much harm, just enough to warrant a helicopter rescue. I should've done more research on what "trek" exactly means. But I knew one thing for sure, that no matter how bad a shape I was in or how much I was struggling, Rich would be worse. I found comfort in that. Plus I was looking forward to growing a mountain beard. Of course, any positivity was erased on the first day when Rich and I encountered our first set of Nepali steps. And, since the trek was his idea, everything was Mark's fault. He was itching to try it again since he tried to get to ABC 9 years ago but couldn't make it because he hurt his back.
I don't know if I need to get into detail about what the trek was like, you can look at the pictures, but if I was keeping a journal it would go something like this:
Day 1: Fuck you Mark.
Days 2-5: See Day 1.
Day 6: Nice mountains. P.S. Fuck you Mark.
Days 7-9: I can't believe it's taking me three days to walk back.
Someone needs to send some civil engineers over to Nepal. Apparently, if you want to go up 200 meters, you can't just go up 200 meters. You have to go up 400, then come down 300, then go up 200 more, and come down 100. It's bullshit. We had to hike 6-7 hours a day in these conditions, with a pack. I kept thinking that I could've been on a beach somewhere. Cold showers? Check! Plus, let me tell you something about squat toilets. When you're up at altitude... water freezes! Hey! What do you know? That means if you don't properly flush your poop down the squat toilet, it leaves a frozen surprise for the next person who comes in. Just a heads-up to those of you that might not know. Through it all, Rich and I tried to keep our spirits up by coming up with different ways to kill Mark. At first they were fairly mundane, but as we got colder and as the air got thinner they got more complicated. I think the last one we came up with is that we'd kill him and then slice him open so we could sleep inside him when it was cold, like at the beginning of Empire Strikes Back. Yeah, I know it's gruesome. We were bitter.
I'm not telling you that it wasn't beautiful, or that we didn't have any fun. I mean, I got to climb to the top of Poon Hill! It's a misnomer, by the way, all you can see from there are a bunch of mountains. I looked through the conservation area map and found a Titi Lake and a Nymphu Monastery, but unfortunately they weren't on our route. In Tadapani, Rich was threatened with a dull knife by a 12-year-old girl. On the trek we met a Dutch girl named Karin who traveled most of the way with us, although she did bring our beard factor down. I got to dance with a bunch of Nepali porters. I got to see a monkey steal a lady's bag. We met up with some Buddhist monks on the trek that taught us some card tricks. By the way, being a Buddhist monk seems like a sweet gig. They didn't have to pay for anything at the lodge, they were walking around with iPods and digital SLR cameras, and they were getting all the food they could eat for free. You should see these guys at breakfast. Disciplined my ass.
We did have some excitement on the trip. Mark finally made it to Annapurna base camp this time, but only stayed about an hour because he got altitude sickness. For those of you who don't know, altitude sickness occurs when you ascend too quickly without acclimatizing, and severe altitude sickness can kill you. He got a really bad headache and then started puking up his masala tea, at which point the Nepalis said he had to descend immediately to a lower altitude. So he had to go down to another village... in the middle of a blizzard. Santos, his porter, led him down. As any good friends would do, Rich and I stayed at base camp. Hey, we wanted to see the sunrise over the Annapurnas. Besides... blizzards are cold.
Anyhow, without further ado, pictures are here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vzHZn2FRaNZ1KG3U9
Dave
Anyhow, The most important thing to do when you get to a new country is get acquainted with its booze. Nepal is home to Everest beer, which has a picture of the famous sherpa Tenzing Norgay on the label and tastes like it contains one of his urine samples. Or you can try Tongba, a hot, alcoholic, millet-based beverage. Yes, I know what you're thinking, after drinking Tongba I am also surprised that the millet craze has not swept across the western world. But you need some booze in you to try and absorb the chaos that is Kathmandu. There's pretty much no order to the traffic, cars look like they're about to plow into each other, people are walking in the middle of the streets, it's a free-for-all. Most of the buildings look as though a bomb went off in them, and there are beggars and touts everywhere, especially in the tourist district. There's garbage in the streets, and, if you're lucky, cow shit. Lots of it.
Traveling to Nepal made me very much appreciate what I have. It's a very, very poor country. There are a lot of people living in squalor, without clean water or electricity. Many of the dwellings that you see are made of cinder blocks cemented together, with corrugated tin roofs that have rocks on top of them to keep them from flying off during high winds. People bathe in the cold water outside if they bathe at all. The main river that runs through Kathmandu is overrun with garbage. You walk through parts of the town and you feel like you're walking through the set of some post-apocalyptic movie. I felt like a kind of voyeur. It's weird to walk through there and think that pretty much anytime you could take off and go back to your world but that all the Nepalis have to deal with it every day of their lives. What can you do though? Give to Oxfam I guess, volunteer when you can, vote your conscience, and try to be a responsible consumer. Or, ignore it and just be happy that beer is cheap and your room only costs $2 per night. We went with option B. We stayed in Kathmandu for a couple of days because the airlines lost my luggage, but after that it was off to Pokhara which is the launching point for treks into the Annapurna conservation area.
You have to be in top physical and mental shape to attempt a trek to Annapurna base camp (ABC) at 4280 meters (over 14,000 feet). I... am neither. That probably explains why I spent most of the time trying to figure out how I could throw myself into a canyon without doing too much harm, just enough to warrant a helicopter rescue. I should've done more research on what "trek" exactly means. But I knew one thing for sure, that no matter how bad a shape I was in or how much I was struggling, Rich would be worse. I found comfort in that. Plus I was looking forward to growing a mountain beard. Of course, any positivity was erased on the first day when Rich and I encountered our first set of Nepali steps. And, since the trek was his idea, everything was Mark's fault. He was itching to try it again since he tried to get to ABC 9 years ago but couldn't make it because he hurt his back.
I don't know if I need to get into detail about what the trek was like, you can look at the pictures, but if I was keeping a journal it would go something like this:
Day 1: Fuck you Mark.
Days 2-5: See Day 1.
Day 6: Nice mountains. P.S. Fuck you Mark.
Days 7-9: I can't believe it's taking me three days to walk back.
Someone needs to send some civil engineers over to Nepal. Apparently, if you want to go up 200 meters, you can't just go up 200 meters. You have to go up 400, then come down 300, then go up 200 more, and come down 100. It's bullshit. We had to hike 6-7 hours a day in these conditions, with a pack. I kept thinking that I could've been on a beach somewhere. Cold showers? Check! Plus, let me tell you something about squat toilets. When you're up at altitude... water freezes! Hey! What do you know? That means if you don't properly flush your poop down the squat toilet, it leaves a frozen surprise for the next person who comes in. Just a heads-up to those of you that might not know. Through it all, Rich and I tried to keep our spirits up by coming up with different ways to kill Mark. At first they were fairly mundane, but as we got colder and as the air got thinner they got more complicated. I think the last one we came up with is that we'd kill him and then slice him open so we could sleep inside him when it was cold, like at the beginning of Empire Strikes Back. Yeah, I know it's gruesome. We were bitter.
I'm not telling you that it wasn't beautiful, or that we didn't have any fun. I mean, I got to climb to the top of Poon Hill! It's a misnomer, by the way, all you can see from there are a bunch of mountains. I looked through the conservation area map and found a Titi Lake and a Nymphu Monastery, but unfortunately they weren't on our route. In Tadapani, Rich was threatened with a dull knife by a 12-year-old girl. On the trek we met a Dutch girl named Karin who traveled most of the way with us, although she did bring our beard factor down. I got to dance with a bunch of Nepali porters. I got to see a monkey steal a lady's bag. We met up with some Buddhist monks on the trek that taught us some card tricks. By the way, being a Buddhist monk seems like a sweet gig. They didn't have to pay for anything at the lodge, they were walking around with iPods and digital SLR cameras, and they were getting all the food they could eat for free. You should see these guys at breakfast. Disciplined my ass.
We did have some excitement on the trip. Mark finally made it to Annapurna base camp this time, but only stayed about an hour because he got altitude sickness. For those of you who don't know, altitude sickness occurs when you ascend too quickly without acclimatizing, and severe altitude sickness can kill you. He got a really bad headache and then started puking up his masala tea, at which point the Nepalis said he had to descend immediately to a lower altitude. So he had to go down to another village... in the middle of a blizzard. Santos, his porter, led him down. As any good friends would do, Rich and I stayed at base camp. Hey, we wanted to see the sunrise over the Annapurnas. Besides... blizzards are cold.
Anyhow, without further ado, pictures are here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/vzHZn2FRaNZ1KG3U9
Dave
