sangar
Mar 22, 01, 8:16 am
I saw this maxim on the door of a coffee shop which overlooked a 200 foot
waterfall in Rhupse, most appropriately just after we'd passed the 'Once
Upon a Time Restaurant' which had escaped a massive landslide by about eight
feet!
I found it quite thought provoking - and not just because of the gooey
chocolate cake in the window! Earlier in the week, at the beginning of the
trek, we had visited and stayed in a Tibetan Refugee centre at Hyangja, set
up in 1959 when so many people were forced to flee the Chinese invaders.
There is a hand-made carpet factory, and the people make lovely jewellery.
As one woman, had been six at that time, told me, "In Tibet my family had
property, land and nice things, now I sell trinkets to tourists to live!"
Later in the week I was to hear that a man lost his life saving trekkers
from a fire in his father's hotel in Ghorepani - a village where we had
stayed a couple of days earlier. Most of these lodges, although stone-built
- are full of wood. Plywood walls, wooden platforms for beds, steep wooden
steps, and they have open fires for cooking. Some do have electricity, but
it often fails so candles are used - and there are certainly no smoke
detectors or sprinkler systems!
On a more mundane level, yesterday on the road from Pokhara to Kathmandu, we
ran into a long line of stationery traffic where an overturned truck had
completely blocked the road, and we were held up for hours. I'd missed
breakfast because we had to leave early - but I'd managed to buy a warm
apple strudel from a street vendor. Point made!!!!
Ok, enough philosophy for now. You thought I came to trek, and indeed I did
and have. For the past two weeks we have been in the Annapurna region, where
we followed the Modi Khola (river), then crossed to Ghorepani, where we made
a 5am, 1000 ft climb to see the sun rise over Dhaulagiri, Annapurna,
Hiunchuli and Machhapuchhare (fishtail mountain). We then made a
knee-jarring 6,500 ft descent to the Kali Gandaki - the river we then
followed to Kagbeni. The Kali Gandaki is flanked by the Dhaulagiri Himal and
the Annapurna Himal, which tower 3.5 miles above it, making it the deepest
valley in the world! At times we were scoured and buffeted by strong winds
as we walked along the largely dried-up river bed, which will become a
destructive, raging torrent,1km wide, during the monsoons in a few months
time.
Reaching the medieival fortified town of Kagbeni, I was initially delighted
with my quirky room built on the roof, until I realised there were big holes
in the door, wide gaps between the window frame and the wall - and it was
still blowing a gale, the toilet was down two narrow, rickety flights of
steps and the electricity had failed. Still, the lodge did contain an
ancient Buddhist temple, and they made the best apple crumble in the area!
From here we faced a steep climb at altitude (12,500ft) to reach Muktinath.
A sacred shrine and pilgrimage site for both Buddhists and Hindus who,
unlike most other religious groups, seemed to have learned not only to live
together, but to shate the same place of worship - even the same temple on
some occasions. In the Jwala Mai Temple is a sacred flame of natural gas
which burns on water and, supposedly, never goes out. We passed many sadhus,
or holy men, who walk hundreds of miles, often barefoot, living only on
donations from strangers, (and the money they charge trekkers for
photographs)
We then retraced our steps to Marpha, which is famous for growing apples,
which they then dry or turn into a lethal apple brandy. I found Marpha more
remarkable for the lodge we stayed at where I had my first HOT shower of the
trek. Anyone standing outside the door could be forgiven for deducing, from
my shrieks of pleasure, that I was not alone!!!
At this point, those of you of a more sensitive disposition may wish to skip
to the next paragraph because I'm going to talk about toilets, loos or, as
they are called here, charpi. They come in two distinct varieties - western
and squat, although there are many sub groups of the squat: 'porcelain
flush', 'porcelain pour-your-own-water-down', 'basic hole in the ground' or
'help, there's a whole plank missing here!'. Now CLEAN western toilets are
bliss (akin to HOT showers) but a dirty western toilet is worse than a dirty
squat toilet - and no=one seems to have told Nepali men that one is supposed
to lift the seat! Some even think they have to stand on the seat, and
footprints on a toilet seat are far more common than yeti prints in the
snow!
After Marpha we hit some bad weather and there were times when we walked
through rain, hail, thunder and lightning, wondering whether we should carry
our lightning conductors (walking poles) in our hands or on our backpacks,
where they are even more prominent. Some people compromise by handing them
to the porters and guides! Then, as we got lower, the weather improved again
and we returned via Tatopani, where we soaked our weary bodies in the
natural hot springs, to Pokhara which is, I suppose, The Nepal equivalent of
Blackpool, but far warmer and much cheaper - breakfast 90p, three course
dinner with drinks - $3! A couple of days R&R and it was back to Kathmandu
to wash our clothes and prepare for the next trek to Langtang and
unfortunately, in my case, spend all of yesterday doing the Kathmandu
quickstep between bed and bathroom! Still, I at least managed to get sick
this time in a place where I had a bathroom!
Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to write to me. Unlike USA
there are limited opportunities to send and receive e-mails in Nepal,
basically, only when I get to Kathmandu, so it will be a couple of weeks
before I get back to a computer, but I'm hoping to have lots to read as well
as write.
For now, since there is apparently a contract out on me, I'm off to eat
chocolate cake!
sangar
waterfall in Rhupse, most appropriately just after we'd passed the 'Once
Upon a Time Restaurant' which had escaped a massive landslide by about eight
feet!
I found it quite thought provoking - and not just because of the gooey
chocolate cake in the window! Earlier in the week, at the beginning of the
trek, we had visited and stayed in a Tibetan Refugee centre at Hyangja, set
up in 1959 when so many people were forced to flee the Chinese invaders.
There is a hand-made carpet factory, and the people make lovely jewellery.
As one woman, had been six at that time, told me, "In Tibet my family had
property, land and nice things, now I sell trinkets to tourists to live!"
Later in the week I was to hear that a man lost his life saving trekkers
from a fire in his father's hotel in Ghorepani - a village where we had
stayed a couple of days earlier. Most of these lodges, although stone-built
- are full of wood. Plywood walls, wooden platforms for beds, steep wooden
steps, and they have open fires for cooking. Some do have electricity, but
it often fails so candles are used - and there are certainly no smoke
detectors or sprinkler systems!
On a more mundane level, yesterday on the road from Pokhara to Kathmandu, we
ran into a long line of stationery traffic where an overturned truck had
completely blocked the road, and we were held up for hours. I'd missed
breakfast because we had to leave early - but I'd managed to buy a warm
apple strudel from a street vendor. Point made!!!!
Ok, enough philosophy for now. You thought I came to trek, and indeed I did
and have. For the past two weeks we have been in the Annapurna region, where
we followed the Modi Khola (river), then crossed to Ghorepani, where we made
a 5am, 1000 ft climb to see the sun rise over Dhaulagiri, Annapurna,
Hiunchuli and Machhapuchhare (fishtail mountain). We then made a
knee-jarring 6,500 ft descent to the Kali Gandaki - the river we then
followed to Kagbeni. The Kali Gandaki is flanked by the Dhaulagiri Himal and
the Annapurna Himal, which tower 3.5 miles above it, making it the deepest
valley in the world! At times we were scoured and buffeted by strong winds
as we walked along the largely dried-up river bed, which will become a
destructive, raging torrent,1km wide, during the monsoons in a few months
time.
Reaching the medieival fortified town of Kagbeni, I was initially delighted
with my quirky room built on the roof, until I realised there were big holes
in the door, wide gaps between the window frame and the wall - and it was
still blowing a gale, the toilet was down two narrow, rickety flights of
steps and the electricity had failed. Still, the lodge did contain an
ancient Buddhist temple, and they made the best apple crumble in the area!
From here we faced a steep climb at altitude (12,500ft) to reach Muktinath.
A sacred shrine and pilgrimage site for both Buddhists and Hindus who,
unlike most other religious groups, seemed to have learned not only to live
together, but to shate the same place of worship - even the same temple on
some occasions. In the Jwala Mai Temple is a sacred flame of natural gas
which burns on water and, supposedly, never goes out. We passed many sadhus,
or holy men, who walk hundreds of miles, often barefoot, living only on
donations from strangers, (and the money they charge trekkers for
photographs)
We then retraced our steps to Marpha, which is famous for growing apples,
which they then dry or turn into a lethal apple brandy. I found Marpha more
remarkable for the lodge we stayed at where I had my first HOT shower of the
trek. Anyone standing outside the door could be forgiven for deducing, from
my shrieks of pleasure, that I was not alone!!!
At this point, those of you of a more sensitive disposition may wish to skip
to the next paragraph because I'm going to talk about toilets, loos or, as
they are called here, charpi. They come in two distinct varieties - western
and squat, although there are many sub groups of the squat: 'porcelain
flush', 'porcelain pour-your-own-water-down', 'basic hole in the ground' or
'help, there's a whole plank missing here!'. Now CLEAN western toilets are
bliss (akin to HOT showers) but a dirty western toilet is worse than a dirty
squat toilet - and no=one seems to have told Nepali men that one is supposed
to lift the seat! Some even think they have to stand on the seat, and
footprints on a toilet seat are far more common than yeti prints in the
snow!
After Marpha we hit some bad weather and there were times when we walked
through rain, hail, thunder and lightning, wondering whether we should carry
our lightning conductors (walking poles) in our hands or on our backpacks,
where they are even more prominent. Some people compromise by handing them
to the porters and guides! Then, as we got lower, the weather improved again
and we returned via Tatopani, where we soaked our weary bodies in the
natural hot springs, to Pokhara which is, I suppose, The Nepal equivalent of
Blackpool, but far warmer and much cheaper - breakfast 90p, three course
dinner with drinks - $3! A couple of days R&R and it was back to Kathmandu
to wash our clothes and prepare for the next trek to Langtang and
unfortunately, in my case, spend all of yesterday doing the Kathmandu
quickstep between bed and bathroom! Still, I at least managed to get sick
this time in a place where I had a bathroom!
Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to write to me. Unlike USA
there are limited opportunities to send and receive e-mails in Nepal,
basically, only when I get to Kathmandu, so it will be a couple of weeks
before I get back to a computer, but I'm hoping to have lots to read as well
as write.
For now, since there is apparently a contract out on me, I'm off to eat
chocolate cake!
sangar