Thursday 5 May 2016

Adventure Is Worthwhile

Day 263/264/265-  As we arrived at the Kathmandu airport we made our way to the Visa desk to purchase our on arrival Passport Visas. We had our American money on hand to pay for the Visa and I must admit, quite proud of ourselves for our diligent research as it is cheeper if you pay in American dollars. In fact, we had had the American money on hand for almost 9 months for this exact moment. As we went to pay the customs officer $160 USD each to get the process underway, we noticed that our stack of money was smaller than we remembered. In fact there was only one $50 bill, one $20 bill and ten $1 bills. The very savvy, most likely hotel staff member who took the money, only left us $80 of our little treasure chest. Just enough to make it look like our money was still there at a quick glance. We should have been thankful that our passports were not also taken because the money was resting in the passport book! However, this may have also been by design because we check our passports regularly and definitely would have noticed before we checked out of whatever sinister hotel it happened at. Our theory is that someone with access to the room, aka cleaning staff, rummaged through our stuff looking for exactly that, loose cash. Then, upon finding our stash removed what they could without us noticing, so that we would be long gone by the time we figured it out. We couldn't even guess what hotel it occurred at, just that it was in India. We were devasted. At least $500 US dollars was taken from my wallet, equating to $650 Canadian dollars. We were well aware that our situation could have been worse, given that they were literally holding our passorts and also aware that the person who took the money probably needed it more than us but it was hard to stay positive in the moment. We were in the last 2 months of our trip and we were counting on that money to get us through it. However, being that I am writting this in hindsight... Oh well, that's what credit cards are for! 

As we drove into the city of Kathmandu it gave us instant feelings of nostalgia for Dharamshala as it had many similarities.  The cloud over us, both metaphorically and in reality, was starting to lift. We easily found the place that we would call home for almost our entire stay in Nepal. It was adorable! We had a clean bathroom with a working hot shower, a little kitchenette, a cozy seating area, a fridge and a dresser. Yup. This would work just fine. 

We met up with Raj who owns the apartment building and also manages ones of the best restaurants in town, Revolution Cafe. This is basically where we spent the following three days until the beginning of our excursion.



Pretty nice right?!

I worked on the blog, we spoke with our family and bought last minute items that we'd need for our excursion. Also, unfortunately, I was having stomach issues...STILL! I was starting to loose my mind a little. I either had delhi belly or a cold for the entire time since arriving in India. I don't know the reasoning behind it but I'm guessing my body had just given up fighting all this new delicious bacteria I'd been consuming. Either way, I needed to get healthy and fast!

We met up with our group the day before our excursion began for the briefing! We were pumped to get our bodies moving and to breathe in some fresh mountain air. Both of which would occur over the next two weeks. So far, other than the insane amount of dust that blows through Kathmandu, we loved the City and we were excited that we had an extended stay planned in the area after we got back from our excursion. I could definitely see us moving here. 

Day 266- This was the first of our 12 day trek and white water rafting trip with Paddle Nepal. It was an early start in the morning to meet our group and drive for 14 hours to reach the town of Dharan where we would spend our first night. That's right, I said 14 hours!! Mike was loaded up on podcasts and I was loaded up on interesting things to daydream about. la la la



Although a 14 hour drive may seem exhausting, this one was incredibly interesting and I felt like I had developed an accurate understanding of the Nepalese culture, just by driving through the villages. We passed by many fields of sunflowers and I felt like they all had happy smiling faces on them. 


We arrived to our destination late at night.  The hotel was definitely less than average quality but they served up a delicious dinner that my stomach accepted without complaint. 

Day 267- Another early morning and a 5 hour drive later, we stopped for a quick tour of the only Nepalese winery in the country before beginning our journey. Here is your first look at the group we joined for our 12 day expedition. It may be hard to tell from the photo but all but 2 of the people below were Canadians. You must be thinking, it's not that hard Lisa, the two people with the beautifully tanned skin of course. But no, those are our Nepalese guides. Along with our great big Canadian group, were two lovely girls from Australia and Scotland. 


We hiked for three and a half hours through some stunning farmland. 


Little homesteads and villages were sprinkled among the mountainous hills and we often walked right through peoples front yards. 


One of the best reoccurring parts of our days were the little fellows you see below. The Nepalese himalayas are flooded with tiny, adorable, bouncy cute goats. I'm not sure if it was spring for them but there were so many baby animals walking around the mountain that some spring lovin' must have been happenin'. Don't miss that black puppy in the back. He was barking at the little goats. 


Below are the strong young chaps who so happily carried up all of our camping gear.


The higher we got, the more misty it got. The trees below are called rhododendron trees and their red flowers were the perfect accent to the dull green backdrop. 


I have always imagined the moment when I would see Nepali/Tibetan prayer flags while trekking in the Nepalese himalayas and I must admit, it looked a lot like this.  

                  

I love the photo below with the lone rhododendron tree, the rolling green grass and the complete drop off behind it, into the clouds. 


Paddle Nepal had put a disclaimer in their itinerary that said, 'depending on vacancy and hygiene of the tea houses, we may set up the tents for the night'. Hygiene? Oh dear... that never sounds good.  Because of this disclaimer, we had made the assumption that the tea houses were dirty and disgusting. So, when we arrived at the cute little home you see below, you can imagine our delighted surprise! 


I loved it and the whole place was just soooooooo cute!!!!

                

Once we put our bags in the room and changed into our warm clothes, we settled into the main kitchen area for some hot coffee and delicious instant noodles. It was just what we needed. 


Just when I thought our day couldn't get any better...


Mike named him, 'stupid cute face' and we discussed what would happen if we just... maybe... just... took him?

The tea house had a farm area with pigs, chickens and oh yes, 1 week old baby goats. The goats, along with 'stupid cute face', were so fresh that they were still getting used to their long skinny legs and wobbled when they jumped from rock to rock. But this certainly didn't stop them from trying over and over. 


Around 7 chicks huddled for warmth under the belly of their mama chicken. When the 7th would push its way in, another would get pushed out and so on and so forth. It was hilarious. 


Below is the beautiful backyard garden of our little tea house. It was our own little mountain eco resort.



We went for a walk through the village that took no more than 10 minutes from end to end. The locals were pretty excited to see us arrive and we must have said 'namaste' with our hands in prayer position over a dozen times. 

                    

These little girls were shy but very interested in what we were doing.  The little one below kept coming over, then running away. 

                 

Take a look at the next photo and see if you can figure out what you're looking at. 


It is a little girls tea party. She has made a little kitchen in the corner, a little table off to the side and a bowl of rocks (cookies maybe) are at the center. It doesn't matter where you're from, all little girls like a good tea party. 

Late night, as the fog moved in, Mike and I sat on a hill and took a moment of gratitude for our current situation. This day marked 9 months of travel for us and although, up to this point, we'd seen so many incredible sights, we were still amazed by all the new places we visited. The world is such a dynamic and diverse place that I don't think exploring it could ever get old. 


As the night drew near, we got to know our new group of friends a little better. We also had the pleasure of learning a very popular Ontario-nite card game known as Euchre. We picked it up reaaaaaallly quick.

Day 268- After possibly our best sleep since arriving in Nepal, we woke for breakfast and began another day of hiking. 


The mist kept us cool and although we were missing the beautiful view of the mountains, I liked the eery feeling of walking through the clouds. 


Along the pathway, we found what looked like a thousand year old crack in the mountain that had been filled in with moss, trees and shrubs. After a little debate, we decided that we would take this 'short cut'. 


We survived the first one and it was so much fun that we took the second 'shortcut' that we saw as well. Below is Will and my euchre partner Colin, just doin what cool people do, being cool man.



Abandoned home. 


We arrived at our new home after 4 hours of trekking and once again it didn't disappoint. It began raining about an hour before we made it to the tea house so by the time we arrived, everyone was pretty wet and cold. They welcomed us with hot coffee and not just one but two bowls of instant noodle soup! Yumm. 

Our cozy little room with mattress sized blankets. 


We all layered up with warm clothes and snuggled together in the kitchen to play some cards. This time we taught a few of our group members a game from back home in Alberta, known as President. Anyone who knows how to play this game, knows that once on the bottom... it's very hard to get back to the top. Mike also has a different name for this game that him and his friends play back home but it's not appropriate to name on here. Some might even say that it's inappropriate to tell to a group of people that you just met but this didn't stop ME! hahah 


The beer game isn't very strong in Nepal but they do make a beer substitution called Tumba (rice beer).  It is made from millet wheat, which is fermented for a month by using natural chemicals from the jungle. 


The beers are filled with hot water on top of the millet. One rice beer lasts three refills of hot water and gets stronger and stronger with each one. 


I had my brother in law in mind when we ordered up the beer and wish I could have bottled the taste to bring back to Canada for him to try. 

                          

We all gave the beer a taste and some of us liked it more than others. The taste was quite strong and almost tasted like wine that had gone bad.  I was not on the 'like it' team. Either way, it gave us the giggles as we played President. 


Day 269- The beer left my insides a little twisted throughout the night so I wasn't as rested as I would have hoped. We started our day walking through the clouds once again and we were slowly making our way down. 


This reminded me of the lesson I taught my spanish kindergarten students when we did the letter Y. El Yak. That gal has some lovely earrings on. I wonder where she got them?


I really missed fall this year and was happy to get a taste of it on our trek. The terrain changed a lot as we moved down into the jungle. Things got greener and the type of plants even changed. 


Rest stop. Along with the changing terrain it was starting to get hotter and we were slowly making our way out of the clouds. Luckily for me my head is always stuck in the clouds. la la la


Mike taught me his move. 


Purple Bamboo??? Not sure if it was a different species or not, or perhaps just baby bamboo? Either way, it was cool.


We ended our day after 5 hours of hiking and we were all pretty exhausted. What's this? The tea house we were supposed to stay at is closed?! Oh no. We had the option of continuing our hike down to the river but this was another 4 hours and we were all much too tired. SO, our guides spoke to a lady on the adjacent farmland where we had stopped and she agreed to feed us some food. Her lovely home is in the photo below. 


After we all ate some well deserved instant noodles, the lady said that we could all sleep upstairs in her home. Some of us were on the floor and others on wood panel beds. We were just grateful to have a place to sleep and food to eat because the idea of continuing on for another 4 hours sounded exhausting. The lady killed two of her chickens for dinner and the crew all helped to cook our meal. 

                   

Meanwhile, one of the little girls from the village kept coming over to watch us with interest. She couldn't speak any english but that didn't stop us from communicating with her. She would put her hands in prayer and say 'namaste', over and over and we just couldn't get enough of it. Cuteness was becoming a theme of our little trek and we loved it. 

                 

She went from person to person, saying namaste then shaking our hands. Can you believe she wasn't afraid of Mike's beard?


Also, a lot of our time was spent staring aimlessly at the baby goats. Yup, those are two goats in a box. It definitely took some time and effort for them to get into the comfortable positions you see below but there was no way we were going to miss a second of it. I wonder what happens in a few weeks when they can't figure out why they both can't fit in it anymore. I wish we could have stayed to find out. 



The entire situation turned out to be a beautiful mistake. We weren't meant to stay at this farm and I think our experience would have been a lot different had we continued down the mountain. We were all so grateful for our time with the villagers and with each other. 

Day 270- We woke up to more tasty instant noodles and black coffee before making our way further down, into the jungle. The further and further we went, the more dense the jungle became.  The heat also came in like a giant wave of fire. It was dusty, dry and hot making our last 4 hour descent a difficult one. 


And the little patches of bamboo grew thicker and taller! Where's Lisa? 



Rows upon rows upon rows of rice fields.


No way?? We finally made it to the river and the water has never looked so good!



I was tired and happy to rest on the cliffs edge while listening to the rushing water below. 

                     

It was still quite early and we had a lot of day left. So after we refuelled with some great power foods, (beans, peanut butter, bread, cheese) the time had come to wash away the dust on our bodies and all the rest of the sweat and dirt that our skin had accumulated over the 4 day trek. I have never looked so forward to a river shower in my life. Well, maybe not entirely true. This was only 4 days without a shower. In Australia we went 5 days without a shower. 


After we all shampooed our hair and cleaned our bodies, we sat out in the sun on a perfect sun bathing rock, listened to music and enjoyed the perfect summer day. Thank you to Jeff for capturing this moment above.

Mike and I knew that the river bank would make for the perfect spot for a bonfire to celebrate the end of our trekking and the beginning of our rafting. So, with the help of Cody, Colin, Will and Victoria we made a sweet fire pit living room. It took up most of our afternoon and we tremendously enjoyed having a task to accomplish. 


Cody the carpenter made the sweet bamboo rock bench you see below.


We put the fire pit on hold until after dinner, then moved inside to drink some tea while our amazing crew made dinner. 


Candles were our only form of electricity (haha I read this over and laughed so hard that I had to leave it in.  What I meant to say was that it was our only form of light) and they set the ambiance for what we expected to be a great week of adventure. At dinner we began a game that Mike and I look very forward to playing on future ski trips. It is a game of deception, mystery, suspense and MURDER! Each person writes down a location, an object (murder weapon) and their own name. Each item is written on its own piece of paper and divided into three different piles. Each person blindly picks a location, a murder weapon and a victims name. We all agreed to wait to begin the murders until the next day at lunch but I couldn't help but feel an instant rush of fear in my gut as soon as we drew names. But, I also experienced an intense eagerness to kill my first victim! Mmmmmhahahaha I needed to kill Christine, with a cup, at a campfire. 


After dinner it was time to get the fire started. The team created a human wind shield to light the fire.


Thanks, once again, to Jeff for capturing this photo of us enjoying the flames of our labour. 


We went to sleep, excited for our rafting journey to begin the next day. 























































        
 

















3 comments:

  1. The goats are so freakin adorable! That bamboo was pretty cool too! I totally caught your "only form of electricity" and thought, oh Lisa! But then I continued and saw that you caught it too! Ahhaha

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  2. Hehe...that beer probably wouldn't be the best. Spontaneous fermentation in the jungle would likely leave a jumble of all kinds of bacteria in it...strange flavor and a good chance of messing up your guts!

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  3. great photos! love the group pic (you know im all about the group pics) and that purple bamboo hope you too a piece! very unique

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