NEPAL AND THE HIMALAYAS

2011-09-11

I was recently in Nepal for 3 weeks. What a fascinating place! First I spent a couple days in Kathmandu, a crowded, bustling city filled with Buddhist and Hindu shrines and temples. I was impressed by the way in which the followers of these two great religions are able to live and worship side by side in such harmony. In fact, many of the temples are sacred to both!

After Kathmandu I travelled to Pokhara, gateway to the Himalayas. The trip was supposed to take 5 hours but it grew to 8 thanks to engine problems and a flat tire. That is life in a third-world country! I spent a few days in Pokhara, which lies on a beautiful lake, then found a guide for the trek to Annapurna Base Camp. The trek was supposed to take 10 days.

To see and hike in the Himalayas has been a lifelong dream of mine. To be honest, I found the trek quite challenging. The trail is extremely steep, on the upper parts it is harder to breathe because of the altitude, there were avalanches, and because it was monsoon season we had daily rainstorms and with the rain--leeches! There was no guarantee even that we would be able to see the Himalayas since it was cloudy for most of each day.

But in the end it was all worth the effort. After arriving at base camp (4130 meters) we had a few hours of clear weather at the end of the day and also the next morning. The views were stunning! We saw Annapurna 1, the tenth highest mountain in the world, and the one below, which is nicknamed the Fishtail. Can you see why?

All in all it was a fantastic trip, something I will remember for the rest of my life.

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