Well, I am sooo sorry that this has taken so long to get the pictures from Nepal on the blog. Here they finally are, and if anybody would like any more pictures of a certain place or event, just email me.
Here are our sherpas, who carried most of our stuff for us.
All of us drinking out of our camel packs.
Here is one place where we slept one night.
Internet at 3,867 feet.
One of the steep trails that we had to climb.
High altitude football
It started to snow right after we were finishing our game of football.
Uncle Russ playing for everybody in the eating area.
Us and Mt. Everest.
Dhal Baht
High altitude football
This is the spot right were we saw the eagle, though we were too late to get any pictures of it.
Luckily I was the one taking the picture so I didn't have to take off my shirt in the freezing weather!
Don't Waste Your Life.
Us in the morning before we started on the trek.
We had to cross quite a few bridges, some of them 100 or more feet high above the water.
Dad and Uncle Tom playing.
This was the menu, which was pretty much the same for the whole entire trek.
Mt. Everest (I think)
Inside the small 20 passenger plane that carried us from Kathamandu to where we would start our trek.
The lodge were we spent our first night on the trail
Ama Dablam
Traffic in Kathmandu.
Here is a beautiful sunrise at the airport in Kathmandu.
Here we are getting into the plane at the airport.
Well, sorry this took so long, it has taken a long time to update this, so I will go ahead and just do a overview of the entire month of November. This first post is of our time in Nepal, in which during that time I wrote this journal. I'll try to put some pictures on for each day, but it takes quite a while so I don't know when all the pictures will be on there.
Nepal Trip 2006
Michael's Journal
Day 1:
Well, here I am in Nepal on my first day here! This country is so beautiful and the scenery is amazing! This morning back in Bangkok when we got up, we had to wake up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready to go to the airport. The van driver came to pick us up at 5:30; and on the way we went and picked up the Penningtons. It only took us an hour and 10 minutes to get to the airport. We were planning to meet the Miyakawas there at around 7:30, but their taxi driver got lost and they didn't arrive until 8:00. It was a good thing they made it, because not only were they going to Nepal with us, they also had most of our clothing for cold weather. Mrs. Miyakawa had also come, but she was going to Ching Mi for a survey trip. Once we sent her off, we went to our terminal to catch the plane. The new airport, Suwanapoom, was a super nice airport. There were tons of really nice shops there along with lots of Thai sculptures. We then got on the airplane for our flight to Katmandu. It took us only 3 hours to get there, which was shorter than I was expecting. When we arrived, we arrived at a really tiny airport (compared to Bangkok at least) with very few large airplanes. Once we got through customs, a guy from the trekking company took us in a van to the hotel that we were going to spend the night. The van drivers there drove like kamikazes, going about 40 kilometers per hour in streets that barely have enough room for two large trucks to go by side by side. They would zoom in and out of pedestrians and traffic, honking the horn and 5-10 times a minute slamming on their brakes if someone or something got in their way. We finally got to the hotel, which was a very nice garden hotel called the Nirvana. After checking in, we went with the people from the trekking company to go rent (and buy) sleeping bags and other equipment that we still needed. With there not really being any sidewalks, we almost got hit by quite a few cars while walking to the shop, which was 5-10 minutes away from the hotel. We were able to rent several sleeping bags as well as some long pants, and then went back to the hotel and packed some. That evening we went to the trekking office for the Dads to discuss some last minute matters with the trekking company. Afterwards, our guide to be, Khuman, suggested that we go to an Italian restaurant for dinner called Fire and Ice. On the way there, we stopped and Dad bought some sun glasses for me for the trip. By the time we got to the restaurant, everybody was starving so each person got their own pizza. I'm pretty sure that that was the best pizza in Katmandu. Everyone ate until they were stuffed, and then we went back to the hotel room, packed a little bit, and then fell asleep exhausted to the sound of the night bazaar music outside our window.
Day 2:
On the second day, we had to wake up really early again to catch a plane, this time at 4:30. Once we got to the airport we saw that the airplane was a tiny, 20 passenger airplane. I was able to see the inside of the cockpit from where I was sitting. Once we took off, the view that I could see from my window was fantastic! Rolling hills, tall snow capped mountains and little villages as far as the eye could see. After about 30 minutes, we started to approach the airport. When I looked out the window at the run-way, I saw that the runway was only about 100 yards or so long and that it ended at the edge of a cliff! We landed safely, (Even though I was a little bit nervous) After I got out, I was hit by a blast of cold air that was definitely a lot colder than Bangkok air. When we went to go pick up our bags, we found out that Si and Uncle Russ's bags had not been able to come on that flight and would have to come on the next one. So while we were waiting, we went to a Nepalese tea house and had breakfast. We had Nepalese milk tea, their specialty, and some chapatti, Nepalese bread with some honey one top. When the Pennington's bags came, the porters that were waiting at the tea-house there with us tied the bags into bundles on their backs and we started off. As we walked past the run-way, we were able to see a plane land and see what it looked like from head-on. We walked for about two hours, stopping often to rest and to take pictures. At around 11:45 we stopped in a village that we were passing through and had lunch. I had a plate of rice covered with yak cheese. It was really good. After lunch we kept on walking and around 2:00 came to the lodge that we were going to be spending the night at. We were starting out easy that day so that our bodies could get used to the altitude. We put our bags up in the room and I prepared a devotional that I was going to have to teach in a couple of days. At 3:00 Dad shared a devotional that he had prepared. Uncle Russ had brought his guitar up all the way from Thailand, so we sang some worship songs also. After it was over we decided to play some football outside. Si had brought Jake's soft Ram's football in his backpack, but we had to play walking football because our guide said that if we ran too much the first day we would get altitude sickness. While we were playing two of the other sherpas joined in and played for a while until it was time for dinner. I guess since we were foreigners, they brought us out all cheese pizza. (It was yak cheese, of course) We also had milk tea and some apple pie for dessert. (The apple pie was definitely not as good as mom's, but it was still pretty good for Nepalese pie.) After that we all went upstairs and went to bed.
Day: 3
This morning our guides, Pasun and Khuman, brought up some hot black tea at around 6:30. We then packed up all the things that we had gotten out of our packs that night and put the bags out in front of the door for the porters to carry. We then went downstairs and ate breakfast, which we had ordered the night before. I had a plain piece of chapatti, with a little bit of sugar sprinkled on top for flavoring. I also had 2 cups of piping hot milk tea. After we had eaten breakfast, we made sure to put Vaseline on our feet so that they wouldn't blister. After that, we took a couple of pictures and were on our way. It was pretty easy going at first, with beautiful scenery. We walked quite a bit of the way next to a large river. Every once in a while we would cross a bridge to the other side. The bridges there were up very high, sometimes up to several hundred feet. Thankfully, all of them except for one or 2 were made out of metal. One, which was made out of wooden planks, had a big plank missing and we had to be careful. When we had reached the first bridge, we were stopped by some Maoists communists, who made us stop and pay a special tax per person for each day that we were going to be in Nepal. At around 12:00 we stopped and had lunch at a Nepalese restaurant at one of the villages that we passed through. We all ordered fried noodles with vegetables and cheese and split three large spring-rolls. It was very good, though the spring-rolls were different from the ones that we have in Thailand. The cheese on the noodles was also yak cheese and had sort of a different tang to it than regular cheese. After lunch, we put some more Vaseline on our feet and started out again. The trail started to get pretty steep then, and we would have to stop and rest more often. (I think we mostly had to stop to let the adults catch up.) The path would keep on winding, winding and winding up the mountain. At about ½ the way up we stopped at a resting place that was obviously a favorite resting place for sherpas. We stopped there and took some pictures with them and Uncle Russ was able to share about Jesus with them. After resting for about 10 minutes we continued up the mountain. Evan had brought two hiking sticks and we all took turns using them. Awhile later, about 5 minutes before we reached Namche (the village in which we were going to stop and spend the night) we passed some soldiers guarding the trail. I found out later that there was an army barracks there in Namche. Much to our relief, and after a very steep climb, we finally came to the lodge at which we were going to be staying the night. The lady who owned the lodge put us up on the top floor so that hopefully all the kids wouldn't disturb anybody else. After we got settled in, Uncle Tom led the devotional in his room and we sang some worship songs and had a prayer time. At around 6:00 we went downstairs and had dinner. I had dhal bat, which is a type of black lintel soup, along with rice, vegetables and milk tea. During dinner we were talking about playing a game of hearts and a lady that was sitting next to our table overheard us and asked to play. So after we were done Uncle Tom went upstairs and got the cards and all the kids and the lady (who's name was Wendy) started playing. I didn't play the first couple of rounds because my head was hurting and Dad said that he would massage it for me. After that I helped him on the computer to write an email to mom (yes, they had internet service all the way up there!) and then played a couple of rounds before going up to bed.
Day 4:
When I woke up today, I had a stomach ache and wasn't feeling good and hadn't slept that well that night. We went downstairs and had breakfast around 7:50. I ordered a pancake with butter and jelly. Once we were finished, Khuman told us to get ready to go on a short 15 minute hike. (That day we were going to be staying at Namche and not going trekking so that our bodies could get used to the altitude.) We hike about 5-10 minutes up the side of the mountain until we got the army barracks. We were able to watch an army helicopter take off just as we walked up to it. When we got there they wouldn't let us take any pictures of the barracks, but we could take pictures of the mountains. There was a small museum there with lots of pictures and diagrams of Nepalese life and the mountains in Nepal. After about 20 minutes of looking at the museum we walked on down towards the village. Uncle Tom and everybody else wanted to go see the local school for a couple of minutes, but I started to have really bad stomach cramps and had to go back to the room and have some medicine. The guys came back in a couple of minutes and then decided to go have a look around the village. I stayed in the room by myself because of my stomach ache for the rest of the afternoon and read some. After a while the kids came back and I played cards with them until the adults came back and then Uncle Russ taught the devotional and we sang some worship songs. At around 5:00 we went downstairs and ordered our food, played cards and ate dinner. After dinner, we played a hand slapping game with a group of trekkers from Denmark. Everybody started to get tired then so at 8:00 we went upstairs and went to bed.
Day 5:
When I woke up, my stomach was doing a little bit better, but I was still feeling a little bit queasy. After packing up and eating breakfast, we left off on our trek. We hiked six hours that day. We stopped for lunch at around 12ish, and since my stomach was still a little bit uneasy, I just had some toast. We stayed there about an hour and then went back on the trail. After a couple more hours we reached a hotel called the Everest View Hotel It was a 4 or 5 star hotel that wasn't all the way finished yet. We were able to see a pretty good view from there and after taking some pictures, walked about 30 more minutes down to the village in which we were going to stay the night. We had some tea there, (since my stomach wasn't all the way better I just had lemon tea) and then I led the devotional in our room. I led it on perseverance. I was nervous, but God helped me. I think that it was the best devotional that I had led yet. Once the devotional was finished, the kids had a lot of energy and wanted to play football so we all went outside and played in the wide area in front of the hotel. It was Uncle Russ, Kanaan, Dad and Si against Uncle Tom, Evan and me with one of the sherpas who joined in a little bit into the game. His name was Angpurlba. And our team won! We finished up the game just as Khuman came outside and told us that it was time to order dinner. While we were waiting for our food to come, Uncle Tom and Evan taught us this card game called up and down the river. Uncle Russ won, on his first time! After dinner we went up and went to bed.
Day 6:
When we woke up that morning it was really cold in our room, so cold we could see our breath. It was a good thing that we had sleeping bags, though, which kept us REALLY warm. When we looked outside the window, there was frost on the ground. We then got dressed, went down for breakfast and then started on our way. The trail was VERY steep and VERY narrow that day. If you didn't look where you were going, one small misstep would send you hurling down a thousand feet or so. I definitely think that if the moms were there they would have been at the end or their rope. We were able to see Mt. Everest for the very first time that day after we reached the top of the very steep incline. We decided to stop there and since it was Sunday have communion on the mountain. (Or, as the Nepalese call almost every mountain that doesn't have snow on it, a hill) We used some chapatti for the bread and some grape Gatorade for the grape juice. We then continued, stopping for lunch and then continuing on to Porste. When we got there around mid-afternoon, and after getting settled in our rooms Evan led the devotional. We then ate dinner, and after that we played Up and Down the River again. Dad won that time. Then the kids played a game with a Spanish guy. In the game you have to put a piece of paper with the name of somebody famous on it and you would have to guess the name of that person. Evan won. His piece of paper was Jesus. The kids wanted to play another round but it was getting late so we had to all go to bed.
Day 7:
That morning around 6:00 Pasun brought us some black tea again, and told us that that day we would be hiking around 6 hours. After having early breakfast we started out. That day we were also able to reach the highest point on our trek, which was around 4,100 meters. We also had our best view of Everest from there that day, so all the guys (except Pasun and me, I was the photographer) took off their shirts in the really cold weather and took a shirtless photograph with Everest in the background. Then, all of a sudden, while we were taking pictures, a huge white eagle flew right over our heads at about ten feet. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It probably had a wingspan of about 5 feet. Then, about 15 minutes later, a second eagle flew over our heads! The second one was a little bit smaller, though, and brown. We weren't able really to get a good picture of them, sadly, because they flew past so quickly. We then continued on our journey to Pangboche. The road wasn't quite as steep then; it just went up and down. When we reached Pangboche, we found out that the lodge that we originally were going to be staying at was full, and we had to go down further into the village to another lodge which we stayed at. When we got there Kanaan led a quick devotional and then we all split up and had our quiet times with God for the afternoon and wrote Psalms to Him. When we all met up after about an hour and a half, we all shared our Psalms and some Bible verses that we had read. We noticed then that it was getting really cold and that it looked like some dark clouds were rolling in, so we prayed for snow. After about 5 minutes later, little flakes of snow/ice started falling down! We were ecstatic and thankful to God for answering our prayers so quickly, even if the snow didn't stick to the ground and lasted only for a little bit. We then ate dinner and played our nightly game of Up and Down the River, which Uncle Tom won. After that we went upstairs to our warm sleeping bags and went to bed.
Day 8:
This morning we woke and had the usual schedule, packed up, had breakfast, and then started on the trek. We passed quite a lot of people today because they were all going to Tangboche for a yearly festival. We were heading that way also because we had to go through Tangboche to get to Namche, which we would be spending the night. When we got to Tangboche, Uncle Tom got on the Internet there to see if his Home football team, the Colts, had won their game or not, which they did. We saw a lot of people there for the festival. There were so many there that all the lodges were full and people were sleeping in tents outside. After Uncle Tom had checked the game, we continued on until we reached Namche. When we got there Uncle Tom showed us the Fantasy Football website and his league that he had already started with some people at work. It looked really cool and I can't wait until we start our league. Si decided to go ahead and lead the devotional in his room, so we upstairs and sang some worship songs and he led the devotional. We decided to go ahead and play football after that so we went up to the local school and played in the volleyball court. It was the same teams, (except Angpurlba didn't play) and we won again, but even better than that, IT STARTED REALLY SNOWING RIGHT AT THE END OF THE GAME!! We were sooooo excited! It started to snow pretty hard but sadly it didn't stick to the ground. We were able to play in it for a little bit but started to get cold so we went inside and had dinner. During dinner, Uncle Russ decided to get out his guitar and play some songs for all the people that were eating in the dining room. There were about 50 people there! They all really enjoyed it and he was able to play some worship songs too. The owner of the lodge even brought out a free coke for him. After he was finished, everybody thanked him and said that they really enjoyed it, especially a big group that was from the UK. Really tired, we then went up to bed.
Day 9:
This morning we woke up, had the same routine of packing up, eating breakfast (we didn't eat breakfast until 8:00 because of all the people in the dining room) before starting on the trail. The going was very steep downhill when we first started out and lasted that way for about an hour or two. We hiked down the hill until we got to the stopping point that we had stopped at earlier in the trek. There weren't quite as many people there that time and we were able to get a great view of Mt. Everest. Uncle Russ and Dad had been behind us for quite a while during the trek and when Dad finally caught up to us he said that Uncle Russ had gotten all the way to the outskirts of Namche before he remembered that he still had his room key to the lodge in his pocket, so he had to hike all the way back. He finally caught up to us after around 20 minutes after Dad came. We then took a couple of pictures and continued on our way. We crossed quite a few bridges that day, and as we were getting really close to Phakding we saw the Maoists again, but we were able to go right through the checkpoint. We got to Phakding after about 15 more minutes, and stayed at the place which we had stayed at on the very first day of our trek. Dad taught the devotional again, just like he had the first day. That evening as we were eating dinner we met a guy and his wife from Las Vegas. He and Uncle Tom found out that they both played Fantasy Football and talked about that for quite a while. After they were finished talking everybody played our nightly game of Up and Down the River, but I can't remember who won. We then said goodnight to the couple from Las Vegas and went to bed.
Day 10:
This morning we got up and had breakfast (we got up a little later than planned, the kids had planned the night before to wake up at around 5:30 and play some football but we all overslept) After breakfast we all said Psalm 121, which we had been memorizing every day so far in our trek. We then put on the toe jam (Vaseline) said good-bye to the couple from Las Vegas and started off. The trek that today wasn’t very long, only three hours from Phakding to Lukla, and it was a gorgeous day. We passed through quite a few villages, and while going through them we saw some little kids going to school. I had gone on a little bit and Dad was still behind me when he started handing out trail mix to the kids. From where I was I could see kids all the way down at the bottom of the path come running up to where their friends where to get some candy too. They were really cute. After about an hour we started to pass lots more sherpas and more trekkers as we got nearer to Lukla. We arrived there around noon and had lunch in the courtyard of the lodge, because the restaurant was all full with people returning from their treks. After lunch the kids mostly played cards all afternoon until it was time for the devotional, which Uncle Russ led on choices. That evening during dinner we all played Up and Down the River again, which was really fun. After dinner, Khuman presented us with a chocolate cake from Getaway Treks. It was really nice of him; evening though it was pretty dry and kind of crusty. We all went to bed early that night because the following day we had to get up early to catch our flight to Katmandu.
Day 11:
Well, today was the last official day of our trek. We woke up at around 4:30 and were out the door by 5:00. We had a breakfast of cheese omelet and toast and went to the airstrip which was right across from the lodge at around 5:30 or 6:00. Our flight left at 6:30. When we had to go through security Dad had forgotten all about his pocket knife, which they took, but later Dad told Khuman about it before we took off and he got it back. Our flight was right on time luckily (we had heard stories about people being stuck there for several days because of bad weather) and we landed in Katmandu safely. Raj- the same guy who picked us up when we first arrived in Katmandu on the first day-came and picked us up from the airport and took us back to the hotel. Once we got there we all showered; the first time in 10 days for me. It felt wonderful. The rest of the afternoon was father & son time shopping and eating lunch. Dad got some clothes and other stuff, Kanaan got a ghurka knife and I got some stamps. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant, which was really good. We also found out that our waiter was a Christian, which was really neat. When we got back Dad went to go email mom and I slept for quite a while until around dinner time. When it was time to go we found out that Uncle Tom was sick with a cold and that he couldn’t come, so he just stayed in his room and rested. We all decided to go back to the same restaurant that Dad Kanaan and I had had lunch at. While we were eating I glanced up at the wall and climbing down head-first was a big rat! We told the waiters and they didn’t really seem to care, and the rat eventually fell down into a potted plant and then scurried into the drain. Uncle Russ felt nervous about it (I think he was the only one) and asked to move to a different table. We did, and I think he felt much better. On our way back after dinner we were able to stop at a bakery that had a 50% off sale of off their breads and pastries after 8:00 and we were able to get a really good deal. That evening when we went to bed we slept in a bed without sleeping bags for the first time in 10 days.
Day 12:
This morning we woke up after a good night’s sleep and had breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Dad was able to talk to the trekking manager, who came over to see us while we were eating. After breakfast around 8:00 or 9:00 we went with Khuman and his brother, who was a Christian, to a Church in Katmandu. Though the building there was small, there was a lot of people there, filling up the room to the maximum! The pastor there spoke good English and while he was preaching every once in a while he would explain what he was talking about in English for us. After the service we invited Khuman and his family for lunch at a restaurant sort of as a special thank-you. We then went back to the hotel and rested for the afternoon. In the evening we went out and had dinner at a little sandwich shop, and while we were eating Dad gave us each a special shirt as a prize for memorizing Psalm 121. It said the 121 club on it. It was really cool. That evening we went to bed with the Saturday night market music drifting into our room.
Day 13:
Well, today we came back home to Thailand! We woke up this morning and instead of eating at the hotel restaurant (we found out by experience that it was kind of expensive) we went to a little restaurant a couple of shops down and had breakfast there for ½ of what it cost for one person the previous morning. It was really good too, with fried eggs, toast and coffee or tea. While everybody else went back to the hotel room to pack (I had already gotten a head start early that morning) I went and bought some postcards for my friends and a ghurka knife as a souvenir. But when I went back to the hotel and looked at it closely I noticed that it had a dragon on it, so I had to go exchange it. By the time that I got back it was time to go so we all piled in the van and went to the airport. When we got there we all said good-bye to Khuman and went inside the terminal. Our plane left around 2:30 and we got back to Thailand around 7:00 in the evening. Uncle Tom and Evan spent the night at our house before leaving really early in the morning to go back to the airport and go back to America.
Labels: Nepal
