Julian and I are packed up for our trip to Mt Kailash. Cynthia will be staying with the family of Deepak Mohat, owner of Adventure Thirdpole Trekking. His wife, Lalu was a former Peace Corps language instructor before the Peace Corps pulled out of Nepal in 2004. They have two children, a girl 8 and a boy 19. Cynthia is looking forward to living with the family and learning some Nepali.

Julian and I fly to Nepalgunj tomorrow, then Simikot the next day, where we begin our trek to the Tibet border, then on to Lake Manasarovar and Mt. Kailash.

When we arrived in Nepal, my Blackberry was unable to connect to Nepal Telecom, so I called AT&T. They had me remove the SIM card and reinsert it, which I did. Now, I am unable to use the Blackberry for communication at all. I get messages about “Iniialization Failed”. I suspect I will have to reinstall the operating system on the Blackberry. But no time for that now.

So for the next three weeks, there will be a lull in our blog postings — Cynthia may post some entries, but there won’t be any photos until Julian and I have returned to Kathmandu on about September 19.

Thank you to all you readers who motivate us to keep in touch.

David

September 1

I said farewell to David and Julian this morning as they left Kathmandu to begin thier Mt. Kailash adventure. I am very excited for them as they have a wonderful guide and thorough preparations have been made.  They both seem well prepared, physically and mentally. Each time I read anything about this pilgrimage I felt ready mentally, but unfortunately, my knees have a way of reminding me that I may need more new body parts before attempting something of this magnitude.

 

I will move to the home of Deepak Mohat, the director of Third Pole Treking.  We met him 14 years ago when we treked in the Langtang region here and he has arranged this trek for David.  He and his family have invited me to spend this time in their home. We had dinner with them the other evening and they were all so warm and welcoming. I am sure this will be a very interesting time.

 

September 4

We are reminded that we have no control over weather. The mountain village David and Julian were to fly to has had bad weather so they have been stuck in Nepalgunge in southwesteern Nepal. They are hoping a helicopter can get them there today. Deepak has been trying hard to figure and refigure things out for them.

 

In the meantime I am comfortably settled in the the Mohat home with a delightful 10 year old girl to introduce me to the neighborhood and the location of each and every chocolate shop. Anuj is their 19 year old son who is in the process of applying to college in the USA. He is suffering writer’s block in his essay, so I am trying to offer encouragement. Lalu is a delightful women who thinks and feels deeply. A former Nepali teacher for the Peace Corp, she teaches private English and Nepali classes.

 

Adita, the 10 year old, is trying to convince me that anyone over 55 should not do any work around the house. I almost sneak around to do some dishes just to feel a bit useful.

 

Kathmandu seems to have deteriorated. With the government in a stalemate, there has been little work on badly needed infrasructure projects. The population has exploded with people moving in from the countryside. There are countless motor bikes and scooters as well as cars (far fewer rickshaws), but the air is clearer than in 1995 as they have banned the most polluting vehicles.

 

It is heartwarming for me to be here after an absense of 14 years.

 

 

Weather – Beyond our control

 

David and Julian had 3 days delay in their flight to the mountain village of Simikot due to weather. This is near the end of the monsoon season so weather is unpredictable. With no room for error in the small landing strip of the mountain village, caution prevails. They were waiting in a small, very hot town in southwestern Nepal and finally yesterday they were able to helicopter to the village. Hopefully they will begin their trek to the Tibet border today. They will then cross the border and begin the Mt. Kaikash pilgrimge.  Due to the delay, they will have to trek the Nepali portion faster than planned as the Tibet visa is for a very limited time. I am fortunate to be staying with Deepak. Though David and I have no means of connecting directly, Deepak is able to get reports and lets me know how things are going. We may not hear anything now until they reach the border.

 

In the meantime, I remain happily here in Kathmandu.  I will start volunteering this week and I have begun studying Nepali with my hostess, Lalu. Already I begin to imagine myself returning to Nepal in the future.

Rested in Katmandu

 

I continue to become better acquainted with Kathmandu.  I finally found my way out of Ranibari, (Queen’s Garden) where I am staying, a warren of small street and alleys . Making only two wrong turns on my way out, I felt quite confident I could make my way back. I made my way to Thamel, the main shopping district and tourist center, home to countless trekking agencies and restaurants of every description. I then made my way directly to Deepaks office to print out material for the workshops I will give. As I later wandered around Thamel, I attempted to keep track of the number of languages I heard but soon lost track as I dodged rickshays, bicycles, motorbikes, cars, tuk tuks, buses, and trucks all moving on streets in different directions. If takes a certain fearlessness to drive on these streets as it seems to be a constant game of chicken – who will back down first. I am quite pleased to have figured out how to cross these streets with a degree of confidence. I did, however, sacrifice what little dignity I had as I returned home in a light rain and my feet slipped from under me and I found myself in the mud one all fours. I cleaned up as best I could with the tissues I had, but basically I was a muddy mess. I was really too muddy to go in any place to clean up so I continued on home pretending it was a new natural look.

 

I am called aunty almost universally here. I am convinced it is because of my gray hair. I see very few people with gray hair other than those who are really elderly and infirm. People my age still have pitch black hair.  hmmmmmm…

 

David and Julian were finally able to catch up with their itenerary in Tibet by giving up rest days. I eagerly await the details of their trek and the Kora around Mt. Kailash which they are in the midst of as I write.

 

 We plan to trek through Western Nepal before crossing into Tibet to begin our walking pilgrimage (kora) around Mt Kailash.

Tuesday Sep 1 Arrived in Nepalgunj, a town in Western Nepal near the Indian border. Loaded up a trailer with our gear and checked in at Hotel Sneha. Increasing clouds.

Spent the night at the Sun Valley Lodge in Simikot. Light misty rain falling.

Sunday, Sep 6 Departed around 8:00 am in light intermittent rain, our first walking segment of the trek. Hiked until lunch at Dharipari where Lal caught up with us. Then continued on to a house just about an hour short of Kermi. As we were resting, a man showed up with a note which he gave to Lal. As Lal read it, we knew that something was wrong. Turns out that before leaving Simikot, we were supposed to take our passports to the police sation there and have them stamped with “a departure stamp”. The Sun Valley Hotel had sent this runner to catch up with us, pick up our passports and bring them back to Simikot. Seemed weird to me. Especially since I didn’t know how or when we were going to be getting our passports back. And why couldn’t we get a departure stamp at the police checkpost in Hilsa, just before we departed Nepal? The idea was that after getting the passports stamped, the runner would catch up with us and return our passports. Hmmmm. We finally relented, trusting in the Nepali system, strange as it was. In Kermi, we stayed under the roof of a home. It was nice to not have to use the wet tent. It rained for much of the night. The trail was incredibly muddy everywhere. Mud mixed with cow dung, yak dunk horse dung, mule dung, sheep dung, goat dung and human excrement. Monday, Sep 7 Hiked for about 8 hours to just short of Muchu. Set up tent outside of a temporary structure where Lal prepared out dinner. It was a stone wall structure covered with a blue tarp. Had to stoop inside and dodge the pieces of meat hanging from the ridge pole. Sleeping in the tent was pretty wet. It rained hard in the night and water leaked through the rain fly and the tent roof, dripping on our sleeping bags. Fortunately when it was time to pack things up in the morning, the rain stopped for awhile. Tuesday, Sep 8 Hiked to Yari. Seems like light misty rain is permanent in this region. Only a few times during the day when the rain stops and the sky brightens. Haven’t needed to use sunglasses yet. When we reached a police checkpost at Yari, we learned that our passports had been sent to Hilsa via helicopter. Okay. Hope we have them when we want to enter Tibet. We stayed in Yari in a storage room for rice and supplies. During the night, we heard a loud knock at the door. Went to check and found that a herd of goats had bedded down outside our door and one apparently had beat against the door four loud raps with its horns. Later we heard rats running around on he ceiling, causing debris to rain down on us. A rather fitful night. Wednesday, Sep 9 Today our goal was to reach Hilsa, the border town on the Nepal side and pass into Tibet. We had a long steep slog up to Nara La pass (15,000 ft), but fortunately this was the first day when we had a break in the rain for a couple of hours. After reaching the pass, it was a long gradual descent into Hilsa. It took us 5 hours to get there, arriving at 11:30 am. Our Tibet permit was valid from Sep 8th, so by hiking from Simikot to Hilsa in four days, we were only now one day behind schedule. Lal borrowed a cell phone from a local person who subscribes to a China telecom service (There are not Nepal Telecom towers in this part of the country). He talked to our Tibet guide, Mingma to let him and the driver know that we had arrived in Hilsa. I hadn’t even realized that we would have a Tibetan guide as well our Nepali guide, Lal on this portion of our trek. An SUV and driver (the same vehicle and driver Cynthia and I had when traveling outside Lhasa) were ready to pick us up. We went to the police station, showed our trekking permits and had them stamped. No one seemed to know anything about our passports. Lal suggested we sit down and have a cup of tea. The person who might know something about our passports had left and “gone up into the mountains” for a spell. Oh, great. After several minutes of drinking tea, Lal all of a sudden bolted out the door. The man with our passports had just walked by. Sure enough, he had the passports so we went back to the police station to once again fill out paperwork. Now we’re ready to cross into Tibet. Except for one thing: the mules carrying our gear have not shown up yet. Time for another cup of tea. And a walk around Hilsa. And another cup of tea. Finally, around 3;30pm the mules show up. We arrange for some locals to port our gear across the bridge. But is the immigration office on the China side open? All of China, including Tibet is on the same time zone, so Tibet time is roughly 2 hours later than Nepal time. Is their office still open? Fortunately, the Chinese immigration official, the customs agent and the medical officer who checks your body temperature by putting a thermometer under your armpit are summoned and arrive with our SUV in a separate vehicle. Our luggage is carefully inspected. I have to discard the yak cheese I had packed for lunch. We give up our passports once again. We hold the thermometers under our armpits for 10 minutes and have them read. No one has any symptoms of swine flu. Then we have to drive to the customs office in Taklakot and have all our gear scanned in a Nuctech scanner. More forms to fill out. I really need to memorize my passport number. Seems like every time I need to fill in a form, someone else has my passport. We are delivered to the “best” hotel in Taklakot. Which means hot running water, but no towels. Julian and I relish the shower, shampooing our hair and washing our socks and underwear. It takes two wash cycles to bring the water to a point you can see through it. Then dinner at a local restaurant. Some meat for a change, which will help us produce more red blood cells. Those will come in handy in the next few days. Elevation here in Taklakot is just over 13,000 feet. Neither Julian nor I are feeling any symptoms of being at altitude. I’m looking forward to a restful night in a comfortable bed.

David and Julian arrived from their ADVENTURE yesterday, two days early, brimming with great stories. I am thrilled that I get two extra days with Julian before he departs for Seattle. I spent 3 days with Rita Thapa, a feminist peace and social activist here in Kathmandu. I had the good fortune to hear of and then meet her through our dear Nepali friend, Sarita, who lives in Seattle. Rita has created two NGO’s in Nepal. TEWA, an organization that fundraises to provide grants to women’s organizations mostly in rural areas of Nepal. The benefits of one small grant are very impressive.  $500 trained 15 women in pre-natatal care and midwifery in a district many miles from any health care with only one aging woman to handle birthing needs. This turned around infant and maternal mortality rates. Five years after creating this organization, which has served as a model for Funds for Women all over the world, she transitioned out of leadership.

Rita then turned her attention to peace building due to the conflict that Nepal was in at the time. Various military factions were drafting young people at gunpoint to serve and people who were fleeing rural villages to the Kathmandu valley in search of safety.  The result has been displacement of many conflict affected youth, and the breakdown of the family and village life as the safety net of rural life. Nagarik Aawaz has created a year-long program for displaced youth from varying geographic areas, ethnic, class and political backgrounds. The team assists healing from the psychological/emotional results of having lived through such trauma.

Many of these youth eventually go back to their homes as peace ambassadors, sharing the skills they have developed during the year with Nagarik Aawas. Every Thursday, these young people gather at the Peace Kitchen and cook and serve a meal to Kathmandu’s homeless.  As difficult as their life has been, they expressed gratitude for the learning that comes from serving others. During a nonviolent communication workshop I facilitated, one lovely young woman expressed constant fear for her life she experienced as a Maoist, while others spoke of being caught in the crossfire between opposing factions. The sense of compassion for one another they are already learning is very impressive and gives a sense of hope for Nepal’s future. Rita has been able to take intention and vision and deeply held values and with strong organizational skills, she has invited others to join in creating NGOs that are models for the rest of the world.  It was a huge gift to share time with her and her family and Edwina, a wonderful young woman and peace activist from Australia who made her way to Nagarik Aawas via Naropa in Boulder, CO.

It was farewell to Julian today after a couple of days to sharing stories. Off to Bhutan tomorrow for David and I.

The morning we left Nepal we had quite a number of people seeing us off, including Sumita’s family and friends who stopped the bus and climbed aboard for one last photo opportunity. It was a very touching farewell after our time in Nepal.

A couple hours on a very crowded bus brought us to a border town in Nepal where we decided to travel open air on a rickshaw the few kilometers to the actual border checkpoints. With quick crossings out of Nepal and into India, we boarded yet another very crowded bus headed to the major train transportation hub, Gorakhpur.

We had a challenging time with the pushiness and the constant grasping that we experienced as soon as we arrived in India.  It felt like we were being hustled at every turn. I see it in the way they drive, doing anything to edge out other vehicles. We had a driver who terrified us and risked the lives of many other people and then asked us for a tip beyond an already exorbitant price. We were told that they thought of us as their “mother and father” and “I am your friend” unlike everyone else in Delhi, all the while asking for more and more. Although we slept fairly well on the overnight train to Delhi, exhaustion led us to a pretty basic hotel in a questionable area of town. We did have warm water one of the days we were there and occasionally even toilet paper. There was one quite sweet young man who made sure we had breakfast each day. Maybe in crowds they live in, aggression is a means of survival.

David and I have just finished reading Freedom in Exile by the Dalai Lama. The Indians provided him and thousands of refugees with land and a home and the possibility of creating community. I think, possibly, my experience coming after such a generous experience in Nepal and nearing the end of a lengthy period of travel overwhelmed me. Nonetheless, the result was that we left India as quickly as possible and arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia after a two hour stop in Bangkok, hence our jet setting blitz of 4 countries in 5 days.

We stayed in a lovely small garden guesthouse, our room surrounded by windows all looking out at huge tropical plants, with what we came to call dog frogs (frogs whose croak sounded just like dogs) serenading us each evening as we fell asleep. In spite of a nightmarish history, we found the Cambodian people to be gentle, and soft spoken and welcoming in every way which actually left us wanting to give more to them.  We have learned of a number of non-profits doing everything from offering stability and education to street children to butterfly projects trying to create sustainable income to a landmine removal effort also supporting an orphange for children maimed by landmines (6 million remain buried in the countryside).

We enjoyed our visits to temples in the Angkor area, many of which have been there for up to a thousand years. They are generally built of sandstone with beautiful intricate carvings. Many are being overtaken by the plants and trees of the surrounding tropical environment. Much effort is going into stabilizing and restoring them. We arrived just on the cusp of the real tourist season starting so the crowds weren’t too think and we were able to take our time and soak up the unique atmosphere here.

We enjoyed a Cambodian cooking class and may subject some of our friends. The Khmer food is very subtly flavored with wonderful fresh ingedients which we are hoping to search out when we return home. We also visited a silk farm and saw the whole process from worm to beautifully woven fabric. This group is working to train artisans in the traditional arts of Cambodia.

We had the same tuk-tuk driver during our stay and he shared with us his experience of volunteering to help encourage the child beggers to get off the streets which has become an amazing successful project. One Australian woman read an article in a newpaper and on her way home from work, she stopped and booked a ticket to Cambodia. She found the work she was called to do which has led to the empowerment of countless children and their families. One never knows where one drop might reach.

I was very sad to leave Cambodia this morning and I hold onto the possibility of returning. For now I will work at finding a way to enjoy Thailand for the next 3 weeks.