Trekking Day “-1″ (Saturday)

Fly: Barcelona to Delhi, via Zurich (~7000km)
“Sleep”: No-Man’s-Land, Delhi (237m) / Airborne, Nepal (~11500m)

What were we (or was I, at least) so anxious about? Mostly about the Indian visa (or our deliberate lack thereof). We were flying to Kathmandu via Delhi, on two itineraries and different airlines, and I’d tried to find out whether we’d need a visa for the six-hour period we’d be sitting at the airport. In theory, both of us (Spanish and Canadian) do need a visa to visit India, even if only for transit. However, I’d heard that you could do a visa-less transition at the Delhi airport, if you met a bunch of conditions. For example: having a ticket on the first available flight to your destination; not needing to change terminals; being escorted through the airport by airline staff. But would this work on two itineraries and airlines? Would our luggage get properly re-tagged?

A month prior to the trip, I’d tried to contact the Indian Consulate in Barcelona (no luck), then finally managed to speak with someone at the Embassy in Madrid. The answers I got were not definitive: “Yes, it should be possible.” Reassuringly (and more conclusively), IATA’s web site told me it was possible, though I should “contact carrier(s) concerned to check if transit is possible”. I did this, both with Swiss (on which we were arriving) and Jet Airways (on which we were departing). Neither gave a definitive answer or explanation of how it worked. Swiss told me “not to worry”, that we should speak to the agents meeting our flight. But they insisted we must be sure to tell the check-in staff at Barcelona to tag our baggage through to our final destination!

When we arrived at the airport in Barcelona, the check-in agent didn’t understand what we were asking. He said “not to worry”, and tagged the bags to Delhi. This gave us a feeling of dread, that our precious trekking cargo wouldn’t arrive in Kathmandu with us (we wore our most irreplaceable items: hiking boots). During our connection in Zurich, I queried a Swiss information person, who — once he understood what I was asking — looked quite concerned. He gave the impression we might be screwed (not his precise words), and the anxious expression on his face did not say “don’t worry”, which until then had been Swiss’ mantra. I’d tried to believe that at least we’d make it through Delhi okay, so I could focus my worrying on our luggage. But after speaking to this man, everything was up in the air again — after all, he was more concerned about our lack of Indian visas than our luggage. Great.

When we arrived in Delhi, we spoke with the Swiss staffer who met the flight. After a bit of confusion and passing us to various people, a nice woman wrote down our passport numbers, onward ticket information and luggage tag numbers. We repeated our concerns about the luggage, but she told us “not to worry”. It seemed to be a repeating theme, and one which I quickly adopted: in Nepal we discovered this is said (something that sounds like): sumase chai-na.

After all the other connecting passengers were noted down, the woman led us — like a schoolteacher at the museum with a remarkably orderly class — past a security checkpoint (they waved us through) to the no-man’s-land where we’d spend the night. It had washrooms, bright fluorescent lights, two small snack vendors, and some not-fancy-but-at-least-reclining chairs (we were lucky to find two side-by-side). People of all nationalities, waiting for flights to places like Rwanda, Beijing, Toronto and Kathmandu chatted away loudly. Others covered their faces and tried to sleep. It was cold.

Staff from various airlines would occasionally appear and call out passengers for their flights: “Anyone for Newark? Anyone for Kabul?” Much confusion, people asking each other if anyone had come yet to ask about their flight. Because with some of the agents’ accents, it was nearly impossible to understand the destinations. Announcements in airports must be impossible to understand by definition — even when not coming over the intercom. After several hours, Jet Airways staff showed up (this was 3am or something) and started looking for folks travelling to Kathmandu. They took our e-ticket printouts and passports (yikes!) and disappeared for another few hours.

On the recommendation of the travel clinic in Barcelona, we weren’t taking Malaria medication, since the mountainous regions of Nepal are safe, and Kathmandu is low-risk. However, there certainly is risk in some areas, and Delhi is one of them. While I tried to rest my eyes, I’d occasionally open them to find a small mosquito gliding past. I say glide because they don’t buzz about erratically as they do in Canada. They may carry Malaria but at least they seem very tame compared to our fast, aggressive monsters. Shhh, close your eyes, get what rest you can: remember the mantra: “Don’t worry…”

Trekking Day “0″ (Sunday)

Fly: Delhi to Kathmandu (~820km)
Sleep: Hotel Manang, Kathmandu, Nepal (1316m)

I’d never heard of Jet Airways until I started looking online for flights from India to Kathmandu. It turns out they’re one of the nicer airlines in the world! It was founded in 1993 and has won many airline awards, including “Best Indian Airline” in Sep. 2008. It has one of the youngest aircraft fleets in the world (average plane age 4.3 years), and our 737-800 (or -900?) was extremely comfortable. The staff were excellent. It helped that I’d (almost unknowingly) booked business class tickets. They were only marginally more expensive than the economy seats, and happened to be the only ones available that gave me the dates and times I wanted. This turned out to be a huge treat — excellent service, great food (even on such a short flight; less than two hours).

As we flew over the rice fields of the broad Kathmandu valley, we got our first view of the Himalaya range to the north. We could see Dhaulagiri (8167m), Annapurna (8091m), Manaslu (8163m) — although at this point they were just names to me. We came through a few bumpy patches to land at Kathmandu, but at the last moment the pilot suddenly cranked the throttle and we roared back up. There was a storm passing through and he couldn’t see the runway. We went into a holding pattern for probably a half hour. He told us we’d likely have to return to Lucknow in India (before we ran out of fuel), but he’d make one more attempt once he was given a slot. I made the requisite groaner about us hopefully having some “luck, now.” We continued to circle, and the gentle bumps of cloud (and utter exhaustion) lulled me to sleep. I was rudely awakened by a loud bang and thump, and in my disoriented state it took me a moment to realize we’d landed. My heart was racing, and we were in Nepal. What luck!

Nepal requires all visitors to have a visa, but (unlike India) you can get one upon arrival at the airport. I’d almost sent our passports to Madrid to get visas ahead of time, but they were considerably more expensive in Spain (55 Euros versus 40 USD at the Kathmandu airport; in addition you’d need to pay for a courier service). Seemingly no air conditioning at this airport, so we joined a queue of 20 to 30 sweating people, forming two lines (a hundred more behind, still filling application forms). It turned out that these two lines were for paying, but afterwards our line “merged” (that was the idea) into the other one, where a chain of officials processed the visa in assembly-line fashion.

The whole thing was chaotic, with no one managing the desperate, grumpy horde of tourists. People pushed forward, cut people off, acted ridiculously. Some very rude Germans forced their way to the front. But sweet retribution came when it turned out they’d missed one part of the form. The officer rejected them, and back they went as the crowd pressed past. The look on their faces was priceless, and some small bit of karma in the universe was balanced.

Visas obtained, we miraculously found our baggage lying in a giant pile of bags downstairs, beside the luggage carousel. The zippers were sealed shut with wire from the “warehouse” where they were stored in Delhi. Inside, nothing was missing. A man from the trekking company met us as promised, holding up a sign with my name. He led us to a car (and driver) in the parking lot, placed yellow flower necklaces around our necks, and we drove into the city.

Kathmandu is chaos. On the half-hour drive from the airport to our hotel in the “touristy” Thamel district (where it seems all the hotels are situated), we are assaulted by a sea of colour, smell, dust and heat. Poverty. Tiny children play in the dirt on the edge of a road that literally swims with swerving, constantly-honking cars, trucks and buses.

Dulcinea is not fazed by all this — she’s been to India and Africa several times. To places that are “worse than this”. But it is my first trip to a really poor third-world country. Nepal’s GNI per capita makes it the 30th poorest in the world. Far below Trinidad and Tobago and not even on the same page as Chile or Argentina, other relatively “poor” countries I’ve been to. But the Gross National Income at “purchasing-power-parity” (of $1500/person/year — to compare: Spain $25k and Canada $34k) is merely an average, and many people don’t even see that amount of money. In fact, 35% of the population makes under $1 a day. Its Human Development Index, a measure developed by the UN, is more or less on a par with Haiti (one of only two non-African nations that scored lower). This means the UN considers it one of the world’s least developed countries.

I’m not “fazed”, but it certainly makes an impact on me. I already have mixed feelings about being there, very conscious of being a “rich Westerner”. But everyone keeps telling me “they need our tourism dollars.” By employing local people — as many as possible! — we’re really helping. I’ll need to be convinced of this. At one point as we’re stopped in traffic, a scrawny kid motions at his mouth, for food. Standing in the middle of hundreds of moving vehicles, he moves lethargically. I smile sadly and shake my head. As we drive away, in a sudden burst of anger or despair he yanks open the car door beside me. I pull it shut, and the man who met us at the airport, without a word, turns from the front seat and pushes down the lock.

We arrive at the hotel, which is not particularly clean but has an ornate lobby. Overall it’s “okay”. What’s wrong with a few stained bedsheets and a Pigeon Air Force Base just outside the window? (After all, at least they’re outside!) I’m trying to be open-minded, as I’m told you need to “relax” and not apply my “Western sensibilities”, if I’m to enjoy myself in Nepal. (Three weeks later, on our return from camping, this place will seem utterly extravagant: “A bed! A toilet! Privacy! A shower…and it’s got hot water!”)

Later, we meet with the head of the trekking agency and our guide, Bikesh. He is a small, quiet man with a calm air about him. He says little, but enough for us to find it quite difficult to understand his English. In the afternoon, we wander out alone into the chaos of the Thamel district, to buy topo maps, a few small books, a bar of soap to wash our clothes during the trek.

To really get into the “just relax” mantra, we go for the best and cheapest massages of our lives — the equivalent of 5 Euros for a half-hour (me), and 10 Euros for an hour (Dulcinea). I was sore the next day, from the vigorous working-over and pounding on my skull. Later, as I wait for Dulcinea to finish, I notice my masseur showing his young nephew a pair of brass knuckles. Thankfully, he only used bare knuckles on my scalp. Whatever — it felt great (once it stopped).

Everything, we find, is super cheap. For dinner, we order a full Nepali/Indian meal for less than 3 Euros each. In total, it comes to 14 Euros for both of us, including dessert, huge beers, all the food… This was not a particularly “cheap” restaurant; quite tourist-oriented in fact. There are trekking outfitter companies everywhere, selling The North Face clothes, sleeping bags, tents — everything you could need from all the best mountain equipment brands. But there’s a catch: they’re not genuine. I notice the font is a little different in “The North Face”, and the Sigg water bottle I buy is apparently also a clone. Later, it turns out the lid leaks. Shocking!

I plan to write up my notes from some of our adventures in Nepal, but will need to divide it up into bite-sized segments (so open really wide!). I’ll start with an appetizer. The trip was a little more than three weeks long — we left Barcelona on a Saturday in late September and returned on a Tuesday in mid-October. Yes, the scenery was spectacular, almost indescribable. No, photos can’t do it justice. And, yes, we had a great time. Mostly.

Would we do it again? Well, I think it would require a “discussion”. Because even for a resolute hotel-hater, even with the requisite “open mind to new experiences” and all that — three weeks of third-world camping is, actually, quite a lot… Two weeks without a shower? To say it’s “not something to be sniffed at” would be the understatement of the year..

We flew a little less than 16,000km on a total of eight flights (including two mountain flights in small planes). We drove about 150km (not including airport transfers…), although this short distance took much of one day. Most importantly — as this was the core of the trip — we walked about 200km over 19 days. If that pace seems slow (an average of little over 10km per day), bear in mind that you need to pace yourself and go slowly as you acclimatize to the increasingly thinner air. Also, we discovered what all trekkers to the region discover — that there is such a thing as “Nepali flat”. That is, when your guide tells you it will be a “flat” day, this merely means that you will end the day at roughly the same elevation you started. It has nothing to do with the endless up and downs you may take to get there. So if we technically only climbed 300m in “net” terms on a given day, I suspect often we often climbed at least that much again, but lost those gains as we descended to cross a river, for instance.

I probably ended the trip is better shape than I’ve been in years. More tanned, too; at least with a serious “farmer’s tan” on the neck and arms. As the days are so short and cooler now in Barcelona, it won’t last long (neither the tan nor the fitness). I was grateful for whatever “training” I’d done before the trip — a few major hikes in the Pyrenees as well as lots of walking up and down, either on the hills outside our house or ascending 500m on the 15%-inclined treadmill at the gym. I had no sore muscles or physical problems to speak of (just sore feet and a bit of near-blistering on the heels from our biggest descent days, but I’d taped them and no skin was broken).

Tired, at times, yes — many times we felt utterly exhausted. Sometimes just taking one more step up was difficult. We experienced no altitude sickness (serious headaches being the first sign of a rapid progression that can lead to edema, embolism and death), but the thin air certainly had its effect, whether physical or psychological. There were moments when I just ran out of steam, but mostly I had a spring in my step, and recovered from uphill portions remarkably quickly. For some reason, I think I have a tendency to charge up mountains, leaving me sweaty, exhilarated, and wiped out. It’s not a race, I discovered in Nepal. Here, because we were pretty much forced to take it slow on the uphills (by our guide and our physical limitations), I found the slowness enjoyable. One step after the other, just like life. It was almost meditation at times. As for my Dulcinea, she just keeps on going without complaint, a pillar of endurance. Only when we arrive to set up camp does she let it be known (this only happened once or twice) that she is on the verge of collapse…

We went from below 800m to over 5400m (that’s over 17,700 ft for you Imperialists). At the highest elevations, we had to make do with 50% of the air we’re used to breathing in Barcelona. This does not require oxygen tanks to breathe, as Everest might, but it does require fitness, patience and an absence of bad luck. (Incidentally, you might wish for that bottled oxygen when you’re walking around the polluted capital, Kathmandu.) We slept — camping, mind you, none of this teahouse/hotel luxury for us! — all the way from wet, buggy and leechy tropical lowlands to a couple of nights spent at more than 4600m (more than 15,000 ft) with snow and ice decorating our tent.

We did a portion of the famous Annapurna Circuit, from Besi Sahar to Jomsom, with a week-long detour in the middle — a trip back in time — to the rarely-visited “lost valleys and villages” of Naar and Phu. This isolated region is very close to Tibet, not only physically (just across the Chinese border) but also culturally, linguistically, religiously… To go there requires a special trekking permit (maybe several hundred are granted each year, compared to the hundreds of people at any given point on the Annapurna Circuit each day). It also requires a camping expedition, since there are as yet no teahouses along this route. And so, even when we were in the towns of the Circuit, we slept in a tent — often in the field behind a guesthouse. Our own cook prepared all our meals (in a tent, shack, or using the guesthouse’s kitchen, if they had one to offer). Not always wilderness camping, but self-sufficient nonetheless. And it guaranteed us a place to sleep, which is not something all the other tourists were finding…

The isolation is partly what attracted me to the Naar/Phu area in the first place. If something goes wrong, you’re far from help. Helicopter evacuation insurance is a must; we saw at least one other group making use of it. The place has been largely cut off from the world for centuries. It was never on a major trading route (Phu in particular is at a “cul-de-sac” amidst high mountains), so it received little commerce or other traffic. This remoteness appealed. It probably changed very little in the 20th Century (admittedly, some homes now have solar panels powering small lights). Not only have few Western people have had the privilege of seeing the region, but I’d heard it was supposed to be spectacular. It did not disappoint. I’m afraid to tout it too much, for fear it will simply become like the rest of the Circuit in the coming years (yes, I have an inflated sense of my impact on the world ;-).

This year, the monsoon rainfall broke records in many areas, and although it was wrapping up when we arrived, the abnormal year continued with unusually early snow at higher elevations (more than a month early!) changing our plans. The original idea was to make another deviation from the Annapurna Circuit later in the trip, going from Manang up past Tilicho Lake and over the Mesokanto Pass to Jomsom. In the end, we did not take this route (for weather and safety reasons). Instead, we opted to go over the more certain, easier (and infinitely busier) Thorung La (”La” = “pass”).

I was very disappointed, because with a more technical guide and porters we’d have been able to do it anyhow. I’m from Canada, and it really wasn’t that much snow (ha ha). Our main problem was lack of information: even a weather report. There seemed to be little communication between the various ACAP (Annapurna Conservation Area Project) offices, and there was no way to know what lay ahead without actually going there. Also, we had time constraints on our trip; we couldn’t spend days waiting for the right conditions. Our hardy “gang” claimed to be willing to give it a try — obviously not wanting to disappoint or anger us, the clients — but the uncertainty and anxiety of our guide was obvious. We felt we made the right decision; Tilicho would be left for another trip.

As the trip began, however, we were the ones feeling anxious and uncertain…

[To be continued…]

Well, we arrived back safe and sound, if a little groggy, from Nepal (via India) on Tuesday, and have been adjusting slowly to life in the “real world” again. Hmm… Is this world really more real than what we experienced there? Or is it the reverse? Anyhow, adjusting mainly means shifting our eating schedule back to after 9pm (rather than being asleep by that time, as we generally were for the three weeks in Nepal). And trying to cope with being so darn clean all the time; sitting rather than walking all day; being at a table — on a chair — to eat; not having someone bring me tea at 6am every day.

I’m finding Barcelona to be rather snow- and mountain-free, after so much time spent in such alpine grandeur. At least I can amble up a few hundred metres to my favourite viewpoint, as I already have done twice this week. A bit different from a country where a 5,000m peak is literally called a “hill”! But no signs of altitude sickness here, unless longing for altitude counts (in the same way that homesickness means longing for home).

I have tons of notes and photos from the trip, and the plan is to write up a bit for each day of our trip. This may be overly-ambitious, but it’s, well, the plan. Be prepared to be deluged, monsoon-style, with facts and figures, observations and pithy anecdotes. On second thought, I’m known more for my “ramble” than my pith, so maybe brace for pithless, rambling anecdotes. A deluge of words, at least.

I was sad to learn that, just as we were ending our trek on the other side of the world, my maternal grandmother ended her “trek” here on Earth…she passed away last Thursday after more than a decade of Alzheimer’s and, generally, the frailty of old age.

To paraphrase a favourite author of hers, and substituting my grandmother for “Christopher Robin”:

My grandmother is going.
At least I think she is.
Where?
Nobody knows.
But she is going -
I mean she goes
(To rhyme with “knows”)
Do we care?
(To rhyme with “where”)
We do
Very much.
…
Good-bye,
I
(Good)
I
And all your friends
Sends -
I mean all your friend
Send -
(Very awkward this, it keeps going wrong.)
Well, anyhow, we send
Our love
END.