Right, so a lot has happened since the last post we put up so I do apologise for the slightly lengthy post below, it has been an action packed month in Nepal.
We departed the hustle and bustle of Delhi via our first flight of the trip and we would like to take this opportunity to mention to anyone travelling to Delhi that the clean, organised and well maintained airport you arrive in is a gross misrepresentation of the city itself - you've been warned. After a pretty uneventful flight we found ourselves in Kathmandu, Nepal. The main purpose for our trip to Nepal was to take on the 16 day Everest Base Camp + Gokyo Lakes trek, but with a huge amount of stuff to do in Nepal we had no issues at all spending an entire month there.
We spent the first few days in Kathmandu just savouring the little differences between India and Nepal, things like consistent hot water, food other than curry, being able to breathe properly, enjoying a walk down the street without being mobbed by tuk tuk drivers and Katherine being able to wear a singlet without being labelled a tramp. We really did absolutely nothing in our first few days other than eat and sleep, we did however discover the mo:mo - a Nepalese dumpling that comes in various forms and fillings - I would roughly estimated we went on to eat at least 200 over the next month!
Deciding that we should probably do something with the 10 days before our trek started we caught a bus down to Chitwan National Park. Now, Nepal had quite a lot to offer that India did not, but quality, well maintained roads and buses with enough legroom for Tom were not two of them and over the 4 bus trips we took in Nepal we came to loathe these journeys with a burning passion! Anyway, back to Chitwan - the main purpose of heading down there is to attempt to catch a glimpse of the incredibly elusive Bengal Tiger - unfortunately the closest we got was some foot prints and some fresh piss, which was more than enough to have Katherine convinced that we were going to be eaten by a tiger lurking somewhere incredibly close to us. We did however get to see a stack of other animals including two rather "friendly" rhinos, you can check them out through our terrible photography skills below.
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| This piece is called Rooting Rhinos - Thomas Temple 2015 |
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| A mother and baby rhino going for a swim |
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| Some bison |
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| The photo doesn't do it justice - this crocodile was HUGE |
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| I have forgotten what type of monkey this is |
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| Some crocodiles were a bit too close for comfort |
The next few days were spent in Kathmandu doing absolutely nothing under the guise that we had to conserve our energy for the trek, so as with our time before Chitwan, we rotated between sleeping, eating mo:mos and considering whether to actually do something constructive. So we pretty much just burned up time until it was time for us to embark on our trek.
Now, in what is becoming a running theme of this blog lately, I am going to issue a short disclaimer about the next few paragraphs about the trek. The Everest Base Camp trek that we did was easily one of the most incredible, challenging and rewarding experiences we have ever had, but for 2 people who don't like walking at the best of times and do not operate horribly well in the cold we may have been slightly out of our depth on this one. We had done no preparation, were not familiar with the conditions we would be walking in in any way shape or form and our gear was less than appropriate - but anyway, we rocked up and absolutely smashed it - so with that out of the way enjoy the description about 2 under prepared clowns tackling one of the world's most famous treks!
As you can imagine, walking for 16 days straight can be rather repetitive so I am going to save you a day by day break down of what we got up to and just summarise the important bits and add some pictures so you get the gist.
The trek started on with us sitting in the Kathmandu domestic airport for 7 hours while we waited for the weather to clear in Lukla where we started the trek, to paint a mental picture for you, those futuristic self-cleaning toilets you see around the place sport more amenities than the Kathmandu Airport! This compounded KG's fear of the upcoming flight which was more than justified as we were flying on an airline that only 3 weeks earlier had a plane fly in to the side of a mountain and kill everyone on board. After 1 false start we finally set off and the flight was not as bad as we had thought, the landing however was absolutely ludicrous! The Lukla airport is set into the side of a mountain and the plane essentially just flies straight on to the runway, there is no descent at all, just straight on. The term runway gets bandied about at airports a lot in Nepal, I would probably label this more of a driveway with a slight incline - it wouldn't even be 100m long - so the plane flies on to the runway, slams on the brakes and then takes a sharp turn to the airport.
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| A cockpit (haha cockpit) view of the Lukla runway |
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| The Lukla Airport runway... sphincter clenchingly short! |
With this ordeal out of the way we were free to begin our walking! The first major day was on our second day when we walked from Phakding to Namche Bazaar which took a casual 6 hours, the last 2 of which were straight up hill! It was a brutal introduction to what we had ahead of us. The following day was a "rest"/acclimatisation day which still included a short 3 hour walk so we would get used to the altitude. The next few days were pretty uneventful as we ascended slowly from village to village hoping to avoid any bouts of altitude sickness, which aside from one or two ripping head aches, we managed to avoid. Something we were unable to avoid and were totally unprepared for was how bloody cold it was! It was stupid - as soon as the sun went down in the afternoon the temperature plummeted - we would put on pretty much every piece of clothing we had with us and huddled around the communal fire place in the lodge that was powered by yak shit and try to warm up!
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| One at a time ladies... |
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| Katherine in her "lounge wear" - warmth is the key! |
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| Tom's most effective sleeping arrangement |
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| Us with our guise Kulman - the peak in the centre is Mt Everest |
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| "Trekking Tom" looking like a complete tool |
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| Katherine & our porter Otsen - Katherine nearly lost it here, Otsen had been talking non-stop for 4 days and KGs patience was already wearing thing. Otsen then made the near fatal error of interrupting Katherine and telling her to, "Listen" - Tom's intervention was the only thing that saved his life. |
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| KG during a rest break - this kind of background scenery was pretty standard for the trip |
On day 6 we managed to stroll in to Gokyo where the next few days and easily the toughest days would unfold. Day 7 saw us up at 5am to hike 600m up to Gokyo Ri, 600m on flat ground is certainly not anything to brag about, but climbing a vertical 600m is something completely different. It took us around 2 hours and at an altitude of 5300m above sea level it was incredibly hard going - why would we pay good money to subject ourselves to this crap? For the view of Mt Everest you get on top! What happened the day we climbed Gokyo Ri? It was unusually cloudy and while our view was not totally ruined and was still absolutely incredible a few expletives were directed in Mother Nature's direction. After descending Gokyo Ri we then had to stroll over a glacier which was a surreal experience - it looked like the moon and you could hear the huge slabs of ice creaking and parts of it breaking away off in the distance - needless to say, it was some of the faster walking we had done.
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| Tom atop Gokyo-Ri - Everest in the background covered in cloud |
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| KG looking absolutely thrilled to have climbed Gokyo-Ri |
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| Couple shot with some absurd scenery in the background! |
Day 8 was another one that definitely stood out, once again the weather completely fingered us here as this was the day we were trekking over the Cho La Pass, which on a day of perfect weather is already pretty difficult, it just so happened that a blizzard decided to blow through on the day we scheduled to do it! Being the highly skilled and intrepid trekkers that we had become over the previous week we pushed on! This was easily the hardest thing we have ever done - the conditions were rank and the pass was a brutal up-hill hike of 700 vertical metres in the heaviest snow either of us had ever experienced. Our lack of proper equipment really came to a head on this day as KG's glove were really not up to the task. When we arrived in our lodge after finishing this disgusting day of walking Katherine's fingers had begun to show the early symptoms of frostbite - she still can't feel the ends of her fingers properly! Anyway, after slogging it out for 6 hours, which felt more like 20, we made it. Now let's never speak of this again.
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| Splendid conditions for a 6 hour walk... |
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| KG about a third of the way up the Cho La Pass |
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| The Cho La Pass - you can see a thin trail of other idiots who thought it would be a good idea to do what we did. |
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| Another couple shot with some more absurd scenery in the background |
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| Tom supervising the drying of the socks |
Day 10 was the landmark day for the trek as it saw us finally reach Everest Base Camp! We strolled from the absolute pit that is Lobuche to the equally charmless village of Gorek Shep - by this time we were at a consistent 5200m above sea level so breathing was a task in itself - and then took the stunning walk out to the Base Camp. While the camp itself is not much to look at, the sheer position of it and scenery surrounding it really puts the conditions in to perspective! Situated on another glacier the surroundings are best described by KG who labelled it a "desolate tundra" - how's the wordsmanship on her! We took the token pictures, etched our arrival in Sharpie on a prayer flag, shared some salami with some trekkers from Belarus and then headed back to Gorek Shep.
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| Everest Base Camp |
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| This picture does not accurately convey how completely rooted we were! |
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| Tom signing a prayer flag |
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| KG holding said prayer flag |
The trek back down over the next 5 days was nothing too note worthy but it definitely made us realise why everyone we passed on the way up looked like they were on the verge of tears! We were absolutely rooted and the thought of ever walking again was almost too much to bear. We arrived back in Lukla for a flight home having achieved something that we probably shouldn't have and it was easily the most rewarding thing we have done on our travels.
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| The fallen climbers memorial |
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| The scenery was just sooooo ridiculous! KG is pretty easy on the eye as well! |
When we arrived back in Kathmandu the first stop was the shower (we had only managed to squeeze in 2 showers during the 2 weeks we spent trekking) and the second stop was the laundry to get everything we owned washed to try and rid it of the smell of sweaty balls and yak shit.
We still had a week left in Nepal, so we caught easily the shittiest bus in Nepal down to the lake-side town of Pokhara. Now, I'd love to tell you about the stunning views and romantic lakeside walks but our 4 days in Pokhara were spent, sleeping, eating, napping, eating, binge watching House of Cards, eating and doing everything imaginable to undo all the fitness we had gained during our trek.
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| Lakeside at Pokhara |
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| This really sums up our 4 days in Pokhara |
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| We did actually do some walking... not a lot though. |
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| We managed to drag ourselves outside for a sunset |
That brought us to the end of our month in Nepal and we absolutely loved it! We won't be forgetting our time in Nepal any time soon and are already looking forward to the day we can return.
Thanks for grinding through this monstrous post! Next stop, Cambodia!
The Yeah/Nah Index
It's straight A's for Nepal! We loved everywhere we visited and will come back as soon as time and money allows it!
Kathmandu - yeah
Chitwan National Park - yeah
Everest Base Camp - yeah, just buy better gear than us
Gokyo Lakes - absolutely yeah, some of the most incredible scenery we have ever seen!
Pokhara - yeah
