Nepal

January 23rd, 2008

Entry #13 - My trip to everest base camp (Day 9-13)

1/23/08 09:56 am

The next day it was time for the second goal of our trip, Kala Patar (5550m asl). Its a peak right next to our lodge where they take photos of everest for postcards and stuff. its the best view you can get without mad mountaineering skills. we started our climb at about 6am when it was still dark. we began early so that we could see the sunrise and have enough time to get the heck out of gorak shep in the afternoon. kala patar is insanely steep so the altitude tends to keep people from getting to the top.

It was dark, windy, and -9. tijs had to turn back about 1/3 of the way up. it was weird because he had not been having any trouble until then. turns out that altitude sickness is pretty random. sophie plodded up the mountain pretty steadily. while i needed to take my time. i was alone with the weather for a lot of it. pretty sure that it was getting higher faster than i could climb it. i was always determined that i was about half way and there was no point in turning around... even though i was seeing spots and gasping.

One of the other trekkers quit as well. i saw her yellow jacket going down way below me. started to wonder if i should stop too because i was alone and exhausted. just kept walking and thinking about breathing. met ian and chris on their way down from the top... felt a little like crying because i wanted to be going down too.

I somehow made it to the top. the mountains around me were still higher, but it felt good to be at the top of something, even if it was comparatively small.

On the way down i realized how high i had been and didnt feel so bad about taking 3 hours to do it. found out back in lukla that Edmund HIllary (the first person to summit everest) died when we were starting at everest from kala patar.

had some warm cinnamon rolls at the lodge and felt better.

then we left barren old gorak shep and rocketed down to where there was air. it was pretty much a non stop hike for 6 hours. the air started to feel a little like syrup. we made it to pemboche (around 1600m lower than kala patar). it was warmer and more populated. we were just thrilled. stinky, but thrilled.

the next day we went back to namche. feeling better the whole way. i could finally take off my 4 fleeces and vest.   we had time to stop in a little village and look at some famous school then took another side trip to the everest view hotel. walked down to namche through the clouds as the sun was setting. for dinner we treated ourselves to yak steaks. it had ROSEMARY in the SAUCE! glorious.

our final trekking day took us from namche to lukla in about 8 hours. towards the end i realized that i had food poisoning. had to stop a lot on the final climb up to lukla. horrible just horrible. a nap and some drugs fixed me.

it took us 11 days instead of the 14 recommended by most guide books. AWESOME!

the next day we packed up our stuff for 7am and went to the air port.   they told us to stand by for a flight. we chatted with a neuro scientist and a lawyer all afternoon waiting for the clouds to go away so we could fly. mid afternoon we were told that the weather was too bad to go anywhere. you have to understand how boring lukla is. its pretty much an airport with little lodges around it. you can only get there by air and the planes only go if the weather is good in kathmandu/lukla. the lodges are full of restless tourists who all want to be on the next flight out. i was happy to stay there for a day and recuperate. we sat there staring out the window all evening. saw a bunch of helicopters come and go. wondered why they could move and we could not.

the next day was cloudy from the get go. anyone hoping to fly was doomed. we still got up and packed for 7, took our stuff to the airport, and asked around hoping to get out. no luck. went back to the hotel and watched bad movies as it got cloudier and cloudier outside. we heard a helicopter and the manager of the hotel came running. he told us to get our stuff together and give him $80 because we were catching a copter in 1 minute to jiri (kathmandu is a 10 hr bus ride away from there). we did as we were told and ran to the airport. just as we were about to get on the copter, we got kicked off because it was full.\

the whole thing started to feel a little like a horror movie. people were getting more hysterical, suspicious, and competitive. everyone was whispering in groups about how they deserved to leave first... or how they knew of the next secret helicopter escape. my favorite were the ones who thought that the airport and the hotel were conspiring to keep us in lukla spending money.

we decided that our best option was to drink beer. so we had a few with ian, chris, and some other travellers. everyone started to get mushy about their families. i ate some spaghetti with yak cheese. we got back to our hotel at around 830 to find that they were just closing everything. we got sent to bed. thats when i started feeling a little imprisoned. up and out by 7, go to airport, sit in the dining room all day, go to bed by 8.

up the next morning and it was dark but CLEAR. we packed zestfully only to find things moving slower than usual. found out that it was raining in kathmandu and there would be no flights. IT NEVER RAINS IN KATHMANDU WHEN IT ISNT AUGUST!!!!!!!!! we were so mad. i was too defeated to eat breakfast. just sulked. we started watching a movie. then it started to snow. then the power cut off three minutes before the end. i started walking angry laps around the dinning room.

i called my travel agent to make sure he had booked my flights. turned out he took a vacation to chitwan before he arranged them so i had to leave a week later. did some more angry laps. the power came back on and we watched some mr bean.

suddenly we heard a copter. one that the hotel manager didnt know about. it was headed to jiri. we were livid and ran down to catch it. we couldnt get on because it was full again. we waved goodbye to ian and chris who had managed to get on. we felt like we would stay in stinking lukla forever.

went to the airline office and started raising hell. it started to look clearer so he tried to get a plane from kathmandu. meanwhile our hotel manager was walking around in circles on the tarmac... with our copter money. they said a plane would be there in 30 min. we were a little hopeful. sent tijs to run after our money. he got it.

we had a nice lunch in the sun and waited to hear the siren that goes off when a plane leaves kathmandu. when it finally did, we started jumping up and down screaming.

we saw the plane land and danced around. i still didnt really believe we were free. when it took off i was so relieved that i got all teary, then giggly, then teary... and giggly again. i think that moment was happier than getting to base camp, the top of kala patar, or the luke warm shower i had when i got back to thamel.

January 21st, 2008

Entry #12 - My trip to Everest base camp (day 4-8)

1/21/08 06:17 pm

on the fourth day we hiked for about 5 hours. the path was pretty level and everything was still lush and green. we ate lunch in a place called phunki tenga, hahahahh. then there was another fairly humourless 3 hour climb to tengboche (3860m asl). by this point we were breathing air with about 40% less oxygen than normal. sophie got a terrible altitude headache. diamox and tylenol fixed her. then we went to a monastary to visit a monk. i almost adopted one of his puppies.

it was our first extremely cold night. i say night loosely because we went to bed at about 7:30. we were tired, cold, and bored, so crawling into the sleeping bag was really the only option. the lodges from this point on were made of thin sheets of wood that were pretty horrible at moderating the weather. the warmest way to sleep in these conditions is to grab an extra blanket and wrap it around your head. every few hours you have to adjust it to let air in. the toilets were all frozen over in the morning. brrrrrr

the next days walk took us to dingboche (4410m asl). the scenery started to get increasingly desolate. saw little shrubs now and then. sometimes the shrubs turned out to be yaks. the ground was mostly landslide by-product. the houses were made of it too. the old avalanches were really neat. i kept on willing one to happen so i could see it. never did.

there was a dead fox dangling in the place we had lunch. our waiter was about 7 years old. when we didnt need anything, he used a nearby roof as a slide.

We met two other trekkers. Ian and chris from australia. they were both about 60 and practically running up the mountain they were so fit. soon they became our everest dads... giving us medication and stuff when we needed it.

by this pont i was already extremely dirty. my hair looked wet with grease and my legs were covered in little brown dots of dust. my hands looked absolutely nasty. i couldnt wash them because it was too cold and they started to bleed from dryness. mmm.

along the way, we saw our first altitude sickness victim. she was all floppy and being carried down by her porter. of course we kept walking.

dingboche is a very tiny town with a few lodges and farms. it was pretty much a ghost town when we were there. we stayed two nights to acclimatize.

on our day off we climbed a mini peak that was just over 5000m. it took us about 4 hours. since the change in altitude was about 600m, i felt weak and faint. i barely made it up without barfing. the hill was an awkward steepness that wasnt suitable to walk on two feet or to go on all fours. i have several photos of me looking sickly at the top.

when we returned to the lodge, we found out that another traveller had gotten sick. she was too weak to make it down the mountain, so her family tried to arrange a rescue helicopter. one would think that the word 'rescue' implies that the copter would come quickly. but nooooo. they would not come until they had received $5000. the trouble was, that she got sick on a saturday when the banks are closed (american express does not have a 24 hr international office). so she had to wait until the next day. figuring all this out cost the family $400 in telephone charges. luckily, she started to get a little better over night. the copter came the next afternoon. i started to feel a wee bit isolated.

the next day we headed to Lobuche (5110m asl). it was a lot of up and down with one climactic 1.5 hr slog. it ended in the memorial for all the people who have died on everest. i found the marker for one of my uni professors, Sean Eagan, who died in 2005. the plaque read "always aim high".

i saw a yak slip on some ice, that made me laugh. when we got to the hotel i started felling the height again. needed a quick nap and some drugs.

the next day was a marathon. 9 hours hiking. We went to Gorak Shep (5140m asl) in about 2 hours. then continued on to base camp (5360m asl). we could see base camp from the lodge but it still took around 7 hours round trip. we scampered along the khumbu glacier and i pretended i was on the moon.

base camp is pretty arbitrary. its a pile of rocks at the entry to the full everest climb. if you look from the right place you can see the tip of everest. it was much cooler to think that i was on a glacier than to picture the hundreds of people that have started crazy treks there.

on the way back we saw a big snow avalanche that would not have killed us, but made us very uncomfortable if we had still been at base camp.

some of the other travellers got lost on the way back. we were about to send out a search party when they finally arrived about 2 hours after the rest of us (just as it was getting dark... they had no flashlight). turned out they had turned too early and taken the wrong path. it made me really glad that we decided to have a porter with us the whole time.

ian and chris gave me some cold medication because i kept coughing up phlegm.

January 20th, 2008

Entry #11 - My trip to Everest base camp (day 1-3)

1/20/08 07:43 pm

Everest was harder than I expected. I was prepared for a challenge thanks to outbursts from my friends who had also done it. But I thought that, considering the volumes of people that do it every year, my awesome self would be able to do it (I have youth and stubbornness… what else does a girl need?) I went with two other volunteers, Tijs from Holland and Sophie from England. We pre arranged a porter through recommendations from other volunteers. We figured it would be cheaper and more flexible than trying to go with a tour company.

On the first day we flew from Kathmandu (1200m asl) to Lukla (2840m asl) on an ‘airplane’. I think it was made of legos and duct tape. The flight was about half an hour. One of my travel buddies forgot his ticket and had to take a cab back to the hotel to find it. He did and made it back in plenty of time for our outrageously delayed flight.

Got my fill of turbulence for sure. It made me think of the stories everyone seems to have of adventures flying with Uncle Richard. I felt like I could be thrown without warning into solid rock. Lukla is a very small village with a very small airport. The runway is short (http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/79639/13d2d6/) and ends in a mountain.

We met our Sherpa, Phurba, on the tarmac. He took us to his house for lunch (boiled eggs and about a zillion curried potatoes). We played with his two little girls for awhile. Taught them funny faces and some origami. His cows live in the ground floor of his house.

We decided to hire another porter just in case one of us got sick and needed to be escorted down the mountain. Phurba brought is 19 year old monk nephew Ansona.

The moment we started walking I got winded. Luckily the first day had some down bits to balance out the up. The trail was well marked and traveled. It was interrupted by large mani stones (huge boulders covered in Buddhist prayers). You have to walk on the left side of them, which often means an additional uphill slog. There were pineish looking trees, cute stone villages, and a nice river that seemed all too serene for an intense trek. We walked for 4.5 hours, one town passed our goal (super human athletic abilities). Ended up in Benkar (2630m asl) where Sophie decided that lunch was not meant to remain in her body. She was sick all evening. Thankfully, Tijs and I were okay.

Then around 8pm, when it was dark and officially cold. Tijs realized that he no longer had his camera. Phurba and Ansona walked three hours back on the trail with him looking for it. Their efforts weren’t rewarded.

I decided to have some pumpkin soup (its borscht like in Nepal) and ginger tea. The main staple here is Rara Noodles (pretty much Mr. Noodles). Most people eat it for breakfast and lunch. The thought of them makes me ill. I could only handle them once.

We got up at 6 and continued walking. Sophie seemed to be okay again. It was still quite warm during the day, so I could strut about the trail in my magnificent orange thermals. Along the way there were a bunch of suspension bridges that were great for bouncing.

Since it was off season, there were not many other travelers. The only other people we saw were guys carrying supplies from place to place in baskets that were strapped to their heads. The loads looked extremely heavy. Usually they were carrying dozens of cases full of Rara Noodles. Some had about 6 of those propane tanks we use for the BBQ on them as they were racing past us.

Almost everyone says that the climb up to Namche Bazaar is one of the hardest on the trek. I am adding my vote to the majority. If you look at the keyboard and find the Z, then imagine a tiny you walking up the diagonal line you will understand how steep the hill was. The change in altitude is about 800m, which means that there is around 10% less oxygen than Benkar (I am going to have to re check that to be sure). The climb took me about 3 hours. Midway up my legs just wouldn’t work anymore. They were shaking and going kind of numb. I didn’t have the quitting option so I would walk about three steps, then pant like I had almost drowned. It was extremely difficult to admire the mountains in my half conscious blur, but I managed to get a nice photo of me and my first view of Everest.

As soon as we got to the hotel I fell down on my bed with a headache and needed to whine for a little while. Phurbs made me eat some noodles up in the restaurant and I felt a little bit better.

Thanks to my mother (hello!) I try not to take a lot of drugs. But I was bullied into buying some altitude sickness medication called Diamox when we were still in Kathmandu. After my reaction to the Namche climb they bullied me into taking them and I remained a junkie for the rest of the trip.

We had dahl bat for dinner. We ate them right out of rice and veggies. Or so they said (normally you get as many refills as you like).

Spent the next day in Namche doing some acclimatizing. Saw a museum and a lookout point. The museum happens to be in the middle of some army barracks. The soldiers on duty seemed to be very good at chatting in small groups behind razor wire. Phurba told us the names of the mountains from the lookout. I promptly forgot them so I renamed the nicer ones “Ellen’s Nub”, “Phurba Hill”, “Spine of Sophie”, and “Tail of Tijs”. Man am I clever!

Did some window shopping. After this day I admitted that I was the worst altitude adjuster of the group and resigned myself to being the weak little straggler. I am lucky that all the predatory animals were nocturnal because I would definitely be eaten first. I blame my short legs.

I will write more tomorrow.

January 4th, 2008

Entry #10 - Everest

1/4/08 05:36 pm

Hello,

I am going to Everest on Sunday. Or well, starting to go to there. I fly to Lukla, then it is about a 10 day walk without any oxygen or heat. I wont walk all the way up... only to base camp. a girl needs to train and stay away from biscuits if she wants to even try.

I will not be showering for the next 14 days because it will be too cold. Being Canadian only gives me so much temperature resistance.

Not much to update you on.

see you all soon!

December 31st, 2007

Entry #9 - Happy new year!

12/31/07 05:52 pm

Hallo,

Just want to wish everyone a great last few hours in 2007! I hope that you arent too burnt out from christmas to enjoy it. i think we are going out for korean food then going to a street party. its all festive looking here with christmas lights and stuff. i need to learn to count to ten in Nepali before midnight, gotta go!

xx

Ellen

PS happy birthday grampa!! (tomorrow :-) )

December 28th, 2007

Entry #8 - Having an errand weekend in Thamel

12/28/07 04:15 pm

Hello,

We need to catch up on almost a month, so forgive the point-formish writing.

When i wrote last i was on the verge of visiting lumbini. i went. turns out it was some kind of monk festival. i stood out because i was not wearing red. It was difficult to find a hotel because of the party, but we managed to snag one. i somehow agrued the price down from 1300 rs to 500 rs. we got woken up super early by a gaggle of alarm clock monks chanting. seemed like an excuse to rent some bikes and do some templing. so we did. saw the rock that Buddhas mom birthed him on. it did not look like a soft landing.

i did not sleep that night because my bum hurt from the bicycle seat. The next day we went on another bike ride to see more temples. on the way, a 8 y/o monk leaped onto the back of my bike while his friends ran beside. i delivered him to the river where they were having a group bath. one of my favorite moments so far. Took a trip out into a nearby village. stopped at a few schools to see what was up. a lot of nepalis seemed to want their photos with me there... i finally asked one dood whyt he needed the photo. he said 'Avril Lavigne!!!!!!!" and pointed at me. i dont think i look like her... but i dont mind being famous for a little while. however, i am getting used to being stared at and am going to require a lot of attention when i get home.

i am all templed out. i think i will stick to looking at natural things for awhile. One of my favorite sights was a temple full of monks. there were about 50 of them in a circle that enclosed a mountain of packages of ramen noodles. they were unwrapping them for dinner right next to a very important table full of butter lamps.

The next weekend i saw a lot of Kathmandu. Went to Durbar Square and Swayambutath (Monkey temple). Durbar square was very pretty but overwhelmed with people wanting money. i didnt stay very long because this guy wanted to be a guide for the group... he wouldnt leave us alone. he actually asked if he could have my pants. i said i needed to wear them. he told me he could wait until i had time to drop them off at his village. yeah right.

monkey temple is the greatest place in kathmandu. There is so much space... tons of monkeys doing hilarious things. i could have spent days watching them. I have a photo of a baby monkey fighting a puppy for popcorn.

On my way to Baktapur last week saw the following things:
- the road through a hole in the floor of the bus
- a dead/de-feathered chicken dangling in a butcher's stand getting its head blow torch... maybe it was a food spa or something.
- riot police dressed up in lots of protective gear holding hands (its normal for men to be affectionate with one another here)
- a tire fire receiving donations in the middle of the road
- a dead dog that had been hit by our bus
- a dead goat on top of a pile of garbage
- a live goat eating a magazine
- a 3 y/o burning his brother's homework

I have now moved into a warmer room with better blankets... The roomates i had at the start are not the same as the ones i have now... i am starting to crave dal bhat... curry for breakfast is the only way to go now. hot showers are rare and short. I enjoy bollywood films, just saw om shanti om (google and you tube it!). they are very entertaining if you like loud music and over acting... turns out i do. I plan on bringing some home and forcing you to watch them with me. the sound tracks will also be blared from any and all speakers available.

Pokhara was great. reminded me a little of Banff... it was all touristy and misty (covered the himalayas most of the time, boooooo). They had lots of christmas lights and little lodgy looking things with views of the lake. we did lots of climbing and bike riding. The paragliding was amazing. i wasnt scared at all. we flew above birds thanks to some excellent thermals. i think we were at around 2000ft. The guy driving did a bunch of acrobatics over the lake (at my request). we did huge downward spirals (parallel to the water) it was an awesome feeling.

christmas dinner was kind of hilarious. i ordered turkey. it came with potatoes, rice, pasta and veg. the meat was really sketchy, i dont think it was cooked. i didnt eat it. The restaurant was really nice though. it was outside by the lake... christmas lights in the trees, and bonfires... with a Nepali cultural show on the stage. went out to a pub after. they had a live band that played loud classic rock and death metal. thats all the other bars were playing too. seems like some of the traditions of christmas have been lost in translation. I had a silver pendant made with my own design around a huge chunk of laborite (glows like moonstone but green and blue instead of white). the whole thing cost about $30 and is the greatest self gift ever.

This weekend i am in thamel doing lots of important business. I have to plan my trek for next week. i am doing everest base camp. i have to change my flights and buy lots of presents too.

i will be home about a week later than i had said.

adios!

December 22nd, 2007

Entry #7 - Nepali Christmas

12/22/07 10:28 pm

Namaste!

I just want to write a quick note. Christmas has crept up on me here. There is a bakery here called "Hot Breads" that is all about holiday festivities. they have gingerbread and a paper santa. the pine tree outside has two branches and lots of tinsel.

I hope that everyone is well at home and that you take full advantage of all the christmas cozies. this evening we sat by a bon fire at a nice cafe and drank mulled wine... cant really say i am missing out on all the comforts myself.

i'll write more later. just wanted to let you know that i am alive and thinking fondly of home :-)

happy holidays!

December 7th, 2007

Entry #6 - Thinking of all the things that rhyme with 'Lumbini'

12/7/07 09:35 pm

Hiooo,

It feels like quite a while since i last posted... its only been a week i think. This time i have been blessed with a keyboard that has all working keys. i may get a little verbose. oops i already did.

Last weekend i went to Chitwan. its a giant national park in the southish of Nepal that is famous for its poachable wildlife. We arrived saturday afternoon and had a nice ride on the roof of a carf from the bus to the hotel. it seems like roof riding is common here. i enjoy it very much (no Judith, there are no seat belts). lunch was on a warm sunny rooftop. it was a really nice change from the chills and pollution that clog Kathmandu. We went for a walk down by the river to see some canoes made of logs and the sunset. on the way home we all bought matching t-shirts. on the front there is an elephant head. on the back, there is an elephant bum. in the evening we saw some Tharu dancing. It was lots of bouncing and banging. in one number, a male dancer dressed as a woman and had a little man in an elf like costume twirl around him. i think it had something to do with death. My favorite was a guy that put on a paper mache peacock costume. the tail actually fanned... the beak really pecked. so cool.

The next day we got up turbo early to go on a canoe ride. we saw a croc along the way. We got off in a field of tall grass where we were supposed to look for rhinos. we found tiger footprints. EEK! we wandered around with the guide desperately seeking rhinos, but only found their footprints in mud. after that we visited the elephant breeding center. WE PLAYED WITH BABY ELEPHANTS!!!!!! seriously, we fed them cookies and they goobered all over us with their trunks. a couple decided that they wanted to be close friends and moved the fence bars so they could climb over. it was so weird. they just kept prodding me with their trunks looking for biscuits. what i am saying is that you need to put some hay in the basement. i am bringing one home. his name is Moby Dick.

After we were torn away from the baby elephants we got to wash a big mama elephant. I got to climb up her trunk using her ears as handles and sit on her back. She was trained to spray herself with her trunk on command. so i got schmooped in the face many times with second hand water. The only scaryish part was when she decided to lie down while we were on her back. it takes a little luck to get away from the bottom half in time. we all made it. we spent about half an hour lying with another elephant in the shallow water. we relaxed her pretty much to sleep with some, dare i say, skillful spashing. we played with her feet and trunk.... i just lay on her belly for awhile. elephants are so massive that it is a little hard to tell when they are moving. hmmm thats not really what i mean. they do not feel like they have as much power as they do because its all so easy for them... no thats not it either. oh well.

in the afternoon we went on an elephant safari in the jungle. we saw monkeys, deer, and rhinos. i think it was birthing season because we saw two adorable little baby rhinos by their mummies. we went in a crowd of about 7 elephants that would spread out, then surround the beasts. we got unbelievably close... probably 5m from mom and baby rhino. mom got a little irritated so the elephants (with us on top) had to make a hasty exit. elephants can go anywhere. if something gets in their way they just step on it. we plowed through trees that were probably 10 in around. it was crazy. they didnt even hesitate.

the next day we had a little tour of the village. all the huts were made of bamboo, mud and cow poo. no family there seems complete without a flock of chickens in the house.

It was back to work today (just did errands yesterday). i went to baktapur. got on the wrong bus there so it took an extra hour of "eek we are lost!" time, but we made it. went on a home visit to see a 74 y/o woman who had had a stroke a few years ago. she is steadily regaining her ability to walk. apparently, therapy is very difficult with her because she cries, gets tired, and refuses to do her exercises. she is frighteningly fragile and has eyes that are so observant that she gave me the willies a little. midway through stretching her arms she looked at me and started to laugh. so i did too. we just stared giggling for no reason. it lasted for a good 5 min (really we were hysterical). the manager of the center said he had never seen her that cheerful. i was very pleased. i dont think i did much to help her body, but i brightened her day by just having that random moment. it was really neat.

The other patient i see on Baktapur home visits is a 35 y/o woman who suffered a lower spinal fracture while giving birth. He story is incredibly sad. she lost the use of her legs. when her husband found out , he left her for her older sister. the woman now lives with his parents (he is obligated to take care of her) who are very frail and cry over her condition when we visit. he prognosis is good though. the head physio thinks she will walk independently in a year or so.

i really like all of my patients (they arent really mine but i call them that anyhow). when i am at the main center (NMG) i usually spend a few hours with a 15 year old cerebral palsy patient named Menuka. We play board games and string beads for awhile (works on fine motor stuff). then i stretch out her legs, put her orthoses on, and help her to walk around a little. we do some balance exercises sitting down then play with some of the other kids. one little girl with less severe CP has decided that she is my assistant and always sits with me while i stretch menuka. she makes cooing sounds and imitates the motions i do with menuka's other side. its great.

I also work with a boy named sai. we do much the same things as i do with menuka. he is more mobile though so after he gets his orthoses on, he can wander around with his walker.

i see three patients around gongabu on home visits. Kumar lives in a little villiage thing off the main road. the family lives in one room with very simple things. He suffered a spinal fracture when he fell off a roof. we are working on getting him walking again. for now his wife takes care of him and the kids a random old lady that lives across the road often hugs me when i leave. I also see a little boy that lives in a carpet/yarn factory. by factory i mean a concrete space roofed with tin. He spends most of his day on a matress made of plastic sacs. He has very severe CP, and since we only see him twice a week, his condition probably will not improve. My last patient is a 5 y/o girl with cp. She uses her feet like hands because her upper limbs dont work very well.

This weekend i am going to Lumbini with some people from projects abroad. its the birthplace of buddha. i am expecting complete and lasting enlightenment after my time there.

For the weekend of christmas , i have planned to go to Pokhara with about 20 people. a few of us are going paragliding on the 25th

ok i think thats enough.

bye for now :)

November 27th, 2007

Entry #5 - Gongabuing again

11/27/07 01:12 am

Yo,

Last weekend I went white water rafting on the Bhote Kosi with about 8 other volunteers. For 72 USD we got transport there and back (about 2.5 hours each way), 5 meals, 2 days rafting with equipment, and a really nice tent at The Last Resort (www.thelastresort.com). According to the Lonely Planet, the Bhote Kosi is the best short rafting trip in the word. I believe their sources. The river is class IV-VI (hope that means more to you than it does to me). We had to walk around the class VI stuff because we made the raft too heavy to make it through all the narrow turns. The area around the river is beautiful. its all lush jungle that has somehow managed to cling to a vertical surface. the sides were so high that i had to tilt my head back as far as it would go to see the top. Nothing too dramatic happened on the river. i almost fell out a few times and my 400 lb rafting guide mushed me after rebounding off a rock. that was one suprise i suppose, rafts are springy.

We stayed at The Last Resort, which is 12 km from the Tibetan border. To get there from the river we had to take a bus through an area that was prone to landslides. the road is plowed through the rubble that the locals use as paving stones. luckily we didnt get hit by any rocks on the way. I rode on the top of the bus in the raft. the wires above the road were quite low so it was a tad scary. i would definintely do it again. quite the rush.

To get to the resort we had to cross a sagging metal bridge that spans a 160m drop onto un-matress like rocks. people bungee off it. the rooms are actually army tents with beds in them. the paths between are lit with kerosene lamps at night which makes for an atmosphere of luxurious camping. we had dinner on top of a hill in a huge gondola. we had BBQ chicken with accessories and drank a few Everest beers (i think they are not even brewed in Nepal, but i will check again) with the rafting guides. they had lots of near death stories to share.

We watched the bungee the next morning. about 10 people went off and to be honest i am thinking of going back and doing it. it looks really fun...

I have spent about a week volunteering now. It looks like i will only be spending about 2 days in the center. the rest of the time i will either be at another clinic in Baktapur (about half an hour away) or on home visits around good ol' Kathmandu. Most kids are at the center all day, so therapy often feels a bit like babysitting. We stretch them, do exercises, and try to make the games as productive as possible. most of them have some form of cerebral palsy and have varying degrees pf mobility and fine motor skills. Some days there are more therapists than children. I am a little thrown off by this and have a feeling that closely resembles miffed. The volunteers dont really need to be there because they already employ about 10 Nepali therapy assistants. We still manage to find things to do, but i would like to be busier. The kids really seem to need the attention, so i suppose its okay that i am only getting little bits of information on how to repair them.

As for the rest of daily Gongabuian life... its pretty good. We eat dahl bat (lentils. please dont make them for me when i get home. seriously. if i see another lentil i will lose it.) twice a day. with rice in the morning and with chapatti at night. luch is at the therapy center and is either mr. noodles or bread and jam. I go to bed around ten because i am pretty tired. They start killing chickens around 5am outside my bedroom window (others have seen it, i have not). i have figured out that i live in the meat district. there are caracasses in nearly every store on my way to work. they are not refrigerated... the buzzing of flies is all that keeps them cool. i do not eat meat here. I do eat cookies though. Nepali kit kat bars taste better than canadian ones.  I buy fruit a few times a week from a cart. today the woman who owns it gave me two free bananas. bananas here are small and yummy. I light candles in my room at night now because it makes me feel warmer. i realized the other day that people actually live near the main road in tents. i thought they were temporary little kitchens for the local stores. not so. they use a nearby ditch as a toilet. I feel very lucky to live in a house.

Next weekend i am going to Chitwan to go on a safari and wash some elephants. They have many large animals with sharp jaws there. the week after that i am going paragliding in Pokhara.

Thanks for your note Lynn (I cant use the reply function for some reason). Dangle the children upsidedown for me. i will bring them some little monkey pets as requested.

adieu

November 19th, 2007

Entry #4 - Back in Gongabu

11/19/07 02:50 am

Last weekend we went to Nagarkot, which is about 2 hours outside of Kathmandu in the foothills. We stayed at a resort called "The end of the Universe". it wasnt entirely false advertising. It was a series of little cottages on one of the last little bumps (by bump i mean about 3500 m asl) before the Himalayas. There was a terrace and a restaurant so we could sit and look at the mountains while drinking lots and lots of tea.

We got up at about 430 am to hike to a lookout for sunrise. 6 tourists tripping over themselves in the dark that early in the morning causes a ruckus in a small town. about a half hour into the walk we heard agressive shouting from a crowd of men that we could not see. then we heard heavy running. then i had a heart attack. then the entire nepalese army ran by doing their mornning exercise.

Sunrise happened before we could reach the lookout but we found i nice spot to watch it from. i highly recommend it. the himalayas cover about 200 degrees of the view and are just more massive than any photo can try to tell you. We walked up to the view point where there was a tower with prayer flags all over it. awesome. i feel tiny.

Then we marched down the hill again. with the army. haha not so scary this time.

started work today, will write more another time

November 16th, 2007

Entry #3 - From an internet hole in Thamel... under a bar with a live rock band

11/16/07 10:15 pm

Hello yet again...

Sorry I dont have time to reply to all your messages (internet is wayyyyy too slow). Rest assured that i have a suitcase set aside for monkeys. I can take up to 12. two spots are taken.

oh and dont worry, i am not spending all my time blogging. it really only takes about a half hour. since the city is only quiet enough to sleep in between 2 and four... i have plenty of time. i'm especially untired today because i just had a cappucino. couldnt believe that they had them... trying one was necessary. it was yumtastic

Today we all woke up at six to go on a little trek. we took the public bus about an hour out of KTM to a little village that has a name, but i cant remember it. the village is located on the inside of a steep valley that has been cut in stairs for farming and irrigation. Every family seemed to be paired with a familyof goats, chickens, and a cow. they keep the goats in place with ropes attached to sticks. the chickens live under small baskets. the cows can usually rome free because they are sacred and can seldom be told what to do. We visited the local school, which has about 175 adorable children. we delivered notebooks, rulers (with barbies on the front...) and pens. they were all thrilled and loved having their photos taken. then we went to one of the houses and had rice beer (yucky) and radishes dipped in curry (wierd but kind of appealing). After that we climed on a little further to check out a sweet view of the himalayas. it was sweet. lunch was at another little house. we ate rice with dahl and curried veggies, on the floor, with our hands. it was goooood.

we hiked about 3 hrs almost all the way home through more little villages. little kids followed us around screaming "give me chocolate!!!!" "give me one pen!!!!!" "one rupeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" .

the bus home was hell. smelly withgas from the street and bumpyas heck. they are so crowded that people spill out the doors and windows. Embarassingly, the locals often go way out of their way to give ustourists their seats. they are offended if we say no. today seemed to be garbage burning day, so we had to dodge bonfires as well as navigate the one lane for two directions of traffic. huge yikes.

We all had decent showers then went out for italian food for dinner, where i got the magnificent cappucino. tea was at a little shoeless establishement with tarps for walls and lots of carpets for the floors.

November 15th, 2007

Entry #2 - From an internet linkup in Gongabu

11/15/07 01:26 am

Hello!

I have finally gotten myself together enough to be on a computer. I had a great time in London. Just walked around looking at all the oversized famous things fo hours and hours. Made it inside the Tower of London. It was pretty disappointing. Lots of lists of things that had been moved to other museums and videos of what life was like back in the day. i saw the crown jewels, which was kinda neat. There is a conveyor belt that goes between the displays haha its strange to be in a medieval building with a modern moving floor.

My flight for Kathmandu Left at 2pm from london... i got there about 18 hours later. The view from the plane was amazing. The mountains made it up over the top of the clouds. When i arrived i was told that it would be the staff christmas party that night. of course i went. didnt even feel tired. the city is so busy with animals (monkeys!), people, and cars, that it is impossible to feel tired. The party was at a little villa that was in an oasis near the zoo. they lit candles in the garden and had a secret santa (I got a scarf even though i had just come in). I met all the volunteers and made fast friends. They are all very genuine and friendly. i feel like i have known them forever. they come from all over the world and most have been in nepal for a few months. It seems like a hard place to leave. After the party we all went back to the hotel and kept going. i didnt go to sleep until about 11. it was possibly the most eventful day i have ever had.

Today I went to the head office for a visit, then to the HIV center, and moved into my new home. The HIV center is for kids and their families who have the disease. they are provided with nutritional councilling, food, medicine, education, an ambulance, a full time nurse, and two cooks. about 16 kids use the facilities. they expect to grow quite a bit in the next few years due to people traveling to India for prostitution. There is also a problem with doctors not using properly sterilized equipment. with an increase in the availability of medical care and exposure, HIV could spread quite rapidly.

My home is with about 6 other volunteers. we live on a floor that is separate from the family. my room is quite large (suprising!) with two big windows. I have a roomate but she will be leaving in a little over a week. I do not know when and if someone will replace her.

It is quite hot here during the day but dips to around zero in the evening. there is no hot water, so showering has to be timed very carefully. We can sometimes see the himalayas through the smog (Its the first time in months that this has been possible).    My throat hurts a bit from the pollution, but it wont be so bad once i stop spending so much time in taxis.

I was supposed to start my placement tomorrow, but apparently we are all going trekking instead, then it will be the weekend and time for more fun in Thamel (they keep telling me the H is silent, but its a hard habit to break. Maybe i will start being productive on monday.

November 5th, 2007

Entry #1 - From my room in Toronto

11/5/07 01:05 am

Hello,

In five days I am leaving for Nepal to volunteer as a physiotherapist's assistant with Projects Abroad (www.projects-abroad.org).

So far, this is what I know about my travel arrangements: I leave on November 10th. I will arrive in Kathmandu on the 14th. Someone friendly will meet me outside the airport. Getting through a three-day stopover in London, a 5 hour tour of the Doha airport in Qatar, and the space between the airplane and the friendly person is my problem. My new (and only) friend will take me to a hotel where I can recover from my journey. After that I will get a tour of Kathmandu and see where I will be working.

My volunteer placement is in an orphanage run by the Nepal Matri Griha (NMG), which is located in a region of Kathmandu called Gongabu. Gongabu is right next to the tourist district, Thamel, and is the center of most of the public land travel operations in Nepal. Its an excellent starting point for making travel plans for my spare time.

The Nepal Matri Griha (translates as “Mothers Home”) is an internationally funded organization that was founded in Nepal about seven years ago. It is a non-profit and non-government national development organization. NMG is implementing development projects that are supported by individual, bilateral and multilateral agencies. Its worth a google but doesn’t have its own unifying website, so information is pretty limited.

NMG was established with the purpose of providing care to underprivileged street children, orphans, conflict victims and the physically and mentally challenged. They seek to provide sustainable resources to children who are at risk of abuse, exploitation, and who do not have access to education or medical care.

NMG in Nepal runs a home, a school and a therapy centre for children with mental and physical disabilities. I will be working with a physiotherapist in the therapy center. On average we will be seeing about 60-70 patients per day. Children come to the center with movement difficulties associated with malnutrition, trauma, and a range of birth defects.

I will be staying with a kindly looking woman named Hem Kumari Rai. The only thing I know about her home is that the address says it is in “New Bus Park” and very close to where I will be working. Chances are that I will be boarding with other volunteers.

Some of you have expressed concerns about safety while I am there. News of violent protests, kidnappings, and bombs going off in public buses (two in September with no repeats) scare me too. However, I feel like the risks are minimal when compared to the amazing experience I will have over there. Protests are very easy to avoid. Kidnappings by the Maoists are always directed at politically influential people. It is in their interests to avoid making Nepal scary for tourists because Maoist political interests are largely funded by charging tolls for trekking. The bombings terrify me, but still… by keeping my transportation to cabs, foot, and clearly marked tourist vehicles, I should be able to decrease my risk. The people I have contacted in Nepal say that they feel safe day to day and that using my common sense will be enough to stay out of harms way.

While in Nepal I hope to do some exploring. I’d like to go trekking pretty much anywhere, go white water rafting, and spend some time at monkey square (my doctor advised against doing that without my rabies shot… I’m going to ignore him). I have also heard of tours where you can ride on and wash elephants. I would like to do that as long as the elephant does not try to return the favour.

Some good news sites if you are interested in keeping up with current events are:

thehimalayantimes.com
www.nepalnews.com
www.kantipuronline.com/ktmpost.php
www.wordtravels.com/Travelguide/Countries/Nepal (more general travel info)

I'll post pictures and stories as soon as I can.

Goodbye for now!