Election day

Today was election day in Nepal: the roads were beautifully void of vehicles, so tourists and locals walked, kids played soccer and cricket in the streets, and, aside from soldiers wearing riot gear, peace (and quiet!) reigned.

I headed to the monkey temple, meandering through streets playing my new game, "follow the white people". This game is easy because white people are apparently the only ones in Nepal who would be seen in public wearing the hammer pants covered in colorful felt strips they sell in every Thamel store! Also, they are white.

Anyway, the monkey temple was full of monkeys as promised, and I stayed clear of those mean bastards. The temple was also full of people and energy, and the air so clear there were stunning views from the hill. I wrapped up the day with dinner with Italians and Australians: Much beer was had.

I think today ties for my 2nd favorite Kathmandu day. My best day was when a friend and I stumbled upon a Hindi harvest festival in Baktapur. That day was magic.

Searching for the real

I have been staying in Kathmandu at the volunteer dormitory for the mountain fund NGO: I found this place through the AAC. I like the place as I eat with the family and I learn a lot about Nepal through talking with the founders, one of which is American.  During a recent school holiday I met their "daughter": she is 8 and top of her class, she likes math and science the most (yay!), and her father has passed and her mother has been working abroad for 2 years now with no particular plan to come back. So, yes, they have semi-adopted this beautiful child, and I love them for it!

Recently I had a discussion with his wife about the "real" Nepal, after I told her the Everest trek feels like Disneyland vs wilderness, and how I felt almost discouraged from experiencing "local". She invited me to their NGO's farm after my annapurna trek, where they have been working to address women's empowerment (is this a trip theme?) via cash crop production, improved education, child care, etc so the town's women can work while their husbands, if they have them, are away seeking city employment.

I wondered if this was "real" Nepal, or just "country" Nepal. Doesn't transforming the Himalaya into a theme park speak about the nature of a people? Or is this a reflection of the nature of westerners on vacation, encouraging pizzas and western toilets and beer in places where porters and yaks carry in every can and I'm still not sure who carries them out.  When I posed this thought I was told that 80% of Nepalese are farmers, hence the "real" of the farm.

Between both Ladakh and Nepal you see a rural vs urban pull, a tourist vs a local economy, and, in mountain trekking, a willingness to cater to tourist comforts rather than have tourists experience the centuries-old cuisine, toilets, and general lean, efficient living that has sustained mountain cultures long before tourists came.  Ladakh feels much more authentic, but I worry time and western money will transform thupka into pizza and powdered drinks into bottled ones.

So, back to the question, what is the "real"? I don't want to sound like an elitist westerner, claiming the real is a farm with no internet, traditional garb, barefoot children,  wood-fired stoves filling kitchens with smoke. The real isn't living in the past, but dynamic. From what I can see, it's transforming a mountain farming economy into a hotel and restaurant business, it's everyone having a mobile phone, it's women seeking to empower themselves, and it's parents sending their kids to orphanages because the education is better in a foreign-run orphanage vs a government school.  Perhaps the real of a culture is defined in how the people respond to change, how they seek the best life for themselves and their children, how they share and give and care for each other, or not. 

One question is how can we as tourists encourage a more sustainable and culturally-sensitive approach to development in trekking towns, knowing people will strive to achieve the best life they can?

And, the homework question: what is the "real" America?

Moon pie!

Not only is Nepal geographically diverse and teeming with monkeys, but it also has cheap samosas and, omg, moon pies! I might have to move to Pokhara!

Remembrance day

Today back in namche, I decided to pursue an acclimatization hike I missed due to rain on my way up.

I walked 45 minutes up the hill, where I ran into a group of female Canadian engineers. One joke about Americans knowing everything won them over, and I joined them for hot chocolate at the lodge, where we arrived 2 mins before British military (goddammit why didn't I start my trek 2 weeks later?!) began playing the trumpet for remembrance day, which is celebrated in British commonwealth countries by 2 minutes of silence to remember ww1 and 2 vets at 11am. It was amazing how all the patrons grew silent, stood, and observed the 2 minutes.

Later, while visiting the original Hillary school, we came across a bunch of monks who, I kid you not, were at the school to help rescue a nak, a female yak, who had fallen into a pit toilet. Being engineers and thus, problem solvers, we wanted to help too. With kids huddled on the rocks watching, 30 minutes of rope pulling, building a platform, and installing a ladder into the latrine went by, after which the nak was free and everyone clapped...except one very upset nak.

Honestly, the image of a pissed-off, shit-covered nak running across the school yard being chased by monks was pure comedy. For sure, my introduction to remembrance day, with a bit more pomp and circumstance than veteran's day, is one I won't forget.

A little Khumbu culture

This morning in Gokyo, the whole town, dressed in traditional garb, the valley doctor, and about 6 tourists headed to the lake to inaugurate the town's new shrine (the old was destroyed in a rock slide/avalanche). Monks sporting red down jackets hiked 7 hours from phortse to perform the ceremony. There was much throwing of rice, burning of incense, drinking of tea, chanting, and my favorite, eating of biscuits! Honestly, a free cookie for a westerner in the Khumbu, now that deserves a blog!

Afterwards, I headed town valley to Phortse, stopping for lunch at a place run by a climbing sherpa who told me Everest is his favorite to climb because it's a very social experience (and not that hard). The evening guesthouse was run by a sherpa who has climbed Everest 5 times. After an hour of answering questions from myself and a Swiss couple about climbing (Lhotse is his favorite to climb, and camp 3 is so dangerous he has to keep clients on a rope when they use the toilet!), he invited the three of us to his kitchen, poured us more tea, and told us about his 2 sons studying in Kathmandu. Long story short, the plan is for one son to marry a Swiss girl and the other, an American, and then send some money back to dear old dad! 

The next morning while I had tea with he and his wife, they began laughing and she pinched my cheek. I asked what was so funny and she said, "you are American!" I told her I'm too old for her 19 yo son...but a father-in-law who could drag me up Himalayan peaks would be pretty epic. ;)

Passes and prayer flags

The Khumba is Buddhist territory, so prayer flags, gompas, and chortens are everywhere. I decided to place a few flags of my own, as tributes.

High on the Cho La, three flags for three Sierra mountaineers who I never met, but feel connected to via our shared passion for the hills: For Tom, Ishun, and Pat.

A bit more personal on Gokyo Ri, a flag for my father, and a poem, using the flag colors as a framework:

White, for the crisp fall air, sun filtering through golden leaves on mountain twisties,
With the red of fire, passion, for the open road
Traversing from the green of the sea, which you loved,
--And though you can't smell the salt from here, you can feel the breeze with a view of endless white caps--
To the yellow earth of Appalachia.

Let the Himalayan breezes blow through dancing colors
And carry my whispers
Over this world's highest points
and to the blue ether.
I love you.

The big kahuna

Thar she blows!

Cold as f#@;!

Def. The temperature above 4700m from 4pm to 7am anywhere >1m from the dung heater.

Ex. Wow, the water from the faucet froze mid-drip because it's cold as f#@;!

Walking amongst giants

8 days into my 20-day trek, and my first case of stomach bug (in Nepal) has bought me time for a blog :/

Walking in the Khumba is like walking amongst the gods. Everywhere there are beautiful, massive peaks with formidable summits, it's incredible. I've already seen the tallest and 4th tallest mountains on the planet, and standing at 5000m right next to Lhotse it doesn't seem that high (though climbable is another matter). l still haven't found a proper route up Ama Dablam. 

I've been walking a majority of the time with 2 Americans, Sashi and William. We are a motley crew, with tons of bad jokes.

A few days ago I saw an award-winning movie about sherpas on Everest while it rained in namche. In the movie, the sherpas refer to Everest as mother, as the mountain provides their livelihood (gives them life). As they climb, they ask their mother to "love them". This humility in the mountains is easy to understand normally, and especially in the cold and high-altitude Khumba. This film is excellent.

I visited island peak base camp and the bloated glacial lake Ima Tsoa. The lake has grown rapidly due to recent glacial retreat, and looking down from high on the morraine inspired the same awe and dread as looking into a volcano. It's a deadly beauty.

Pics include travel pals, views from the trail, and my upset-tummy spirits after pb-honey pancake and hot tang!