Above 3500 m

Namche után tovább vándoroltunk, és már egy óra után megpillanthattuk ismét az Everestet. A nap vège fele rododendron erdök közt értünk fel Tengboche-ba, 3850 m-re. Mikor megérkeztünk, minden felhös volt, de este megint kitisztult, és kiderült, hogy rengeteg hegy vesz körül, minden iránybòl. Este még egy buddhista kolostorban tartott szertartáson is részt vettünk. Kicsit vicces, hogy nappal egy pòlòban menetelünk, míg este fel kell venni a legmelegebb cuccainkat, mivel a szobákban semmi fütés nincs.

A következö nap vége a 4400 m-en lévö Dingboche volt, ahol kettöt aludtunk akklimatizaciò céljábòl. Másnap meghódítottunj egy 5073 m-es hegyet, elég lassan a magasság miatt. A kilátás páratlan.

Ahogy megyünk feljebb, ùgy az árak is, föleg a vízè, bár én ahhoz víztisztítò tablettát használok, ùgyhogy inkább elfürdöm az árát a melegvizes zuhanyban.

Ma elèrtük Lobuchet, hòesésben, 4900 m-en vagyunk, és most már nekem is fáj a fejem, ùgyhogy azt hiszem, kelleni fog a magadhegyi gyógyszer. A szobákban kb 0 fok van, a közösségi helyiségben fütenek kicsit. Hùst már 3 napja nem ettem. Holnap irány az alaptábor!

Sorry but now there won’t be many representative pictures as they are coming only from my mobile and as I have only my mobile with me, I can’t transfer them from the camera. 

Everest which is on the left, the one where the cloud starts

After Namche we continued our way higher up, it was very scenic, only after 1 hour we could already catch a glimpse of Everest. Then we descended into the valley and then went up again and passed doses of rhododendron trees. So the last part was very steep up again, leaving not so much oxygen for us. We arrived to Tengboche at 3850 m in the afternoon when everything was covered in clouds and was raining a bit. But after some hours the view cleared up and discovered that we are surrounded by mountains in every directions. When the weather is clear even the top of Everest is visible. Here the temperature should be below zero during the night (hopefully not in the rooms). There is still an option for hot shower, which I took and will do until I have the chance even if it costs. The funny thing that during the day it is very hot and we are walking in T-shirt but in the evening you need every clothes you have to go out and during the night it is really freezing but thankfully the sleeping bag protects me well. At this stage I don’t have any symptoms for high altitude sickness but some people experience headache and difficulty of sleeping. Saturation is still 92%. 

Tengboche

An other funny thing just came into my mind. We are in a parallel world as in Kathmandu we are jumping on the side not to be hit by a car or motorbike. Here the same thing, just with yaks and donkeys..

So another day, which we started in bright sunshine and a view of Everest which followed us until lunch. Not that steep ascends which was great because our group is getting slower and slower. We arrived at 4400 m in Dingboche which is quite a big village considering the altitude. Now the prices also went up and we got advised not to eat meat anymore as it is not that safe (if you think about the transportation). We are quite tired but all good so far.

Dingboche

The next day we did another acclimatisation from Dingboche up to a mountain at 5073 m (called Nangkhartsang). It took a bit more than 3 hours and was really tough because of the altitude. So at the end we took 2 steps and than had to stop for a while. The view was indeed great, we were surrounded by mountains from every directions, like the magnificient Ama Dablam and we cought a glimpse of Island Peak too which 2 of our team members are going to climb (it is over 6000 m). Now some of us sitting in a nice cafe which is warm, has wifi and cinnamon rolls. What else you can wish for at 4400 m.

Yak with rhododendron

So today we continued our way towards base camp and after a 6 hours walk (with lunch break) we reached Lobuche which is at 4900 m. Only after one hour it started to snow and it is still snowing in the evening. I also started to feel the symptoms of altitude sickness in the form of headache which has been only mildly improving after taking ibuprofen. So probably I am voing to start to take altitude medicine (Acetazolamide) but still I will be between the last ones in the group. Thankfully no other symptoms yet but we are going to sleep 2 more nights at a higher altitude. In the guest house there are quite many people and in the rooms it is about 0 degree. Surprisingly there is hot shower which I couldn’t stand not have despite the increasing price. So tomorrow we are going to take the trip to the base camp, around 6 hours trip in probably a lot of snow. Hope for the best. Saturation is at 83% and I haven’t eaten meat for 3 days (maybe a record?).

The weather now in Lobuche

Everest Base camp trek - the beginnings

Most kezdödik az igazi kaland! Már találkoztam a magyarokkal, akikkel az Everest alaptáborába fogunk indulni. Ehhez egy nagyon luxus hotel járt, ahol 2 éjszakát töltöttünk. A következò napot a hoányzò felszerelések veszerzésével töltöttük a kathmandui piacon, ahol kb minden tùrafelszerelés kaphatò minimum féláron (mondjuk hamisítottan, de minöségileg elèg jò). Az estét a pakolással töltöttük, mivel egy porter jut 2 emberre, így egy ember max 12,5 kg-ot vihet. Az én táskám a 6 hét alatt szaporodott, így a cucc nagy részét a hotelben hagytam. Következö nap 06.30-kor már a Lukla felé tartò repülön ültünk, a világ legveszélyesebbnek tartott reptere felé. Hát ugrált kicsit, és tényleg hegyek közt szállt le egy fél òra után. Innen rögtön továbbindultunk Phakdingba, kb 3 òrás ùt volt, rengeteg szamárral és teherhordò jakokkal találkoztunk. Másnap a következö állomás Namche bazaar volt, ami már 3400 m-en fekszik, ez az utolsò nagyobb település. A hálòzsákom esdig jòl bírja a hideget. Teaházakban alszunk mondjuk, nem sátorban, de fütés nincs. Viszont van fizetös melegzuhany meg áram. 

Ma pedig akklimatizáciòs tùrára indultunk 3800 m-re, ahonnan már láthattuk az Everestet! Holnap irány tovább!

So the big adventure begins. I already met with my Hungarian buddies in Kathmandu and stayed in a very fancy hotel which probably would have costed more than what I paid nearly for a week altogether :D . I spent a day afterwords buying a lot of stuffs for the trekking, even though I thought I already have had  everything. But was too tempting that here everything is just too cheap (and probably fake but who cares). It is like a huge outdoor shop in a whole city. We spent the evening packing as there is a limit on the flight to the start of the trek (16 kg) and also a limit how much luggage a porter can carry (25 kg for two person). Good that I had a portable weighting device which became very popular. Also my luggage during the 6 weeks was growing constantly so the pack I left at the hotel for the trekking period was almost bigger than the one I took with me (in an Ikea bag, to be stylish).

So we woke at 4 am, and left the hotel at 5 am and surprisingly smoothly we were already on the plane a bit after 6 am. The flight from Kathmandu to Lukla takes about 30 mins and the airport is considered to be the most dangerous in the world because of the closeness of the mountains, unpredictable weather and very short road for the plane. But we survived! We were not more than 15 people on it so you can imagine the plane is not huge and stable.. The views in Lukla were mesmorizing (and a bit cold). So from 2800 m we had to go first a bit down to Phakding to 2650 m (about 3-4 hours). We arrived here quite early at around 12 am. In the evening we had a relativaly eide selection of dinner options, considering that we are in the middle of the mountains already. I took some smashed potatoes with some chicken and vegetables. 

After a good night sleep, we started again at 8 am towards Namche basaar which is the last bigger village on the way to the base camp and lays at 3400 m. We were walking along the river and passed numerous hanging bridges, some of them laying very high up. 

The other half of the day the route was quite steep, so the total difference was about 1100 m for the whole day. Now we are surrounded by a lot of mountains and the temperature feels like being below zero at least during the night. We are sleeping in an other tea house which has warm shower that is great (even if it costs about 1,5 euro). Even here I could eat grilled chicken with some vegetables (chicken sizzler). Otherwise drinking water costs also a lot in the mountains but I use chlorid tablets and so far it is working (and not producing plastic waste). Here you have to pay even for electricity and wifi. But otherwise in the town there is really everything, even ATM and North face shop and an Irish pub. 

The sleeping bag is working well too, sometimes even too warm. We are going to stay in Namche for an other extra day to do an acclimatisation trek tomorrow. Saturation is 92% (blood oxygen level).

So the next day we went up to the Everest view point at 3800 m and we got to see Everest! Was amazing! The way up was not that easy, you can’t really walk fast at this altitude, we started to struggle. We have even visited Nepal’s highest airport which I think was more like a helicopter landing spot. Quite many tourists here but still not that crowded as expected. Tomorrow we continue our way higher up. Internet is not sure to have. 

Not Everest

Everest. Not the highest one but somewhere between my head and the high peak (which is Ama Dablam)

Bhaktapur

Okhaldhungábòl jeep-pel jöttem vissza Kathmanduba ismét Sally, John és Liv (norvég szülésznö) társaságában. Ezùttal kicsit kényelmesebben, mint idefele. Ùtközben megálltunk természetesen dal bhatot enni. Ùtközben a szokàsos korábbi földcsuszamlások nyomai, valamint egy oldalára fordult autò, amit lazán visszafordítottak, és ment tovább. Másnap a közeli Bhaktapurba vettem az irányt, a helyi busszal, ami külön élmény volt. De maga a város gyönyörü volt rengeteg templomnal és terekkel.

Finally a very good dal bhat on the eay to Ktm

From Okhaldhunga I got back by a jeep, together with John, Sally and Liv (a Norwegian midwife whith also works here). The route was very scenic again, and a bit more comfortable this time as we were not like 10 ppl in the car. Apart from the occasional dirt road sections because of previous landslides we have also seen a car on its side which local people just pushed back and then it was on the road again.

Some parts of the road 

Again I stayed at Norwegain guest house as always. Quite tired due to the early start at 6 am. Didn’t do too much that day apart from lying on my bed.

The day after I took a trip to a nearby town, called Bhaktapur which has been one of the three royal places besides Kathmandu and Patan. This time I took a local bus for about 0,5 euro. Of course it was totally full when we arrived and ppl got on and off all the time so the estimated half an hour tour took at least an hour but was worth the experience.

The town itself was truly beautiful with countless of temples and squares and not so many tourists. I was just walking endlessly. Finally I discovered a place I like in Kathmandu (ok, a little bit outside). 

On the way back the bus was even more full and for some reasons when we arrived at the bus station in Kathmandu, new people were trying to get on without us being able to get off. Total chaos. Or organised chaos?

Okhaldhunga - a footstep from Mt Everest

A következö állomás Okhaldhunga, 1500 m-en, az Everest közelében (Nepálnak pont a másik oldala, mint ahol eddig voltam). Az út ide ismét kb 10 óra volt, de a kanyarokat leszámítva legalább jó kondícióban volt. Mikor megérkeztem, elöször Sally üdvözölt, aki az orvos férjével, John-nal lakik itt, eredetileg ausztrálok. Itt a vadiúj vendégházban aludtam, még két norvég gyógytornász tàrsaságában, akik látogatóban voltak itt. Eddig a legvidékibb hely ez, melegvíz nincs, áram nagyjából többször nincs, mint van és persze pottyantós wc, amibe nem lehet papírt dobni. A faluban egy csomó élelmiszer nincs (pl gyümölcs, kenyér, sajt), de van kb 4-5 “étterem”, ahol max 3 féle kaját kapni. Ittlétem alatt találkozhattam Lars-sal, egy norvég ortopédussal, aki pár hétig szokott itt lenni minden évben és ezúttal hozott magával rengeteg ortopédiai mütéti eszközt is. Ha ö nincs itt, akkor nincs ortopéd orvos. Egyébként kb 8 kezdö nepáli orvos + egy sebész szakorvos és John van itt állandóan. Most épp egy nögyógyász (Jan) is volt itt Dániából néhány hétre. Idöm nagy részét föleg a norvégokkal töltöttem, voltunk kirándulni is egy nagyon szép helyen. Húsvét vasárnap egy hangulatos nepáli istentisztelet részesei voltunk, amit egy sziklán tartottak. Egyik reggel ismét 05.30-kor keltem, hogy Mt Evrestet nézzek a hegycsúcsról. Hát.. A felhök...

The hospital is the dark red building on the left

So the trip to Okhaldhunga from Kathmandu went well, much better roads (except the occasionally dirt road because of previous landslides). Sleep was not really possible because of the curvy roads as usual. The ride was very scenic between valleys and mountain tops along a river. As usual my growing luggage was traveling on the top. 

We arrived to Okhaldhunga about 2 pm and I was greeted by Sally, an Australian lady who lives here with her husband John who is working as a GP and Sally is responsible for the housing between other things. I got the opportunity to be among the first guests at the new guest house along with 2 Norwegian physiotherapists who were here for visiting the Norwegian orthopaedic surgeon Lars who is spending some weeks working here.

The guest house with a proud chicken

The hospital is situated on the side of a mountain, about 1500 m above sea level. The place is quite remote, it felt like electricity shortcuts happen more often than having electricity. No warm water and squatting toilet everywhere (which the Norwegians solved it by putting a handicapped toilet chair above it). I was waking up to the sound of huge pigs and cocks. In the town (called Sobru) there weren’t many groceries I got used to (no bread, no cheese, no vegetables, mostly no fruits except some bananas at one place). Surprisingly 4-5 small restaurants which usually had 1-2 different meals you could choose from (momo, pasta or soup). I got used to the situation quite fast and didn’t really miss anything (except warm water).

From left: Nora from Norway, John, me, Sally and Jan

One of the restaurants (called The hotel) kitchen

Talking about doctors, it is about 6-7 junior doctors working there and a fresh nepali general surgeon. Plus Lars and Jan (a Danish obstetrician) who are here for some weeks as seniors. John is always here and he is the main supervisor for the juniors as I understood. Lars has been doing amazing things in ortho, taking with him loads of instruments which were donated by different companies. So mostly I was with him at surgeries (trauma cases at the time) and at the ER which was mostly an outpatient clinic. 

With my Norwegian friends in a traditional kurta (which unfortunately shrank a lot after washing)

As the possibilities for free time activities were limited, the people rely very much on each other and they are spending a lot of time together which makes them a great team. I was spending time mostly with the Norwegians and sometimes was invited by Sally & John for dal bhat (traditional rice meal). I enjoyed every moment and was at least as hard to leave Okhaldhunga as leaving Tansen.

We went hiking around the nearby mountains where I could taste salty milk the first time (sold as “tea” by the way). The trip was very scenic and rural so we had a glance of the “real” Nepal.

On Easter Sunday we participated a service which was held on a rock outside with snacks afterwords. 2 hours in nepali language but still a very unique experience. Interesting that there are so many christians in this small village. Afterwords we went to the bazaar with the Norwegian ladies which is about a half an hour walk and there you have a bit wider selection of everything.

The service on the rock

One morning I woke up again at 05.00 to drive up to a place called Pattale there you are supposed to have a great view of the mountain range (witnessed just a couple of days before by the Norwegians). Well.. Surprisingly it was cloudy but at least I could see some mountain tops. 

Everest is on the right mountain range, second peak from right

Tansen - the place to be

Több mint egy hete nem írtam. Ez azért van, mert miòta Tansen-be érkeztem, mindig történt valami érdekes. Elöször is Pokharából kellett Tansenbe jutnom egy minibusszal, amin én boltam az egyetlen nem-nepáli, kb 5-6 órás kanyargós út volt, remek nepáli zenével (link lejjebb). A busz az út szélèn tett ki valahol, de kb. 5 percet vártam, mire egy önkéntes taxi jelölt felajánlotta, hogy elvisz a kórházhoz. Itt rögtön befészkeltem a kórház vendégházába, ahonnan ugyan félidöben költöznöm kellett. Mint kiderült, feleslegesen, úgyhogy 3 nap után visszaköltöztem. Itt is találkoztam egérrel, meg bazi nagy pókokkal, valamint tudomásomra jutott, hogy egy óriás patkány lakik a tetön. De mégis inkább ez, mint a folyton bulizó hotel. Tansen egy elég kis város, 1350 m magasban, a hegyoldalba épülve, amúgy nagyon aranyos. Kedves emberek, 0 turista, rengeteg külföldi, akik a kórházban vagy az iskolában dolgoznak, 3 svéd család. Úgyhogy végre találkoztam itt Amandával, a svéd ortop orvossal, aki ezt az egész kórházasdit leszervezte nekem. Ahhoz képest, hogy milyen kisváros, mindig történt valami (köszönhetöen a külföldieknek). Egyik nap lekirándultunk a Rani Mahal nevü templomhoz, 700 m le meg ugyanannyi fel a tüzö napon, hát nem volt egyszerü. Vissza Kathmanduba a kórház jeep-jével jöttem még 4 másik emberrel, 12 órás út, aminek az elsö 6 órája kizárólag borzasztó kátyús földút volt. Este 6-ra értünk a városba, reggel 4-kor pedig már indultam a következö helyre. Ja és most van nepáli új év, úgyhogy boldog 2079-et!

Oh, more than a week passed and I haven’t posted anything. This is because all the time something was happening since I arrived to Tansen. And now I have already left it and I am back to Kathmandu. 

Hospital in Tansen with ambulance cars

So we go back a little bit in time. The bus trip was ok from Pokhara to Tansen, but not as comfortable as the “VIP deluxe” bus from Kathmandu. Here I was the only non-nepali person and the mini bus was really mini with not so spacious seats. Interestingly in Nepal somehow all the buses are always full. If not in the beginning, they pick up people on the way on every possible locations. So first I was sitting beside an elderly lady, and after that she was changed to a younger girl. During the whole journey we had the privilege to listen to high tuned nepali/indian music. For example (if you want to get in the moods): https://youtu.be/P4x2C6z80bQ

Maybe understandable that after a half an hour I switched to Spotify. The road was very wavy but maybe less bumpy than the one from Kathmandu to Pokhara. As the bus was not going directly to Tansen but somewhere else, it dropped me in some village on the way, some km away from Tansen. I just needed to wait 5 mins until a local guide offered himself as taxi service (although for sure not official taxi) and took me up to the mountain. 

A part of Tansen from above

Tansen has a great location at 1350 m altitude, built on the side of a mountain which makes the town and streets quite interesting. There are not so many flat parts, even the hospital is built on several floors, adjusted to the steep mountain wall. According to wikipedia, 30.000 people live here but there are many who comes to the hospital from other places. So far I liked Tansen the best of all the places I have seen. The whole town and the surrounding mountains have a real beauty but also the people are very kind and as this is not a touristic place at all, they don’t want to sell constantly something to you. Interestingly there are many foreigner expats who serves at the hospital or in the school nearby, currently about 30 people, and 3 swedish families. 

I landed finally at the hospitals guest house where I have been the only guest in the beginning. In the afternoon already there was an English service held by Dr Rachel, the hospital director (from the UK). So here I met almost all the foreigners and finally also with Amanada and her family (the swedish ortho doctor who organised for me the whole visit in all the hospitals). Tansen felt like home from the first day. 

Guest house area

The day after we had lunch in a restaurant with Amandas family and she also showed me around, we climbed the Shreenagar mountain and I bought my first kurta, a nepali dress which is worn by the women here. Was a good fit for the church which was fully in nepali for 2 hours, but still interesting. Unfortunately it shrank quite a lot after I washed out so now it is a bit difficult to breath while wearing.. Of course the second time I wanted to walk to the city, took me double the time as I didn’t find my way because half of the streets were not on google maps.

Tansen when a little bit of more mountains were visible

The hospital is much bigger than what I expected, I think they have 160 beds and every day a lot of outpatients which makes the waiting area look like a train station. There are 5 ortho surgeons whom I was following. Every morning we all went round and visited the admitted patients (around 25 patients usually + children) and then mostly I was at the surgery. They are really effective, operating around 6 cases in one OR daily, almost no waiting time between the operations. Mostly fractures and trauma cases with a little old school instruments but almost the same technic as we do. Interestingly all the doors are always opened and sometimes there are flies but it looks like it doesn’t bother anyone. At the outpatient clinic we have seen around 60 patients in one day (starting from 10 am with a lunch break). Talking about lunch, I usually ate at the canteen, a full meal costed about 0,5 euros.

Canteen

One day we (me, Amanda, an Australian couple and a swiss lady) took a trip down to the river where there is an old hindu church which is now a museum, called Rani Mahal. We had to first walk down 700 m altitude, then walk up again. During the time it became midday which means it was verrrry hot. In the group I was the youngest but was close to give the whole thing up. We started walking at 7 am and came back around 5.30 pm, the last 5 km finally we did with a help of a car (shame on us..?). Was a nice trip but more demanding than my multiple day trip the week before.

In the middle of my stay I had to move to the Annapurna Hotel nearby because the guest house was fully booked but the day after it turned out that it was some misunderstanding so after 3 nights in the hotel I moved back again. During that time new guests moved in, 2 dutch guys who were making a movie about the hospital and a swiss medical student. The hotel was quite fancy but really noise by having some party in the evenings. Of course I had some encounters with different animals even here. In the hotel I was hunting down a lot of moths and in the guest house I found my second mouse in the dust bin which I set free. Also met with some huge spiders which I haven’t set free... Good that I got to know only on the last day that the noise that is coming from the roof in the mornings belongs to a huge rat which was running up and down and sounded like a size of a dog.

Otherwise food was always prepared at the guest house by the “didi”s, the housekeeper ladies. In Nepal didi is a general term for women, older than you, used very widely, mostly instead of names. Sometimes though I was invited for the dinner, first at an Australian lady’s house called Paula, then also at the head of ortho, Dr Tul, along with other nepali people where I managed to forget about all the important rules of course... For example taking the shoes off before entering the house, washing hands before meal, taking everything with the right hand (as the left one in considered dirty). Yeah, really many rules... On the last evening I was invited for the dinner at Amandas, was a really nice closure of the whole stay.

I got back to Kathmandu by the hospital jeep along with Dr Paula and Dr Abishek, a nepali ortho doctor, 12 hours/ 300 km (including breaks), of which the first 6 hours was only dirt road, not even a minute without huge bumps. Thanks to that my watch gratulated me that I did 10.000 steps that day only by sitting in the car... Anyway, at the end I really felt like I did some exercise as I had muscle pain everywhere. Got back to the world’s most polluted city again at 6 pm and I realised I really didn’t miss Kathmandu. Although I haven’t spent too much time there as the day after I was on the road again at 4 am with an other jeep on the way to Okhaldhunga, which is on the other side (East) of Nepal. Between 4 and 6 am we were just picking up people at different points of the city until the jeep was totally full again (luckily I got the privilage to sit front) and we were off with the already known nepali music vibes. This time 10 hours trip - 125 km. I can say I am a bit tired. 

But today (*yesterday) is the celebration of nepali New Year!

So 🥳 HAPPY 2079!🥳 to everyone!

Finally a harmonic pic of a chicken

Mardi Himal in the clouds

Viszonylag règen írtam, mert mindig törtènt valami. Közben mèg pàr napot operàltam a plasztikai sebèsszel, nèha berepült egy lègy is, így mèg jó, hogy a mütö tartozèka volt az elektromos lègycsapó is. Közben talàlkoztam itt pàr amerikaival, akikkel pàrszor elmentünk vacsoràzni, így nem voltam annyira egyedül. Meglàtogattam a Nemzetközi Hegy Múzeumot, ami a 80-as èveket idèzte vissza, volt benne pl. kitömött jeti. Felmàsztam a Vilàgbèke pagodàhoz, amihez àt kellett evezni a tó túloldalàra egy csónakos ember segítsègèvel, aztàn csak felfelè 1 óràs kiràndulàs 30 fokban. Hàt, ezek utàn mèrsèkelten volt èrdekes. Kipróbàltam a siklóernyözèst is 1600 m magasból (túl olcsó volt, hogy kihagyjam), ez volt az egyik legjobb döntèsem eddig. Kiràndultam is sajàt túravezetövel meg sherpàval így hàrmasban a Mardi Himal nevü úton, 4 napig. ELvileg innen nagyon szèp az Annapurna hegyvonulat. Ezt a túra soràn kb 1 óràt sikerült làtni, amúgy felhöben meneteltünk, de vègül 3500 m magasra èrtünk fel. Elsö èjszaka a szobàt egy egèrrel osztottam meg, de aztàn kiküldtem az ajtón ès remènykedtem, hogy nem jön vissza. A szàllàst ès kajàt teahàzakban oldottuk meg, elèg pórias körülmènyek között, de legalàbb nem kellett sàtrazni. A következö àllomàs Tansen.

It’s been a while since I wrote so I will try to remember what has happened so far. My days at Green Pastures Hospital became better and better towards the end (it is always like this...). I continued to assist to Dr Suraj the plastic surgeon on different plastic and hand surgical cases.He told me he is trying to collect cases for this week for me. Ok, so otherwise he is not doing that..? :-) Sometimes a fly came in to the OR so the electrical fly swatter came handy.

Here is the proof that I have really been inside a hospital :-D

Here I also met with a group of Americans who were doing some research on different prosthetics. A couple of times I went to have dinner with them in Pokhara which was nice. One evening I was invited by the expats to play ultimate frisbee at the hospitals football field. Was quite an experience in the heat and humidity and considering that I didn’t do too much sports in the last weeks. 

On an other afternoon I visited the International Mountain Museum which was nearby the Hospital which was a huge museum but stucked a little bit in the 80’s design. 

Yeti and yak, contemporary from the 80s

One day I climbed up to World Peace Pagoda so now it is not on me if it’s not gonna be world peace. For this I had to get to the other side of the lake by boat which could be rented only with a driver. Was really romantic just me and a nepali guy in a boat. He even waited for me 2 hours to return as it took really at least an hour to climb up to the mountain top to see the stupa in about 30 degrees heat. From there you were supposed to see the Himalaya mountain range. I did not (clouds, pollution, who knows).

This is a hindu temple on an island on the lake. If you are interested how the Peace Stupa looks like, I recommend google, my pictures are not better than that and you might even see how it is when you can see mountains from there (I did not..)

I even tried paragliding here as it was too cheap to not to. We went up to 1600 m (from 900 m) by a jeep in which we were 13 people (on max 9 seats). I have to say it was an even better experience than I expected. The whole ride was about 20 mins with great views from above and wasn’t scary at all.

Then as the Annapurna range was so close I couldn’t stand not to do some hike nearby. I got some recommendation earlier from the french girl in Kathmandu about the Mardi Himal trek which is a relative new route with spectacular views. Can be done in 3-8 days, I opted for the shorter version as I didn’t have too much time. Here for almost all the treks you need to have a guide and often a porter and the treks are organised by a trekking agency. It is not very adviseable to trek alone. First I wanted to join some group but it turned out there are only a few tourists now and everyone wants to do different treks in different times. So after I checked 4-5 trekking agencies I ended up with one I found nice and also because they put a part of money in an orphanage which is run by the boss of the agency. So I started my journey with a guide called Sanjeeb and a porter called Arjun who was carrying my stuff in a blue Ikea bag (what else) that I got from home. 

Rhododendron in the forest (there were many of them)

The first yak (hope not the last) I have seen. Turned out they like to hide in the forest.

We started from about 1600 m in a village called Kande and on the first day walked up to about 2500 m to Forest camp (not Forest Gump). On the way we met a dutch couple whom we were trekking together about 2 days. Was nice to have some Europeans also, although I had really nice conversations with Sanjeeb about almost everything. On the first night it turned out I shared a room with a mouse but after I discovered that I opened the door and showed him out which was working but of course I didn’t sleep anything after. The second day we went up to 3500 m, there we have seeen a bit of snow also so the temperature must have been below zero. Of the famous view we couldn’t see anything as it was covered by clouds, but still it was beautiful.

At the accomodation there was no running water (but at least no mouse either) as the pipes were frozen but they had some reserve so I still managed to take my evening “shower” with one liter of water (at least not wasting). Surprisingly I didn’t freeze at night, my sleeping bag turns out to be very warm. What did we eat? On the whole way there are a lot of tea houses for food and accomodation,  most of them were empty because of only a few tourists. All of them had the same menu, the prices went up as the altitude raise. So mostly dal bhat (rice with lentils), pasta with veg, spring rolls with the same veg and momo. 

On the morning of the third day we finally saw the Annapurna mountains at sunrise! Was great! we went up a little bit more from High camp to take the photos and an hour later everything was gone again. 

Annapurna South (on the left) 

My guide (on the left) and porter 

On the last day we descended from 3500 m down to 1500 m, after which I almost couldn’t walk for 3 days. Even went for a massage the next day which was almost even more painful. Anyway I have to say I didn’t think trekking alone only with a guide and a porter can be that much fun! On my last day in Pokhara I gave a last chance for the mountains to be visible and took a taxi at 5 am to Sarangkot hill where you are supposed to see the sunrise with the Himalayan. Not a good idea, clouds as always, maybe more than any other days. No more waking up early for me. I will wait tills the mountains come to me instead. :-)

Next stop is Tansen, 111 km from Pokhara, 4-5 hours by bus.

The way of transportation, the jeep is never full.. (I haven’t tried it yet)