Posts Tagged ‘Nepal’
Everest Base Camp
If I have to sum up my trek to the Everest Base Camp: It was a journey of a lifetime. And it was work. I was there to cover the Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon on May 29 from the Everest Base Camp to Namche Bazaar. And along with me were three photojournalists and another reporter.
So where do I start? Right from Kathmandu’s domestic airport.
Day 1 and 2: Stuck at the airport due to the bad weather in Lukla from where we were supposed to start the trek. So we spent all our time, almost 10 hours, waiting for the weather to clear.
Day 3: Finally, we get to fly! Flying to Lukla is one of the most amazing experiences—the mountains feel so close and you just get a feeling that the plane might just bump into one of the high hills. And Lukla airport is one of the most difficult airports in the world to land.
After we land in Lukla, the mountains and chilled air welcomed us. And then we flew into Syangboche on a Pilatus Porter. And what one of the staff members at the airport said: “Please don’t touch the door while flying.” The six-minute flight was just fantastic.
We then start our trek uphill. By this time, I was thrilled by the mountains. They just seemed too close.
After walking through the Khumjung Valley, we called it a day at Kyangjuma. My eyes were stuck at the view of Mt. Ama Dablam and Mt. Thamserku.
Day 4: We walk, walk and walk uphill and downhill through the suspension bridge, clicking photos and cracking jokes. The steep climb before reaching Thyanboche was something. However, it was nothing compared to the ones that we would have to climb later. Phew!
We walk and walk. And to our utmost surprise, we meet Puskar Shah, the world cyclist who had summated Mt. Everest. So in the middle of a small trail, we journalists, stop him. It was like a small press conference in itself.
After hours of walking, we call it a day at Pangboche. At a higher altitude now and feelings of altitude sickness concerned us, but so far so good.
Day 5 and 6: We start the trek to Dingboche. Walk, walk, walk, admiring the views and the mountains. Reach Dingboche. Eat. After reaching the height of 4,000m, the food just becomes tasteless. And it’s just potatoes and rice. Afternoon time, we go up to climb a hill or say a small mountain and we get up to 4,700m. Scary!
Early in the morning, we look outside the window and the Valley is blanketed in snow. Yay. We go out and play in the snow.
There’s training sort of thingy for the marathon runners in the snow. Our trek to Lobuche gets cancelled because of the snow. We enjoy the snow but after it stopped and the sun came out in midday, there was absolutely nothing to do.
Day 7: We start our trek to Lobuche. That is further up to almost 4,700m. I was concerned about the altitude sickness but thank god, nothing happened.
The trek to Lobuche was simply Oh My God! When we had to climb that steep hill at Thukla…I stared at that hill for a while and step by step, catching up my breath, using whatever oxygen amount available, I made it! Trust me, I have never climbed something steep as this one!
The places are expensive. Bottle of water costs Rs 300, coke Rs 150 to Rs 250. Go figure!
Day 8 and 9: A night at Lobuche, I feel fine at this altitude too. Now got to trek to Gorakshep at over 5,000m. And man oh man, the hills seemed they only become steeper. There were flat lands but I mean, the steeps and hills only made me breathless. And when I mean breathless, I mean I was breathing heavily to get more oxygen. At this height, I longed for some more oxygen than real food!
Reach Gorakshep. It starts snowing. Gorakshep has only four or five houses, all hotels and restaurants.
The night was clear, full moon and the mountain peaks looked amazing at night!
The next day ascent to Kalapatthar. OMG! I thought I’d die climbing the 5,600m mountain. Got an amazing view of Mt. Everest. I literally crawled up the mountain as I got to the top because there was snow, it was slippery and I was scared of height.
One thing I really got to find during this trek: I am scared of heights.
Day 10: The Everest Base Camp…Yowaz!!! Walking to the base camp is just amazing. I was in love with everything though the walk was tiring.
It was a day for the mock race for the marathon. So interviews, photos and trekked back to Pheriche. The walk was very long, more than six hours. We got lost in the dense fog and it was getting dark and we had to find an Internet place to file the stories. And we did. Mission Accomplished. We ran like crazy and then after finding an Internt place, froze our hands typing.
Day 11: Ran like anything from Pheriche to Namche Bazaar. We had to get there to report on the marathon. So walked downhill with some uphill. Met runners on the way. And after eight hours, reached Namche! Wow! And then interviewed winners and others. Wrote a story, filed it.
Beer Time! Had some good food (Momos after almost ten days!).
Day 12: Walked from Namche to Lukla to catch a flight. Drank the most expensive Fanta for Rs 250! Reached Lukla and hopped into the Starbucks Lukla, a local one though. Some whiskey and not-so-good dinner!
Day 13: The weather was clear. Happy! The flights wouldn’t get canceled. And so made it to Kathmandu. Ah, finally home.
So here is my trek to the Everest Base Camp. Just a great experience with some fun company: Keshab Thoker, photojournalist from our own Republica, Naresh Shrestha from The Himalayan Times, Kumar Shrestha from ANA and Asim Suvedi from The Kathmandu Post. I say, memories for a lifetime.
But would I do it again? I don’t know. It was tough and I have to think like a 1000 times.
Everest Base Camp is not easy but the trek is worthwhile. The memories will live forever and I’m proud that I survived the EBC!
Stories from Republica
Story 1: Pushkar wants to go back to his roots (May 21, 2010)
Story 2: Everest marathon preparations at peak (May 24, 2010)
Story3: Running from the Everest Base Camp (May 25, 2010)
Story 4: Working up to Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon (Not updated online…err) This was a story about the mock race with details of the marathon. (May 28, 2010)
Story 5: Phurba Tamang takes the title again (May 29, 2010)
Hearts & Club Motorcycyle Club, Pokhara
A story about Pokhara’s motorcycle club established by Rick Magill and Moniek Wittens.
Published: March 5, The Week, Republica
National Anthem on my mind
Since I heard the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra play the (new) Nepali national anthem Thursday, it’s stuck on my mind. It’s weird how most of them from my generation doesn’t even know the words of the national anthem. It’s new but most of us haven’t made an effort to memorize it.
With monarchy being replaced by a republic, the country has gone through many changes–the names attached with the former kings have been changed and the country got a new national anthem that doesn’t praise the monarchs and their superiority.
As children, in schools, we were made to sing the national anthem every morning. And for that reason, the old national anthem is something that will always be with us. And now, when we don’t have to sing the national anthem every day, it seems difficult to memorize the new one. (Maybe people should play the national anthem before every movie in theaters like in India…that was a surprise for me). But it feels good to be a part of the change, the generation that has two national anthems!
And if the old national anthem is something stuck to us, the new one should too because it’s different, unique. And I blogged about this for SAJA Forum in 2008.
During the Beijing Olympics 2008, Nepal’s national anthem was among the 10 best from 205 others. The Guardian‘s Alex Marshall picked out the Top 10.
…there are only a dozen anthems that are musically worth listening to – and that most of the countries these belong to do not have a hope of winning a gold in Beijing.
Marshall writes there are anthems which are truly unique because they “make the effort to be different.”
…there are a handful of anthems that do stand out – either because they use non-western instruments, scales and tunes, or because they take a western anthem and then toy with it, making it solemn or funny, and entirely their own. Most of the “Stans” of central Asia have anthems that sound like they could not have come from anywhere apart from former Soviet states. They trudge along in minor keys, filled with imposing strings and booming drums, as if written to accompany armies clambering into battle.
Then there are Nepal’s, Senegal’s and Nigeria’s, all of which make use of local instruments.
In Solu, people don’t dream big but wish for smaller signs of development
Lhakpa Chottee Sherpa knows the difference between work and play.
The 10-year-old Solukhumbu native goes to school, plays in her free time but doesn’t hold back helping her family in the morning. She makes a three-hour walk to and from her house to deliver milk to Phaplu in the district headquarter in Salleri. For surrounding villages, Phaplu is the sign of progess: an airport, market place, schools and a hospital.
“Chottee,” she spelled her name as she walked back from delivering her daily six liter of milk that she carries to the market. Dressed in a pink jacket, scarf, jeans and slippers, her attire looked warm enough for the winter weather when the temperatures go frigid. But people in minimal clothing on the way showed no signs of resilience or complain; they walked, worked and smiled.
As Chottee climbs up and down the hills, she talks about school, the 30-minute walk she has to make it to class everyday, the few English words and sentences she knows, the games she plays with her friends and about her family. She said she delivers milk “to help mother.”
“Some men killed my father,” she says. During the Maoist conflict, more than 13,000 people have died–civilians, police, militants and the military.
But after the Peace Accord in 2006, violence has subdued. People do not fear of death or blasts in their backyards. New projects are being built in Phaplu (a vocational training center), women from different parts of rural Nepal study to become primary health care professionals at the Solukhumbu Technical School. And businessmen say they’re doing better though competition is on the rise.
That’s just a part of progress though, which is only a 30-minute flight distance from Kathmandu in north-eastern Nepal.
An eight-hour walk to other Village Development Committees away from Phaplu and Salleri, development if fragile. Basic infrastructures like electricity and roads doesn’t even exist. But people seem to care about those less.
After the decade-long People’s War, they seem to be rejoicing peace. Children play freely on the dusty, muddy trails, women sit outside their houses and talk, wait for passers-by to stop and have tea at their self-established home kitchens turned restaurants and porters, as old as 60 and young as 10, carry loads of supplies and essentials for their shops or others’ businesses. 
People look content. They smile, ask questions to tourists, passers-by and locals. Though they have to walk a day’s distance to reach to hospitals, airport or any other facilities, they don’t complain. They only wish–wish that one day there would be roads that would replace the trails they walk, transportation would reach their villages and their journey would be easier and convenient. They dream of it, hope that their dream would come true.
And the 10-year-old also wishes the same. Though she has never seen the capital, Kathmandu, she thinks its beautiful and has a lot of vehicles on the street. She doesn’t wish for better clothes or luxuries like a Barbie or some savvy product that a city girl would want but wishes that some day her village would have basic infrastructures.
“I wish someday vehicles would come,” she shares her wish. “I wish there would be electricity.”
On the D 
