We want to let everyone know that, while we were just there a couple days ago, we are safe, made it out before the storm and are no longer in the region effected. Our blog on the other hand (due to a general lack of Internet on the circuit) is still a week or so behind. So rest assured we are safe, but you’ll hear a lot of places talked about in the news on our blog for the next few days.
Please join us in praying for the families of those involved, as well as those involved in the rescue efforts.
Update Oct. 27, 2014:
If you are looking for missing trekkers from the disaster, their is a Facebook page set-up to try and help reconnect people. It has an unofficial status list updated regularly as well as other information. Please check out the Annapurna Nepal Blizzard and Avalanche Info Share Page on Facebook if you might have or need any information.
When Liz and I were brainstorming some blog ideas with some friends before we left one of the ideas was to document things “Lost in translation;” i.e. things that for whatever reason translate really funny, or don’t seem to make any sense at all.
With that back story, I present the very first episode of “Lost in Translation.”
Throughout the trek in the little villages there have been a number of posters, etc. with community messages on them. Many of them around hygiene or keeping Nepal clean; public service announcements.
Then we found this:
Unfortunately there wasn’t an english translation, but from the illustration it’s pretty obvious what the message is… maybe not.
Anyone wanna take a shot at translating this one for us? Don’t worry if you don’t know Nepali.
Got a good early start this morning (6:45am) and made it to Yak Kharka (Yak Attack on many of the signs pointing the way) easily. Nice gentle up hill the whole way.
We saw a small avalanche high in the mountains (off Annapurna 3 maybe?). Didn’t get the camera pointed at it quick enough but you can still see some of the snow in the air.
Just before Yak Kharka we stop to look in a little tea house with a vicious Year-moo I’ll let Liz explain.
We also saw Brad in Yak Kharka and had a little tea with him before heading on for another hour up to Churi Letdar. Staying at the last hotel in Letdar “Hotel Churi Lattar.”
There are at current count at least 5 ways to spell this town:
Lader
Ledar
Leder
Letdar
Lattar
All of which have appeared on “official” looking signs.
Liz’s 3 Things:
-Yearr-moo attack
(year-moo is like a ferret type thing, and this one was stuffed) I asked the owner of the little shop if I could take a picture with it. He didn’t speak English, but through charades and pointing, and the kind owner obliged… then he wanted to be in the picture with me… and as I’m smiling for the camera, he makes what I can only guess is a yearr-moo sound and has it jump at me. I was surprised and jumped and so we have the picture. He seemed quite pleased with my reaction to his little joke.
– Fresh yak meat
That’s some fresh yak meat in that basket.
– Gorgeous views
Best Part of Liz’s Day: Getting in early to our tea house. At such a high altitude, our daily mileage was pretty short, we only hiked for 3-4 hours and were at the next village. There were a couple reasons for this. First, now that we were higher up into the mountains the villages were few and far between, no longer were there little stops all in between. We really went from one village until the next that was our stop for the night. So you either hiked 3-4 hours or you hiked for 8 hours. And because there were fewer villages, it was harder to get a room… we didn’t have our pick of a bunch of places, there would be just 2 tea houses in a village, and if you wanted a room with a bed, you had to get there early! So you didn’t want to try to make it to the next village and arrive late in the afternoon (it gets dark at 4:30-5pm) and not get a room. And the second, main reason for hiking only a few hours a day, is acclimatization. We are climbing in altitude very quickly! Basically constantly walking uphill at a pretty steep grade. And we are being very careful not to climb too quickly for fear of getting altitude sickness – a VERY real concern here. We’re at or above 14,000 feet now, and the precautions are to gain only 500 feet per day, a maximum of 750 feet in a day. We are taking Diamox now twice a day to help with breathing and more than anything to help with sleeping. Your body doest’ get used to the lack of oxegen.
Worst part of today: It was a great day!
Memory verse: Assurance of forgiveness ( 1 John 1:9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So if you’ve read any of our blog at all you’re well aware that monkeys just don’t like me. They give me the evil eye, follow me around, try and sneak up on me and just generally give me a hard time. One of the first ones we saw tried to steal my camera, which I almost drop as I almost fell down 1000 steps as I shrieked and jumped back (that was before I realized how out to get me they were). I tried to scare the next one off and it came back at me with vengeance… He said, and I quote “You want a piece of me???” (in Nepali of course) as he showed me his teeth and raised his hand as if to backhand me… And no I didn’t get a picture. Even the guy dressed up like hanuman (the Hindu monkey god) outside the temple was heckling me.
Backstory compete.
So Liz and I are minding our own business walking around the park next to the temple in Pashupatinath, just checking out the sites. We had eaten some fruit for lunch and, being the good citizen that I am, had the trash in a little pink bag and was looking for a trash can (not really something that have many of in Nepal). The same pink bag that our fruit had come in… That all fruit and most anything purchased on a street in Nepal comes in. Again I’m not looking for trouble.
Out of nowhere this big old monkey and his crew start coming at me. The big one, he’s up to my shoulders standing on his hind legs giving me those, now all to familiar, evil eyes, like he’s looking into my soul and wants to steal it. I know that look, it’s trouble. So as he starts to walk circles around me I wise up and start circling around to match him. I’m not letting him get behind me. I know what’s up. He wants the granola bars in my backpack and it’s not happening. I’ll fight a monkey.
BOOOOOOM!
Blindsided out of nowhere his crew hits me from behind… A little one jumps up and grabs my pink bag right out of my hand and then punches my now empty hand with his other paw just to insult me. Then all 5 of them run off together to split up their spoils.
Jokes on them though… Bag was full of trash.
But still, word to the wise, watch out for monkeys, especially of they look like they are making plans to attack you, they probably are.
So it’s almost 1am here at the brand spanking new Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar our first stop (18 hour layover) of our trip and I figured it was time for me to make my first official post to our blog. Liz has done an excellent job of documenting our moving/packing/re-packing/etc up to this point and I’m sure she will continue to surpass me in frequency and quality of posts.
We spend ~14 hours on a Qatar Airways plane and it was actually quite pleasant. They’ve got an awesome selection of movies/TV/etc for free, the seats weren’t too uncomfortable even after double digit hours in them (Liz was kind enough to remind me when we sat down that we spent 16 hours in a U-Haul recently) and we got dinner and breakfast.
My favorite part of the airport so far has been the free luggage carts that glide effortlessly across the floor and just beg to be ridden.
I leave you with a hyperlapse Liz made of us playing in the airport.
