Oh, the Places We'll Go

The Nepalese are, generally speaking, pretty small people (at least in comparison to us). But, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some bad-asses in the country. And those that are the most bad-ass of all become Gurkhas – special force soldiers in the British Army. A legacy from the British rule days (dating back to 1815), Gurkhas are still recruited for the Queen’s army. Known for their bravery, toughness, and dedication, Gurkhas are carefully selected – 28,000 men apply each year for only 200 slots. The process is one of the toughest in the world and is fiercely contested. One unconventional physical test – run uphill for 40 minutes carrying a wicker basket full of 70lbs of rock. The competition may be fierce, but the payoff is valuable – post-service Gurkhas are granted UK citizenship.

Gurkha tryouts

We didn’t encounter any Gurkhas in person, but did see some recruitment signs for schools that prepare young Nepalis for the application process.

Gurkha training academy

Between pre- and post-trekking and the Buddhism retreat, we spent nearly 2 weeks chillin in Pokhara – the longest of any place we’ve been to date. Though a bit overdeveloped in terms of tourism services, we really enjoyed taking advantage of the many activities and great restaurants in the town. Some highlights of our time here:

Growing trekking beards is a must when you’re on the trail, but when you get back to town, there are many barber shops ready to help you clean up. Dave and I couldn’t pass up the $2 shave (including post-shave massage!).

Pre-shave

Mid-shave

Post-shave face massage

Across the lake and up the hill from Pokhara’s Lakeside neighborhood (where we stayed), lies the Peace Pagoda.  We spent one hot morning hiking up and enjoying the views.

Phewa Tal Lake

Ride across Phewa Tal

World Peace Pagoda

World Peace Pagoda

It was a very hot day...

Gorgeous views

Some nice locals we met on the way back

While we had phenomenal weather on the trek, apparently it rained every afternoon in Pokhara. Upon returning, we witnessed the torrential downpour that fell at about 3:30 every afternoon. No big deal for us – we were busy eating and drinking our way through town. Hard rains just meant more beers!

pre-monsoon rains

Caught in the rain

We got caught too, here at a waterfall on the far side of town

We intended to leave Pokhara 2 days earlier than we did. But, somebody (well, probably a lot of somebodies) in Nepal was angry, and strikes were organized. Nepali strikes focus on freezing transportation, road blocks are put up, and cars that drive on strike days are likely to get stoned. Being stuck in Pokhara for a couple extra days ain’t all that bad though! We took the opportunity to rent some bikes, ride around the lake, and explore some of the neighboring communities.

Cruising the shores of Phewa Tal

We picked up a couple hitchhikers along the way

Bike riding on strike day

Potentially the best thing about Pokhara’s overly-developed tourism ghetto is the extensive options of delicious food. The best and cheapest pizza on the trip – Pokhara Pizza: $2. Our favorite local food (well, kinda local, the recipes were brought over by the exiled Tibetans) was undoubtedly momos – steamed or fried dumplings stuffed with veggies, potatoes, or meat. We ate lots of momos on the trek, but we really embraced these dumplings during MoMo Fest 2011, a tour of all the local momo shops in Pokhara. Read Jesse and Dave’s hilarious account of our momo progressive party here.

Pokhara pizza - best $2 we spent on the trip!

MoMo Fest 2011 begins!!

MoMo Fest 2011 continues!

Needless to say, Pokhara was good to us, and I’m certain that we’ll be back someday.

Though the majority of Nepalese are Hindus, Buddhism has a strong presence in Nepal too – many of them being Tibetans who have fled their homeland across the Himalaya. Buddhism is definitely the dominate religion in the mountains where we were hiking – everyday we passed a myriad of prayer flags, prayer wheels, prayer rocks and various stupas. We were quite intrigued and inspired by all of this and decided to dive in head first and enroll in a 3-day Buddhist meditation retreat upon returning to Pokhara.

Buddhist prayer wheels

Very large prayer wheels

Prayer rocks

Prayer flags

Monestaries

A very new thing for both of us, we looked forward to learning meditation techniques as well as exploring more about Buddhism – from a monk. Would you believe, our monk was not the Tibetan Buddhist we were imaging but a rather sarcastic American monk from Pennsylvania with quite a domineering personality. Oh, the irony. To his credit, he had been a monk and teacher for over 30 years so he definitely knew his stuff. And as he explained, as a Westerner he was able to convey difficult concepts to us by using examples that we could understand and relate to.

Yeshi, our American monk and teacher

Lessons in Buddhism

Of course another side benefit was that his English was excellent. As we touched on complex topics, we were very thankful to have his full vocabulary and our full understanding in hopes of wrapping our heads around these deep ideas and concepts. Questions like, “What is happiness?” and “Who are you?” seem simple enough on the surface, but when they get subjugated to the monk’s Socratic Method of questioning, we were thankful that we shared his language when we needed to understand his reasoning and defend our thoughts.

Between our classes with the monk, we had guided meditation and yoga classes, both in the morning and in the evening. Meals consisted of vegetarian goodness and we slept on site at the retreat in simple but comfortable rooms.

A peaceful environment

Gathering at the prayer wheel

All in all, the retreat was a unique experience that I’m very happy we did. Of course, it is impossible to do anything but scratch the surface of Buddhism in a three day retreat, but it was still eye-opening and rewarding nonetheless. One of the most appealing parts of Buddhism is the idea that you can incorporate parts of the Buddha’s teachings into your own life without sacrificing your own religious beliefs and philosophical views. They are not mutually exclusive. And though I do like and respect many Buddhist beliefs (karma, for example) I’m not completely sold on others (i.e. reincarnation). Whether sold on the concepts or not, it was a treat to learn about Buddhism in heart of a Buddhist community in one of the most beautiful settings we’ve seen to date!

Our class

After returning from our hike, we exchanged contact info with our guide and new best friend Shiba with the promise to send potential clients his way and to stay in touch in general. As we were hanging around the town of Pokhara for a few more days, Shiba generously reached out and invited us to dinner at his home. Unfortunately Charles and Kate had already left, but Dave, Jesse, Ted and I happily accepted.

With Shiba once again as our navigator and translator, he was able to direct our taxi driver to his neighborhood. Shiba was there with his 3-year old daughter to meet us. His daughter set eyes on us for one second before bursting into tears. We were unable to win her over, even with Jesse’s tempting offer of sweet treats.

At Shiba’s home we met his mother, his wife and his newborn son. We happened to be visiting on Nepal’s version of Mother’s Day, so we hope they didn’t mind us crashing their celebration! Though Shiba’s English is excellent, neither his wife nor mother speak any English so smiles and handshakes made up the bulk of our communication with them.

Shiba and family

Shiba's little dude

Before we even arrived we knew were going to having dhal baat for dinner. While we were eating various forms of Western food on the Annapurna Circuit, Shiba was eating dal bhat. Dal bhat is the typical Nepali meal, eaten twice a day, every day. It consists of rice, dal (lentil curry), and usually a separate vegetable curry. When dal bhat is served in a restaurant, there are endless amount of refills, and this was the case at Shiba’s house too. We were served small portions of chicken as well as a glass of apple brandy, which were fancy touches for us guests. Awww, so sweet!

Dal bhat, eaten sitting on the floor Nepali-style

Apple brandy toast!

After dinner we showed Shiba and his family some of our favorite pictures from the hike, and presented him a small photo album we made as a keepsake of our trek and time together. It was the least we could do for a man that put up with the six of us for 10+ days in the mountains!

Dinner at Shiba’s was an absolute treat. A rare opportunity for most trekkers in Nepal, we felt honored to spend some time in a Nepali home with our new best friend and his family. If you ever plan to visit Nepal, let us know – we’ve got the best guide in the country already lined up!

Shiba - the Man, the Legend

Shiba, Martens, and Meshkovs

After a couple days of downhill walking, beautiful and arid landscapes, and splurging on new and exciting foods that we hadn’t seen along the trail, our time on the Annapurna Circuit came to an end. The village of Jomson is the main hub in the area and it is from here that you organize your transport back to civilization. The options include a $90 flight in a small plane that flies over Annapurna’s tallest peaks and gets you back to Pokhara in about 25 minutes. Or an assortment of 4 different buses and Jeep rides, taking 10+ hours, spread over 2 days that costs closer to $15. Please remember that the ‘roads’ are miserable – nearly all dirt, pot-holed, narrow, at times dangerous – and the transportation is uncomfortable at best.

The hike down to Jomsom

Very different, but equally stunning landscapes on this side of Thorong La Pass

Tiered irrgation in the desert

Vegetables on our pasta - what a novel concept!

For some reason, the guesthouse had an Ohio State t-shirt up. Charles was non-too-pleased

Seems like a pretty easy choice, huh? Unfortunately, when your traveling for a year dropping $180 for a 20-minute activity does not fit in the budget. And so it happened that our friends visiting from the States who were time-short and money-long opted for the plane flight while we and our fellow round-the-world trippers made the trip overland. As a reward for our misery, the village we stopped at overnight had hot springs that we happily soaked in and wicked views of an incredibly unreal peak.

Setting off on our bus journey

We wave goodbye to the flyers, and their new friend

Our bus ride back was rather spacious

Jealous

But we got to do this

And see this!

So take that Charles and Kate! Or rather, we just wish you would have taken us with you.

After an amazing and trying 5 weeks in India, we were looking forward to heading to Nepal for a change of pace. We’d been told that Nepalese folks are much more chill and the pace of life is a welcome relief from the intensity of India. Indeed, there was a significant reduction in hassling and haggling immediately upon crossing the border. After two back-to-back days of 10+ hour bus rides on local transport (read – made for small people, dirty as all hell, lacking any sort of suspension) from Varanasi to the Nepal border and from the border to Pokhara, we were very happy to arrive. Not only were we happy to be getting off a bus in one of the most picturesque mountain towns in the world, but we were meeting up with some of our favorite old and new friends.

The Annapurna trekking crew unites at the North Face Inn

Our great friend Charles and his girlfriend Kate flew over from Colorado to meet us for some Himalayan hiking and we were so excited to see them. They earned the title as first non-family visitors on our trip and it was such a treat to arrive at our hostel and hear Charles’ booming laugh from the rooftop. And to make life even more fun, our fellow round-the-world trippers, Dave and Jesse, who we met in Argentina and rendez-vous’d with in South Africa also wanted in on the Annapurna action. Woohoo!

Hanging with Dave and Jesse by Pokhara's lake, Phewa Tal

Pokhara vistas with aptly named beer

We had a day in Pokhara to enjoy the overly-priced Western food and to purchase Chinese North Face knock-off gear and other supplies for our 10+ days of trekking in the mountains. We also met our guide to make sure we liked him and that he spoke English – we did and he did. Everything was in order and we were off!

Welcome to the Himalaya.  Check out the awesome Annapurna range, towering over Pokhara, the trekking hub of central Nepal.  Over the next 2 weeks, we’ll be walking around, over, and through these mountains.

This pointed mountain is known as Fishtail Peak, or Machhapuchhre to the locals