Nepal Himalayan Trek [A Travelogue] - by limwhow & SereneXMM

[limwhow]

NEPAL HIMALAYAN TREK
- A Travelogue

by limwhow & SereneXMM

First of all, I wish to congratulate SgTrekker on another well organized and well orchestrated trek to the Nepal Himalaya.
This time round I think we can all rightfully use the term 'trek' for it was nothing short of that.

Sgtrekker's motto has always been:
"Embracing the Adventure",
to which I would humbly add, especially for participants of this unforgettable trek:
"Celebrating the Human Spirit".

Why, the audience may ask, do I add in the extra description?
Well, allow me to elaborate.
Like many other photography trips, things have gone astray from what was originally planned, flights after flights to the feared Lukla Airport have been delayed due to unforeseen weather conditions, contingency plans were activated, and destinations were re-designated on the ground at the 13th hour by the very capable Trek Leaders of SgTrekker - namely Adrian and Melvin.
Thus, the successful completion of this trek by all the participants was an epitome of the determination of the Trek Leaders in their strive to deliver their level best, as well as a true blue celebration of the insurmountability of each of the individual trekker's spirit in accomplishing what he or she has set out to.

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Introduction

A group of 24 of us joined Sgtrekker's Nepal Everest Trek from the 17th - 26th March 2011.
We came from very diversified backgrounds, of varying ages and were of very different levels of physical fitness.

SgTrekker has painstakingly emphasized and re-emphasized that this was NOT really a photography trip but was more of a trekking trip.
But I think no amount of pre-departure briefing, pre-pre departure briefing, pre-pre-pre departure briefing and pre-trek Bukit Timah Hill climbing organized by SgTrekker, could have effectively prepare us mentally for what we were eventually going to face.

Before any of our audience go away with the notion that we all conquered Everest Base Camp (EBC) let me clarify that we did not. Our trek was taken along the exact trek towards EBC, and we ascended to Namche Bazaar which was 3440m above sea level.

The main objective of this assault was to originally fly in from Kathmandu to Lukla, the gateway town to EBC, and to trek over a period of 7 days to Namche Bazaar at 3440m, Tengboche at 3800m, and then trek back all the way to Lukla.
But as will be described later, bad weather conditions (which apparently were very common in the Himalaya ranges) delayed our domestic flights to Lukla, day after day, leaving us with only sufficient time to reach Namche Bazaar and to trek back to Lukla.

But SgTrekker made full use of our extra time in Kathmandu, and together with their local operators, brought us roaming deep into the streets of Kathmandu and showed us this ancient city in her most natural and jubilant character in the form of the Holi Festival, in addition to many other ancient sights of this historical city. Thus adding another colourful dimension to this very eventful trip.

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Nepal - Geography

Just a very brief introduction of Nepal to make the picture a little more complete.
Of course this accounts is by no means comprehensive but to set the stage for a little more understanding of this beautiful country as we all travelled upon this land.

To my fellow travellers, I personally know quite a few of you who have read extensively into the historical development of Nepal.
Thus I would be very grateful if you can add in more information along the way, and correct me in any factual mistakes that I would inadvertently commit.

Nepal has a population of 23 million, of which 1.5million living in Kathmandu.
It is a mountainous country with 64% of its area being mountains.
Geographically, Nepal appears like a rectangular-shaped land that stretches from north-west to south-east, sitting between Tibet on its northern border, with which it shares Mount Everest, and with India on its southern, western and eastern borders.


Map courtesy of Wikipedia Free Map.

The topographical characteristics of Nepal separates this land into the four main areas:

• The Terai - which is the real true flat plain in Nepal, in which half of its population resides.
• The Mahabharat, or also known as the Middle Hill region, that ranges from 1500m to 2700m.
• The Pahar region - which is that hilly stretch between the Mahabharat and the Himalaya. This is where Kathmandu and Pokhara are located.
• And of course, The Himalayan ranges, where 14 of the world's highest peaks are found. The well known ones, besides Everest, are Annapurna and Langtang, just to name a couple.

Map Courtesy of Wikipedia Free Map.

Nepal - Population

The Kathmandu Valley is where many historians would focus their attention in, for the rich, fertile soil of this expansive valley has given birth to many dynasty that gave Nepal its history.
There are 59 ethnic groups in Nepal, of which the Hindis (with their origin from the Aryans) comprise a majority, together with the other minorities, the more notable would of course be the most well-known Sherpas who inhabit the high mountain ranges, a Tibeto-Burma ethnic group who share very many similarities in culture and religion with their Tibetan cousins up north.
It would not be possible to mention all the other ethnic tribes of Nepal here in my this very brief account, but to just say that each of them contribute in their own ways to the cultural, religious and political development of the country.

It would however, not be far wrong to say that the main influence both in culture and religion came from India.
And like many Hindu society, the Caste system is still very much in play even in this present age.

Officially 80% of Nepalese are Hindus while 10% are Buddhist.


A Very Brief Historical Account

Like so many other lands caught in between warring tribes. Nepal has seen its own fair share of turbulence.

In the 7th centuty BC, the Mongoloid Hindu Kiratis people arrived from the east to become the first ruler of the Kathmandu valley.

In 300 AD (2nd century) the Licchavis arrived from northern India and overthrew the Kiratis, bringing with them an insurgence of Hiduism. The Licchavis left legacies of cultural brilliance as could be seen in the original stupas of Swayambhunath and Bodhnath.

In 1768, the Shah king Privthi Narayan Shah, who ruled the tiny Kingdom of Gorkha in between Kathmandu and Pokhara, invaded Kathmandu and ended the Malla dynasty.
He finally unified the whole of Nepal in 1769 after defeating the Malla Kings in Bhaktapur.
The Shah Kingdom expanded its territory from India to Sikkhim and on the western border to Kashmir.

In 1923, Nepal gained independence from the British and in 1930, the Kingdom of Gorkha was renamed The Kingdom of Nepal.
In 1950, the Shah King Tribhuvan did a self-exile to India while the newly formed Nepali Congress Party wrestled the power from the Rana family. With India's help, King Tribhuvan negotiated a deal with the Rana and returned to power in Nepal, and set up government with members of the Nepali Congress Party and demoted members of the Rana family.

In 2007, after massive protest, the King, Gyanendra, finally relinquished his political powers to a coalition government and Nepal officially became a Democratic country.

[limwhow]

Day 1 - Singapore to Kathmandu


The day started off just like many other SgTrekker trips with an inhumanely early reporting at Changi Airport at 6am.
Just like any other SgTrekker trips. It was a meeting of friends - old and new - with a single unified passion in photography. The only difference is, this time this pack of enthusiastic travellers included a group of young and not so young trekkers... Real true-blue super-fit trekkers who were there really for the trekking.



Of course, hiccups were inevitable. And SgTrekker's Melvin and Adrian are not only veterans in encountering these hiccups, but also in handling them.



Some of our team members have started flexing their posing muscles way before the walking actually even started....

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Hmmm.... Adrian's worry was certainly not unfounded.
Unknown to him, we all will be drinking him and SgTrekker Pok-Kai simply by ordering hot lemon after hot lemon after hot chocolates after coffee with milk after ginger tea high high up there...



And my good mate Dinosaur has already got himself readied with an iPhone GPS Apps that could do something no one has ever been able to do - calculate the horizontal distance of travel for cimbers on the trek!
... and as for Wind, I will forever lose out to him because with that special box he has, he runs like the Wind!



Our flight took us to Bangkok Suvanabhumi Airport for a short one hour transit before another 2hr plus flight to Kathmandu.

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T R A V E L O G U E

Day 1 - Flying off from Bangkok Suvanabhumi Airport

Well, we finally boarded our TG402 flight inbound to Kathmandu.
And the KB KB began even before the trip has really started...




T R A V E L O G U E

Day 1 - Kathmandu: Arriving at Tribhuvan Airport & En Route to Vaishali Hotel

On this day, Kathmandu was not terribly hot. The crowd in the airport, the sight of many a van, car, trucks, pickups thronging the crisscrosses of roads, and the sound of unending choruses of vehicular horns greeted us as we made our way to the Hotel Vaishali near the Thamel area.

We landed right next to the entrance of this Tribhuvan Airport. Here is a record shot of how the airport looks like for memory sake...



And it wasn't too soon before we learned that fast-twitch muscles for quick actions weren't particularly in fashion in this land where an atmosphere of medieval times still permeates.
Crowds, jams, long queues, long waits.... all were common place occurrences.

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To all our fellow forummers who have not visited Kathmandu before, one has to apply for a Visa On Arrival with two passport photos and US$25 (for a visa of not more than 14 days duration).
This process, though sounded simple enough, was one of the many factors that resulted in a protracted wait in line at the customs.
A practice that we would all get very used to in days to come.
But here we were, finally having cleared the customs, and struggling to find our way out of the airport.
As can be seen in the picture, some of us were still holding on to the Declaration form (Nothing to Declare) when we walked through out of the airport.... apparently no official actually cared about that piece of paper.
Either that, or they were too busy flexing their slow-twitch muscles...



Finally! Out of the Airport!



... and into our Minivan/Bus... en route to Vaishali Hotel...



Distributing the keys...


Apologies for the slow shutter speed...

[limwhow]

SereneXMM #1
Here's SereneXMM's record shots.
We are staying at Hotel Vaishali, Kathmandu.
Husband and wife team. Getting ready for Swayambunath...



SereneXMM #2

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T R A V E L O G U E

Day 1 Afternoon - Swayambunath Temple (Monkey Temple)


It was already past 3 pm. And as per scheduled, we had enough time to visit our first destination, the Swayambunath Temple, one of the two big Buddhist temples listed under UNESCO protected site. Swayambunath was also known as the Monkey Temple for many of the primates roamed freely within its compound.
Our guide for the next couple of days was Mr Nepal. (yupe, you've got it correct. Mr Nepal is his name.) A very well spoken gentlemen who used to be a guide in the Himalaya.



It took us a while but soon we got used to his accent.

Mr Nepal gave us an account:
There are altogether, in Nepal, 7 Unesco listed sites:

• The individual Durbar squares of Patan, Baktapur & Kathmandu.
• (Durbar- means palace). Built from 15-16th century.
• The two big Buddhist stupa- Swayambunath and Boudnath.
• The two old Hindu temples- Pashupathinath and Changunarayan.

Mr Nepal went on to explain that the Swayambunath temple had its beginning thousands of years ago, but there was plenty of rebuilding over the dynasties by the various Kings. This current structure was built in the 4th century.

Here was the Main Stupa at Swayambunath Temple. Our good francis chia and SereneXMM were surveying for the best angles to capture the big stupa...


Like many Buddhist stupas in Nepal, its walls face 4 directions, and it has 13 steps from the base to the reach symbolizing the steps to reach nirvana.

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Here is a picture of Stevewhy, Ah Wong and Melvin relaxing by the main stupa.


We could see, at the background, a stupa that is being scaffolded and being repaired.

Mr Nepal had a very interesting story about this stupa:

"The umbrella stupa under repair besides the main stupa at Swayambunath had little story behind it. It had been said that if there were to be any damage to it, some disastrous event would befall the nation of Nepal.
And indeed in 2001, a fire broke out in that very stupa and in the process of watering down this fire, the seepage of huge quantity of water caused the stupa to crumble.
Not long after that, the Royal massacre of King Birendra and his Queen by the crown prince Dipendra took place.
The brother of the slain king, Gyanendra then took over the throne, with his son Paras by his side. Apparently this new King and his son were not too popular with the people, and he found himself left with no choice but to rescind control of the country to a democratic coalition in 2007.
He now lives in a house 10km out of Kathmandu."

[limwhow]

Here are just some of my record shots of The Swayambunath Temple.
When we arrived at the Temple, the sky was a little gloomy and we didn't have too much good light.
Thus the dynamic ranges were a challenge.

The small stupa on the left side of the entrance where SereneXMM, Acpical and I roamed to first, while the rest of the team went over to the right side which was the main Stupa.


Right at the top of the steps was another small little stupa.


My humble share of the big prayer wheels.


As we walked down from the main stupa, we came across this seated Buddha.
What was interesting that I found was, the little monkey just jumped all over the Buddha! Haha....

[limwhow]

Some shots by SereneXMM...

SereneXMM #3
A few monkeys were picking fleas with their companions. One of their companions snarled at me. I quickly ran away...



SereneXMM #4
Caught this monkey sleeping. It 'bo chap' me even I went near him.



SereneXMM #5
The prayer wheels and the mani stones.



SereneXMM #6
The prayer wheels.

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T R A V E L O G U E

Day 1 - Walking down from Swayambunath Temple...


Here is a shot of Acpical and SereneXMM shooting simultaneously at a Nepali lady at the doorway...


And as we walked down, Adrian, Acpical and myself we were almost hit by a flying water bomb from high up on our left side.
Don't know who threw the water bomb... could it be some disgruntled shopkeeper who did not manage to do any of our business just now?


Anyway, we arrived back at the hotel in time to change our US$ to Nepali Rupee.
The exchange rate at this point in time was US$1 = 71 rp.

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T R A V E L O G U E

Day 1 - Dinner at Bamboo Club, Thamel, Kathmandu

Allow me to just bring the travel account to dinner on the first night for now, as we wait for the rest of the team members to get ready their pictures.

Kathmandu is a constant stream of flowing vehicles and humans.
And its buildings are erected very close to one other, leaving literally only enough spaces for narrow little driveways in between these buildings, often times at odd and acute angles with each other.
Every one of us marvelled at the skills with which the drivers maneuvre their minibuses, vans or cars in making that hard-to-accomplish turn into even smaller lanes, only to blare their horns at passers-by who occupy a good part of the road, walking leisurely with nary a worry for the approaching mobile behind them.

Our dinner destination for the night was at a nice restaurant called Bamboo Club, located only minutes away from our hotel by foot, along the Bhagwoti Marg (Bhagwoti Road).

Here, Leong and wkcheah were just walking behind me as I turned back and snapped a shop of the sign board...


Classic Nepali style presentation.


And wherever we go to, whichever country we end up in, some of our team mates were sure to test the local brewery industry...



Great dinner always come with a price - and Adrian made no bones about the impending event the next morning...


But of course, some one found that the shops around the area sell trek pants, trekking poles, outer shell jackets all at very good prices, and we all ended up in one of these shops and hum-tum the shop owner to get trekking sticks at 300rp (S$5.40), light trek pants at 600rp (S$10.80).
Goose became the shop keeper by standing at the counter and bargaining the prices with us, and bringing the prices down even more in the process.
We had a great time that evening. And the shop found itself lightened of more trekking sticks and cold wear.

[Picture noisy and slightly Out of Focus. But just for the memory of the moment.]

Honestly, I have never thought that I would come to Kathmandu to buy these items, despite SgTrekker's repeated assurance that this was a good idea.
I now agree, because although the products are almost all non-original North Faces and such, for that fraction of the price, they would do a more than enough good job for most of the treks up the mountains.

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T R A V E L O G U E

Day 2 - Our Attempt at Flying to Lukla Airport...


We must give the credit to this team of 24 participants (plus Adrian and Melvin, it will make up a total of 26.), because no one was late for the morning lobby meeting.
At 6:15am, all the backpacks were all guai-guai lined up in front of the reception counter.
And rubbing our sleepy eyes, we were all ready to risk our lives for that run down to Luka Airport's ultra-short runway.



Lukla Airport
What is so special about this Lukla Aiport?
Lukla is the tiny township at 2800m altitude, that is the gateway to Everest Base Camp's trek.
Almost every one that treks to EBC or any of the other towns along the same route would need to enter via Lukla.
There are a couple of ways:

• either a 10 hours bus ride to a town Shivalaya south of Lukla followed by a 7 day trek to Lukla (to avoid taking the plane to Lukla)
• or take a tiny 16-seater Dornier popeller-engined flight on a 30 minutes journey through Himalayan countries to land at the short 430m and inclined runway at Lukla.

Most would choose the latter for the ease of it, but the flight to Lukla could really be an exciting adventure in itself. That part comes a little later in our accounts...

Walking to the Departure Hall of the Domestic Airport

The Domestic Airport is just besides the Tribhuvan International Airport.
But a gate outside meant that we all had to hand-carry our big and heavy luggages all the way into the hall, which, not surprisingly, was another brewing pot of old-style loud speaker announcements, tired traverllers, more slow-twitch muscles officials and more confusion.



A classic scene here demonstrates the urgency with which Adrian tried to push for a quick take-off...



BUT...

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The Excitement of Flying... soon...

The feel of the physical boarding pass in hand worked powerful magic.
It meant that you have been given a place on board the tiny little popeller plane and you should be flying soon.



Unable to conceal their over-flowing excitement, our good team members channeled their energies to poker cards while awaiting the departure...



SereneXMM:

"Wah! Our flight is scheduled at 7:30am... It's now 7:06am. Only another 20 more minutes or so and we'll be airborne already!"

Me, I backside itchy.
Finally found the Lonely Planet Book - Trekking in the Nepal Himalaya at the Airport bookshop and after bargaining with the lady, bought it at 1900rp, around $30+.

[limwhow]

... Some Delays in our Flight?

7:30am came and went.
But still no movement towards the doorway to the plane yet.
Some official news filtering down from somewhere mentioned that the weather in Lukla was bad and it was foggy with very poor visibility.
The experienced pilots of the various small little airline that traverse this route knew enough of the unpredictability of the condition to risk landing at Lukla.
... hmmm, so it seemed that we had no choice but to wait and hope that the weather over there clear up soon.

Meanwhile, time for some useful activities... like equipment check.
It was really good of Wkcheah to have brought his pair of Motorola Walkie Talkies because only his could marry up with SgTrekker's Motorolas.
Mine was utterly useless. Maybe different frequencies, perhaps. But at the end of the day, wkcheah and SgTrekker's walkie talkies turned out very very useful on the trek.



And more useful activities - someone realised that the Nepali counter girl in the domestic waiting hall was very very pretty and many of the guys started shooting photos of her.
She was pretty sporting and she posed for all of them...



While the guys were busying themselves checking equipment and shooting pretty Nepali girls, other members made themselves useful by recce-ing and finding an important spot - water station for topping up our rapidly repleting water bottles!
This spot would become our home ground over the next couple of days...



Sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting...



It was 10:30am, three hours after our flight was scheduled to fly and still no news yet.
And our Trek Leader decided that enough was enough. And led by example in getting enough rest to recuperate to fight another hour (day).

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Flight Cancellation...

Finally after 5 hours of wait, the loud-speaker lady announced the cancellation of all flights to Lukla due to unrelenting bad visibility over at Lukla Airport's side.



We grabbed our heavy luggage and trudged out of the airport's X ray door frames...



... and across the messy carpark filled with cars and taxis, to reach the end of a field where we threw down all our luggage and waited for our buses...

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T R A V E L O G U E

Day 2 - Durbar Square at Bhaktapur

Adrian and Acpical entering Bhaktapur's Durbar Square... in Infrared 535nm.


SgTrekker got things arranged very quickly and we arrived at the ancient city of Bhaktapur just in time for lunch.
Our team was split into two - each group had lunch in a separate restaurant.
From the table where SereneXMM, francis chia and I sat on the second floor, we could oversee the whole Durbar Square, the old Palace square of Bhaktapur.

Like what was written in one of the many reviews, roaming the cobblestone streets of Bhaktapur was like taking a walk back in time through the medieval periods of Nepali history.
I could see all my team mates firing away with unrestrained enthusiasm at anything that moved or didn't move in Durbar Square.

The history went like this:
When one of the Kings of Kathmandu passed away, he split his Kingdom into three for each of his son: Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur.
It was during this period, when intense rivalry and competition between the three Kingdoms brought Newari Architecure to a new heights as evident from the intricate designs and carvings on the temples and buildings in Bhaktapur.
It was precisely where there were three Durbar Squares - one each in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan.

[limwhow]

All went crazy - shooting and shooting right after lunch...



... and many of us found ourselves learning something in the form of social education from the wall carvings of the temple in Durbar Square...



The golden gate of Bhaktapur
This was the gate leading into the old Palace ground. We could see that even now there were still military guards stationed at the gate.



From what Mr Nepal described, right inside the palace there was a temple of the Goddess Taleju, with whom the old King paid patronage.



It was told to the King he had to keep a young virgin 4-7 years old girl as a Living Goddess, known as the Kumari, in the Temple as this virgin would be Goddess Taleju's reincarnation.
And up till today, the practice of Hindusim in Nepal still maintained their Kumaris.



Every one of the three cities of the Kathmandu Valley (namely, Kathmandu, Patan and Baktapur) has its own Kumari.
The Kumari of Kathmandu is considered the holiest as she is the only one out of the three Kumaris who follows strictly the doctrine and stays in the temple. The other two Kumari of Patan and Bhaktapur, however, stay in their own house.

Mr Nepal said:

"The Kumari has to be a virgin and always before she reaches menstruating age, she would have to be replaced by a new Kumari. The old one would be given a small sum of money and would continue to live life as a commoner. But the problem is- No one dares marry a Kumari, for it is believed that the man who does so would have bad luck befalling him."

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Some sights of Bhaktapur's Durbar Square...

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Some shots by SereneXMM.

A lady carrying her water pot in agony on Durbar Square in Bhaktapur.


The Golden Gate.


And the soldier guarding The Golden Gate.
He has a bored look on his face.

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The Naga Basin

Right after the Goddess Taleju's Temple, we right turned and squeezed under a low doorway to The Naga Basin.
This is where the King used to take his bath.
Mr Nepal said that until not long ago, the water from the underground system still supplied this basin.
But it has since dried up.



And who could forget the most important symbol just situated next to the bath Basin?
I am sure every day the Kind would be caressing and caressing his favourite symbol for the effect that it would bring him...

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Un-beknown to us, we were led by the guide to a Thangka Painting School.
Well, honestly, this was the very very first time while traveling with SgTrekker that we were somewhat led to an institute with a 'commercial agenda'.
Nothing against visiting the school at all, I must clarify. Just that it was really really funny to see the look on Adrian's face when he decided that enough was enough and gave a small donation to that lovely young lady who described and explained so much to us about the Art of Thangka Painting.



The sun began to set as evening drew near.
And a drizzle started. I remembered very well Mr Nepal announced to all of us (especially those at the back) at this point:

"It is getting dark and we still have to walk about 15 minutes before we will reach our bus. So it would be good to pick up your pace right now."

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Here were some of the portraiture shots we managed to catch while walking at semi-top speed... Hahaha...!







For some strange reason, this girl in modern school unifrom caught my attention, especially the way she was bathed in a swarm of coloured-clothed people behind her.
The contrast in colours was obvious.
But more apparent was a certain air about her. An uppity-up kind of demeanour that she possessed.
As if she belonged to an Upper Caste as compared to those around her...

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Some more street shots...



A few of us found this pretty little girl on the window of the second floor of a house as we walked past.
She was very happy and was smiling and laughing as we shot her.

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A shot by SereneXMM

SereneXMM #09

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It got darker and darker and even darker as we walked along the main thoroughfare of Bhaktapur.
And I found myslef having to resort to higher and higher ISO to capture my shots with sufficient shutter speed.
The lighting was going, going and gone.
And the last couple of shots I had here were really dark, low key ones...

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T R A V E L O G U E

Day 5 - Kathmandu to Lukla

After so many days of suspension, even the most excited traveller also will become sian-one-half liao already, that is if we really still fail to fly on Day 5.
Thus, on this day we all Fell-in, dumped our luggage, dropped ourselves onto the bus seats, waited at the Kathmandu domestic airport, and just hoped for the best.

Kathmandu domestic airport's security isn't the most fantastic.
Acpical and I were able to sneaked past the security guards to reach the grounds of the outside.
... and to snap a sunrise shot of Kathmandu - my very first Kathmandu sunrise shot.



Adrian seemed to have discovered a better way of making heaps of money rather than doing this high risk job that he is currently doing...



Just before 8am, we got news that Mahesh, our main Nepali guide, had banged some tables and switched us from our original airline to SITA Air.
This was done for the greater interest of the whole group as SITA Air was able to fly us off really quickly instead of being pushed ALL the way to a much later flight.
Of course, he seemed to have conveniently forgotten that the very last mishap in October 2010 that occured at Lukla Airport involved a plane from SITA Air...



Whatever it was, the choice was not ours.
If there was a chance to land at Lukla, we would just grab it.
And here, was a record shot of us doing just that...

[limwhow]

One of Our Most Exciting Flights... ever.