“Madam, what country is suffering because you’re here?”

We had planned 8 days roundtrip for the ABC trek. We were back in Pokhara after 6 ½ days. We tried to extend it as long as we could, but the trail finally came to an end and before we knew it we were back on a bus heading for Pokhara. Luckily, because we had an extra day there, we were able to do some laundry, although it came back smelling like all our dirty socks. On our free day we hired a boat to take us across the lake so we could climb to the top of a small hill and see the Peace Pagoda. The climb is supposed to take 45min-1hr. Even in our newly purchased hippy skirts (our clothes were being washed) and our flip-flops we did it in 30minutes! The view of the Pokhara valley was nice, but the pagoda was disappointing. We had tea and walked around up on top before heading back down to the boat. That night, as we were walking to the Punjabi Dhaba for dinner, we passed by one of 100s of Kashmiri shops that line the main tourist drag near the lake. The Kashmiri shopkeepers have a reputation for being sweet talkers and very persistent in their sales pitch. But one particular shopkeeper got our immediate attention when he said “Madam, what country is suffering because you’re here?” as we walked by. We all busted up laughing at his great command of a unique pick-up line! But we didn’t stop to buy anything! Although we promised another sweet talker that we would be back next year for a cup of tea. Ladies, have you bought your ticket yet?

The next day we were up early with our over stuffed packs and on a bus to Kathmandu. It was pouring and our bags were on the top. We had our rain covers on and there was a tarp over all the bags, with any luck our stuff would arrive only damp, not soaked! The bus ride is supposed to take 8 hours, but because of accidents, the rain and bad traffic before the big Nepali Daishan Festival, it took about 10 hours. Gyanu escorted us to our hotel and we agreed to meet the next day for our last DBT meal!

We had one day of sight-seeing and shopping before our last DBT meal together with Gyanu. He took us to a local Nepali restaurant and we sat and talked for about 2 hours eating snacks (chili chicken boneless, fried peanuts and momos) before we ordered dinner. We also drank a lot of beer which helped us all loosen up and ask questions we hesitated to ask before. Several of his friends came as well as his brother. It was fun to see him in his element and see part of his life.

The next day we had our final breakfast bakery meal together at the Brezel Bakery in Thamel. They took their last walk around our little neighborhood and said good-bye to Kathmandu.

It was surreal to see A&E off at the airport for our final good-bye. It is really hard to comprehend a month long adventure coming to an end. It’s hard to let it go and say good-bye to everything that had become our life:

the heavy packs

pumping water

porridge

DBT meals

cold group showers

mint tea

snickers bars

curling up in our sleeping bags at 7pm every night

sleeping 10-12 hours a night

trekking 5-8 hours every day

sucking on the group teat (water bag)

hand-washing all our clothes

backpackers laundry line (underwear hanging from our bags)

applying the 70 SPF sun cream

daily vitamin dose

cringing at the sight of suspension bridges

traffic jams of goats, donkeys and cows

‘namaste sweet’

‘namaste one rupee’

‘namaste pen’

Twenty-four hours after seeing off A&E at the airport, I was back at the airport to meet my mom. She had been traveling for 48 hours when she got off the plane and had spent 12 of those waiting at the Delhi airport overnight. Needless to say, she was thrilled to finally see a familiar face and settle in at the hotel. And it was great to see her after 10 months! She is a very eager listener and wanted to hear all about the trek and our adventures…perfect debriefing time for me!

We spent several days exploring Kathmandu: the monkey temple, Durbar Square, Thamel, Bhaktapur, and Patan. We hired Gyanu to ‘guide’ us around several of the places. It is so much better to be able to ask questions to a local then just wander around looking at things aimlessly. And of course it always helps to have a Nepali speaker negotiate taxis.

Sorry, couldn't flip it around. But check it out. Gyanu is carrying my mom's bag around Bhaktapur. He also hekped her up and down steep stairs and made sure to keep a close eye on her in traffic! He is the BEST GUIDE EVER!!

But after a few days in the capital, we packed up a small bag and got on the bus going to The Last Resort, located 14km from the Tibetan border. It is famed for having one of the highest bungee jumps in the world, about 160 meters. The bridge was enough to put me in a state of panic. There was no way I was even going to consider jumping off of it.

The Last Resort is a little oasis for adventure travelers. The land was originally rice terraces, like all the land that surrounds the resort. But after business break-up at The Borderlands down the road, one of the business partners, a world famous kayaker, opened The Last Resort and converted all the land to a beautifully landscaped resort. Another co-owner owns a rafting company in Japan. It was at his hostel in Hokkaido that I first heard about The Last Resort and promised to make a visit. Lucky for me and my mom, I kept my promise.

At The Last Resort all the guests sleep in safari tents and there are shared toilets and hot showers. There is a large open-air dining room/bar area where all the meals are served buffet style. There is a massage house run by a different company that only trains and employs untouchables. And of course, there are many activities to choose from: bungee, canyon swing, canyoning, rafting, kayaking, trekking, etc. We had planned a few days of relaxing and then a two day rafting trip down the Bhote Khosi, one of Nepal’s best white water rivers! But that wasn’t all that was in store for us. After we arrived, the adventure coordinator asked us if we would be interested in canyoning and sent the canyoning guide over to talk to my mom. The issue wasn’t if I wanted to go, it was if SHE wanted to go!

After an hour of explaining what canyoning involved, abseiling down waterfalls, my mom was almost convinced! It wasn’t that the guide was trying to sell her on an activity, he was trying to boost her confidence and explained all the risks as well as the safety measures they take. It was easy to tell that he was very experienced and trustworthy! And it was easy to feel comfortable knowing we would be putting our lives in his hands!

So the next morning, the sun was shining, and we met with our canyoning guide at about 10:30 to suite up. We wore a wet suite, a fleece, a spray jacket, a helmet, a harness and shoes of our choice. I only had my chakos with tread that is well-worn. Three of us, my mom and I joined by a solo Israeli traveler, set out with two Nepali guides. The stream and the 7 waterfalls were a 15 minute walk from the resort through a small village and rice terraces. The first waterfall was easy, the guide repelled us down. But after that it was up to us, we had to abseil—control the rope ourselves. The longest waterfall was something like 45meters. The biggest challenge was keeping my feet from slipping of the wet mossy covered rock face. Otherwise it was a lot of fun, even my mom thought so! It was something neither one of us thought we would do, but glad we did! I would totally do it again if the chance presented itself!

Our rafting guide, Sam, standing with my mom and Pat, the co-owner of The Last Resort and owner of Hokkaido Outdoor Adventure in Japan

The next big adventure: RAFTING! This was something my mom and I had really been looking forward to. As a family we all love rafting, and are always looking for a good river. When we travel, we like to find a good raft trip to coordinate our other plans with. So, since Nepal is one of the best places in the world for rafting, we had to get a good few days in. AND WE DID!! But perhaps we got a little more than we bargained for, or at least my mom did. The first day was fun but not overly crazy. There were some good floats in-between the class 3+ rapids. It was a good warm-up for the second day which we had been warned would be much more continuous and much more strenuous, was a little crazy. It was only the second post-monsoon raft trip to brave the river because the water was still really high. The first raft trip had flipped a boat in the first 10 seconds on the river! So we were in for some good rapids and good fun! It was everything everyone promised it would be…lots of big continuous white water. And at one point we hit a rock that titled the boat in such a way that my mom popped out. She tried to hold onto the boat, but the water was so strong she let go. Another guide threw her a lifeline, but with all the white water crashing in front of her face she didn’t see it just inches away from her. Luckily, the safety kayakers are great at their jobs and one came to the rescue. She grabbed on and he paddled her to shore. It took her some time to catch her breath and recover from the trauma of being in a serious rapid for about 20-30 seconds. But she jumped right back in another raft (we were on the other side of the river) and rode with them until we called it a day about 20 minutes later. I’m not sure if my mom will go rafting again, but she has a great story to tell and it is even more exotic because it happened in Nepal, a country most of her friends wouldn’t step foot, let alone go rafting or canyoning!

My mom with her safety kayaker and lifesaver!

We spent our last few days doing some more sight-seeing with Gyanu in Kathmandu and we went to Nagarkot for one night—hoping to see a Himalayan view. The real blessing in Nagarkot was the clear air and lack of traffic. The sunrise view was minimal. It was possible to see the outline of distant mountains, but the real view of the Himalayas was from our airplane window as we flew to Delhi where we met my dad and departed for our Dharamsala adventure!

The temples of Patan!

The view from Daramkot--can you see the spectacular Himalayas in the background??

Lhasa to Kathmandu via The Friendship Hwy

People often ask why it is called "The Friendship Hwy". The simple reason we came up with--if you weren't friends before the trip, you'll be friends after the trip. It is a long, bumpy, harrowing journey aross Tibet, down the Bhote Khosi river gorge and into Nepal. To top it off, we added a side trip to Everest Base Camp, another several hours of some of the world's worst roads at over 4000m. It was a 5 day adventure in a land cruiser I hope never to repeat. I'm glad I did it, but I don't think I would choose to make the trip overland from Tibet to Nepal again. At least not until the road is significantly improved. And in this part of the world...that may not be possible. The road, after it drops off the Tibetan plateau, descends very quickly following the river on a narrow, steep, muddy or rocky road that barely allows one lane of traffic let alone two. This is the major trade route as well as a very popular Land Cruiser overland route. Hence, the traffic is pretty steady and constant from both directions regardless of the road condition.

It all started by putting up little hand-written posters around Lhasa at some of the more popular hotels. JP and I were looking for two others to join our Land Cruiser trip to the border via all the popular stops and possibly Everest Base Camp. Our first response was from a couple from Portland, so we booked the trip and laughed at the odds of meeting someone from the same city/state in Tibet! We probably got 10 more emails of people looking to do the same thing...that's how popular this route is!

We left a few days later with a two Land Cruiser entourage, 2 Australian guys, 2 German girls, 4 Americans, 1 Tibetan 'guide' and 2 Tibetan drivers. The word 'guide' is used loosely because he barely spoke English, couldn't explain much of anything at the places we stopped and was pretty much useless. But he did handle the permit and paperwork for getting us through the checkpoints. And he did intervene when our driver threatened another driver with his sword and then almost ran him over (that story is better told in person). So, I guess he was worth the seat in the vehicle, even if he had horrible taste in music--Bryan Adams!

Each day was long and ardous--hours in the car listening to either driver's choice or plugging in an iPod connection. We stopped everyday at a town/city along the way that had an interesting monastery or temple to keep us occupied for the afternoon/evening. We also found the best Chinese food was in Tibet. We ate huge meals of sauteed vegetables, chicken and peanuts, pork, beef, and tofu dishes. The trip highlight was making it to Everest Base Camp. The real Chinese government base camp is 3km up the road, but we stayed at the tourist base camp with equally good views of Mt. Everest. The mountain was on show for us both days we were there. But as we packed up and drove out of base camp on the second morning, she clouded over and couldn't be seen at all. Our guide said that only 1 in 3 people that visit base camp actually get to see her. And he has spent 3 consecutive days at base camp and never seen even a glimpse. So we considered ourselves very lucky! We stayed in a place called Dhingrui Friendship Hotel. It was 40 yuan a night, regulated by the Chinese government. And only 4 people are allowed to stay in each hotel each night, the government officials come by every night to check and collect our money. But the hotel owners were Tibetan and very very sweet. It was a father daughter team. They kept our tea cups full and at night they tucked us in with many extra blankets and covers to keep us warm. We also ate our meals there, which while very simple were decent considering everything has to be broughtup. There must have been 40-50 similar guest houses--each run by Tibetans, but regulated by the Chinese. The tension is thick everywhere you go. The checkpoint guards hassel the Tibetan guides and drivers, the Tibetan hotel owners in turn build extra big speed bumps for the Chinese officials when they come to town. It is impossible to miss the obvious hatred the Tibetans feel for the Chinese, our guide and driver were constantly making comments...and don't forget there was that incident with the sword too.

I made it to Everest Base Camp (4800m)

Well, this quick little update about the Lhasa-Kathmandu journey has taken me almost 3 hours to write up and upload. So, the Annapurna journey is coming, but slowly slowly. Or as the guides liked to say 'no hurry, chicken curry'.

Mom Arrives in 24 hours

Another chapter of the trip is over and another is starting tomorrow. I just dropped Amy & Evie at the airport an hour ago. It was a bittersweet good-bye. Team ABC-DBT (Annapurna Base Camp-dal bhat thakali) was so deliciously fun and it came with great views too. And Team Annapurna Circuit "Waa Happen?" could never be replicated if we tried. So much fun and so many good laughs that it is sad to say good-bye to it. But I'm pretty sure it won't be our last adventure. They have strict orders to start planning our next adventure on their flight to Bangkok.

Meanwhile, my mom has just boarded a flight to Delhi and will arrive in about 24 hours in Kathmandu. The rafting/relaxation portion of the adventure is about to begin!! Exciting! And to my surprise, I just found out my mom has decided to start a little travel journal....here is the link. Should be interesting to compare mother-daughter notes!

Ann On the Loose in Asia

More on the adventures to be posted soon!