Unfinished Business

We've spent the last five days relaxing in Ubud, Bali. We were only planning on staying a day or two, but we're having a hard time leaving this place. This was just what we were looking for after the chaos of Kathmandu and the grueling trek where we were roughing it in the cold and dirt for two weeks. Here in Ubud there is little to do besides relax, read, shop at the insanely cheap local market full of great items, and waste away the days at any one of the countless cafes in town. We have yet to eat at a bad restaurant here. Almost every place has a beautiful, lush garden with pools, fountains, and waterfalls. The food has been delicious...fresh squeezed fruit juices, banana pancakes, tuna sashimi, seared tuna, pork satay, nasi goreng (a spicy fried rice with pork & egg), and suckling pig have been the highlights.

Our second day here we found a small roadside "warung" (the name for the local open-air street-food restaurants) that had amazing suckling pig. Ibu Oka is the second restaurant on this trip that has been so good we've ate there on three separate occasions. The other was Fergburger in Queenstown, New Zealand. With all of the cheap, excellent food here, and the lack of other activities, we've been eating about five meals a day. Needless to say, we're in heaven after the bland food found in Nepal.

Just to show we haven't only been eating, here's a couple of pictures from one of our walks through the rice terraces and jungle on the edge of town:

Since we have all of this time on our hands (between meals), we figured we'd write about a few things we didn't get the chance to talk about in previous posts.

Some interesting facts we learned about Nepal:

• 80% of the villages in Nepal are not connected to roads...which means everything is carried in by yak, or more often, porters. Imagine having to carry everything you need to live on your back for miles, always up hill of course.
  
• 90% of Nepalis eat dal bhat twice a day, every day of their life. (Dal bhat is a bland meal consisting of rice and beans that we were tired of after eating twice.)
• 82% of Nepalis live on less than $2 per day
• Despite the harsh living conditions, the people were extremely friendly and welcoming.

Here we are with our friend we met in Nepal, Dhana Lama (in the white shirt), along with his wife, brother, and cousin. Rachel's wearing the traditional Nepali hat that Dhana Lama's wife gave her:

Our thoughts on Singapore:

• We really enjoyed our time in the city. Since there is a mix of Chinese, Malaysian, and Arab cultures residing there, the food is delicious and diverse.
• The streets are clean, there is very little-if any-crime, they have an excellent train system, and the people are friendly.
• As far as sights go, there's not a ton to see in the city. Eating is definitely the highlight. Here was one of our favorites, chili crab:

Thoughts on traveling:

• We definitely miss our family and friends back home, but we're having a great time so far and aren't ready to go back yet. We've seen so many neat places and met so many interesting people it's made us want to explore as much as we can. We've already been talking about places we'd like to visit once we get done with this trip...Central America, Mongolia & Russia, Brazil, Scandinavia.... Anyone want to join us?
• We have both always loved food, but as we travel and taste so many new types of food it's developing into a passion. (As you can probably tell from the prominent role food has played in many of our posts.) So I guess, in addition to surfing, hiking, and fishing our way around the world, we'll be eating our way around the world too. Does this make us foodies?
  

2009 - The Lost Year in Sports: (by Dustin of course)

• I've realized that 2009 is going to be the year that never happened as far as sports go. Ever since my first year in college when I had regular access to the internet and ESPN, I've followed the Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves, and Gopher sports almost religiously. Besides following the local teams, I've always kept up on all the major sporting events...NFL playoffs, March Madness, the Masters, NBA playoffs, etc, etc. I'd watch SportsCenter regularly...maybe not daily, but close. If something happened in the world of sports I knew about it. Since we left in January I've been completely removed from the U.S. sports scene. I have no idea what's happened in the last four months. I haven't watched SportsCenter once, I've rarely checked sports scores online, and baseball/football/basketball games are never on TV anywhere. We already wrote about how we were only able to watch a little over two quarters of the Superbowl, supposedly the most watched TV program in the world. In New Zealand and Australia I resorted to cheering for the Hamilton Chiefs of the Super 14 rugby league. We went to one of their games while in Hamilton, I watched another on TV, and I regularly followed them in the newspaper. Once we left Australia and arrived into Asia, I found the ONLY sports on TV or covered in the newspaper are soccer and cricket...I haven't got that desperate yet. I guess the good news is that, from what I can tell, I haven't missed much from Minnesota sports this year. I guess it's a small price to pay in order to travel for a year. But who knows, maybe this fall will finally be the Vikings year....

Cheering for the Hamilton Chiefs:

And lastly, we finally got the pictures from our swim with the whale sharks. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip. Here's a few of them:

Crazy Kathmandu

After two weeks of trekking we were back to the crowded, chaotic, polluted streets of Kathmandu...a far cry from the relaxed, quiet mountain villages we enjoyed so much on our trek to Gokyo. It took a few days of relaxation at the local cafes before we were ready to explore the capital's cultural heritage...

Our first stop was Swayambhunath, a Buddhist temple located on the top of a hill overlooking the city. It's one of the most famous stupas in Nepal, and is also known as the "Monkey Temple" for the large population of monkeys that love to play around the temples. After a long climb up the stairs, we commented how we hadn't seen a single monkey. A few seconds later a pack of monkeys were sliding down the railings and jumping from tree to tree. All of a sudden the largest monkey was running straight at us. He ran past Dustin and headed right at me. He reached for the half full Fanta I was carrying. I resisted at first but the monkey literally jumped up and ripped the bottle out of my hands. He promptly sat down, unscrewed the cap with his hands, and proceeded to chug every drop in the bottle. Here's a picture to prove it:

We also took a day trip to the Bhaktapur Durbar Square, which is traffic free and retains the old-world Nepalese charm. Temples, courtyards, and shrines, all built between the 8th and 12th centuries, are connected via cobblestone streets. Walking through Bhaktapur was enjoyable and we were able to see the centuries old traditions of wheat thrashing, potters, weavers, and wood carvers. (Not a show put on for the tourists, this was how they actually lived.)

Also, we wanted to provide a quick update on our health. Before our arrival in Nepal, many people we talked to who had been there recommended we become vegetarians while in the country. Seeing the open air butcher shops with no refrigeration, the slabs of meat being carried by porters in woven baskets for days to the villages, and the fact that electricity is unreliable, if available at all, we figured this was great advice.....we lasted for 8 days before we broke down. It all started with Dustin ordering a yak burger in Gokyo (located at over 15,000ft & probably a good 3 day walk from the nearest refrigerator). After that our vegetarian diet was thrown out the window - yak steak, water buffalo momos (dumplings), chicken, wild boar, and mutton became our staples. There were only a few times our stomachs weren't too happy with us, but we never really got sick (knock on wood).

Typical butcher shop:

We just flew from Kathmandu to Singapore yesterday. Tonight we catch our flight to Bali, but until then we're savoring all of the fabulous dishes Singapore has to offer.

Trekking in the Himalayas

As we arrived in Kathmandu our senses were ignited by the smells of animals, curry, dust, and smog hanging in the air. Having flown from the Singapore Airport (regarded as one of the nicest, most modern airports in the world) it was a bit of a culture shock to arrive to the chaotic, prison-like building that passes as the Kathmandu Airport. Since our flight from Singapore was canceled and re-scheduled for a day later than planned, we spent our first and only day in Kathmandu scrambling to get last minute essentials for our upcoming trek.

The following day we were up bright and early for our 6:30am domestic flight to Lukla. As we passed through what had to be wooden metal detectors (it looked like they disguised a wooden door frame as a metal detector - there were no lights flashing and no beeping whatsoever) and different security check lanes for males and females, it was clear we were in for an adventure.

Our 35 minute flight to Lukla was aboard a 12-person prop plane that looked like it could fall apart before take-off. There was no seat belt check or mention of oxygen masks, instead we received cotton balls to put in our ears since the plane wasn't pressurized? Many possible scenarios of things that could go wrong played over and over in my mind as I watched Dustin calmly sit back and look out the window. Unfortunately, the views from the plane were blocked by clouds and not until we were close to landing did we realize how low we were actually flying. The plane maneuvered close to the mountains as we watched through the main cockpit window (no door to the cockpit). All of a sudden an uphill runway on a cliff appeared and we were headed straight up the cliff towards buildings. I squeezed Dustin's arm and said one last prayer before we hit the runway. Let me just say that I do not have a fear of flying but this was way scarier than skydiving! Also, since a plane crashed into the cliff face missing the runway by a few meters in October, I was kind of nervous.

View of the Lukla runway going off the cliff:

Thankfully, we arrived safe and sound in Lukla, picked up our backpacks, and immediately began hiking. Lukla, a small village situated on the hillside, sits at 9,350 ft. As we walked through the village we met another traveler who was hiking part of the trail we were to follow by himself. Seunghon, a guy from South Korea, became our hiking partner for the next few days to Namche Bazar. Along the way we passed through one tiny village after another. We left our tent in Kathmandu since tea houses are the preferred method of accommodation along this route. Each village typically contained 4 to 5 tea houses with minimal amenities. The plywood rooms usually consisted of a bed with one inch thick mattress, window, blanket, and pillows (forget about heat or insulated walls) but the spectacular views overshadowed the extremely basic accommodations.

The tea houses also offered meals which usually included dal bhat (rice & lentils), potatoes, noodles with vegetables, or pasta - always rich in carbohydrates, but nourishing after a long day of trekking. After a few days the bland food all tasted the same anyway. With numerous tea houses dotting the trail you could stop for lunch instead of having to pack food in. Yaks also frequented the trail carrying supplies to the villages and causing numerous traffic jams in the process.

Typical scene on the trail:

After saying our good-byes to Seunghon in Namche (he was headed to Everest Base Camp and we were headed to Gokyo), we were a solo team again...Except for the fact we decided to become employers and hire a Sherpa guide/porter from Namche to Gokyo. Trekking in the Himalayas is far from backpacking in Yosemite or the Rockies. The altitude alone is enough to put the fittest person in their place. We figured we'd help the local economy and make the high-altitude trekking a little more enjoyable by hiring a Sherpa.

Namche Bazar,Nepal:
After acclimatizing in Namche Bazar, located at 11,319ft, for 2 days we were off again. Although most of our trekking was alone, we did spend a few days hiking with a couple from Switzerland. Phil and Amelia became our hiking companions, nightly card playing buddies, and provided plenty of great advice about our upcoming travels. (They were at the end of a 10 month trip through Asia.) After 4 days of trekking from Namche we arrived at the end of the road...Gokyo is another small village (they're all small villages actually) located at 15,584 ft situated on a beautiful lake. Both feeling strong we ascended Gokyo Ri that afternoon. Gokyo Ri is a 17,519ft high "hill" overlooking the village of Gokyo - over half a mile higher than anything found in the lower 48, plus a full mile higher than we had ever been. After a 2 hour steep climb we reached the prayer flags at the summit. Thoroughly exhausted I laid down on a rock to catch my breath. After summoning enough energy to get up we had spectacular views of Mt.Everest, Cho Oyu, and Makalu, three of the six highest mountains in the world...making it well worth the effort.

Gokyo Ri Summit Shot:
The view from Gokyo Ri:
Nightly card game with our Swiss friends and the Sherpas:

The following day Dustin, Phil, Amelia, our 2 guides, and I traversed across rocky terrain to the "Six Lakes" area. Our grueling 13 mile day hike from 15,600 to 16,900ft, provided awesome views of Mt.Everest, Cho Oyu, and the Ngozumpa glacier. Many trekkers make it to the 5th Lake but very few continue on. Neither of our guides, with 20 yrs guiding each, had ever been to this "untouched" region less than five miles from Tibet. Our bodies were pushed to the limit as we scrambled over boulders and breathed in even thinner air. As we headed down we came to the Cho Oyu base camp located at the 5th Lake. Two Russians were attempting to climb Cho Oyu, the 6th highest mountain in the world. While they were on a 7 day attempt to summit the mountain, the Sherpa camp cook invited us into camp for tea and biscuits. Tired and weary, the break provided the replenishment we needed to make it back to Gokyo.

Mount Everest from the Six Lakes Area:

We spent the next 4 days working our way from Gokyo back to Lukla for our return flight to Kathmandu.

Currently, we're in Kathmandu and will spend the next 4 days exploring this area before flying to Bali via Singapore. As much as we loved our time in the mountains, and this trek will definitely be one of the highlights of the trip, we're looking forward to getting back to the ocean.

Alive and Well

We're currently in Namche Bazar, Nepal which is a 2 day walk from the nearest airport and a 7 day walk from the nearest road (but still has internet service). We've spent the last nine days trekking to Gokyo and exploring that region. We have a few more days to explore this area before hiking to Lukla to catch our flight back to Kathmandu.

Between the two of us we have 9 blisters, 2 sore knees, one cold, one nagging cough, and enough dirt embedded in our bodies to fill a sandbox...yet we're feeling great.