3/30-4/30: Nepal
There’s really too much for me to type for Nepal… so I’m taking the lazy route and an going to let the photos do most of the story telling :-)
But seriously, I spent the entire month of April in Nepal and it was hands down the most memorable month of my life. I can confidently say that Nepal has been my favorite country that I have visited on this trip.
Highlights:
- 30+ Snickers bars consumed in 30 days
- Stay in Alobar1000 if you're headed to hostel. Chillest hostel ever.
- Annapurna Base Camp - 7 days of trekking (see pictures)
- Everest Base Camp -13 days of trekking (see pictures)
- Summited Base Camp on my 25th birthday and Chris/Patrick surprised with a french fry birthday cake, an unforgettable birthday
- Incredible friendships formed. We started the hike as 3 friends, left Nepal with a family of 9
- THE WEATHER. I landed in Nepal and knew I’d love the country immediately, as the weather was a comfortable-cool 24 C
- Nepalese are the kindest people. In our moments of need, they opened their homes to us and I will never ever forget this.
- Dal Bhat Power 24 hour. Dal Bhat is a Nepalese dish I fell in love with and ate 80% of the days in Nepal
- Meeting other backpackers with similar mindsets. Nepal isn’t a place where you come to get slizzard every night, but rather a place to chill out and enjoy the outdoors and it really showed in the crowd at the hostel.
- Western Tandori - my favorite restaurant in Kathmandu. My reliable source of nutrition throughout my trip, it was even up and running 2 days after the EQ
- I met (well more like made eye contact) with the Nepalese Prime minister! I was helping remove rubble from Durbar square and he popped up right behind me to act as a moral boost for the crowd
- Although the EQ was a tragedy, it was an eye-opening (probably an understatement) experience
- Getting airlifted out of Nepal in a C-17 Australian cargo. I don’t know how you can do it, but if you ever have the opportunity, do not let it pass
Lowlights:
- Guess how many showers were taken in April? 4. Although I’m oddly proud of this, trekking for most of April didn’t allow for a whole lot of personal hygiene.
- Altitude sickness is a real thing. Trust me. If you’re doing any of these treks, bring altitude sickness pills... they might just save your life.
- The earthquake and all the craziness that followed
- Post-EQ stress. This didn't really hit me until I was out of the country, but there’s always a knot in your stomach right after a natural disaster. It was really draining and impossible to identify while in Nepal. That first breath of relief when landing in Bangkok airport was incredible.
- I tripped over a puppy on the Annapurna Base Camp trek and shattered my sunglasses. RIP sunglasses.
- Transportation sucks in SE Asia. No surprises there.
Annapurna Base Camp
Everest Base Camp
Post Earthquake
“Were you caught in the EQ?” (I’ve been asked this 100000X times, so I figured I’ll type up a response)
Yes, I was caught in the April 25th, 2015 7.9 EQ. Fortunately, my group was in Lukla (the end of the Everest Base camp trek),the safest area of Nepal we could have been at. We were about the fly out to Kathmandu, but thank the gods that the weather didn’t permit a take off, or else we would have been a BAD spot. The EQ itself was initially a standard California-sized EQ, but quickly escalated when we heard rocks tumbling down the hillside and roofs collapsing. We didn’t fully comprehend the severity of the EQ until checking into a hostel and seeing the magnitude of the damage in other areas. To say the least, it was surreal.
For the next couple days, we were taken in by the kindest Nepalese families while in Lukla. We slept in their tents, house entrances and even a their greenhouse (in fear of aftershocks that would obliterate the flimsy Nepalese buildings) – of course none of them had to this, but rather it was from the kindness of their hearts. I will never forget the kindness that they showed us.
After several days of being the first at Lukla airport @ 430AM, we finally caught a flight to Kathmandu. At Kathmandu, we took shelter with the US Embassy *queue Proud to be an American*. This is my first natural disaster I've gone through (but I've nearly avoided 4- that's a story for another time), it’s mostly interesting how the news portrayed the EQ. Of course there was an abundance of critically damaged areas, but the area I was in (Thamel) was virtually untouched- my favorite restaurant, Western Tandori, was even open! At the US embassy we ate MRE’s, which consisted of poptarts, apple sauce and cold lasagna (YUM! Seriously). Following a few days of sleeping on cots, we had the opportunity to get air-lifted (on a C-17!) out of the country- Chris/Patrick went to India, I and a few others went to Thailand. So... that's the spark-noted version, there's too much to tell :-)
All in all, it was an incredibly eye experience and makes me truly thankful to be safe and still able to travel.
