I hop on the computer this afternoon and the first person I see, my mom; perfect just the person to listen to me. I quickly convert the time difference in my head, she must just be waking up, but my brain is swirling with more crazy travel ideas I must share with her. This is how the conversation goes...
"Good morning mom!" "Good morning honey!" "So mom do you want to hear my latest ideas!?!?" of course she knows she will have to hear them whether she wants to or not... "Where are you going now?" "I'm going to climb Mt. Everest" I say this as a joke but I throw so many crazy ideas around I wanted to see if she'd believe it! "No you aren't" "Ha, no I'm not, but I am going to do the Everest base camp trek!"Well that's my latest idea, and I'm in love with the idea. This idea sprung from my latest travel experience in Nepal. About 3 months back just after returning from Thailand, yet another amazing travel experience, my friend Mimi and I decided our next holiday would be spent in Nepal. I can't say Nepal is a place I've dreamed about, I mean it is home to the tallest mountain in the world so of course I wanted to visit but it's not a place I've always set out to visit. However when I signed on to work in India, Nepal skyrocketed to the top of my list. I was going to be so close how could I not visit.
While a large group from school was going on a 12 day trek to the Annapurna Base Camp Mimi and I decided to pass up that trip for an itinerary of our own. We felt if we were going to Nepal we should see some of the country as well as the mountains. We didn't have much written in stone when we left Chennai for our two week holiday in Nepal. We knew we would start in Kathmandu, spend a few days, fly to Pokhara spend a little over a week and then fly back to Kathmandu for a few days before the end of the holiday. We weren't even sure how much of a trek we would do... the idea of more than 2 days hiking through the mountains seemed a little extreme to the both of us. Well it's amazing how quickly your perspective can change when placed in the correct environment. We arrived in Kathmandu, the most air polluted city I have ever seen, it made breathing in Chennai seem effortless! We quickly tired of Kathmandu and were excited to move onto Pohkara. While we were in Kathmandu we did a little chatting with people about the treks we could take once we got to Pokhara. We surprisingly decided to venture out into the mountains on a 5 day trek loop which would take us up to Poon Hill where we got a glimpse of some of the mountains in the Annapurna Himalayan range. Our excitement for Pohkara quickly faded after only one afternoon! The city streets in Pohkara, although they were much wider than those of Kathmandu were lined with the same souvenir shop after souvenir shop. Thankful we had decided to go on a 5 day trek and weren't stuck spending our time in a town which, at first glance, didn't appear to offer much. We decided to kill one of the days in Pohkara with a one day trek to the Peace Pagoda. We like to refer to this trek as our warm up run... nothing to strenuous and we only got lost once.
The next morning with our small backpacks on our backs we set off up the mountain... well first a taxi, then a bus, 3 hours later we were finally off and headed up the mountain. We made a decision not to hire a guide or a porter (someone who carries your things for you), I mean really how hard could it be, I've hiked before. We had everything we thought we'd need for 5 days in our bags (which if you know me is quite a feat in itself) a map in our hands and optimism in our thoughts. Well as you all know by now we made it safely up and back down the mountain with only a few minor setbacks which occurred on the first day. We started out going the wrong way but it all worked out because the trek was a loop and... we only got lost once, taking ourselves about 30 minutes in the wrong direction, no big deal though.
Everything about the trek was amazing! Each step we took the views became more and more stunning! As we traveled up the mountain, our peak altitude 3,210 meters, the snow capped mountains would show a little more of themselves each morning when we woke. The red and pink rotadendrum flowers blanketed the hill sides and provided magnificent day time trekking scenery. At the completion of the trek we couldn't have been more pleased with ourselves. To some 5 days trekking may seem like nothing but to us we had accomplished more than either of us believed we could, and completely on our own! It was like we were on a nature "high" Although we were so relieved we completed the 5 days and so ready for some clean clothes we couldn't help feeling like we wanted to go on. There was this sense of wow, we did that, we can do more... we want to do more.
Which brings me back to my next adventure... I want to do the Everest base camp trek! I want to feel the "high" again, the feeling like I'm "on top of the world" like I can do anything! Being out there amongst nature and the people who live there every day was so refreshing and invigorating and I can't wait to do it again. So like I told my mom... June 2011 Everest Base Camp here we come!
Check out the photos from the trip "Timbuktu to Kathmandu" and "Holy Himalaya"
