A Short Story

I have one more story I want to tell about Nepal. Sheesh..... I can't seem to let that place go!

This is a story about one little girl. Her name is Mindo Tamang and she is an orphan. As I have said before, there are many problems in Nepal, and one of them is the overwhelming number of kids without parents. Parents die of disease or many leave their children because they don't have the means to take care of them. Some children end up in orphanages, where they are provided with food and shelter. Otherwise, many will live the life of an outcast, where they have to beg in order to survive. While there are many orphanages in Nepal, there is just as much corruption in these organizations. I am a kid person, I love them. Sometimes I relate better to kids, than I do to adults, and it breaks my heart to think about a suffering child. I felt the desire to help in some way, but I didn't know how...


Then I met her. While trekking in the Langtang region, we came to a small village of only 4 guest houses. As we approached the one we stayed in, I noticed this young girl carrying a baby on her back. I was immediately struck by her and couldn't take my eyes off the pair. Later that evening, while talking to the owner of the guest house, we learned that this girl, Mindo, is an orphan. The owner told us that Mindo's mother and father split up, and both left her. The mother has had many men, and also has many children that she leaves in different villages. The owner told us this was a big problem. He doesn't want to take care of this girl, he already has raised 5 of his own children and given them the best he could. Mindo is a burden to him, and it shows. Although I think he is a good person, he is looking out for the best interests of his own family. The extra money it costs to support Mindo, is something that he resents. Mindo tries to help, bringing in fire wood, stoking the fire, but she is treated like a pest. I try to be understanding, but I feel sorry for this little girl. Her options in life aren't good... she's unwanted and uneducated. She doesn't even speak Nepali, only the local language of her village.

I stay awake all night, my mind spinning with ideas of how I can help Mindo. Amazingly, the day before we met a gentleman from England who supports an orphanage in Kathmandu and he is staying in the guest house next to ours. I get up in the morning and ask him if there are any options for Mindo, if there is any space in his orphanage? There is also the problem of money, I can give some money, but know I can't support her for the next 10 years. We've already heard the sad stories of tourists trying to help, giving money to support kids in the short term, but then not following through. I don't want to do that.

After talking with the English man, Andy, I call the orphanage. They don't have space and they don't have money. There is also the problem of Mindo not speaking Nepali, and that she only knows mountain life. She has never seen a car, let alone lived in a crazy busy city like Kathmandu. Which life would be better? The option of an orphanage would at least give her an education and maybe some hope for a better future.

The story continues... we run into Andy again on the trail and he tells me that money is not a problem, that his community near Oxford England can pay for Mindo to go to an orphanage! This is incredible to me! With this in mind, the orphanage can find space in a different home for her. The orphanage is affiliated with a guiding service, and they can come and pick her up and take her back to Kathmandu (the guide even speaks her language,Tamang)! In the orphanage, she would get new clothes, food every day, a roof over her head, and a decent education. It's all coming together, but I'm wondering if it is my place to change this girl's life. Again my mind is reeling! We still don't know what is going to happen, and when we leave the mountains, I give Mindo my fleece and the owner some money for shoes and books. I tell them we have to wait and see....


Since then, the pieces have been put in motion. A guide went up to the village to get Mindo, but unfortunately the owner asked to put one of his own children in the orphanage instead of Mindo. Then he asked if he could have the money to support Mindo himself. Like I said, he has his own best interests in mind. I knew it couldn't be so simple and I still don't know what exactly will happen.... Either ending of this story will be hard on Mindo, but I believe if she does get into the orphanage there will be hope. With an education, maybe her life will turn around.

I learned some of my own lessons from this experience. Even though I still wonder what will be best for Mindo, I am amazed at how it all has fallen in place. I am reminded of the power of intention, and how life comes together when you put your ideas out there. I've experienced this same power of serendipity with the Global Library project (right, Kelly?) and I am trying to trust that things will happen the way they are meant to.

The rest of the story is to be continued....
Erin

Global Library Ebook from Nepal

Hey. I wanted to post the ebook that Drew and I created in Nepal with students. If you want to hear more about the experience, you can read our blog post on November 25, titled Trekking in the Annapurna Region.

For those of you who don't know, The Global Library is a project that was thought of by Kelly Keena and myself, and is made possible by the ebook software created by a former professor of Kelly's, Mike McGuffee. The idea is to create books with students from around the world, focusing on their communities. These books can then be sent to the schools and each student receives a copy to take home. The hope is to provide access to literacy for students that don't have many books, and it also gives them a medium to express their pride in their communities. These books can then be shared between schools across the globe, linking cultures through the eyes and words of kids! It really is a dream project for me, combining cultural and environmental awareness for both the students we work with and for my own understanding. It also feels like a way to give back to the communities we visit, which is something that has become more and more important to me while traveling.

To view the ebook copy and paste the link below into the address bar. I hope you enjoy it!!!

http://send.realebooks.com/?bH=d63&c=e3bd7f57

Erin

Our Visit with Ben and Casey - In their Words

Hope everyone is fat and happy after big Christmas feasts and enjoying some quality time with friends and family before 2007 is a wrap. We're going to switch it up and offer some guest commentary on our blog this time around. We figure some fresh voices will be good. I assure you, it has nothing to do with lack of motivation.

As you know, we're staying with our friends Ben and Casey in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They are good friends of ours with whom I went to college at Bucknell. They're in Malaysia for a year and a half while Casey does research for her Ph.D. thesis in the field of medical anthropology. Without having to work any sort of 9-5 jobs, they're pretty much fully funded through grants so it's a good gig they have going.

The other key piece of background is that my good friend Ben who is an otherwise healthy and robust 31-year-old like myself had a stroke in July. That's right, a stroke. It was a crazy development out of nowhere which initially left him paralyzed on his left side. He has since made a miraculous and speedy recovery and is now walking around on his own and leading a very normal life. He continues to improve and regain strength and coordination day by day. The way he and Casey have handled it has been absolutely amazing and incredibly courageous. To let you know just how amazing his recovery has been, we actually went bowling a few nights ago and the dude beat me in the first game, 145-142! It's not like I had too bad a game either; it was amazing!

It's been a real pleasure to spend some quality time with Ben and Casey, and we owe them dearly for opening up their home to us for a few weeks. Without further ado (and without their approval), I'm going to steal the last two posts from their blog (www.bchilliard.blogspot.com) and reproduce them here. Casey, that doesn't break any academic plagiarism rules, now does it?

Let the Fun Begin - Casey's Post, 12.16.07

Hey, everyone. How is it going? I hope the fast approaching holiday season has everyone feeling happy and joyful not harried and crazy. We are doing our best to capture the spirit here, though its not easy with the absence of family and cold weather. Somehow palm trees and 90 degree weather do not scream Merry Christmas. No matter though, we do have our friends in town and lots of love and joy in our hearts so we won't be feeling like complete scrooges this holiday season.
So its true, Erin and Drew arrived late Wednesday evening and we are so happy to have them here. We are doing our best to show them what Malaysia is all about. So far we made them an all American breakfast of greasy eggs, bacon, hash browns, and coffee, dragged them to one of the biggest and busiest megamalls in Kuala Lumpur, offered them giant messy burgers at Carl's Jr. for dinner, made some super cheesy homemade pizzas, went to an expat filled coconut reggae party at one of the high end condo buildings in the city, and downloaded the complete season 4 of Entourage for all of us to sit around and watch on the couch in our air-conditioned apartment. How about it! Today, they wanted to do some cultural stuff and explore the city so we sent them out on their own with a city map and a cellphone. We wished them good luck and promised to call them later to arrange a spot to meet before dinner. We're thinking that some place like Starbucks or Coffee Bean would be ideal.

Sadly, I am not joking. Of course, having just spent the past 5 weeks traveling on foot in Nepal, backpacks strapped to their backs 10-12 hours a day, eating the same vegetarian fare every meal, sleeping in a different low rent guest house each night, and getting into bed with their books by 8PM each evening, Drew and Erin's KL experience so far has been the exact jolt to the system they were looking for. Some all-American grub to fill their hungry bellies, some crazy commercialism to shake off the peace and tranquility of the Himalayas, and some good old-fashioned quality TV to mush up their minds after all that reading- it was just what the doctor ordered. Even after the most awesome, breathtaking, and memorable experiences, the most grateful and adaptable travelers can't help but crave a taste of home. I think, amazingly we have not only fed that need but overwhelmed it, in just few short days.

Its actually a sad revelation for Ben and I. It feels like we might have caught a mild form of expat fever living here in the center of KL, taking taxis everywhere, eating out at Western restaurants, and spending way too much money, while justifying it by translating it to USD. Despite our best efforts, we have been infected. It is easy to slip towards the comfort of what's normal, it's natural and no crime but still its nice to be awakened to how far we have slid.

That is one of the differences between travelers and expats, I guess. Travelers keep moving on so they never have a chance to really get too comfortable. They are also motivated to consistently seek out new experiences and see all there is to see since they only have a short time in each spot. Whereas those of us who stay awhile start to make the foreign place home, adapting to it but also molding it to fit our personal comfort zones. We start to seek out routine and forget to explore our surroundings. However, we also take for granted that what is now normal to us may not be so normal to our traveling friends. For instance, the megamalls or the crowds of traditionally dressed Malay women wearing head scarves intermingled with the scandalously clad trendsetting Chinese youth, who make even Ben blush, or early mornings in the park doing QiQong with a spontaneous crowd of local Malaysians.

This last one has actually become Ben and my favorite Saturday and Sunday morning activity. About a month ago, I rode my bike to the very large city park near our apartment to do some 'research'. By research I mean sitting and staring at, sometimes stalking, all the people out for early morning exercise. Someone said to me before I left you are going to be so fit after this experience. Ha, ha, I am finding I prefer to watch. Anyway, while wandering around the park, I stumbled upon a large group of men and women spread out across a field playing follow the leader with a small, very skinny old Chinese man. He said nothing just did his movements and the crowd followed. The best I could tell it looked like QiQong, a popular exercise here in Asia that consists of slow coordinated movements designed to get the Qi in your body moving (its a form of Tai Chi) but the truth is the more I watched, the more suspicious I got. It seemed like the instructor, taking advantage of his aged and wisened appearance, might have creatively taken communist cadre callesthetics infused them with a few fancy arm and hand movements and tricked the crowd into thinking he was an ancient QiQong master. Didn't bother me much though, it looked like fun and I joined in.

When I got home I told Ben about it and how I thought it would be perfect for him since it seemed to really stretch the body out while also demanding many bilateral coordinated motions. To my surprise, he agreed that it sounded like fun and followed me to the park the next weekend and we have been faithful QiQongers ever since.

As it turns out, Simon (this is the name we have given the instructor due to the uncanny feeling that we are playing a silent form of Simon says) is there every Saturday and Sunday morning at 8AM and has been since the 1980s. He wears the same yellow shirt, blue workout pants, and big Jackie Onassis sunglasses every weekend. He never says a word. He just begins moving and everyone follows. The session last for about 45 minutes and then he stops. The crowd is great too. It usually starts with a handful of Malay women and keeps growing from there. On Sundays, a crowd of about 50-60 people gathers. All ages, both sexes, its great. And this past Saturday there was actually four Americans in the mix.

So I guess we are not all that insulated in our expat world. We just forget that what we deem as the mundane is not always that mundane. With Drew and Erin here, we are not only going to get the chance to see our experience through fresh eyes but also get to seek out some new adventures. It is going to be refreshing to get to live like travelers for a bit. In fact, we are heading out this morning on a long distance bus for the beach. Finally, the beach! Rain or shine, I cannot tell you how happy I am to be getting out of the city. I can't wait to sink my feet in the sand.

Take care and be Merry! Oh and I placed a link to Drew and Erin's Travel Blog if your interested in vicariously taking an adventure around the world. Just be careful it is envy inducing!

Casey

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - Ben's Post, 12.26.07

I am writing this the day after Christmas and true to Christmas form I am sitting here fat and satisfied after gorging on a Christmas feast. We were embarrassed after our Thanksgiving debacle of KFC and fish soup so we decided to do Christmas right. In the land of fried noodles and fried rice we feasted on a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Casey, Drew, Erin, and I all contributed to figure out the Celsius/Fahrenheit conversion, we mastered our ghetto propane stove, we each did a bit of cooking, and we all sat down to a delicious meal. Special kudos to Erin and Casey for making apple and pumpkin pie. SEDAPNYA!!

I love to host parties or dinners with Casey. She always errors on the side of too much and going overboard is putting it gently. Casey, as usual, went a bit overboard and she and Erin made 4 different types of Christmas cookies. Drew and I being the lucky recipients have expressed our gratitude by pounding down cookies every hour on the hour. This is a shot of Drew, Erin, and I patiently waiting for the bird to cook. We kept ourselves entertained by watching National Lampoon's Christmas vacation (sorry, substitute photo and blurry at that)

Christmas Feast with Friends - Cisco, Casey, Erin, Elizabeth, Ben

Although we had a delicious feat, we missed spending time with our friends and families. Thanks to Skype and cellphones, we were able to connect, but it just isn't the same as being there. Next year we promise to be stateside for the holidays.

We are still in the middle of vacation season here. We have had an awesome time with Drew and Erin although I feel a little guilty as we did not do Malaysia justice in our role as tour guides. Malaysia is a diverse and beautiful country, but we managed to limit ourselves almost exclusively to KL. We did, however, escape to the beach for a few days and even though it is the monsoon season we were blessed with three full days of sun.

Annette and Z (B&C's friends from Germany & Malaysia), Ben and Casey, Erin and Drew

That, in case you are wondering, is just enough time to get completely sunburned and peel off an entire layer of skin. Tomorrow we are off to meet David and Cindy Hilliard (Ben's parents) for an epic vacation. A few days in Singapore, a few days in Malaysia, and then 2 weeks in Australia. After one full year here in MaLAZYia, we will see if Casey and I can keep up with the Hilliards - I'm betting no. It will be a few weeks before we will be able to post again so Happy New Year to everyone and don't forget to watch AND cheer for THE Ohio State Buckeyes on Jan 7th.

Ben

Life is Good

I wanted to share some of my thoughts from Nepal before moving onto our new stories from Malaysia. It's amazing how easy it is to change mindsets once you are in a new place, where all the moments you were once living and experiencing, simply become memories. But I had so many thoughts and inspirations from Nepal, that it would be a shame if I didn't express some of them here...

Our trip into the Langtang Valley was an amazing experience in so many ways. While walking through the valley, we had lots of time... countless footsteps surrounded by towering peaks. With this sort of time, your mind can't help but unwind and your thoughts are free to wander. We also had lots of time to talk with the local village people, and often our evenings were filled with long conversations in broken English. Many times, our conversations had moments where the Nepali people were complaining of their lives and the hardships they face. They are poor, they have to work hard every day, the government is corrupt, and they don't have many choices for changing these things.... So, as we walked each day, my mind was often filled with the reality of life in Nepal. Life is very different in the mountains of Nepal, much simpler and in many ways harder. And with each contrast, I am again reminded of my own life.

First off, think of life without cars... Every time you need to get somewhere, you have to walk. Life as we know it in America couldn't exist. In many ways, I think it would be a great life, because I am a firm believer that time spent driving in a car directly correlates with a decrease in the quality of life. But cars are oh so convenient, and it allows us to work across town from where we live, drive to see family in a different town, pick up groceries for dinner, and pretty much get anywhere in a hurry.
In the mountains of Nepal, they have to walk everywhere they go. Many times children will walk hours to get to school each day! People carry all their wares from a village near a road, sometimes many days away. And this includes things like a cast iron wood burning stove, all on some one's back! The result is a totally different lifestyle, slowed down with a lot less stuff. There is something wonderful about walking everywhere, and it's environmentally friendly as well. This is something I think we can all use more of in the US.

Next think about basic things like food and water. When we want water, we turn on the tap and whoosh out comes clean, pure water, in either hot or cold. Do you ever think about how amazing that is? In America our water is cleaned and cleaned again, fluoride and other minerals are added for our health, and we even use this drinking water in our toilets!
In the mountains of Nepal, they get their water from a local river. If it is not near their home, they have to carry it (think of how heavy water is and how much you use a day) and the lucky people have a hose that goes directly from the river to their house. The water comes down from the peaks and is the same stuff people bathe in, wash clothes in, and where all the the rainwater runoff goes. If we drank it, we would get sick instantly because it is so full of bacteria and other organisms. But the people of Nepal are used to it. Unfortunately, many of the trekkers buy bottled water and the result is plastic bottles everywhere!

When we want something to eat, we go to the store, and there in front of us are thousands of different items to choose from. I'm thinking about the number of different kinds of cereal, talk about variety! We can get fresh meats, organic milk, and apples from New Zealand all in the same place. The average piece of food we eat travels 1500 miles to get to our stores, amazing and disturbing! We can pop things in the microwave or turn a switch on the stove and cook up a variety of feasts.
In the mountains of Nepal, most people grow what they can. The crops are usually corn, rice, potatoes, barley, and millet (to make wine). Everything else is carried in, including the Coca Cola you see in even the most remote village. The result is that they eat the same thing every single day, dal bhat! When they want to cook their food, people first have to gather wood by cutting down limbs of trees. You can imagine what this does to the areas that don't have many trees. They carry this back home, along with yak dung in the high mountains and start a fire each time they cook. The result is long cooking times, smoke-filled homes, and a constant hacking cough that all Nepali people seem to have.

Now think about the people you love most in the world. When we ourselves or our loved ones get sick or hurt, we can rush them to the hospital. When someone has a disease, our doctors have the means and the medicine to treat us. We can be treated for everything from pneumonia to cancer! When we have babies, we have proper facilities to take care of us. If there are complications, our doctors are ready to help us.
In the mountains of Nepal, there aren't medical facilities. If someone gets really sick, they have to be carried in a basket to the nearest town. 85% of women have their babies in their homes with only their family to assist. When things get complicated, they have no one to turn to, no one to help. The result is many more deaths, both in childbirth and from common diseases we wouldn't even think could be fatal. Think of this tonight and give someone you love a hug!

And now just think about your life. Our kids have the opportunity to have an education and pretty much do whatever they want with their lives. We are so lucky! We can choose any job we want, and if we don't like it, we can change our jobs. Even young couples can make enough money to have their own homes, and each family can have two cars. We can dream big, and for the most part we can make our dreams happen! Although some may argue with me, we can pretty much trust our government. We have a voice in our government, and the ultimate decision of who runs our country is in our hands. Things work, buses run on time, roads are fixed when they fall apart.... Just stop and think about all the things that work together in our society to create a well-oiled machine!
In Nepal, things are different. There are less choices, less control, less opportunities... Many people's dreams can't become a reality. We heard over and over that people wanted to come to America, but couldn't get a visa. They want opportunity, they want money, they want cars and things.
And there are certainly many lessons we can learn from the Nepali people. Living simply, having a sense of community, being in touch with the earth are just a few... My vote is life without cars! And I think it's important to be grateful for what we do have and not take for granted the ease and comfort of our lives, as well as the opportunities available to us. In so many ways, we are very lucky people!

I also wanted to wish a Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!!!! We are so grateful for all of you in our lives and we are missing you during the holidays. More than ever, we are realizing that the holidays are about being with family, not about things or presents. I'm using this time to be thankful for what I do have and for the blessings in my life. We will be treating ourselves to a full Christmas dinner with turkey and all the works! We're so glad to be sharing it with Ben and Casey in their lovely home here in Malaysia. We'll be thinking of all of you back home!

Erin

Our Himalayan Journey

Hey y'all! Great to hear from and catch up with everyone. Please keep the comments flowing as it is great to know the scoop back home.

I'm writing this from the relative comfort and convenience of the couch of my friends Ben and Casey's apartment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We've officially made the transition from the cold and challenge of trekking and travelling in Nepal to the ease and warmth of first-world tropical Asia. It has not been a hard transition. We're psyched to be here with our good friends and kick back and relax for a while. In our first 48 hours here, we've sought out some soul food and drink in the form of homemade bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwiches for breakfast courtesy of Ben and Casey, a Super Star combo (that's a huge double cheeseburger with fries and Coke) at Carl's Jr at the Mega Mall, a half dozen Dunkin' Donuts, and some Jim Beam. I think we just needed to get it out of our system and will return to our normal trajectory of trying to experience the local culture and food - but it sure was nice for a bit.

The Langtang Valley, peak of Gang Chhenpo at the head of the valley and mani walls (rocks inscribed with Tibetan prayers) on left

I'll fill in more details on KL on future posts, but now back to Nepal where we concluded our trip there with an incredible trek in the Langtang region and a few final days in Kathmandu. We thoroughly enjoyed our trek - even moreso than the first - due to a number of reasons. A big factor was that we were on our own without a guide which gave us the freedom to hike and explore at our own pace and in our own direction. It also gave us alot more interaction with the local people since all our food and accommodation were handled directly with the local teahouse owners and not via the guide. It also saved us alot of $ and was cheap to trek independently. Many times, our room was free and we might have spent $10-15 per day per person, usually all on food. Another aspect we liked more was that Langtang was much less trafficked than the Annapurna region. The Annapurna region is incredibly beautiful, but like Everest, it is super popular with the world travel crowd. Langtang is well-equipped and easy to travel in but with about 10 times less people. Our trip was in December which is also the tail end of the trekking season so that contributed to the smaller crowds. Often times, we had a guesthouse to ourselves or maybe shared it with one or two people. That also allowed for more interaction with the local hosts. And finally, we just really dug the people there. Almost all the local residents are Tibetan, either from refugee families that fled Tibet after the Chinese invaded in the 1950's or from ethnic groups that moved down from Tibet within the past few centuries. Tibetans are a colorful, friendly, hospitable people that practice Tibetan Buddhism. Erin and I really connected with these folks and learned a ton from speaking with and being around them.

Face of Langtang Lirung

The Langtang Valley is a gorgeous, glacier-carved valley in north-central Nepal, just south of Tibetan border. We took 3 days to hike up the valley to the last high mountain village called Kyanjin Gompa at about 13,000 feet. This a quaint spot with towering mountain walls and glaciers lining both sides of the valley. We spent three nights up here to check out the surrounding peaks and valleys. The first afternoon I scampered up past the local gompa (Tibetan monastery) to the moraine at the foot of two glaciers that are piling their way down two huge peaks in the area called Langtang Lirung and Kinshung which are about 24,000 and 22,000 feet, respectively. The east face of Langtang Lirung was one of the most impressive and imposing rock walls I've ever seen. From that vantage point, I was pretty close to the peak at an elevation a hair over 14,000 feet. That means the summit of Langtang was about 10,000 feet over my head which is about 2 miles straight up. It was a staggering sight.

Erin's summit push

The next day Erin and I successfully climbed a 'small Himalayan peak' in the area, Tsergo Ri (ri means peak or mountain in Tibetan). This was one of the highlights of our trip, as it was the highest either of us have ever been - 16,348 feet! We were psyched. And the views were absolutely amazing - the best of our trip to the Himalayas. We had high mountain views in all directions - 360 degrees of mountains and rock faces and glaciers and valleys, including a bunch over the border in Tibet. There were a ton of peaks in the area over 6000 and 7000 meters (meaning over about 20,000 and 23,000 feet). The climb itself was pretty straightforward and doable. Other than the high altitude, the only objective hazards were a few small, glacial-melt stream crossings and a firm snow field leading up to the summit. And we had the place all to ourselves to savor for a while.

View from the Top - Gang Chhenpo

The next day we set out to hike farther up the valley to get a different perspective on some of the same peaks we saw the day before and also to check out the glaciers at their foot. The night before was crazy windy, and we woke up to low clouds and high winds. The weather opened up for a while, and we headed up the valley but after a couple hours were turned back by snow, clouds, and cold, gusty winds. An early Himalayan squall had rolled in. While we were disappointed to not get to our destination, we were glad we had clear skies the day before and figured if we're gonna have bad weather, it might as well be snow. It was good to experience a snowstorm in the Himalaya.

In addition to the natural beauty and adventures of the area, we really enjoyed the company and stories of our host at our lodge, the Buddha Guest House. On the way up the valley, I had befriended the owner of the lodge, Tenzin Lama. As a background, on the first days of the trip, I was just finishing up the book Freedom In Exile which is the autobiography of the Dalai Lama, the exiled religious and secular leader of Tibet. I'd always heard the phrase and seen stickers saying Free Tibet (especially in Boulder) and had a vague sense of what that meant. But I read this book and finally had a clear understanding. What an incredible tragedy! For those not in the know, the Chinese invaded neighboring Tibet in the early 1950's after the Communists came to power and have absolutely ravaged the country and the people. Out of something like 6 million Tibetans, they've killed over a million, I think. They've destroyed 99% of the 6000 monasteries that were the religious lifeblood of the people. And the stories of the torture of the monks, nuns, and laypeople are beyond belief and not suitable for recounting here. I'm really not trying to be dramatic or one-sided in my view of the situation either. Check out the book or others like and your eyes will be opened but not in a good way.

Lakpa Sherpa (cook), Tenzin Lama (lodge owner), Erin, Drew

Back to the story. On the way up the valley and just days after finishing this book, I met Tenzin Lama whose family fled Tibet at the same time the Dalai Lama left in the early 1950's. He began to recount for me the tale of his grandfather who was a well-to-do Tibetan leaving his home and land and all of his possessions behind to escape the Chinese army. He carried Tenzin's father who was a young boy at the time on his back for many miles. He explained how they faced heavy snows and were ill-equipped for the journey but faced no alternative if they wished to escape the oncoming oppression of the Communist regime. Unfortunately, once the family came to Nepal, they had nothing and had to start over. Tenzin himself is not an educated man and told us these stories in his broken English which he has learned from trekkers. Due to some hard work of his own and some huge generosity of some German trekkers (not uncommon in Nepal, we found), Tenzin now has a lodge of his own and is sending his son to a private boarding school in Kathmandu. In Nepal, the private schools in the city provide a way better education than the local, scrappy government schools (like the ones we worked in). So Tenzin is living a parents' Nepali dream - which like the American dream - is to provide their children with better opportunity than they had. For me, it was an incredible life lesson to gain a personal understanding of the story and nature of the Tibetan people.

While for me the stay in Kyanjin Gompa was the high point of the trip, the rest of the trek was quite enjoyable as well. Over the next week, we made our way back down the valley and then hiked up onto a ridge which led to some high alpine lakes and a pass. One of the lakes, Gosainkund, is sacred to Hindus and Buddhists. We made our way past the string of lakes and on up to Laurebina La, a high pass over 15,000 feet. From there we retraced our steps back down the ridge and made our way back to civilization over the next few days. A 9-hour bus ride later and we were back in Kathmandu. As it turns out, we made it out just in time as we caught a bus out on Monday AM and the Langtang area got heavy snows Monday night and all transportation was shut down for days. Thank the lord! As awesome as Nepal was, it was tough living and took its toll on us. We were psyched to come down to KL and kick it in the warm weather and creature comforts of the city with our friends for a while.

Descending to Gosainkund from Laurebina La

There are so many more thoughts I have on the Nepal experience that there are too many to share. Hopefully the above gives you an insight into our adventures and experiences.

And now...off to a Cocunut Rum Reggae Party with some expats and the Hilliards in KL!

Peace.
Drew