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