Emily's Adventure

Hope you have all had a great Christmas!

While I recover from my overindulgence I have been reading through my diary (which I've been keeping in addition to this to remember what I did on what day, names, places and so on) and decided to round off this blog with a summary of the highlights of my trip. The first few weeks seems like a lifetime ago now, not 6 months!

The countries...
United States, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia (Peninsular and Borneo), Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Nepal, India

The adrenaline...
Skydived, hiked through a glacier, bungy jumped (twice... the second time off a wobbly suspension bridge in Nepal), jumped off aforementioned wobbly bridge attached to a climbing rope aka canyon swinging, black water rafting (caving), white water rafting (grade 4), sailed on a maxi racing yacht, climbed the Sydney harbour bridge, went canyoning (twice), honestly thought I was going to die on a Malaysian ferry in bed weather, summited Mt Kinabalu (4095m), summited Mt Rinjani (3726m)... an active volcano... saw the lava, made it to Annapurna Base Camp (4130m), made it to Everest Base Camp (5360m), only half the normal amount of oxygen at that height, summited Kala Patthar (5550m), flew in and out of Lukla airport where one end of the very short runway is 60m higher than the other!

The nature...
Saw the beautiful New Zealand Sounds, experienced a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, snorkelled on the great barrier reef, sailed in the Whitsundays, 4WD on Fraser island, visited Australia zoo (where I fed an elephant and lots of kangaroos), went to the easternmost point of Australia, the seven-tiered Erawan waterfalls, cruised in Halong bay, stayed in a jungle camp in Borneo. Saw dolphins, glow worms, whales, wild koalas, wild kangaroos having a boxing match, turtles laying eggs, released baby turtles into the sea, orang-utans, visited Komodo and Rinca to see the dragons, got so close to wild elephants that one charged us, trekked on an elephant, trekked on a camel to slept under the stars on a sand dune... could even see the milky way!

The others...
Was in the US for 4th July... amazing fireworks, walked across the golden gate bridge, watched an IMAX movie for the first time, crossed the international date line, ate a Maori hangi, went to the top of the Q1 building, flew on the A380 superjumbo, stayed on the iconic Khao San Road, slept on the deck of a boat for four nights, slept in Singapore airport (rather than getting a hostel), traveled on the roof of a bus, shared a guesthouse with Buddhist monks, spoke to the Nepali prime minister, traveled India by train, visited the Taj Mahal, watched a Bollywood film at the cinema (in Hindi), stayed in a gurdwara at the Golden Temple, visited the India-Pakistan border to watch the ceremonial closing.

So after 19 flights, 7 trains, innumerable buses and many thousands of miles it is all over.

So I have had my final adventure and am safely home... the last place I visited in India was Amristar. The town itself wasn't fantastic but I had some great times up there.

I stayed in one of the gurdwaras at the Golden Temple itself... they are charitable hostels that accommodate Sikh pilgrims, free as is their custom though you give a donation to the temple, and they also have a small dorm for foreign tourists inside one of the five at the Golden Temple. It was an amazing experience, such a strong sense of community living there, and I loved the feeling of equality... they have great respect for women and welcome all, regardless of caste (which is still big in India), religion and so on. I spent hours at the temple listening to the mesmerising music that they play as they read the holy book. They do this 24 hours a day... I even got up to watch an amazing sunrise and spent three hours sitting there by which time my feet were frozen due to the lack of shoes (at least the foot bath you have to go through on the way in and out is warm)!

At the temple there is also a huge kitchen and dining hall where they serve tens of thousands of free meals every day. I had a couple... they were surprisingly tasty! You sit on the floor in long lines with strangers, and volunteers come round repeatedly with massive buckets of rice, dal and curry, and mountains of chapatti. It is all very efficient and with in ten or fifteen minutes the floor is being washed and swept and a few thousand more pilgrims pile in the door! You can help out in the kitchen or with the washing up... I wanted to do the latter but there were so many volunteers they couldn't all fit around the sinks and were forming a human chain to pass the empty plates along, I guess so they could all feel like they were doing something!

While I was up in Amritsar I also visited Wagah, the border crossing with Pakistan. There is a ceremonial border closing every day which is really interesting... very colorfully decorated soldiers march up and down, with some incredibly high kicking (many liken it to Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks sketch) and a lot of angry shouting... and some very patriotic Indians shouting from the grandstands!

I finally got round to some sightseeing when I got back to Delhi but I really am not a fan of the city... there are too many people trying to rip off tourists there, and the guys just wouldn't leave me alone - I really missed just being able to walk down a street in peace for more than five seconds!

The journey home was fairly uneventful, a little late due to the bad weather but nothing major. Arrived home just before midnight and been enjoying relaxing ever since! It's good to be back... and loving the snow :-)

So after my last post I really started enjoying my time in Rajasthan, guess I got into the swing of India, meeting new people and getting good at getting rid of the annoying ones!

At the train station in Agra I spent a few hours talking to a group of people (Indian trains are almost always late by several hours - I have heard announcements apologising for 16 hour delays and the like; thankfully mine have all been under two so far), and thanks to a very unclear departures board, all of them got on the wrong train. It was only as I was walking the ten or so carriages down to my sleeper class one I realised the number on the train was not ours and who knew where it was going... managed to find two of them quite easily but the other couple were harder to find... by the time we found them the train was moving, I was trotting along next to the door explaining it was the wrong train and they had to get off! They managed to get out in time and all we got on the correct one, so it just became an adventure, and I think I got labeled a seasoned traveler ;-)

Although Jaipur wasn't an amazing city in itself, the combination of the best guesthouse in the world and some great company (two German girls from the train adventure) meant I really enjoyed my time there and didn't want to leave. It really was my favourite hotel of this trip, a lovely room, and the rooftop restaurant was amazing... beautifully decorated and some of the best food I've had in India. Went a bit overboard on the shopping in Jaipur though! Also went to the cinema to watch a bollywood comedy that was set entirely in Singapore but entirely in Hindi with very little English so it was mostly guesswork as to what was happening (but we appear to have been correct for the most part)!

Then it was on to Udaipur. The monsoon wasn't fantastic this year and so the lake is not particularly full, but it was still very beautiful and the most relaxing place I have found in India (so far). Did a cookery course while I was there and now am eager to get home and practice, and hopefully learn more about Indian food.

The last few days I have been in Jaisalmer, a beautiful fort city on the edge of the desert but also unfortunately one of the worst places for touts that I have come across also. It is the jumping point for camel safaris in the Thar desert... I only went for one night and two days, but the rest of my group were carrying on... I was very sad to have to leave and catch my train! My legs were relieved though, and it's nice to have food without added sand! Lalu was my camel, and he was somewhat like me... stubborn and wanted to go his own way instead of listening to what he was told ;-) He tried to knock me off by running under a tree, and managed to undo my shoelaces and rip my trousers on some thorns also... Camels are probably the most flatulent animals I have ever come across but apart from the smell it was an amazing experience... sleeping under the stars, being able to see the milky way (and a heck of a lot of satellites... guess that is due to the volatile nature of the nearby Indo-Pakistan border and certain other notorious neigbours)... though thanks to the early start (and more likely the "special" cookies) I could barely keep my eyes open to stargaze!

Everyone says you will lose weight in India but I think I have succeeded in the opposite... getting addicted to curry and lassi means I think I am back to what I was before I started trekking! ;-) So far I have only had a couple of minor stomach grumbles from going overboard on chili content (typically always just before I get on a long train journey) so touch wood I can make it through the next four days!

Wasn't impressed that when I went to get a taxi to the airport at 7am, I found there were none... in fact there was a city-wide strike on everything that neither the guide or the hotel staff warned me about (the latter definitely knew beforehand)! Bit stressful but paying through the nose for a cycle rickshaw that I had to get out of several times, and helped push up hills, meant I made it. Flight was late anyway, and there was the most strict security I've ever seen... I got frisked five times including at the steps getting onto the plane, and had my bag x-rayed twice and emptied twice (it was the same for everyone). But eventually we left.

Delhi seems less busy and crazy than I was preparing myself for. Didn't see any of the sights while I was there as I will be going back so did some shopping and booking of train tickets. Most of the trains seem to be fairly booked up so I am slumming it a bit - in second class but at least it is sleeper class so I don't have to fight for a seat and it is (minimally) padded. And it is fairly cool at the moment so lack of a/c hopefully won't be a problem. This morning I had my first train, to Agra. It was of course delayed, which seems to be normal. Out of the 70-something in my carriage (open plan bunks that fold down to seats in the day) this morning the only other non-Indians I could see were two Koren girls sat opposite me. Must remember to dig out my earplugs for the overnight trains to drown out the constant noise of the chai/food/newspaper/anything under the sun sellers.

Am in Agra for less than 24 hours... Visited the Taj Mahal today, it is truly stunning :-)

Not so impressed with the Indian men who keep taking photos... especially the fat old ones who sit down on the bench next to you where you are resting, put their arm around you and take a photo without even asking!

Succeeded in eating curry for lunch and dinner every day so far... and lots of banana lassi... mmm!

So first things first... I made it to Everest Base Camp (5364m)! :-D

Just had my first shower in 13 days... heaven!

Our whole group of 14 made it up... a very varied group that just happened to work very well. The hero was most definitely Al, who with two hip replacements and a heart valve decided he wanted to make this trip for his 60th with a group of friends... a bunch with endless amazing stories :-) And one of our Sherpa guides has climbed Everest up to the South Col, where the weather turned and caused them to run out of bottled oxygen. He will be attempting the summit again next season - wow.

The first adventure was landing at tiny Lukla "Tenzing-Hillary" airport in our little Twin Otter... the runway is very short and sloped so that it is 60m higher at one end than the other... when you are landing it ends in a brick wall; when taking off, a massive drop! It is probably the most efficient airport in the world as we hadn't even finished walking across the tarmac when already it was departing back to Kathmandu with a new load of passengers.

Then there was the sight of a porter with a full size fridge-freezer... for those of you who haven't been in Nepal the porters carry their loads with a strap across their heads. On the box it said that the fridge required two people to lift and here was this tiny guy carrying it up a massive hill!

We spent one night in Tengboche, which is home to the largest monastery of the region. Spent over an hour listening to the chanting before it felt like my toes were going to fall off and had to leave to find a stove to sit by. The next morning as we were getting ready to make a move (or "jam jam") a small helicopter lands just outside our guesthouse. We had been told that the general rule of thumb with the choppers is small = rescue and large = supply so we all start wondering what has happened. Turns out is just one of the high up monks we'd seen the day before, or big lama as we then called him, going to a monastery in Kathmandu! To be fair he was fairly old. And had very cool sunglasses :-)

A few days later I got very sick (not altitude sickness)... worryingly only a couple of days from the top. Cracked in the night and swallowed seemingly half my first aid kit, felt much better by the next morning but had absolutely no energy to speak of. For me, walking that day was probably the hardest part of the trip. I was so weak I couldn't even get my down jacket into its bag and someone had to do it for me.

Surprisingly, the nicest teahouse (guesthouse) was at Gorak Shep (5184m)! Having climbed three hours to get there in the morning, after lunch we made the 5-hour return trip to Everest BC. It's not very hilly but by that point you are only breathing in half the normal amount of oxygen, and therefore it is a very slow procession. It is basically a big pile of rocks with good views of the huge Khumbu glacier and icefall, the route up to the higher climbing camps. But someone has made a sign and covered it with prayer flags for that all important photo :-)

The next morning at 5am half the group set out to climb Kala Patthar (5545m). It was a hard slog and unbelievably cold... we were very grateful for the large thermos flask one of our guides carried up! Didn't spend too long up there as our fingers and toes went beyond painful to numb! After breakfast we then had to descend a long way, the day ended up being 8 or so hours of walking. We passed a massive yak train going up the hill for a camping group of 80... turns out there was an Everest Marathon on Friday, as if it isn't grueling enough there were some 60 westerners and 20 Nepali's signed up to run a full marathon - at least it was starting from the top and not going upwards! Some were being stupid and racing up to the start; at least one had to be taken back to Kathmandu by helicopter.

The next interesting experience was when we turned up at one of our guesthouses to find a group of monks holding "band practice" next door to our rooms- drums, horns and all. Turns out they visit the village two days a year to exorcise the evil spirits (we joked they were already in the house... i.e. us) and it happened to be one of the days we were there and in our guesthouse too! Rather strange sharing a living room with a bunch of monks... and then later brushing my teeth there are two red-and-gold robed monks standing next to me doing the same!

We visited the village Hillary had a strong connection to and the school he founded, and then it was back down to large-ish Namche Bazar for lunch. Now, there is a small "airport" or rather flat patch of grass up on the hillside that we'd already seen on the way up, but this time coming down over the hill it was rather busy and there was even a satellite dish set up with a film crew and armed police. We asked what was happening, which is when we found out about the cabinet meeting on Friday being held up at Base Camp (or rather Gorak Shep) for which all, including the Nepali prime minister, were being flown up for 20 minutes to talk about the effect of global warming on glaciers. Then they turned the cameras on us and told us we were live on Nepali TV! Didn't make the cut on the evening news though...

Yesterday was the last day of hiking and also watching so many helicopters go back and forth from Lukla to the meeting. For which they all were given oxygen masks... softies... we slept up there and didn't have any ;-) Walking around the fence of the airport I saw the most fantastic take off by an army helicopter but the armed police every 5 metres meant I was too scared to video it or take photos :-( We arrived at out final destination, a hotel right next to the airport, to find it crawling with armed police. And there were two at the door... we couldn't go in. The prime minister was there! About half an hour later he came outside to find us unwashed miscreants sitting on the doorstep ;-) why they let us that far I don't know! He commented on the fact we'd been to base camp saying that he'd just come from a meeting up there. While he posed for photos we asked if we were allowed to use our cameras too and we were... one of our group said "thanks from Canada" and he said "so you're group is all Canadian?" to which I piped up "no, English!" (as the majority were)... hehe! Would have an awesome shot of him looking right at me then but someone pointed at something right across his face... boo!

So, a surreal end to an awesome trip... flew back to Kathmandu today and on to Delhi tomorrow!