For our last spring break (maybe ever, since Patrick is now joining the private sector!) we joined forces with some of our best friends here in Korea – Andrew, Melissa, Matt, and Melissa (yep – two Melissas = double the confusion!) – to travel to Nepal.
One week is NOT enough to do justice to Nepal, but we work with what we’ve got. We’re also poor teachers, so bought VERY cheap tickets that included 12-hour layovers in Shanghai on both sides of our trip. But why tell, when I can show? Here’s part one of our week:
We had a total of 10 flights in one week. Plus lots of layovers. Layover one was made lovely by live music at Incheon (Seoul)…
They also do free “cultural experiences” for foreigners.
I was too tired to take pictures in Shanghai. We had a crazy video-game like taxi ride through thick haze, checking in to our hotel at 10pm. We ate a small feast of amazing Chinese food at the restaurant next door, then crashed for early wake-ups and back to the airport.
We finally made it to Kathmandu! Hoorah! Oh, that’s Andrew, who has a broken leg. He skipped the trekking.
The view from our second-floor hotel room during our one night in Kathmandu.
First Nepali meal. Masala tea, momos (dumplings), dal bhat (lentils, curried veggies and rice), and buffalo vindaloo. Yum!
Up early and back to the airport. This is the entrance to the domestic terminal. Nepal is a developing country.
In our waiting area – no check in until 1 hour pre-flight. Breakfast of ramen from the convenience store!
We boarded a tiny plane to fly to Pokhara – base of treks in the Annapurna mountains. In the plane, we got our first views of the Himalaya!
We spent three days in the mountain region. We were in the Annapurna range of the Himalaya – on the opposite side of Kathmandu from Mt. Everest (so we didn’t see THE big mountain). We had a 2 1/2 day trek planned in advance, then one overnight to let us have time to see a bit of the town.
We got picked up at the airport by our trekking guide, drove in a van to a higher village, then started walking!
We walked through villages and through some forested areas.
Water break with some of the very common prayer flags!
Our “tea house” lodging for the night. Running water, mattress. Pretty plush for hiking!
Our room for the night. In the morning – guess what we could see out that window???
Lunch at the tea house where we’re staying.
A woman weaving yak wool blankets. She was very well placed right outside the tourist lodgings.
In the afternoon, we took a short “stroll” up to the next village to see a cloudy viewpoint…
and do some shopping! Vendors just set up tables next to the trail and sold jewelry, metal knick-knacks, and more.
By morning, the rain stopped, the clouds cleared, and we could see… mountains!
When in Nepal, you just have to do some yoga at the foot of the Himalaya.
We got up for sunrise every morning, but this – our first morning – was the best.
The rain made it clear enough to see the mountains. Here’s the ladies with our new yak wool blankets!
Whole group hooray!
All of the peaks in this range are more than 6000m (~20,000 ft). The tallest is 7200m (~24,000 ft). These are BIG mountains!
Looking back over our lodging from the view point. those mountains are SO big!
We had perfect timing to see the peak bloom of the national flower of Nepal: lily grass.
Morning hike pause – Patrick posing with our two porters. One was training to be a guide and was very chatty!
Buffalo farmer on the trail.
Nepali man working on the rice terrace.
Beautiful green fields. All the villages are very agricultural.
We got to sample the Lily grass petals. They were surprisingly tangy!
Goats! Melissa loves them and there were lots of babies around. 🙂
Our most common meal: dal bhat. Lentil soup, white rice, curried vegetables, and a couple mix-ins that changed by location.
During lunch we were next to a group of local women performing a ceremony – making offerings, singing, etc. Very cool to watch!
Not long after lunch we ran into the owner of our trekking company – Mr. Happy. He called us over to be guests at a little ceremony thanking some people from France who helped fund a local school.
We got our faces painted as “distinguished guests” 🙂
At lodgings for the night, we found Andrew waiting, and making friends with the locals. The little guy was way into the goPro!
My favorite sign on the trail. They have a big trash/litter problem and know they need to work on keeping the mountains clean for tourists.
Our last morning we hiked about 30 minutes to our meeting point for our big adventure: paragliding! Just run off this cliff…
And glide! I got to steer for a bit. It was pretty easy, and so smooth!
It really wasn’t scary – very peaceful and quiet, sitting in the air. Great views – we were up for about 30 minutes before a smooth landing.
Safely down, we took in some sights, like the big World Peace Pagoda over Pokhara town. Inspired by post-WWII peace talks, built in the 70s.
I loved seeing the brightly clothed monks walking around!
That evening we had a little downtime for some shopping in town. Yak wool, knock-off trekking gear, metal knick-knacks and more.
We “splurged” for a steak dinner, since steak is so hard to find in Korea. The boys were happy!
Melissa got a flambe. And it really flambed! 🙂
This trip was a great exercise in patience, as this is a culture where time is very fluid. Every flight on the whole trip was delayed at least an hour or two. Leaving Pokhara was extra challenging as the Nepali president was flying out of Kathmandu that day and shut down all air traffic for about an hour. That meant we were 4 hours delayed in a tiny airport. Did lots of journal writing and group bonding! 🙂
Our TINY plane that finally took us to Kathmandu. One seat on each side, couldn’t stand up inside. 18 total seats. Wow!
Next stop: 2 1/2 days of ancient buildings, amazing food, and pretty overwhelming culture in Kathmandu! Coming soon.