Above the Clouds

Hello All!!
Checking in again, this time from Duhlikel, Nepal! A little over six weeks in Nepal and I have slowly but surely become an expert at using buckets of water heated over a wood-burning stove to shower and using the "squat-style" toilets!
The last few weeks of my life have been filled with moments to remembered for a lifetime! After my last hike, I spent a few days exploring the area around Pokhara on a bicycle. I came across some tiny villiages in rural, picturesque settings and met some truly beautiful people. One village we went to was only accessed by pulling ourselves across a large river by a rope attached to a tiny raft! It was a lot of fun meeting some new people to travel around with and see some new culture of Nepal.
After discovering that a friend, Silvio, that I met last year in New Zealand, was also in Nepal, we decided to meet up and do a hike together. As i mentioned before, i really wanted to do the Everest Base Camp Hike but was worried that it was a bit too commercial and expensive. After talking to a few more people, I decided that Everest, along with a trip to Tibet (very expensive as you have to go with an organized tour) will have to wait until later in life when I have a bit more money! Silvio and i decided to combine 3 hikes together, which was supposed to take about two weeks. The first day was another very scary bus ride, which took TEN HOURS, even though it was only 73 miles! There was a few points where everyone actually got off the bus and walked because the road was so bad!! Needless to say we were very happy to be there when we finally arrived!! The first two days of the hike, the weather was terrible and we were worried that we were not going to be able to see any mountains. We decided to just make the most of it and enjoy the cultural experience of staying with the families in the villages along the way. I am still amazed by Nepal's ability to combine the old-fashioned way of doing things and using modern technology. Most of the small villages that still do everything by hand and cook over fire have electricity! It is very strange to see electricity poles running through places that felt so remote!
On the morning that we were to climb Kyrajin Ri, a 14,319 mountain (more like a big hill in Nepal!! :)), we woke up at 5 AM, when it was still dark, and it was PERFECTLY clear! It was amazing, the stars shining brighter than I have ever seen, a full moon, and the Himalayas glowing with their majestic whiteness. It was truly spiritual walking in the darkness with only the moon as our flashlight! We were part of the way up when the sun rose and shone its beautiful red light on the white peaks. On the top, the weather was miraculously perfect! Sun shining brightly and 360 degrees of Himalayan peaks...was one of the most amazing days I can recall. We stayed at the top for over three hours soaking it all in! The next part of the hike was to go to the Gossakund lakes, which are seen as very spiritual and holy lakes by both the Hindu and Buddhist religions. Every year, there is a pilgrimage to these lakes of over 200,000 Hindu people who bathe in the lakes. It was an amazing place to be! We even met and were blessed by a true “holy man” who has been at the lakes (over 14,000 feet so very cold) in mediation for 1 ½ years! It was pretty incredible. The weather continued to be perfect and allowed us to enjoy the lakes, climbing some peaks around them to get some stunning views of both Nepali and Tibetan mountains, and to climb a high mountain pass. After the pass, the weather got bad again, but we didn’t mind because it was so perfect for the important parts!!
Arriving back in the crazy city of Kathmandu was a bit of a shock to the system after 10 days of nothing but quiet in the mountains! Since then, we have made our way to the much quieter town of Duhlikel, where we have been doing a bit of relaxing, sightseeing and trying to keep warm! The winter in Nepal is fast approaching and it is getting very, very cold!
I am meant to start my volunteering in the village in a few days, which involves taking another long scary bus ride to Timbu, a village in the Helambu region and then walking the remainder of the way to the village I will be working in. I will be working in a Gompa (nunnery), teaching English to children and living with a Nepali family. It will be a very full on! Nepali families in rural areas eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, use their hands both as toilet paper and a fork, and live in huts that are not exactly “inside” so it will be quite the experience!! I am a bit worried about the cold but I am sure I will be okay! It will be a real way of immersing myself in the Nepali culture (I have been practicing my Nepalese!) and I am looking forward to helping out in a region that is so remote!
After a few weeks of volunteering, I am sure I will be ready to RUN to somewhere much, much warmer! (India)
Until the next time….take care!! Love and miss you all 