2nd perspective: Shivalaya to Namche

I actually haven’t read Carla’s last post as I write this, so forgive any redundancy. We’re in Bangkok and having to pay for internet, so I’m writing this offline and will upload it.

I can’t believe that it’s been nearly a month since we left Turkey for Nepal! Oh man, Turkey feels like a long time ago. So much happened in the last month, and each day stretched out so long (in a good way—we just had so much time to think with all the hiking and resting).

The first part of the journey, Shivalaya to Namche, was much harder than anything that followed (for the most part—stay tuned for the last few days). Each day we got up early, had breakfast, packed up and hiked till lunchtime, then ate, then hiked till somewhere between 4 and 6. Then we had dinner, and then usually we went to bed by 9 to get up and do it all again. The first day we hiked with the five guys we had joined up with, and on subsequent days it was either just the two of us or us two and this Israeli guy.

Carla just told me that she didn’t mention these guys in her post, so allow me to recap: on the bus to Shivalaya, we met a group of five guys who were planning largely the same treks. I will refer to them by their nationalities: English, Canadian, American, Belgian, and Israeli. We spent a 12 hour bus ride with them and we were all getting along really well! English was particularly funny—he did these great impressions of the kid who was running the show on the bus (“Hello ladies. Don’t know if you noticed, but I’m the bus conductor. If you want to chat about it, you know where to find me.”)

So yeah, we all hiked together the first day and we were all excited about our great group. Then as the days wore on, it seemed like the guys became increasingly involved in a 5-way bromance that required them to go ever faster, talk ever more about how badass they were, and increasingly ignore us girls. So by the end of day 5, when the guys were talking about doing a super long day 6 to get to Namche, we told them that we wanted to take it slow and would be leaving later and going the distance in two days. Carla and I had a great, peaceful last two days during which we went at our own pace.

Again I will backtrack a little to tell about our surroundings. From the time we left Kathmandu basically until we hit the trail from Lukla, we were in the land of the squat toilet. There is a wide range of squat toilets. Some have porcelain foot platforms in a cement floor. Others are little wooden sheds that make use of a hillside, with a couple of widely spaced boards suspended over a 6-foot drop, wherein you stand on the boards and let your business go down the space in between. For the most part, the squat toilets were preferable to the dirty, seatless, peed-upon thrones that we found a little later on the trail. It’s way easier to do the full squat down on your haunches than to try to hover-poo over something that’s already a foot tall.

Along the way, we saw virtually no tourists. We did see plenty of Nepalis, and we would always exchange a Namaste and often a little clasped-hand bow. We saw porters carrying unbelievable loads in wicker baskets suspended from the crowns of their heads, and often wearing sandals over the rugged rock paths.

We stayed in guest houses that were basic. The rooms were usually doubles, and Carla and I would get our own room. The bathroom was always elsewhere—sometimes indoors, sometimes outdoors—and showers ranged from a running, hot (or cold, depending) shower to a bucket shower with hot water. Showers cost extra, anywhere from $1.50 to over $4. Meanwhile, the rooms were anywhere from free (cause you’re buying dinner) to $0.75 a person. During the first week, Carla and I probably averaged about $10-15 a day on food, lodging, outlet charging, and showers. Together, not each.

It was a really spectacular taste of rural Nepali life, which largely ended when we hit the point where the trail joins up with the trail from Lukla (to which you can fly from Kathmandu). Suddenly white people were all around, squat toilets were replaced by (gross, seatless) thrones, and prices were double. Nepalis would sometimes answer your Namaste but rarely initiate it and never bow. So in general, the latter part of the journey was a diluted version of the first.

One more funny story from the first week: at one of the lodges, we found out that the owner had summited Everest twice AND met the Dalai Lama (Me: “You’ve met the Dalai Lama?” Him: “Yeah. Good guy.”) So we asked if we could take a photo with him, and he sat between us on the couch for it. With his hand on my butt. When he got up, I told Carla, “he patted my butt!” and she replied, “MINE TOO!” So basically, this guy took the opportunity to cop a double feel with some young ladies. Oh well, I guess I can’t begrudge him that. I wonder if we look surprised in the picture…