Lonnie in Nepal #8, final entry

Photos:Chitwan Nat.Pk, Cultural show, Katmandu, Amy and Nicole, plate o' pleasure

Oct.1st My birthday and I was on a chicken bus (no real tourist bus as promised) for 5hrs to Chitwan Nat.Park where it was alleged that I'd see all kinds of animals. I didn't have high expectations as I've been on safaris in Africa during animal migrations and I know there's nothing that can compare to that....and I was right. I was the lone guest at the Jungle Safari resort? On my birthday?

My guide took me on a jungle walk where the only thing I saw was jungle. Domesticated elephants were too common to see as exotic, and on the second day, me and many other visitors rode them through the park... not comfy at all!

After an hour of being slapped and scraped by tree branches, we finally came upon a lone rhino, a few deer, monkeys, and birds...end of Safari.

I had dinner alone and tried not to be depressed but my birthday was over without any hoopla or even the birthday song...totally anticlimactic! 2 years prior, I was eating a lobster dinner on a Galapagos Island! 1 year ago, I was dodging cows in India!

I checked emails where I had lots of Happy birthday wishes and was grateful for that! and so many things, especially for life itself. Thank you God! Thank you all!

After 3 days of Chitwan, I took a chicken bus back to Katmandu and checked into a hotel. With little more than 24 hrs to shop, I started, and got a few good deals. Later, I headed for the airport only to discover my flight was cancelled. Thankfully, I'd met Amy (New Yorker in Nepal to adopt daughter) and Nicole (Australian who'd visited the country of Bhutan). We became fast friends and that remains the highlight of my trip! The airline (Dragon Air) put us up in a fantastic hotel, in fact, it was one that Nicole had checked out of earlier that day! We laughed and entertained one another. The gift shops had amazing deals and I enjoyed the food, hot shower, western toilet, big tv, and an eagle soaring around outside my window.

It took 27+ hrs to get home, thanks to a 9hr layover in Hong Kong, but I made the best of it by watching movies, and tv shows on the plane. I spent the next few days sleeping off the disorientation and let down of the trip. Nepal is a beautiful country but I have no plans to return.

What I came away with is a deep and abiding appreciation for so many things I take for granted, I wrote 2 pages worth in my journal.

I love you Eva (my angel and inspiration) and though I only completed 7 of the 10 day trek, I dedicate those days to you and your determination to live & love, Diva-style! I also dedicate the entire trip to anther year of life, as Spirit illuminated all I needed for the next phase of my evolution, and for that, I feel abundantly blessed.

Thank you Life!

...and thank you for checking out my adventure, feel free to leave a note here yahoo address or on facebook to let me know you stopped by...

I wish you great adventures and abundant blessings,

Namaste

Lonnie "Nubian Nomad"

Lonnie in Nepal #7

Photos: French/African sista, cultural show, artist, children, Tharu woman

Useless advised me that we couldn't continue onto Jomsom due to a landslide. This was a lie and I knew it but I wanted to return to Pokhara just as quickly as he now did, by any means necessary. He said it would take 2 days to get to a road. (What chu talkin' bout Willis?) It would take 5 hours to simply go down the mountain and another 3 to get to a road. I did the whole thing in 6 and 1/2 hrs, often leaving Useless in the dust behind me. While descending baby Everest, I ran into herds of mules, trekkers, porters (each carrying the backpacks of 2-4 people), bulls, snakes, and grasshoppers...all while crossing waterfalls, bridges, landslides, boulders, etc.

We reached a waiting taxi and zoomed into Pokhara where I stood in the hotel shower and cried. This was not the birthday trip i'd imagined, instead, it was a nightmare that I barely escaped. I still ended up overtipping Useless (regretfully) and furious with the lying jerk who was ultimately responsible for the trip from Hell, the hotel manager, Laxya of Macchupucchre Guest House.

I recovered in Pokhara for a few days but my feet/legs were still swollen and leech-bruised. And if my Spirits weren't low enough, I connected my camera to a computer to download pics and a virus deleted all 240 pictures? Later, I was able to find a wonderful Nepali geek, Devi, who recovered them. At dinner, I met a wonderful traveler, Carla, from Chile and we hung out. I was long overdue for a conversation with someone other than me and Lonnie.

The trek was life altering and I'm already feeling changed, evolved, resilient, and more connected with The Source, and everything, even rocks...

Namaste

Lonnie in Nepal #6

By the 4th evening, we reached MBC (Macchupucchre Base Camp) and were over 11,000ft and I was suffering. Breathing was a job, my head ached, and even after I dried and covered myself with my down sleeping bag and 2 doubled wool blankets, I could not stop shivering for more than an hour???

Great, total body pain, altitude sickness, and now hypothermia!

I forced myself to the dining room which was as cold as my room, but had people sitting around the table. Somebody had to know CPR! I tried to sit at the table but had to lie down on rest areas. Each time I tried to sit at the dining table, shortly, I had to lie down again. Then the Kerosene heater was placed in a pit under the table which had a clothes line around the perimeter. I hung wet clothes on the line then had to get horizontal again. I ordered food and pushed it away upon arrival - definitely Altitude sickness. I forced down water, garlic soup, and tea. Some women from Oregon had a wonderful guide who gave me motion sickness pills. The first one worked within an hour and I was able to get vertical for a while. Meanwhile, Useless seemed not to care that I was sick and had nothing to offer for me to get better. (All guides are supposed to have a first aid kit w/meds).

It was a sobering moment as I realized my safety and well-being was of no concern to Useless. I made the decision not to continue to ABC (over 13,000ft). We would go backward and toward Jomson where we would catch a flight back to Pokhara. I knew Eva would understand.

It took over 9hrs to reach the town (Chomrong) but it was the first trek day of no rain and the Altitude sickness was gone after we descended, but not the dangers. I knew I was only a sprain ankle, bad fall, or landslide away from certain tragedy, possibly, my last birthday trip. (Most knew that there were 3 Japanese trekkers and a porter still missing though the rest of their party had been rescued).

It would still take us 2-3days to reach Pokhara! Meanwhile, I saw no bikes, cars, internet, tv, signs of civilization (as I know it), but there was plenty of bulls, dong, rivers, waterfalls, and great big ol' green mountains!

Photos:Himalayas, landscapes

Lonnie in Nepal #5

Each day was pretty much the same, exhausting, going up and down a couple or three mountains to have lunch at a village, then repeat before dinner, rest at night! All the while, ascending higher and deeper into the mtns. The villages were quaint, basic with Indian-style squat toilets and solar powered hot showers, shared by all who stayed in the lodge/guest house. The meals were included in my package and I mostly ate porridge in the morning, Daal Bhaat (National dish eaten twice/day by most Nepalese: rice, lentil soup, curry veggies, salad, and a lentil cracker), and a rice or pasta dish for dinner. Meals and accommodations are very inexpensive but you must bring your own sleeping bag and walking sticks.

The guide was a ginormous disappointment as more than his language skills were limited. Eating with his hand was not the issue (local custom), but the acoustic slurping sounds, stereophonic burps, off-key singing, frequent harking and spitting in HD, were annoying me in the worst way! He'd also leave me to fend for myself to cross waterfalls, rivers, mudslides, etc. alone. Scary! The trek to ABC had turned into the most physically challenging thing I've ever done in my life! I grew tired of being cold, wet, tired, and vulnerable (thanks to my guide I mentally called, "Useless"). I'd fallen multiple times and he'd only been there for 2 falls. Meanwhile, Useless was so far ahead or behind me, I was alone 80% of the time.

My entire body hurt, especially the day we trekked 9hrs and 15mins! It rained everyday of the first 4 days and as we ascended, it got colder. The views were sometimes stunning even under cloudy rainy skies.

Other trekkers on the path were mostly friendly and encouraging, and when I could breathe and speak simultaneously, I'd humor them and myself and ask '...are there elevators or escalators ahead?' which brought a chorus of laughter!

I wasn't having fun and just wanted to get it over. My stubbornness and dedication to my angel Eva inspired me to keep going in spite of the pain, rain, cold, wet clothes and shoes, blood-sucking leeches, treacherous terrain, and pure agony.

Photos: rice, beans, corn, Himalayas, mountains, waterfalls, and rocks!