Nepal Part Dos - The Namaste Chapter

It has been a month since we traversed to Nepal and I thought it would be time for a little reflection.  When we talk with people that have been to Nepal, the common phrase is usually "life changing".  Naturally, it is hard to dampen expectations with words like that.  Fortunately, I am a bit cynical at times and usually take stuff like that with a grain of salt. (Interestingly, my being cynical is really not fortunate for anyone, especially Becky).

So.  Life Changing.  Big Stuff.  Nepal.  Using Periods And. Capital Letters. For Every Word. For. Dramatic Effect.

OK, I will say it.  Nepal generally lives up to the hype.  It is in your face, dirty, poverty stricken, polluted, breathtaking, heartwarming, humbling, heartbreaking, amazing, frustrating and myriad other adjectives. (I've been seeing the word myriad a lot lately so I thought I would throw it in there. I hope you like).

I took some time to edit our pictures from the trip and I think that they can show some of what we were able to experience in this crazy country.  One or two of the pictures are repeats from Becky's blog, but I cleaned em up so they are worth another look.  I will also be adding some (pithy) commentary along the way.



Section I - Breathtaking
It is hard to capture what you see live, but considering I was carrying like $1,500 of camera equipment, these better be pretty close!  These are from Poon Hill. Yes, I thought the name was funny.  But I also laughed in a school wide professional development session when someone described our school as well endowed.  Back to the pictures.

Can I suggest here that you click on these pictures to enlarge them.  It will make your experience much more enjoyable.

Yes, the last two are the same, but so pretty and just different enough.

This is Dhaulagiri. 8,167 meters - 26,795ft. Wow. 7th highest mountain in the world.  Something like 40% of the people who try to summit this mountain die. 

Section II - Animals

Yak - enough said.

Yak video - I will let the video commentary speak for itself.

Ass. 

Or a mule. Somebody enlighten me please.

Greatest inspirational poster ever? 

Answer - Yes.

Once again, click to enlarge and enjoy this in all its glory. Found in a rest point on the last day of our trek.

These goats were awesome!  They tasted fantastic!

I was kidding about the goats.  They needed salt.

Seriously, all up and down the trail were these teams of asses? mules? hauling stuff up and down.  These are the roads and thus, these are the vehicles. Reliable brakes on this model. (Looking at you Toyota).

Section III - Life

This was pretty early in the morning and this woman was brushing her hair that had to go down to her rear. Just across the way our guide, Rahm, pointed out that a couple of older gentlemen were drunk.  Once again, this was early morning.  Sorry, no picture. Just think of your grandparents (lets say on your mothers side, because I think we all know they are the drunks) on New Years Eve, if you grandparents were both dudes sitting Indian style (Nepal style?) in the dirt in the mountains of Nepal.  Also your grandparents are both about 5ft tall and Asian. If you are reading this and you are Asian, that last part is probably not much of a stretch.

I like this picture because you have this innocence.  Children playing, a cute boy and girl looking up at another cute boy. If you let yourself, you can even see your own childhood in this picture...And then you look closer and you see that the boy is up above because the high ground is best to attack from.  This dude is wielding a knife and a stone.

Sickle - Check.  Hammer - Ah man!

Love this shot. Becky on the trail up ahead.

Section IV - Animals + Life = Love

Maybe the most disturbing part of the trip.  Becky mentioned this in her blog and here is the visual to go along with it.  This girl was litterally cleaning this animal's (buffalo?) poop with her bare hands.  Makes you think twice about giving the heavy sigh when your wife asks you to wash the dishes.  Looking at you Dad.  Haha. Jokes.

I thought this was really awesome.  This was taken from way up above down into a valley on our last day of the trek.

Section V - Flora

This thing rocked my world.  Rahm, the guide, said, "Tomato tree!"  I freaked out.  I think I called him a liar and then I got out the camera.  After some research, it is a tomatillo tree, also called tomato tree.  Sorry Rahm.

Lucky for us, it was berry season.  Sweet and tart! Groups of kids would hang out on the road between where you start the trek and the main city in the region, Pocara selling rolled up leaves full of these berries.  We pulled over a couple of times to buy some.  Sadly, no picture of this.

Some local medicinal herb. A closer inspection is needed.

Man, where have I seen this before?

Another patch of this stuff. Just a little guy.  Maybe Rahm can tell us what it is.

"Marijuana."  Thanks Rahm.

Cannabis, as my freinds from Canaba like to call it, grows like crazy in Nepal. Don't worry Kyle family, still pot free since '83. I was one year old in '83. Haven't touched the stuff since.

I could have put a picture of a cinnamon tree here, which I thought was really cool.  Instead, I decided to just put in a couple of extra weed pictures.  I know what people want.

Hey unemployed Americans. I hear this farm is hiring. Too soon for and economy joke?

Legit terracing.

Last section - Extra

I think those vehicles I refered to earlier (the asses) need some emissions testing.  There was no shortage of poop on the trail. Yak poop, buffalo poop, cow poop, dog poop, goat poop, and of course, chicken...er...poop.

We will leave you with this. I may have massaged this photo a bit. I still think it is kinda cool.

Life Changing.  That was the phrase at the beginning of this blog, and trip for that matter. I hope that every trip and experience is life changing in some way or another.  Nepal was no different. I would like to think that Becky and I approach trips like this with a sense of graciousness and humility. We are fortunate to get experiences like these, so yeah, I suppose Nepal was life changing.

Whew!  Glad that is done.  This took me like three days to get through.  And...get excited...there shall be a Nepal Part Sam (thats three in Thai) - Kathmandu.  Get excited.

Until then.

Love,

iBeck