Nepal, 13 Oct - 10 Nov 2000

My trip to Nepal was - a trip! This will give you some idea of the terrain.

To put some perspective on the trip, while I was there at least 3 people died. Two were climbing Island Peak, a 20,000 foot peak which you can sign up to climb with no experience. The third was suffering from AMS (acute mountain sickness), was dizzy and disoriented, and fell off the trail at a bad point. Myself, I never felt threatened and I didn't suffer from the altitude (except for being out of breath!).

Here's a log and pictures.

13 Oct 2000 - Fly to Hong Kong, Bangkok

14 Oct - Arrive Bangkok
The joint where I ate in Bangkok.

15 Oct - Visit the Grand Palace , Bangkok. Another view.

16 Oct - Fly to Kathmandu.

17 Oct - Go to Chitwan.
Scenery along the road.
Elephant ride, stick dance

18 Oct - Chitwan.
Elephant Ride,
elephant washing , ...
Me washing (or being washed by?) the elephant.

19 Oct - Return to Kathmandu.
Manaslu hotel. Met my roommate Les. And Alan, John, Dave, George, Lauren, Sophie, Jason, Jim, Eva, and Carole. 5 of us were 60+ years old!
Floor show and dinner at Nepali place.

20 Oct - Tour Kathmandu.
Saw the living goddess. And a temple.
Dinner at KC - ate pizza. Service real slow. Pizza real good.

Here is a map of the trek. (It's a photograph of a t-shirt!)

21 Oct - Fly to Lukla.
The "airport" is amazing - sloping dirt runway. (Photos later.)
Trek to Phakding - 8708'.
Yaks on the trail.

22 Oct - Trek to Namche Bazar - 11,370.
Sort of in the center is a collection of Tibetans. They come down over the high passes with their yaks with goods to sell - all sorts from carpets to tennis shoes.

23 Oct - In Namche Bazar.
Carole and friend.

24 Oct - Trek to Dole - 13,370'
Yrs truly in front af Amadablam.
Amadablam by itself. It was the most spectacular peak we would see, but not the highest by a long shot - only ~22,500' (Everest is 29,something).

25 Oct - Trek to Machermo - 14,570'
A pleasant creek
On the trail to Machermo.

26 Oct - Trek to Gokyo Lake - 15,700'.

27 Oct - Gokyo-Ri - 16,900'
Disaster. Fell in the creek, didn't make the top (about 17,570'), only got to 16,900'.
Trek to Dole - 13,370'

28 Oct - Trek to Phortse - 12,520'.
Met Panuru Sherpa, mountaineer extra-ordinaire. He had two certificates on his wall, Mt. Everest from the north and south. He had just gotten back (on 4 Oct) from climbing Everest and Lohtse on successive days.

Goodbye to Phortse. You can see one trail we walked on the opposite wall of the canyon. There is a river in the bottom of the canyon.

29 Oct - Trek to Dingbouche - 14,333'.
Saw a porter carrying a man down the hill today! It may have been the sherpa who got into trouble on Cho La pass with the Swiss guys.
A couple pictures of rivers.

30 Oct - Climbed the hill near Dingbouce - 5,083m? = 16,672'.
View from the hill.

31 Oct - Trek to Lobuche - 16,170'
Disaster #2 - fell in the pre-dawn darkness, jammed my finger and wrenched my knee.

1 Nov - Climb Kala Patthar - 18,653' (or 5540m = 18,171').
Jim, Laura, and Sophie (three members of my group) climbing Kala Patthar. (It's NOT the snowy peak in the background...)
Everest from Kala Patthar. It's not the peak in the foregound, it's the peak behind, second from the right.
Everest and yrs truly.
Me the morning after the climb. You can't really see it very well in the picture, but my eyes were swollen and discolored.

2 Nov - Trek to Doboche - 3,820m = 12,529'.

3 Nov - Trek to Tengboche Monastery, Khumjung, Namche Bazar - 11,370
Me and the monastery.
Saw the yeti scalp at the monastery in Khumjung.

4 Nov - Trek to Phakding - 8708'.
Lunch? A tibetan guy with some sort of animal in Namche Bazar prior to departure for Phakding.

5 Nov - Trek to Lukla - 9,529'.
A bridge along the way.
Party. Gave Dillip an Aloha shirt, Dorje my pants.

6 Nov - Fly to Kathmandu.
Airstrip at Lukla, with and without clouds. You can see a plane that crash-landed while we were trekking parked to the right on the strip, about 2/3's of the way down.

7 Nov - Tour of Bhaktapur with Kelsang.
Kelsang is Sonam's son; Sonam is my house-keeper in Berkeley. Sonam sent a suitcase full of stuff with me for Kelsang. He re-filled it and sent it back.

8 Nov - Lunch at Kelsang's house.
Kelsang and his father and brother.

9 Nov - Transfer to Blue Star Hotel, lazy day.

10 Nov - Fly home.
Say goodbye to the mountains.