Nepal: Departure (15 Nov)

Index K1 K2 K3 K4 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13 T14 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 D

We had a fairly relaxing morning, with not much to do since we did most of our packing the day before. We opted to leave the Bible college at 10:00 to get to the airport in plenty of time for our 1:00 flight. The international check-in was nowhere near as chaotic as domestic. However, after going through security it was pretty diabolical – 5 numbered gates (each of which led to a bus, or straight to a plane) and no indication of where each one was headed until ‘boarding’ started. Then of course they called for priority boarding, families with young children etc. who got on the bus first, then we got on. So upon arriving at the plane, we got on first – so much for ‘priority boarding’!

About an hour after taking off we landed in Kolkata for refuelling. (Due to the fuel crisis, airlines were not allowed to refuel in Kathmandu, and every aircraft had to have sufficient fuel on board to fly out once it arrived.) About 45 minutes later we were on our way to Singapore. It was a flight time of around 6 hours in total, during which time it became clear that we were seated in daycare class. There were at least 9 children under the age of 4 (i.e. seated on their parent’s lap) within three rows of us. It made for a very long flight with the crying, wailing, screaming, squealing, seat kicking and random touching. Then nobody seemed to be in a hurry to get off the plane when we were disembarking...

We stayed a night and a day in Singapore, visiting the Garden by the Bay and Orchard Road for some shopping, since the weather decided to bucket down every couple of hours or so. Then it was back to the airport for our overnight flight to Auckland. We got a bit held up at the biosecurity check, but got the all clear and just managed to catch our connecting flight to Wellington. It was so good to be home!

Kathmandu international terminal departures area

Final view of Everest and other mountains on our flight to Singapore

Index

Nepal: Missions: Day 5 (14 Nov)

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Early in the morning Bond, Aaron, and two of the local translators left to go on a 3-day trip to one of the villages near the epicentre. They had been there a few times previously, and another opportunity had come up through MAF for them to go again.
We ended up having quite a productive day. After breakfast we asked Heather for some chores, and spent a couple of hours in the morning stripping beds, airing out blankets, collecting sheets for washing, emptying rubbish bins, vacuuming, doing dishes, and cleaning the fridge. After lunch we went to a local grocery store and spent our last 180 Rs on some snacks to take on the plane the next day.

At 3:30 we joined the church service. We were able to follow along with some of the songs, although we struggled a bit more with the sermon, which was mostly in Nepali with a few key points translated to English, but given there were only four of us non-Nepali speakers, I can’t complain. It was cool to sing ‘Our God is greater’ with our new-found Nepali brothers and sisters – a goosebumps moment as it sunk in that we do all worship the same great God. About the only words we could pick up otherwise were ‘Danyabad’ (thanks), ‘Jesu’ (Jesus) and ‘Jaimashi’ (Jesus is victor – a Christian greeting).

In the evening we got talking with Heather and Jena about missions, different countries and cultures, churches, etc. It was interesting to hear their stories.

Calvary Chapel Bible college staff heading out to minister in villages near the epicentre, only accessible by helicopter

Next day

Nepal: Missions: Day 4 (13 Nov)

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At breakfast it was announced that the filming would be done at the orphanage. This was to make a promotional video to share with the Promise Child supporters. Somehow Raewyn and I wangled ourselves in to be camera operators. It was a lot of fun (for us at least), something a bit different, and cool to have been a part of.

We arrived back at the Bible college shortly after 11, just in time for a final send-off service for the students. It was cool to be able to join with them for worship – them singing in Nepali and us singing the same song in English. Pastor Bond spoke briefly – it was interesting to see how the translation works in a sermon type situation. Then all the students were called up to be prayed over as a group and to be given commentaries and audio Bibles. After that we had a special lunch for them. The main Calvary Westgrove team departed later that night.

Filming a promotional video at the Promise Child orphanage, Kathmandu

Raewyn and me with Pastor Brent Kaser, Calvary Chapel Westgrove missions pastor and founder of Promise Child

Commissioning service for the Calvary Chapel Bible college students

Calvary Chapel Bible college students were given Nepali commentaries and talking Bibles to help them minister in their villages

Celebratory lunch for the Bible college students

The Calvary Chapel Westgrove missions team praying before departing

Next day

Nepal: Missions: Day 3 (12 Nov)

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Thursday, day 3, there weren’t really any concrete plans. We ended up going back to the orphanage to tidy up a few things, stock the kitchen with utensils, pots and pans etc., in preparation for some filming they were planning on doing on Friday. After lunch the plan was to visit the monkey temple and then go to Thamel for some shopping. Since both Raewyn and I had kind of had enough (of being around people, and of being in Nepal in general) – and we didn’t have any money left – we opted to stay on campus. It was just as well because the group ended up only going to Thamel, and spent four hours there shopping. I think that’s more than the entire time we’ve spent there put together! They were all talking about coming back, whereas I couldn’t wait to get home and really am not fussed about returning. It was good to have some alone time – it’s been in short supply since we arrived on campus. That was one good thing about the trek: we could always retreat to our tent to be by ourselves. I find it really hard being surrounded by other people all day.

Next day

Nepal: Missions: Day 2 (11 Nov)

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Today we were heading out of town to visit a couple of villages where the team has been out ministering before. It would be a 2-3 hour drive to get there, so we started early with breakfast at 6:00 before loading up three 4WD vehicles for the twenty of us who were going.

The roads getting through Kathmandu were bad enough; then we got out of the city and they got even worse. After about an hour we came to a turnoff, where the real off-roading began – very rocky and steep, some of it worse than what we went mountain biking on! We stopped a couple of times, but towards the end I was feeling really queasy.

The first village we stopped at was Sikre. The team had passed through here by ‘accident’ (or Divine appointment), and were able to minister to the people with tarpaulins and food, and were warmly welcomed. We received another warm welcome today. Many of the houses were damaged in the earthquake and had been partially rebuilt, but I guess it is a slow process when most of their effort goes into farming, and if you don’t have building materials available. Several buildings were once 2- or 3-storeyed but had been converted into 1-storey out of necessity. We saw a new one being built, with people sawing planks lengthwise from logs using a double hand saw. We talked with a few people and prayed for them.

From there we drove another 20 minutes or so to Liptol, the village of one of the Bible college students, Soba. We had lunch on the side of the track before heading on foot down to the village, taking blankets with us to give to people there. Soba’s house was the first one we came to, and again had once been three storeys but was reduced to one. Some of the other houses had not even fared that well, and were just piles of rubble.

A relative of Soba’s who was also a believer invited us to her home. There we met a man called Bizay who had recently come to faith, and as a group we were able to encourage him, through a translator. From there it was back to Soba’s house to distribute blankets, beanies, sweets and stickers. A couple of the leaders (Bond and Gerry) shared a few words, including the gospel message and to say that they would be back in a few weeks with a medical team and more supplies.

After we left we prayed for the people in the village. It was an amazing day. Then began the long drive back to Kathmandu – just under 3 hours, for a distance of around 30 km.

Visiting the village of Sikre

Sikre

Visiting Liptol, a village that was badly affected by the earthquake

Handing out stickers to kids at Liptol

We brought beanies and blankets for the people living in Liptol

Farewell from Liptol

Next day

Nepal: Missions: Day 1 (10 Nov)

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We slept in until 7:00 and enjoyed washing water on tap… Heather and Jena from the Calvary Chapel Bible College came and picked us up just after 9:00. The traffic getting down to the campus in Laktipur was chaos, with huge lines of trucks that had been parked for days waiting for fuel to become available.

We arrived at the campus and dropped off our bags, and went down with the rest of the missions team from Calvary Westgrove to the orphanage building which was a few blocks away. Once inside, everyone dispersed to various jobs; we started off moving bedding to the various rooms, then started cleaning – a big job. The building has three storeys, six bedrooms, three bathrooms. It’s being set up to initially house up to 12 children. The team had installed fans and lighting, laid carpet in the lounge and bedrooms and faux timber flooring in the dining room, replaced the curtains, and furnished all the rooms. By the end of the day the place was starting to look really inviting.

Calvary Chapel Bible college, Kathmandu

Promise Child orphanage, Kathmandu

Cleaning a bathroom at the orphanage

One of the bedrooms in the Promise Child orphanage, Kathmandu

Next day

Nepal: Lukla – Kathmandu (9 Nov)

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Another early start; our wake-up call was at 5:00 but we were already up, thanks to a rodent of some variety scrabbling around in the wall right next to my head, then dogs going off their nut, and generally having already slept enough by that stage due to our early bedtimes for the last couple of weeks. We didn’t have much more packing to do. Breakfast was at 5:30 and we were off to the airport at 6:00. It was similar chaos to the first flight, with bags being weighed, boarding passes handed out, ‘security’ checks and waiting to be summoned for our plane. Finally our turn came, and Raewyn and I managed to score two seats on the side of the plane so she could have her turn at seeing the mountains. We got our money’s worth out of the flight – due to congestion at Kathmandu airport, we ended up circling for an extra half hour or so.

After landing at Kathmandu we were picked up and taken to the Radisson, arriving about 9 am. We were able to check into our rooms straightaway and to have proper showers for the first time in two weeks.

We visited the royal palace museum, which was a very strange experience. The building was designed and constructed in the 1960s, and it showed. Some of the rooms seemed like they were trying to emulate palaces in Europe, with ornately painted ceilings, velvet wallpaper, large paintings of former monarchs, etc., but then the 1970s cabinets, chairs and tables and other furniture kind of messed up the look. From the palace the route then went out to a garden area that had been the residence where the royal massacre of 2001 took place. I wasn’t aware of the events or the history, and came away none the wiser.

From there we headed into Thamel for lunch and to find an internet café, where we spent 20 minutes (for 30 Rs) checking emails and sending some back home.

On the way back to the hotel a fair trade craft shop caught our eye. It had a big variety of things, many of which were quite different to the things that all the shops in Thamel were selling (pashminas, yak wool hats/slippers, ugly ornate hangings, Gurkha knives, notebooks, ugly carvings, hippie clothes). Several items had profiles about the person who had made them. We spent quite a bit of time looking around and liked the idea of supporting it, so we each got some things.

In the evening we all went out for dinner at one of the more upmarket restaurants in Thamel, where Rishi presented us with our trekking permits as mementos.

Waiting to depart from Lukla

Kathmandu from the air

Next day

Nepal: Trek day 13: Ghat – Lukla (8 Nov)

Index K1 K2 K3 K4 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13 T14 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 D

Ghat: 2578 m
Lukla: 2850 m
Distance: 5.5 km (108.7 km total)

We had a sleep-in today; our official wake-up call (with tea) wasn’t until 7:00. Unfortunately nobody thought to tell the local dogs, who all set one another off at about 6:15. We joked it was a dog message from Namche which had taken an hour to reach here.
Raewyn and I had decided yesterday afternoon to give extra tips to the three Sherpa guides: Luk, Dilip and Sham. Luk and Dilip were bringing the tea around so we gave them theirs then. As we were heading to breakfast we spotted Sham and went to say thank you and give him his tip. Initially he declined it and backed away from us almost in horror. I said, ‘It would make us very sad if you did’t take it,’ so he finally accepted but was nearly in tears. This was his first trek as a guide, so I can understand him feeling a bit awkward and not used to it. (It was quite sobering for us, because what we gave him really wasn’t very much for us – just goes to show how much of a difference just a small amount makes to them I guess.)

After breakfast we had group photos of the staff and then everyone. Then we hit the trail for our final walk back to Lukla.
It was also the final walk for my boots. They were not in the greatest state to begin with; they had split on the inside of the right one on their last tramp (Heaphy), but I decided to take them after my #2 boots proved to cause bruising on my shins due to the tongue being quite hard. I bodged the split up with silicone sealant, but over the last few days of the trek it opened up again, and another three developed. I was planning on donating them but given the state of them I doubt anyone would have wanted them, so ended up just leaving them behind in Lukla. We were also planning on donating some of our clothes, so Rishi said he would make that happen.

Again we had good weather and since we were covering ground we had already travelled, I didn’t take a lot of photos. It was interesting looking across the valley to the villages perched on the hillside that had fascinated us so much on the first day; they now looked quite commonplace and normal.

We arrived at the lodge about 11:30 and had lunch about an hour later. While we were having a wash (in our en suite bathroom!) Rishi came to tell us that the Sherpa guides were leaving soon and wanted to divvy up the clothes between them. Adam, one of the Poms, was also donating a pair of boots. Rishi divided the clothes into two piles and put the boots separate, then put a playing card face up on each pile. Then he put three matching cards face down on the floor, and called the guides in to choose a card and claim their pile. We appreciated the way this was done – fairly, and only in the presence of the people involved.

After that we had time for a leisurely wander around Lukla. Dinner was a bit more involved, including a celebratory cake.

Two views of my boots on the last day. They didn't owe me anything!

Local staff: sherpa guides, cooks, and porters

Our entire trekking party

Passing through Chheplung

Free-range chickens at Lukla

Next day

Nepal: Trek day 12: Namche – Ghat (7 Nov)

Index K1 K2 K3 K4 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13 T14 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 D

Namche: 3472 m
Ghat: 2578 m
Distance: 14.1 km (103.2 km total)

We woke up around 5:15 thanks to several dogs in a paddock down the hill barking at each other, but this hour has not really been a problem because it’s already getting light by then, and we’ve been tending to be in bed by 8 pm so are still managing to get a decent night’s sleep.

After breakfast we split into different groups to go shopping, each with a ‘minder’. We had a wander through the Saturday market just to have a look around, and took a short cut from there out of Namche. We got to the toilet stop with the ‘first view’ of Everest and enjoyed about 15 minutes there by ourselves before the others showed up. (We had passed this point coming up, but due to the cloud and rain, weren’t able to see anything.) From there it was down, down, down – much easier and quicker than going up, up, up! – to the swing bridge across the river. There was a lot of traffic on the trail, and several times crossing bridges we had to wait for dzopke convoys coming the other way.

We still had stickers to give out to kids that we saw along the way, and started making a point of saying ‘Namaste’ (hello) to porters and other people we met along the way, waving to people chipping stones to build houses with – just to try to break down the barrier between us as a relatively rich tourist and them as someone whose sole purpose in life is to carry stuff up hills, and acknowledge their worth as a person.

After lunch (another picnic, at a tea shop we had stopped at coming up) we ended up walking much of the time with Rishi and the Sirdar, Pasang. (The Sirdar selects and manages the porters.) We had seen a lot of porters today carrying very heavy loads – 5-6 cases of beer, sheets of roofing iron, sacks of grain, one guy with two ceramic toilets, etc. Some yaks and dzopkes seem to carry less. We asked Pasang how much they get paid. The answer was, from Lukla to Namche (a distance of 23 km and vertical gain of over 1000 m) they get paid 70 Rs per kg. The journey takes them about 1 ½ days, so you can see the incentive for them to carry really heavy loads – some of them up to 100 kg. Many have substandard footwear – sandals, crocs, canvas shoes, old running shoes with holes in them; often a few sizes too big.

Finally after many ups and downs (‘Nepalese flat’) our campsite came into view. We arrived about 4:15. At afternoon tea Rishi collected the tips, around USD60-80 each (6000-8000 Rs). They were divided between the staff (11 porters, 5 cooking staff, 3 Sherpa guides, the cook, and the Sirdar) and put into envelopes. We were each given two or three envelopes to give to them in a little ceremony that we had after dinner. After receiving their tip and being applauded, they went around each of us, shaking our hands. It was quite a celebratory atmosphere.

Saturday market at Namche

Last view of Everest and Lhotse on the descent from Namche

Dzopke convoy encountered on our descent from Namche

Swing bridge at Larja

Swing bridge crossing Dudh Koshi, near Benkar

Dzopke crossing a swing bridge

Trail between Benkar and Phakding

Next day

Nepal: Trek day 11: Maralung – Namche (6 Nov)

Index K1 K2 K3 K4 T1 T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13 T14 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 D

Maralung: 4117 m
Namche: 3472 m
Distance: 16.7 km (89.1 km total)

It was another cold night, but not as bad as the night before. Rishi had talked to us when we arrived at camp yesterday about changing the itinerary, so instead of taking two days to get to Namche and then doing Namche to Lukla in one really long day, we would push through to Namche today and then take two days to go from there to Lukla.

Breakfast was the usual: cornflakes or porridge, crepes, and omelettes. It was freezing as we started walking, but five minutes later when we reached the sun we started warming up. Our walk down the Bhute Koshi valley wasn’t as interesting as the Dudh Koshi. Every now and then we had views of Kongde Ri poking through the clouds. As we passed through the villages of Taranga and Thambuteng we noticed a lot more earthquake damage than other areas where we had been previously. Many of the houses had been rebuilt, but there were still a lot of tents being used and work going on. There were a number of land slips that we passed over or around, and a couple of spectacular gorges. We weren’t expecting too much uphill today, but there was!

After our lunch stop at Thamo, the cloud started getting lower, which made things quite cold. As we got closer to Namche we encountered lots and lots of dzopke convoys, often with large groups of people who were obviously carrying things back from having been shopping.

Finally we rounded the last corner and were rewarded with a great view of Namche – much better than our first view coming up from Monjo, or even coming down from Syangboche. We made our way to the camp (after taking a bit of a detour for some shopping) and arrived at about 4:15. There was another group of five trekkers staying the night, who had just arrived from Monjo and were on their way to Everest Base Camp.

What bliss to have raised camp beds with mattresses in our tents and flush toilets again!

Bhote Koshi valley, just south of Taranga and Marulung

Destroyed buildings near Thame

Overlooking Thame

Damaged buildings in Thame

Securing a dzopke's load on the way from Thame to Namche

Namche

Next day