Nepal Part I: The Fellowship of the Yak

How to even begin? Nepal was...a kaleidoscope, a certified doozy, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. It was extremely diverse, breathtakingly beautiful, and decidedly uncomfortable at times. In short, Nepal was a lot, in so many ways.

We hit the ground running, or rather trekking...in the Himalayas. Our destination was the Goyko Lakes and the summit of Goyko Ri. This is the highest freshwater lake system in the world, consisting of six glacial lakes (we visited three). It's also an alternative trek to the much busier Everest Base Camp, and gives excellent panoramic mountain (including Everest) views from the small peak of Goyko Ri, which looms above the large third lake. 

Accordingly, our first day in Nepal was a mad dash around Kathmandu to fill in the gaps in our trekking gear - gaiters, snacks, electrolytes (or as close as we could find, vitamin drink mix). In the early evening we met our guide (company: Magical Nepal), signed some forms, shoved some borrowed fluffy jackets into impossibly small bags, and met our delightful German trekking companion. Then out into the streets once more with their choke of motorcycle fumes and careening, shrieking scooters. 

Unfortunately we discovered that the borrowed gear was heavier than we'd expected, and we spent the next two hours repeatedly repacking and running up and down the four flights of stairs to the lobby baggage scale. Finally our bags were underneath the strict airline weight limits (and our pockets shoved full of chargers and trail mix). 

Our guide called at 6:00 am sharp the next morning, and a taxi whisked us away to the airport. Or rather, first it spent five incredible minutes inching back and forth to manoeuvre around the van parked along the extremely narrow street outside the hotel. With mere centimeters to spare we finally squeezed by. 

The airport was chaotic. Extreme rain the week before had cancelled many of the Kathmandu-Lukla flights, and there was a backlog of trekkers trying to reach the Himalayas. We threw our bags on the scanner and walked through the metal detector. Security guards patted everyone down; Rachel's guard felt the huge volumes of trail mix in her pockets and raised an eyebrow to which Rachel lamely explained 'breakfast,' and the guard let her pass. 

The baggage counter was further chaos, and we ended up waiting in line so long that we missed our morning flight. Rescheduled to 1:30 pm, we settled down to wait. In the meantime, our guide told us about how he'd had to start trekking at 4:30 pm and walk partially in the dark on his last tour due to flight delays (foreshadowing).

1:30 came and went, then 2:00, 2:15, and eventually the news that our flight had been cancelled due to bad weather (not a huge surprise). We had two options; drive 6 hours to another airport and hope we could catch a flight to Lukla in the morning (though the weather forecast didn't look very good) or charter a helicopter.

We deliberated, reached far, far back in our pockets until we reached our stash of extra budget, and took the helicopter. After another couple hours of waiting, and some speculation as to whether air traffic control would actually let us take off, the blades whirred to life and we were lifted high above the sprawl of Kathmandu. Low-hanging clouds obscured the mountains, but we had plenty to take in with the terraced hills and valleys which presented as a mosaic of infinite green hues dotted with brightly coloured houses.

We set down in Lukla just as dusk was falling; this flight had cut off the roughly 6 day trek from Jiri that adventurers had once had to make (including Edmund Hillary). Our porters greeted us, and we sat down to our long-awaited lunch at 5:15 pm. A note on our porters: while we did train for this trek, we highly doubt that we would have been able to complete it without their help, largely because of the altitude. Our combined bag weighed 19 kg, but these astonishing young men told us they routinely carry up to 50 kg; we made sure to tip well.

And so, our first day's walk began and ended in the dark. We only had to go about three hours to the village of Phakding, the short distance a contingency against flight delays. The path was heavily cobbled, with large slabs of stone forming paths and stairs. In the darkness all we could see was what our headlamps illuminated, our ears picking up the sounds of running water in the valley below.

Our itinerary:

Day 1: Flight from Kathmandu (1300 m / 4265 ft) - Lukla (2860 m / 9383 ft). Trek from Lukla to Phakding (2651 m / 8697 ft).

Day 2: Trek from Phakding to Namche Bazaar (3438 m / 11,279 ft).

Day 3: Trek from Namche Bazaar to Khumjung (3790 m / 12,434 ft).

Day 4: Trek from Khumjung to Dole (3680 m / 12,073 ft).

Day 5: Trek from Dole to Machhermo (3,870 m / 12,696 ft).

Day 6: Trek from Machhermo to Gokyo (4800 m / 15,748 ft).

Summiting Gokyo Ri (5357 m / 1632 ft).

Day 7: Descent from Gokyo to Dole.

Day 8: Descent from Dole to Khumjung.

Day 9: Descent from Khumjung to Lukla.

Day 10: Flight from Lukla to Kathmandu.

Teahouses

We stayed in teahouses each night. These were generally similar to North American ski lodges, with a common dining room built around a wood stove. We would stay in private rooms, which were often unheated - some nights (the worst being in Machhermo) would get deeply cold. Fortunately, we had thick sleeping bags, and would sleep with all our thermal layers on if needed.

Food was provided at each lodge by the trekking company. For Rachel, given her garlic intolerance, this usually meant unseasoned fried rice with steamed vegetables. For Johann, this usually meant either dal bhat (which he grew to distrust, deeply) or vegetable noodle soup with lots of garlic. Garlic, as we found out, was a common preventative treatment for high-altitude sickness.

Wildlife

We saw plenty of wildlife on our trek. Our guide, AJ, was an avid birder, and told us detailed stories about every avian we spotted. Our favourites were the bloody pheasant and the Himalayan monel - both had beautiful, iridescent feathers. We also saw various deer species, including a couple musk deer (critically endangered!).

Illness

We did everything we could to avoid illness, from avoiding meat to washing our hands and sanitizing constantly. But tragically, we both fell ill with a stomach bug mid-way through the trek. We pushed on and still greatly enjoyed our time, but really began to feel it once we'd finished and the adrenaline wore off.