Hello from Tatopani, Nepal

Just wanted to say a quick "Hello" from the village of Tatopani . . . . Scott and I are doing great, especially now that going over the pass is behind us . . . .
We will be doing a 1750m ascent tomorrow to get to Ghorepani, and then will be traveling to the village of Pokhara in a few days. We fly out to Bangkok on 04/07, but will be in Kathmandu for a few days prior, where we hope to catch up on our 21 day journey on the Annapurna Circuit! We have tons of really great photos/stories to share, and look forward to getting back to the blog!

Take care, we miss you, and best wishes!

Jen and Scott

Quick Email from Scott...

yesterday, set off at 5am, with headlamps and reached the pass at
about noon. a little shy of 18,000 feet. HUGE winds leading up to
the top and on top which made the climb at high altitude even more
difficult. had to climb down 1600m down after the ascent, which took
until about 5:30pm... a solid 12 hours of hiking! today we are taking
a rest day in the town of Muktinah... and was able to observe a
religious pilgrimage going on at the moment... pretty cool stuff.
LOTS of great pictures and video and stories to share but will have to
wait for better internet (most likely when we are back in Kathmandu).
we are having a great time... but it has been tough! the most
strenuous parts are over now we can "coast" a bit on the way down..
no more early starts and 10+ hour days.

tomorrow, heading to Kagbeni (sp?) then to Jomsom and further south on
the circuit... finally arriving at Pokara which is supposed to be a
gorgeous lakeside town where you can relax after a long, successful
trek. then from Pokara to Kathmandu.

will probably email/blog when we get to Pokara... which may be 5 days
out...

Worst bloggers ever

(This is Jason - Scott's brother)

After the first few posts with amazing stories and photos -- they are stranding us again for days at a time. Then again, that's what happens when you hike a remote trail in Nepal for a couple weeks. :-) Calling them the "worst bloggers ever" isn't fair given where they are right now -- but it does make a catchy blog post title.

I did get a short email from Scott on Thu saying the following:

made it to Manang... abut 11000 feet!. acclimate here for 3 days before continuig on. everything is going great... write more later.

I had a brief skype conversation with him. He said there was Internet in this remote village, but it was very expensive. No blog uploading until they are in a tad bit more urban area.

That's all for now.

Jason

They're alive!

This is Jason -- Scott's brother.

Scott & Jen called us at 3am the other night to say "they are okay", and they are currently in Chame. They hope to be done with the trek in about 2 1/2 weeks. They will catch the blog up once they get to Bangkok.

Don't expect a ton of updates over the next week or two, but I (Jason) will provide any additional info if they call again -- just hopefully not in the middle of the night! :-)

Bhulbule or bust

 

Two days later and we are geared up and ready to go!  Went to get our trekking permit and remaining gear yesterday.  Today, we bought our bus ticket, rented our sleeping bags and took out all necessary cash for the next 25 days (there are a handful of ATMs at bigger villages along the route but we’re told they often do not work!).  Finally we can relax a bit and enjoy our last night in Kathmandu for now… we’ll be back after our trek to collect the rest of our stuff (the things we’re not taking with us on the trek) and try and see a few of the more cultural sites. 

We’ve really enjoyed meeting other travelers here at our hotel… Dawn from Croatia… a woman who hiked Annapurna 10 years ago (and 3 times since) and now comes back to Nepal every year for other various treks.  And Rajel and Eveh (sp?) from Switzerland, also returning to Nepal after a tour of the south pacific for the past 2 months.  We’re going out to dinner with our Swiss friends shortly… no, nothing at all ethnic, but to a pizza place that we found a couple nights ago (Jen’s really excited to go back).  We figure we’ll have 3 weeks of nothing but native Nepalese foods, so a little western familiarity won’t hurt for now.  :)

Bus tomorrow leaves Kathmandu at 7am and arrives Dumre at about 1pm.  From there we catch another bus to Bhulbule where we’ll spend the night and start the trek the next day.  We *should* have internet access there and will try to post once more before we set off. 

Skype

We were able to catch my brother (and family) on Skype and Jen’s parents as well.  It’s surreal to be able to talk (and see video) of your family sitting half-way across the world (for free!).  For anyone else who has skype, add ‘sjwyckoff’ to your contacts and send us your skype ID… it’d be great to chat with more people if we happen to catch you online. 

 

More street life in Kathmandu:

 

 

 

These women would fill the basket with bricks and then carry it on their heads up the street to a construction site!

 

 

   

Our Swiss neighbors at the hotel

 

Starting point of our trek… Bhulbule, Nepal (north of Besi Sahar)

First full day in Kathmandu

Woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of what seemed liked hundreds of dogs barking all at once.  A little later, the gaggle of crows and pigeons joined in and finally the honks from the morning traffic at about 5:30 am.  Normally, we’d be annoyed at something like this but, as we were in Nepal with no set schedule, we found it pretty amusing  (We’ll try to capture some audio of this tomorrow morning…).

Our main objective for today was to buy the remaining gear for the trek.  Anything “critical” we brought with us from the US--good, worn-in hiking shoes, wind/water proof outer shell, a couple pairs of hiking pants/shorts, polarized sunglasses, etc.  Everything else could be bought in Kathmandu for much less.  Today we bought: another upper base layer, thermal lowers, upper fleece, water purifying tablets, warm gloves, warm hat, bandanas, sun hat, rain pants, detailed map of Annapurna region, head lamps and sandals.

Things to get tomorrow: backpack, trekking permit, bus ticket to Besi Sahar.sleeping bag liner, hiking poles

Things to rent: sleeping bag, down jacket

 

 

 

Nepalese school kids lining up to the beat of a drum (visible from the window of our hotel)

 

 

Researching and planning our trek

Thamel district of Kathmandu

 

Locals playing cards

Hello Nepal!

Woke up at 5am WITHOUT AN ALARM…  we are slowly adjusting to the time change but not quite there yet  Left the hotel at 8am for our noon flight… we were told to allow plenty of time for the ride to the  airport because of commuter traffic—they weren’t kidding!  It took a solid hour and a half to go about 10 miles.  It gave us one last chance to marvel at the traffic ballet of trucks, cars, rickshaws and an unimaginable number of scooters.

 

 

About an hour into our flight, our first glimpse of the Himalayas

 

Arriving in Kathmandu, we are excited to see the backpacks of other to-be trekkers coming off the luggage belt.  We get to our hotel and explore the Thamel neighborhood of Kathmandu… the backpacker grotto, packed with stores selling (half-decent) knock-off camping gear, tour companies, restaurants, bars, etc.

We have at least a few days here… more to come soon…!

 

View of Kathmandu from our hotel

Last Day in India

With one more full day left in India, we definitely wanted to see more of the city.  We took the Delhi Metro… Delhi’s version of the Chicago ‘El’ but much more modern :).  Leaving the Janakpuri district, we arrived in city center (Rajiv Chowk stop) in about 20 minutes and set off on what we thought would be our walking tour of Delhi. 

We surfaced from the subway right next to a street bazaar, with vendors and hawkers of all varieties.  We’d experienced street markets before but this was a whole new category of crowds, sights, sounds and smells. It was a novel and “India-esque” experience but we had lots of sightseeing to do so we didn’t linger.

After getting our bearings, we started walking towards India Gate… one of the Delhi Landmarks.  The walk was longer than we thought (things always look so close on a map!) and finally gave in to one of the many rickshaw drivers offering rides.  He wanted 10 rupees to India Gate (about 20 cents) which sounded good to us considering how hot it was.  Once arriving, the rickshaw driver, Sandeep,  offered to take us around all day for 300 rupees (about $7)… not bad to ride in style all day.  :)

Our rickshaw driver, Sandeep

He continued to take us to Rash Trapati (the presidential palace), Parliament, the site of Ghandi’s assasination, Muhammad Shah’s Tomb, Safdar Jung’s tomb and Lodi Gardens.  Definitely a whirlwind tour of central Delhi but fun nonetheless.

Sandeep dropped us off at the metro station, but not before arranging to drive us to the airport the next morning.  We were sad to say goodbye to India but looking forward to the change of pace that Nepal would offer.

 

Gates to Presidential Palace (palace in background)

 

Site of Gandhi's assassination

 

Safdarjang’s Tomb

 

 

 

 

Muhammad Shah’s Tomb (next to Lodi Gardens)

Day trip to Agra

Our trip to Agra started out at  6:15 a.m. on India Railways.  It is a 2+ hour trip to Agra from Delhi, and the train was by far the most economical way to go as well as the most cultural.  Our “luxury class” tickets were about $6 US and included breakfast and a newspaper (picture below).  They definitely love their tea here in India, and the breakfast included a “tea kit” and your own personal jug of hot water.  We’re happy to report no Starbucks withdrawal symptoms yet (but then again, we are still jetlagged and wide awake at about 3 AM)!  The train ride allowed us to see several other sides of India… the beautiful farmlands dotted with huts and palm trees, worked by men and women dressed in bright, colorful clothes… the bustling, industrial areas on the outskirts of Delhi… and, sadly, the poverty evidenced by crowded shantytowns along the tracks. 

Once in Agra, we were met by a driver and tour guide for the day. First on the schedule was the Taj Mahal.  Needless to say, we were absolutely stunned and pictures don’t do it justice.  It truly is much more impressive in person… and incredible that such a structure was built hundred of years ago without heavy machinery (and looks impeccable to this day)!

Next up was the Agra Fort and then Fatepur Sikri.  Admittedly, we didn’t pick up a whole lot of history and background on these places… our guide was a little difficult to understand and we found ourselves doing a lot of nodding.  :)  We vowed to read up on these places later on wikipedia (to fulfill our duty as good tourists) and to do a better job of preparation for later stops on the trip (India is the one country for which we have no guidebook!).  Here are a few pictures anyway… including a our first monkey sighting and our first squat toilet!

 

Our train left Agra  at 8:30pm and we finally arrived back at our hotel at about 11pm that evening, totally exhausted! 

Delhi street scene . . .

Made it!

Arrived safely in New Delhi last night after 15 hours in the air.  The flight went by pretty quick since we slept for a good chunk of it.  We attempted to stay up late on the plane to try and start adjusting to the time change but didn’t do very well—I guess there’s only so many bad movies you can sit through before finally falling asleep!  Although it was dark out when we took off from Chicago it wasn’t long that it became light out again as we flew north-east over the arctic. 

Despite anticipating a good deal of chaos, getting to the hotel proved to be quite an experience!  Even though our pre-arranged taxi said they knew where the hotel was, there is of course a bit of a language barrier, so needless to say we ended up asking a few of the locals for directions to our hotel.  Most of them were nice, and finally we were pointed in the right direction. 

Also, we were amazed to learn that there are really no driving lanes in India, you basically just drive where you need to.  There were a number of times where it felt like we were playing “chicken” with oncoming traffic; we were definitely holding our breath for most of the 30 minute trip, especially considering the seatbelts were out of order . . . . .

Today (Friday), we are just going to relax and try to get adjusted to the time change, plan out our trip to the Taj Mahal, and take a well-needed break, for it won’t be long where that will not be an option for days at a time.

Take care, and we’ll be back soon!

 

 

 

 

 

Sunrise over New Delhi

T-0

So, here we go, our plane leaves for India at 7:15 tonight, and we arrive at 11:45 tomorrow evening! (non-stop, 15-16 hour flight)

We will miss you all, and look forward to catching up once we are back, preferably over pizza or burgers, whichever food we happen to be missing more!

Take care,

Scott and Jen