Thailand, ah Thailand

Ah, Thailand, how I love your food and beaches!  After our intensive trek and kayak clinic, my brother and I went to Karon Beach (Phuket) to enjoy some RandR.  One day we took a boat to to Phi Phi Island for the day, touring the islands.  Glorious aqua water and white sand beaches!  

Back in Bangkok, we delved into a serious schedule of eating, Thai massages, and sleeping in. Here's AJ (next to the manekin - AJ is the one with the white legs sticking out!) getting outfitted at a Thai tailor, mid-creation of a cashmere coat.   How fun to pick out your own fabric, style, and have it created in less than 24 hours.  My pants were done in 1.5 hours, and fit perfectly.  

Seoul!

Holy smokes, I'm in Korea! It's a complete culture shock compared to Nepal and Thailand. I've now fully experienced being a foreigner...Nepal, well, I had much cushioning there with my volunteer placement. Thailand, ok, I understand Thai beaches (well!), drinks, and fully appreciate their food. Korea is a completely different experience. There was a panic moment the other day, when I sat down in a local Korean restaurant in the Namdaemun market, hoping to order dinner. There were no pictures of the food and everything was written in Korean. I've become accustomed to pointing to what I'd like to eat - and I've not yet been disappointed.  So, I defaulted to what I already knew - and asked for kimchee, a soup served with rice, a side dish of spicy pickled cabbage, and dug in. Now after a few days of kimchee, I'm feeling pretty done with the pickled cabbage!

Off I went to the DMZ on my third day in Seoul, the Demilitarized Zone, that marks the border between North and South Korea - how fantastic an experience to walk through one of the underground tunnels discovered in the 70's by South Korea!  It was pretty eerie to visit the new train station there, the last stop before North Korea (and doesn't cross to North Korea yet).  It is unused right now, but was built in the hopes to connect the Koreas.  So strange to see this pristine series of buildings, a perfect station with a waiting area completely devoid of people, an empty (massive) parking lot, and yet staff cleaning the windows in the place.  It will be years before it will ever be used.  

Finally, my last day was a visit to Changdeokgung Palace and the Secret Garden.  It is beautifully restored, after the Japanese invasion of 1592, when it was fully destroyed.  The main gate to the palace was originally built in 1412 during King Taejon's reign during the Joseon Dynasty, and is the oldest gate in Korea.  It is a massive site to wander around, with gardens, forests and beautiful flowering trees everywhere. 

Kayaking down the Seti

Aafter our last day of trekking in Jomson, we promptly flew to Pokhara to start the next phase of travels with my brother.  We went directly from the airport to the hotel to drop our gear off, hastily changing to bathing attire, then we headed to the kayak office to start our clinic. Pokhara is this quaint vacation destination, and the town sprawls lazily around this huge lake. It has a very beach like vibe with bars and restaurants everywhere along the main strip - everyone there seems so much more relaxed than Kathmandu.  

How lovely to be led by Paddle Nepal, run by a Canadian, Kelly, and her Nepali husband. Our group was led by 5 Nepali pro kayakers - some on the National team, and absolutely born in a kayak.  Like mermen.  That sounds dirty, but what I mean is like a mermaid, but a dude. 

In our group we had a veritable United Nations - a couple of Brits, two French, an American, a Russian, and us.  We had spectacular instruction on the first day in Lake Pokhara - like how to put on the kayak wetsuit for starters.  Which, by the way, adds nothing to your image nor does it improve body odor.  We learned how to do the eskimo roll, emergency moves (well used over the next few days), paddling tips, etc.  

Day 2-4, we paddled down the Seti River, along increasing rapids to test our limits.  On the final day, we reached a level 3 rapid, and I'm proud to say that I'm the only Canadian woman to have successfully paddled my way down the toughest of rapids - a succession of technical moves through rocks, then some fast paddling between two large boulders, moving through crashing waves in all directions, then attempting to clear the 5 foot drop in the water.  Followed by even more crashing waves, coming in from all directions, through which you have to quickly paddle - that is if you haven't bailed out by then!  It is a total adrenaline rush - and I can't wait to try it again. 

It was a spectacular trip, camping all the way along sandy shores, meeting locals as we went. We slept under tarps (held up by kayak paddles!) and were fed incredible food.  Right up to and including marshmallows.  I was sad to end the trip, however, my posterior was extremely happy to reach the final destination!

Trekking in Annapura

So, I've now finished my placement in Kathmandu, and my brother has come to join me in Nepal! 

We took off to do some trekking through the Annapurnas - a gorgeous area just north west of Kathmandu, where Annapurna I resides - rising up to a staggering 8091 meters, eighth highest in the world.  It was a beautiful experience, staying at locally run teahouses along the path - some of which had more amenities than others!  Some even had showers, sometimes warm, too.  Our path took us from Pokhara to Muktinath Temple, staying along the way in Hile, Gorepani (including a 5 am Poon Hill summit!  Yowsers!), Tatopani, Ghasa, Jomson, and Kagbeni.  Our hilarious Nepali guides, Prakash and Gobinder, led us along the path, keeping us well informed, highly entertained, and well taken care of.

We emerged at Muktinath Temple on Day 6, where the tree jungle landscape expires and becomes a dry desert like Tibetan plateau.  Very interesting, especially given the uprising in Tibet right now.  The scenery was a visual feast, as we trekked alongside a near dry riverbed, that swells up in monsoon season (fast approaching), as it turns through the Himalayas.  After climbing our way to nearly the top of the pass, we reached the temple, which provided astounding views of the entire mountain range.   Then, we went (of course) for tea, and descended down the path to Kagbeni for the night.  After reaching Jomson, we flew back to Pokhara to begin the next portion of the trip - a 4 day kayak adventure camping trip/clinic down the Seti River, toward Kathmandu!

Village trek

Here I am in a small family village ...a 4 hour drive NW of Kathmandu, then a 5 hour trek deep into the jungle, up one side of the mountain, then down to the river and up the other side. After so many stops along the way to greet relatives in various villages (always including tea), we ended up extending the time required to get to the family village, so finished the day trekking to the village by headlamp. Which was brilliant and terrifying, along what Nepalese call a path, but it really it is indescribable. It was trekking along the edge of a cliff, where, by headlamp, it appears that you just may risk falling off the side of the cliff. I was quite glad to not have run into tigers or bears, as they apparently frequent the locale. Mind you, the tigers feast on goats, usually, so there probably wasn't tremendous danger. We ended up arriving at 8:30 pm, to feast on daal bhat (of course!) and was offered a tiny bed with a straw mattress (!) in one of their mud houses, conveniently located above the stable!

While there, I got to play with baby goats, chickens, buffalo...how lovely!

Springtime is also just around the corner, so everything is beginning to bloom - so refreshing and spectacular, compared to dry and dusty Kathmandu.

Tibet!

The Last Resort, Tibet Border

Lounging after some intensive bike riding!
Here's me at the Tibet border...

Here I am at The Last Resort, an awesome adventure kingdom that borders Tibet.  It is well known for bungy jumping, as it is the only place to do so in Nepal (no, mom, I didn't do it!!!). 

We stayed in well appointed tents, each one perched on a different slice of the mountainside, with crazy stone pathways taking you up into the restaurant or down, down, down, to the lower resort to the spa or plunge pool.  The first day, I went rappelling down 210 meters of waterfalls one day - gorgeous!  The hilarious moment came at the end of the descent, when we had to hike uphill those same 210 meters in our full body wetsuits, burlap sack style diaper on my derriere (in place so you can abseil, or slide down parts of the waterfalls) and soaking wet shoes. Nice. The next day, I biked to the Tibet border one morning, a grueling 2.5 hour ride, directly uphill on wild terrain - ranging from beautiful roads to rocky muddy trails (and everything in between including silt roads).  It was actually a fairly uneventful greeting of the border.  We were allowed to ride across the bridge to the red line that marks the Tibet side. As we couldn't cross the line, we sat there to enjoy the thundering water in the river below, made funny faces to the Tibet guards, then promptly headed back to find more chocolate to fuel our return to the resort.  It was a 40 minute descent right downhill to the resort - incredibly fast, and mostly motivated by hunger.  We fully indulged in gourmet food while there and enjoyed breathing in some fresh, unpolluted mountain air.  

Siddhi Memorial Hospital, Bhaktapur

Here is where I've been volunteering - Siddhi Memorial Hospital, in Bhaktapur, 14 kms east of Kathmandu.  14 kms doesn't sound that far away, however it can take from 45 minutes to 4.5 hours to get there due to the terrain, lack of gas, full busses.....  The last week I was there, I decided to rent a mountain bike and ride there and back to Kathmandu.  Brilliant!  

I've been living here (most weeks) Monday to Friday, in the attached old age home, which has a residence for volunteers.  This incredible place was founded by Shyam, an inspiring leader, who had lost his 41/2 year old son, Siddhi, to a vehicle accident.  He died on the way to Kathmandu, as a result of a lack of local hospital services in Bhaktapur, so decided to start a project to create a place for the community, specifically targeting disadvantaged women and children.

This hospital is run on donations only, and it is quite amazing to see what Shyam has created as a result of a huge personal loss.  Shyam is one of my personal heros.

Here is a photo of the OPD - Outpatient Department, quite basic, yet it provides much needed attention to very sick kids.  Most have cases of dysentery , chest infections (especially in winter) and malnutrition.  While I've been here, I've spent time working in the OPD, in the old age home, and working with Shyam on marketing materials for the hospital to help solicit more donations.  

Here I am in the cafeteria eating the traditional daal bhat, served for both lunch and dinner at the old age home.  Most Nepalis eat this twice a day.  In this photo I'm trying to look excited, desperately trying to ignore my fourth case of GI issues, attempting to eat this very, insanely, ridiculously bland daal bhat.  Thank goodness most daal bhat is delicious and tasty, with lentils, rice, and spicy lamb or mutton, pickle (which is really a spicy chili sauce), and potatoes.