'Aint No Mountain High Enough (Nepal)

Matt overlooking Mustang Valley

What you do mean that's a hill?! According to our porter (a 90 lb., black belt, formerly Hindu, now Buddhist real cool cat who lugged our sack) in a matter-of-fact tone,"Mountains don't have trees." A bit perturbed by the Nepali definition of mountains versus BIG!!! hills??? (GULP) that we were about to hike up, we just scratched our heads and continued to climb, up and down, day after day, dodging donkey feces and the occasional European tourist. Man, if these were hills.... what did we get ourselves into this time?! We signed up for 20 days of this? We hiked 6 to 9 hours a day, sometimes beginning as early as 4 in the morning, from alpine forests and windy riverbeds to barren, moon-like landscapes, eventually to summit at the 5,416m (17,872 ft.) the Thorang-La pass crossing over the main Himalayan range. No words can begin to describe how spectacular the highest mountain range in the world truly is. We were certain that we were on top of the world, way beyond clouds and mist, or perhaps at the gates of heaven. As we marveled at this sublime landscape, we made sure to stop for a moment, short of breath, our lungs straining for air, just to say hello to our loved ones now resting above and offering gratitude for our safe journey.

We made it to the top!




Sunset over the Annapurna Range...

The trail to the top of the pass...



We knew that this was more than a walk in Central Park and would require a lot of physical and mental endurance, but at first we thought, 20 days!?? PSSSH, not for a couple of New Yorkers. We trek everyday through the concrete jungle. Dodging yaks and yetis, experiencing altitude sickness, crossing hanging bridges over class 5 rapids, walking against 55 mile hour winds, frostbite, giardiasis... that's kids' stuff! Try the "A Train" at rush hour. Well... 13 days later, covered in dust and blisters with aching muscles that even Tiger Balm can't soothe, we're back from the mighty Himalayas with a hot shower, western toilet and some good ole' Nepali thin crust pizza (tastes like hot ketchup on Matzoh bread). But when all you've eaten is DAL BHAAT (literally, rice and lentils), nothing else grows at 17,000 ft., even a melted to the wrapper Snickers bar is like a delicacy. So the highest mountains in the world proved to be a tough one for a couple of "cocky" city slickers, but Wow! Wow! Wow! do we feel extremely fortunate to have been able to marvel at the majestic Himalayas.

One of the many hanging bridges to cross over the highest gorges in the world... Yikes!

This is the "Gates to Heaven" according to the Nepalese...

Nepal has 8 of the 10 highest peaks in the world and traversing endless hills and walking through remote villages just to be at the foot of these peaks is a testament that Shangri-la must exist here. Nepal is like Disneyland for backpackers so we expected to be surrounded by Gortex clad, North Face wearing, mountaineers. But fortunately we caught the tail end of the trekking season so most of the time the only living things we saw were a trail of donkeys carrying tons of gear from expeditions attempting to climb the Annapurnas. It was refreshing to have the trails to ourselves, but unfortunately seeing the lack of tourists is also evidence of Nepals' political unrest in the last decade. Tourism has been greatly affected after the Maoist uprising and the massacre of the Royal Family. Locals assured us that tourists don't get any grief from the political situation and, "To not worry, my friend! Namaste! Namaste!" and as a matter of fact, they made it very clear that before blowing up a bus the Maoists make sure to let tourists off first for a small fee. That made us feel better... Anyhow, our trek required us to walk through Maoist territory with Communist flags hanging at almost every village. And they were right, we didn't get any grief. It was a peaceful walk in the mountains, oops, we mean hills. The only uprising we witnessed was from a village woman...

Beautiful life in the Himalayas...

More beautiful people...

As we took our "seats" on the luggage racks on top of the bus (Moms, Dads we're okay) hoping that our driver had more than a month experience since the inception of the new road. We traveled across dry and rocky river beds, stone paths carved along cliffs and ducking from electrical lines and trees, our ride came to a premature end as a Nepali woman with a strong Brooklyn-like attitude, demanded that we get off and eat or spend the night at her village. The road has recently expanded 10 minutes past her village and as a result her livelihood lies in great duress. She kept screaming that this will ruin the landscape and trekkers will less likely stop for food and shelter. The jeep was first introduced in these parts of Nepal only less than a month ago and a new road is currently being built along one of Nepal's most popular trekking routes. Clearly, this new road would take the pressure off of those hard working donkeys and porters who carry 50-100 lb. sacks of goods into and out of these remote villages. Seeing a person in flip-flops with a full chicken coup and cases and cases of coke and beer bottles strapped to their foreheads is quite humbling as we struggle in our expensive boots and anti-shock hiking sticks. But it appears that the cons outweigh the pros, as villagers and porters that depend on the trekking industry will be surpassed by trekkers and their livelihoods will suffer, at least those hard working donkeys will finally get a much deserved vacation. :(

Porter with a chicken coup...



A donkey ready to retire...

Wow! We're lucky...