Nepal: Adventures in the clouds

After catching up on much needed sleep and ravaging the culinary excellence of Kathmandu, Niek and I were up for our next adventure. First we headed to my host family with whom I lived with for six weeks during my research this past May and June. They welcomed us with flower garlands, incredible meals and rituals that bonded us as family members. This was Niek’s first time meeting them and just like myself he could not believe the luck I had in landing in this good humored and easy going Nepali family in a small village on the edge of the Kathmandu valley. It really was like returning home.

Niek's Nepali moves

Our arrival in the village was synced with Tihar, one of the week long Hindu festivals that run throughout the fall and on the day of our arrival honored Laxmi, the goddess of wealth. For Gyanu and Chiranjibi this meant that they had to perform extra rituals to honor the god, as well as mark Laxmi’s footprints leading to the top room of the house where the shrine for the house god resides. Some customs of the festival resembled Halloween with children coming to sing and dance for money and food at neighboring houses in the evening. Even Niek tried his best at Nepali dancing, which I thankfully captured on camera.

Chiranjibi and Gyanu honoring Laxmi

Throughout the villages giant bamboo swings were set up during the festival. These are fantastic temporary structures that help support the belief that everyone should leave this earth at least once a year. Some children had perfected the art of flying these swings to their maximum height with their small body weight and took full advantage of leaving this earth in a playful manner until other children started tugging with impatience for their turn.

Gyanu lifting off

Sujen, my research assistant and good friend from my research period joined us the following day and we walked up the mountain to visit all the families together. It was fantastic to see how well everyone was doing and for some their living conditions had improved. I had been a bit worried whether a few of the girls had been married off since I was there, but fortunately all of them were still in school and smiling shyly at our little troop of visitors.

After two days of being swooned by Gyanu’s fantastic cooking and Niek and myself practicing our chapatti baking skills, we had one more significant family ceremony before it was time to leave for our trek in Langtang. The last day of the festival is to honor brothers, and through this ceremony Niek and I became bonded to Muna and Bibek, the two children of our host family as siblings. We went through an elaborate ceremony in which Bibek became my bhai (little brother) and Niek became Muna’s dhai (big brother). And so our family grows! Following the ceremony and with full bellies, bags full of snacks and lots of hugs, we departed to Langtang for 10 days of trekking.

The brother- sister ceremoy

Following NickNick

Niek has two nicknames in my family: one is Nikipedia and the other is NickNick, which is inspired by the Dutch car navigation system called TomTom. Before Niek walks out any door he has generally researched the route, the time it takes, the historical facts, the weather reports and any other essential information necessary. Lonely Planet guides are like bibles and are not to be left home without. I rely on his research a 100% and tend to be amazed at his thorough planning and incredible sense of detail on a daily basis. Unlike Niek, I have a tendency to fall out the door, find my way by getting lost, be fascinated by colorful and shiny things and ask any John Doe for directions with the hopes that John Doe knows what he’s talking about. Because of my tendency to neglect research, multiple times a day I ask Niek questions like: where are we going? How far is it? What’s the name of town? What’s the weather like? (even if he can’t check it), and what are the hotels like? Etc. He always answers patiently with as much detail as he can and sometimes reacts with amazement that I often don’t even look at a map. While most other tourists relied on guides, I relied on Niek who spurted out numbers, statistics, travel times and environmental changes within 30 minute intervals.

Finding Tibet in Nepal

Niek had chosen a trek that did not require flying or extensive travel because of our departure date to Bhutan. Flights here are often cancelled because of bad weather and we could not risk such a delay. This planning ended up being incredibly helpful because massive flight cancellations due to fog and bad weather ended up stranding 3500 people in Lukla, the gateway to Everest Base Camp during our trek. Luckily all we had to do was drive 6 hours to Dunche to start the trek and then we literally walked back to Kathamandu over the mountains, only to land a short taxi ride from central Kathmandu.

The Langtang valley is a trek which is not as popular as the Anapurna Circuit or Everest Base Camp but still attracts a good number of trekkers every year. It is close to the Tibetan border and the people living in the area are largely Tamang, which are originally from Tibet but have lived in Nepal for many generations and speak their own Tibeto-Burman language. Buddhism is the predominant religion and prayer flags decorate mountain tops and Buddhist shrines and images of the Dalai Lama decorate homes.

Many small villages adorn the valleys and steep mountainsides and all are only reached through narrow and steep walking paths that have become a trekkers heaven. Tents are not needed because most villages have little guest houses with basic accommodation and excellent food that ranges from Dahl Bat, the traditional Nepali dish of rice, lentil soup and curry, to chowmein and western dishes. In Nepal these treks are called ‘teahouse treks.’ The guesthouses are run by families and for the nights you live there, you join in their family life and often sit with them in their small wood fire kitchen. Considering our passion for good (and lots of) food and lack of passion for our 2x4 meter tent, this is a brilliant way to venture into the outdoors without our bicycles for a change.

Journeys through family networks

Once you stayed in a lodge and got chatting with the owners we were caught up in a family reference network. Before departure we were handed a business card of the lodge and sent to the brother or sisters hotel a few towns further for lunch or sleeping. There we would catch up on family matters and then get sent on to the next relative in another village. After completing the Langtang valley we headed on the Tamang heritage trail which was not as frequented by tourists and there these networks were extremely efficient and even included phone calls and using us as promotion for lodges if we were to pass other trekkers heading in the opposite direction. The hotel owner where we had lunch one day told us at one point “when you keep going you are going to meet two Israelis. Tell them to come here!” Although electricity (if any) was solar and running water was often from a common tap or stream, most places had phones and used them to strengthen their lodge reference system.

Suntali, a 12 year old servant 

Surprising as well in these lodges was also that paying frequently worked on the honor system. Education is still difficult in these regions where the villages are small and it takes days to walk to the nearest road. Therefore many of the families that run the lodges cannot read, write or count. Standardized price lists exist and trekkers are left to calculate their own total, unlike in some of the bigger lodges, where sometimes a hired cook or manager was able to help manage the finances. Families in these remote areas are starting to realize the importance of education and I had many discussions with parents as well as youths about the difficulties they face in achieving education. Public schools are not reputed to offer good education and in these small towns teachers teach as a side job when they have time. Therefore many parents, if they are able, have to send their children to school in Kathmandu or to Dunche. This costs a lot of money and they only see their children a few times a year. Tourists have started to sponsor children to go to school for some families, but when parents don’t show up to pay the school fees themselves, parents struggle that the school does not respect the parents. Therefore many children and especially girls miss out on education and work the land or hotel with the family. In one lodge we stayed we met a young girl, by the name of Suntali (pictured above), who was a 12 year old Tamang servant girl to the lodge. She was hired on to wash dishes and her family was nowhere near because this village consisted of three little self- contained lodges.

Dereramro!

We hired a porter for our joint backpack as most trekkers do. What tourists do in the Himalayas with high-end equipment, these porters do in plastic sandals while carrying at least the luggage of one, if not two or three people. Our porter's name was Munu and was absolutely amazing. He was older than most porters, probably in his late thirties or early forties and has three sons. He was also Tamang and seemed to know someone in almost every village we passed through. Before we started the trek we ensured our mediator to hiring Munu that we would be covering larger distances than the average trekker to which he said “no problem!” (as every Nepali says to almost anything) without asking Munu himself. We often put two ‘normal’ days into one and thereby covering in 10 days a distance that may take other people at least two weeks to complete. Munu, with many “no problem!” (he did not speak much English) pulled through all of it with the help of us feeding him Snickers bars and Coca Cola on the really long days to keep the energy tank at least partially full.

Niek watching the clouds roll in from a nearby peak

Because of his endurance, speed and strength, Niek bounced happily and with endless energy up and down these mountains with more to spare at the end of the day. A couple of times he climbed up extra peaks for shits and giggles while I retreated to drinking tea in front of fires. On one occasion I renamed a mountain to ‘unnecessary mountain’ and a trail to ‘the never ending trail’ as Munu and myself crawled up with many sighs, curses and hopes for an end in sight. Niek, on both occasions stood at the top ready to keep going and with the latest distance and altitude info by the time we arrived. The ‘never ending trail’ was one of our toughest days and had 2400 meters of elevation gain ‘Grouse Grind style.’ The Grouse Grind is a local Vancouver trail up Grouse mountain and has 750 meters of elevation gain over roughly 3 kilometers. It’s essentially one giant staircase through the trees and the ultimate Vancouver fitness test for many. It is a masochistic yet fantastic trail and both Niek and I are fans of timing ourselves whenever we visit Vancouver to see how we compare to last time. As a result, on this trek and because we know how difficult the grouse grind is comparatively, we measured everything here in ‘Grouse grinds’ in terms of distance and altitude gain. On multiple occasions I found myself saying “ok Carola, you have half a grouse grind to do before lunch.” For the ‘never ending trail,’ which we did in the hail, fog and cold, I thankfully did not realize until after that we essentially did the grouse grind three times at a higher elevation. Most people split this day into two for altitude acclimatization (we were already acclimatized) and because of its difficulty. At the end of these difficult days Munu and I would arrive roughly at the same time, sit down, declare a celebratory “finish!” and conclude with a content “Dereramro!” which means “Very good!” in Nepali. Considering his minimal English and his good sense of humor, dereramro became the slogan of our tour and almost anything in the end was ‘very good!’

A quick peak behind the clouds early in the morning

We ended up finishing our trek one day early because of the terrible weather. October and November are supposed to be the best months to visit Nepal because of the clear skies and good weather. Everyone including locals were baffled at the continuously foggy days that marked our journey. Throughout the trek we encountered many travelers multiple times because of the various loops that people can take and when we would run into each other again we would compare notes on the various thicknesses and different shades of fog, how cold we got at night, or the sneak peeks at the glorious peaks that were hiding behind the fog that usually occurred at 6:30 am for about a maximum of 10 minutes. Our last leg of the trip was to go past Gosainkund lake, back to Kathmandu over a 4600 meter pass. Luckily the pass itself was surprisingly clear but the surrounding mountains were hidden behind blankets of clouds. As soon as we started to descend we found ourselves in the mist with snow, hail and rain and I cursed myself for forgetting my rain jacket at one of our lunch stops a few days before. 

Upon our return and one final ‘dereramro!’ we once again descended into Kathmandu ready to plunder buffets, fruit baskets, a taste of meat and sleeping in the warm sun.

Now after recharging the batteries we are ready for our adventures in Bhutan, the last kingdom of the Himalayas. It is time to unpack our bikes again and venture through a country where smoking is illegal, national dress is mandatory for work, TV and internet were only introduced in 1999 and where the main yardstick for the country's well-being is ‘gross national happiness.’

The beautiful days and long nights of Tibet

We never thought that we would step out of an airplane in front of a jet engine and say “wow, breathe that air!” Landing at 3600 meters in Lhasa, Tibet can send a wake up call to the lungs and a jetlagged mind.


It seemed surreal to finally be in Tibet. For months Niek researched, planned, emailed with contacts in various countries to come up with our current itinerary, which takes us through Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Northern Vietnam. The most difficult itinerary to establish and execute happened to be the first lag of our trip, which was Tibet.

The Chinese hurdles to landing in Tibet

In order to get a full grasp of the Tibetan adventure, the bureaucracy necessary to bike Tibet cannot be neglected. Just to get into Tibet is a procedure in itself. First  Niek applied for a Chinese visa without stating that we want to go to Tibet, because if we did, they would reject the visa. Once you have a Chinese visa, you apply for a permit to go to Tibet. Once you have this, then the permit has to go arrive somewhere before you enter Tibet (in our case the hotel in Chengdu). Then, if you want to go to Western Tibet the Ngari region you need a whole new set of permits, which are regularly checked by the military. To make matters more complicated, before foreigners are allowed a permit to Tibet, it is required to submit an itinerary of with a distinct day to day plan. Once this is has been the accepted by the Chinese government, the arrival and departure dates cannot be extended or changed without submitting a whole new itinerary which can take weeks. This provided hours of diligent work for Niek, who often even after departure sometimes wondered if all the hassle, planning and insanity was really worth it.  Especially our flight to Ngari was sketchy. The flight only goes twice a week and they generally do not sell tickets to foreigners. The flights kept changing days and right up until two weeks before our departure we had to change plans again as a result of a schedule flight change. Although the plane was large, they could not fill the plane because it has to land at 4300 meters in Ali, a military base town near the Indian border. 


Another interesting feature is that in order to be a tourist in Tibet a guide and driver are mandatory. This partially proved beneficial for us (and particularly me), because we did not have to carry our own luggage and I could jump in the jeep when the distances were too great while I’m still getting back into shape.

Tough Going

Biking in Tibet is easier said than done. Niek had developed the itinerary including camping due to the great distances between towns and still we were intended to cover distances of sometimes 130 kilometers in one day. At home, this would not be so challenging, but at an altitude of over 4000 meters we felt like were crawling. Another challenge on top of the altitude was that the prevailing winds came from the east, which meant that we faced head winds for a large part of the day. The sun came up around 8:30 and we tried to be on the bike by 9:30 to enjoy the calm before the wind picked up, but this meant that we would be facing sub zero temperatures for biking. It was a frigid and often frustrating experience that resulted in split lips, frozen fingers and as many layers of clothes that could fit under a wind proof jacket. As frustrating as the cold or the wind were at times the scenery was absolutely stunning. Majestic mountain tops that commanded respect, valleys that dropped through various types of rocks and dramatic vistas from mountain tops of over 5000 meters became an everyday experience.

During the days we were excited to be in Tibet and enjoyed the adventure, but as soon as nightfall came we dreaded the next 13 hours we would spend huddled in our sleeping bags and under at least 2-3 more dirty blankets which were provided by the dismal accommodations throughout Tibet. Hotels did not have heating and the toilets were often located a good distance outside and were usually a rectangular hole in the ground with the visible evidence of previous visitors and an extremely cold draft that threatened to create urine stalagtites while squatting. We only encountered showers in three locations throughout or Tibetan adventure, and laundry only once. The cold also resulted in us dreading in taking off any base layers and the warm clothes that we did have, we barely took off even to sleep (welcome to our honeymoon!).

"camping" in a small hotel room. The stove on the left was purely decoration

The cold posed another problem to our plans, which was camping. We had brought our miniature Africa tent because it is so light. At first it brought back fond memories, but these quickly faded as the temperature started to drop. We were forced to crawl into our tent at 8pm because of the dark and the onset of sub zero temperatures. We tried to read, but our hands froze. We tried to sleep but the cold had gotten to our bones. We had not brought tenting equipment for the -10 or lower temperatures because we did not think it would get that cold, and because the extra weight was not worth it for only four nights of camping in Tibet. Neither of us could move out of the fetal position because the chill would run down our bodies. We spent 13 hours in the tent freezing and tossing from one side to the next until our hip bones were bruised on both sides and Niek had barely closed an eye. Getting out of the tent before sunrise at 8:30 was a stroke of insanity, (which I realized during my four bathroom trips that night), but as soon as the sun came up I decided to brave the cold while throwing my extra sleeping gear over Niek. The sunrise was stunning in this desolate place and not far from our tent was a yak grazing and making me jealous of its thick fur coat. 

Our driver and guide looked like Tibetan popsicles as they crawled out of their tent. They had also had a terrible night. Following our one experience of camping we decided not to subject ourselves to it again and sped up our trip, sometimes having to jump into the jeep to cover the distance to the next hotel. The cold in the hotels was not much different nor the time spent under blankets, but the extra blankets did provide solace that made the nights more bearable. The mornings usually started with cursing and “what the f@#$ were we thinking?” to “wow, this is incredible!” when it warmed up and we enjoyed the wide vistas. 

Soldiers in Lhasa

Where are the Tibetans?

We sort of stumbled into Lhasa with post wedding tiredness, jet lag and necessary altitude adjustments. Our trip to Lhasa first led us to Chengdu, China, which is roughly at the foothills of the Himalayas and a town few have heard of, but hosts a gentle population of 10 million. Arriving in Lhasa was a stark contrast to the cement and high-rise, four-lane madness we’d encountered in Chengdu. The Tibetan influence and colorful nature of the Tibetan prayer flags, flowers and dress provides a social, friendly and busy atmosphere. At the same time not to oversee was the strong Chinese military presence all over town. On the main square and on many rooftops the army is positioned with an ever watchful eye and routinely groups of eight military men dressed in combat gear circle the area. For three months this summer Tibet was closed to foreigners because of the ‘celebrations’ of the 60 year anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet. Lhasa apparently had some violent uprisings, and areas of Tibet are still closed off to foreigners because of unrest. When we planned this trip, Niek had kept a close eye on the political situation and always with the hope that the promised ‘reopening’ would hold true in time for our arrival.

The Chinese presence in Tibet was a marker that was a daily reminder through our Tibetan journey, whether it was political slogans carved into mountain sides, the excessive amount of Chinese flags, the army towns, the ruins left behind from the cultural revolution, the army check points, or Tibetan guides expressing their discontent about discrimination.

Niek had put endless hours into planning the itinerary that would take us through Tibet. The route that resulted took us from Ali (Ngari), Tibet to Kathmandu in Nepal by bike in three weeks time. This include camping on several occasions, visiting the Guge kingdom, hiking the mount Kailash kora, going to lake Manasovar, and simply enjoying the landscape and the culture of Tibet. The itinerary was challenging and adventurous, just how we like it, but we encountered challenges that from Amsterdam sounded like ‘fun’ and others that were unexpected. Landing in Ali provided our first reality check of what Tibet is like today. Lhasa has a bit of a romantic charm to it for tourists with the Potala palace, and multiple Buddhist temples and a mix of Tibetan and Chinese residents. Ali, our starting point in the west of Tibet provided a stark contrast. As an army town it is purely functional and we could not find a single Tibetan or foreigner. We stuck out like sore thumbs, and definitely were not particularly welcomed in the town, which was evident when we tried to get a hotel room. Many of the hotels do not host foreigners and our guide had to convince the hotel to let us stay. We were not sad to leave Ali behind and even though it was the most unfriendly place we encountered, we mostly stumbled upon these kinds of army towns and were far fetched to find Tibetans. Western Tibet lies mostly at over 4000 meters and therefore does not host a big population to start with. Zanda, also an

Guge Kingdom

army town, but also the home of Thoeling Monastery and the starting point to venture to the ruins of the Guge Kingdom, provided our first glimpse at Tibetan population and at the same time a look at the ruins left behind by the Red Guards from the 10 year cultural revolution that eradicated much of Tibetan history and culture. The Thoeling Monastery, which used to boast a large population of Buddhist monks now largely lies in rubble and ruins with only a couple of buildings still in tact. Our guide was a monk for 15 years and still hopes to return to the monastery if he finds a sponsor and a spot frees up. According to our guide, Tibetan monks are regulated in numbers today by the Chinese government and teachers are hard pressed to find. Most are left reciting old scriptures and in order for a new Tibetan Monk to be schooled, another one has to leave or pass away. This is because of the monks representation of Tibetan freedom and religious affiliation.

5630 meter Drolma- la Pass

The most Tibetans we encountered were on the Mount Kailash kora and these were incredibly fun and pleasant encounters. Mt. Kailash is the most holy mountain for Buddhists as well as Hindus, and walking around it in a clockwise direction repents sins. It really is a visually spectacular mountain. It is higher than its neighbors and boasts a somewhat square shape covered in snow. Some choose to prostrate around it, which means lying flat on your stomach with arms outstretched, getting up, walking a few steps and stretching arms into the air, only to lie down again with the arms outstretched. Getting around the 52 kilometers around the mountain this way takes about one month, including getting over a pass that exceeds 5600 meters of elevation. Only considering our time crunch and our itinerary, we decided to walk the kora instead. Most take three days to walk it, some Tibetans do it in one day (to increase the number of sins repented), and we decided to do it in two days. We had brilliant sunshine and the first day was an easy 22 kilometers during which we laughed and joked with the Tibetan pilgrims. They were mostly amused at our large backpacks and long limbs. They were mostly going around with barely a bag and always carrying a giant smile and humming prayers. Sleeping the night at 5100 meters proved to be incredibly cold, as did the climb to 5600 meters the next morning. During the climb we played leap- frog with Tibetans climbing up to altitude, who carried babies and children up the pass.

Mt. Kailash

Another incredible encounter with Tibetans was a surprising sleep over with a family by lake Peiku-tso, two days before leaving Tibet. We had been skipping rest days because of the lack of charm, showers, good food and the biting cold in the towns, and while Niek powered through another day on the bike over gravel roads I decided to hop into the jeep. During the day I would climb to small peaks and enjoy the Tibetan silence and at the end of the day we rolled into a small, but unfinished guest house in the most beautiful valley with the gorgeous Peiku-tso lake. Niek was still biking and the family that we stayed with had not encountered many foreigners and I enjoyed my anthropological nature and joked with the family while attempting to communicate with my hands and feet. I also ventured down to the lake where I encountered sheepherders. With sign language and fun with my camera, I sat with them for a long time while they wove their wool, fixed their shoes and ran after their sheep. It was also here that my sunglasses found a proud new owner. 

Tibetan Sheepherder by lake Peiku-tso

What kind of meat do you think this is?

Aside from tourist guides barely anyone speaks any English. This posed an extra challenge to ordering food.  While other tourists spent 99% of their trip with their mandatory guide who would order food for them, ours was generally MIA (missing in action). We were hard pressed to ever find him and he was barely ever able to drag himself (or our hungover driver) out of bed in time to get going in the mornings. This resulted in Niek and I having many comical and interesting encounters with locals and an ever increasing interesting array of dishes on our menu. If we needed to communicate outside of numbers we hoped that hand gestures, facial expressions and pointing would do the trick. Ordering food usually required trips to the kitchen to point at stuff, or simply walking over to other people’s tables and pointing at dishes they were eating. And even then we often received something completely different. It was always quite amusing and created fast bonds with other visitors or the staff. The most common phrase for both of us was: “what kind of meat do you think this is?” with the common answer being “I hope it’s beef?” A particular reason why we enjoyed Zanda so much was a small Sichuan restaurant that boasted an English menu and a charming couple with whom we quickly bonded over our excessive food consumption. We proceeded to eat every meal there for three days and every day our portions got bigger and bigger and their laughter louder.

Outside of larger towns, expanding our culinary experience outside of instant noodles required stocking up on Snickers bars (of which Niek consumed on average three in one day), Oreos and other junk food.

The heart and body warming descent into Kathmandu
Tibet had its highs and lows, but often the lows were more persevering. The cold as well as the unfriendly and extremely dirty nature of the towns left us rushing through Tibet at a faster pace than planned. Niek and I are known for enjoying certain luxuries, but we figured that showers, clean beds and clean clothes was not too much to ask.

We left Tibet while it was snowing. We had planned to bike the longest descent in the world from the Tibetan Plateau to Kathmandu down 3000 meters of elevation loss, but the snow that had fallen overnight, as well as our driver and guide that could not make it out of bed, forced us to ride it in the car. After a frustrating and partially amusing border crossing, (where the Chinese customs confiscated our Lonely Planet because it insinuated that Tibet was an independent country), we were finally in Nepal. We jumped on our bikes and quickly descended from the snow to thirty degree weather, palm trees and the friendly, colorful and spectacularly messy world of Nepal. The further we descended the bigger our smiles got and the more layers we peeled off. It was a joy to see men sitting on Nepali mats gossiping, kids running all over the place and seeing beautiful Sari clad women along the roadside. Descending from the frozen and forbidden pleateau into a world of color, life and laughter has resulted us in collapsing into the warm sun and not intending to move for at least a few days.

First photo taken by a Tibetan Sheepherder

No tread, too much speed and gravel. Thankfully no one was hurt and a lucky call considering the drop offs on other turns

To see more photos:

Tibet

Here we go!

After a whirlwind and often seemingly impossible week we are off! For anyone planning their wedding a note of warning: Do not plan your wedding and then leave for a six month cycling trip across the world the week following the big event, as well as preparing the apartment for a renter. It has sanity and health hazards that are slightly unpredictable and may lead to zombie states and incomprehensible attempts at speaking. We knew it was going to be hectic, but this exceeded our expectations and now we are on the verge of departure and ready to fall out of our socks out of tiredness. That beach hut does sound nice right now!

First we fly to Chengdu, China on a night flight, stay there for one night and then on to Lhasa, Tibet where we (thankfully!) have to acclimatize for three days before heading to higher altitudes. Acclimatization sounds like heaven right now because to us it means sleep!
The picture on the right is what our living room looked like as we were packing (and this is just a small part of the apartment, which when taking a 360 degree view looked as if the whole place had thrown up on itself). Lia, Maggie and Reinier stopped bye to say goodbye and decided it was necessary to post this with our first blog, because this is where it all starts.