Moments of Trekking Solitude. Daily Vlog: 21

We make our way back to Lukla, the small village that our adventure started almost 3 weeks ago. Today is only a short trek, 2 and a bit hours from Ghat to Lukla, however it is all up hill. We start the day with a raffle, trekking style. We all donate any gear that we either no longer want, need or would like to donate to our crew. The gear gets laid out on a tarp and all the items have a playing card placed face up on them. Then all the crew members, Sherpa’s, Porters, Cook, and helpers get to pick a card from the deck and what ever item matches the card, they get to keep. As you could imagine not all the items that the crew get suit them personally, but this is fine, they can trade with the other crew members or sell the gear in Lukla and make some extra money. It is a great way to say an extra thanks to the crew that have helped us reach a huge goal and successfully return safe and sound.

Sorry just had to take a pic of this tree

Todays trek is all up hill but it is only a short walk. We trek through some of the thickest clouds we have encountered on the trek so far, this worries us all as we have heard that no plane has landed in Lukla for over a week, we quickly realise that we to may get stuck in Lukla. The way that it works in Lukla is that if your scheduled flight is able to land and leave than it does, if it can not and you miss your flight, your are put the very back of the line and wait your turn. This can be days or even weeks. As you can imagine there is sweet FA to do in Lukla other than drink coffee at the local “Starbucks” or drink beer at one of the many pubs.

We slowly make our way up the mountain, the clouds quickly roll in, the air gets very damp and then it starts to rain, luckily only for a short while. We break the cloud level and we can see the gate that we passed through almost 3 weeks ago. It sits atop the last short climb. This gate was not only a gate to the Himalaya’s, for me it is a symbol of what I have just achieved a symbol of what our group have achieved. I know that I was a little emotional as I passed under the gate and I’m certain others would of felt the same.

We make it!

18 days ago as we passed under that gate we had no idea what lay in front of us. I had no idea of the amazing friendships that I would build and the incredible people that I would meet. I had no idea of the breathtaking sites that I would see or those moments of trekking solitude that are some form of meditation that will change you forever. I am finding it hard to put into words what I learnt about myself on that mountain. I have been touched and I will never be the same.

Nepal I will never forget you.

 

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Have you had similar experiences in Nepal?

One Life, One Search,

Peace Out

Special Episode: The Trekking Party.

Special Episode:
The Trekking Party.

We make it Ghat and get to celebrate our trek with our Sherpa’s and Porters. They treat us to a night of Traditional Music and dancing. We all had such a great time, a night we will never forget.

Than you to all you amazing World Expedition staff, Sherpa’s Porters and Chief for a your amazing food. You surprised us every day with what you could make in the middle of nowhere.

Thank you for stopping by Tattered Passport, if you have liked this post please feel free to LIKE, SHARE and FOLLOW. You can also find Tattered Passport on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube

One Life, One Search.

Peace Out,

Shane

You Are A Monkey I am A Monkey. Daily Vlog: 20

Daily Vlog: 20

Namche to Ghat.

Saying Farewell to one of my favourite towns in Nepal

We wake early and hit the trails heading down the massive decline from Namche to Ghat. We walk passed a stone building that I watched getting built when we passed through on the way up the mountain only a couple of weeks ago. It was impressive to see how fast the local Nepalese people had built this Tea House, the fact that it was built by hand was amazing. I have been in the building industry for a while now and I have never seen something built so fast. I think that us Australian Trades People need to take a leaf out of the Nepalese book here and pull our heads in. These people had hand built a two story building in a couple of weeks with no power tools and equipment other than hammer and chisel. We have all the equipment under the sun and take 6 or months to build a single story house??? That is with out taking into account that they are at a massive 3500m above sea level.

Hand Built Tea House

 

Altitude Kills. A real Warning

I have absolutley loved being up in the Himalayas, being in a remote natural environment is where i feel most at home. Looking out over the mountains and not seeing any big sky scrapers, no pollution, you can see for miles, is just refreshing. However one thing that really annoys me up here is the rubbish. This area see’s a huge amount of trekkers and adventure travellers, which you would think come to this region for the natural environment, you think they would be a nature love, an environmentalist or just want to keep the place beautiful so that there children could visit and it will still be amazing? But for some reason this is not the case. There is rubbish everywhere, trekkers please pick up your rubbish! The entire way up the mountain there are rubbish bins, they are clearly marked and on the paths, so use them. The day that we returned to Gorak Shep from Base Camp we picked up 2 full bags of rubbish in an 2 hour walk, that included the huge hessian bags we used to carry the rubbish. So please I urge you to keep this magical place clean, keep it beautiful for generations to come, keep it natural and breathtaking.

The National bird of Nepal, Himalayan Monal

The day had us walking over many suspension bridges, one of which would have to be the highest suspension bridges I have ever crossed. We were lucky enough to see a Himalayan Monal the national bird of Nepal, it was so beautiful and just peacefully sitting high in the trees. We had a giggle in Phakding a small village that had a Reggae Bar, something that is vey popular in Nepal. The sign out the

“Let’s Get Together and Fill Alright”

front said “Let’s get together and fill alright” Now I am a fan of Bob Marley and “One Love” is a great song, but I don’t think this is quite correct? however I can’t say much about mixing up words in foreign songs. The traditional nepalese folk song “Resamm Phiriry” or as most trekkers know it as “The Trekking Song”, which I am certain we all butchered that song, we were saying “You are a monkey, I am a monkey Resamm Phiriry” but somehow I don’t believe that is correct? But the Nepalese are just way to nice to correct us even when we asked them to. We finished off the day with a little surprise to our incredible Sherpa Guides by serving them all dinner, they loved it and it was a bunch of fun, a nice little way to say thank you for looking after us for the last 18 days.

 

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Have you trekked Nepal? Have you heard the Trekking Song?

I will be posting a “Special Episode” very soon, special footage from the Party in Ghat. It has some great and some not so great dancing as well as a bunch of Traditional Nepalese songs. It was such a great night and a great way to finish off our trek.

Thank You.

One Life, One Search,

Peace Out,

Shane