Nepal the Second Time Around: Langtang Valley Trek

So, with the school year well under way and a new onslaught of challenges which came with an exponentially growing student and staff body, I welcomed a chance to get out of the kingdom for a week. I have a very rewarding job, this year even more so. I work with wonderful teachers and kids and the school is in the process of a major overhaul, a face-lift that will ultimately change the way it looks forever. This change is a positive one, but a large undertaking and the stressful effects trickle down, even to my menial position on the totem pole of Kaust. I couldn't wait for this November's Eid al Adha/Hajj holiday. It meant one thing for sure for me: I would get back to the mountains. I would dance on the hillsides and feel the leaves in my hands. I would smell wet dirt and mud. My boot soles would grip to rocks. I fell in love with the place and decided (I think while I was still in Nepal this summer), that I had to go back to the Himalayas.

I convinced a friend to take the trip with me. The two of us left campus on a Wednesday night and touched down in Kathmandu (after a series of mildly inconvenient flight rerouting) at around 2pm, KTM time. The clouds caused a problem for our flight (as is the trend in a place stuffed in the middle of a mountainous region, complete with it's own weather system), so we circled around KTM until we ran out of fuel, then landed in Lucknow, India to refuel and wait for the clear skies to arrive in KTM. Thankfully, we landed a couple of hours later. The next day, the airport closed down for 4 days because of the clouds...I'm convinced Papa was up there, talking bullshit with someone high up and working out a deal for me. I after all, packed my travel set of cribbage- the game he taught me to play when I was no more than 7 or 8 years old. I'm certain he had a hand in our safe arrival at KTM.

We landed and spent a good hour and a half in the visa line. I went from standing, to wandering, to wavering, to sitting on the floor and reading. Every few minutes, I inched forward on my bottom, book out and open and bags in tow. I remember noticing there was a lot of German being spoken around me. I like the way German sounds...it's crisp and clean. Lots of right angles there. It isn't open for interpretation the way French or Italian are- you can't mistake the tone in German.

When we finally walked out of the airport, I looked to the left and saw, maybe the coolest thing I saw the entire week: Rovin our guide, holding a video camera and taping us (me) walk over to him. It was so good to see him again. We were all smiles and hellos, I introduced Loïc, and we got in the car. We met Ganesh (our porter) and Sangram (our driver) and went to the Ace office to see Prem before leaving for Sybru Bensi.

We arrived pretty late, so we only drove for about 3 hours and made it halfway to Sybru Bensi. We stayed in Trishuli, close to the Trishuli River. The legend goes: high in the Himalaya at Gosainkund, the god Shiva drove his trident into the ground to create three springs -the source of the river and hence its name, Trishuli. The river carved some truly impressive gorges in its lower part as it cut its way through the 2000 meter high Mahavarat Range. Nepal is a river runner's paradise because no other country has such a choice of multi-day trips away from roads with magnificent mountain surroundings, warm rivers, a semi-tropical climate, impressive geography, exotic cultures, wildlife and hospitable people. When I say I fell in love with the place, I mean it. It's a more incredible place than I could have dreamed was strewn across any map...real or made up.

Another shorter day of driving put us in Sybru Bensi and walking by 1pm. We stopped at about 6 that night in Bamboo. The whole thing was nothing short of birth like. I mean, I don't remember my birth (imagine how weird that would be), but I've got to guess it was full of newness, excitement, uncertainty, catharsis, tenacity, and anxiety.

P.S. I'm trying to find a way to work in Nepal, so I can live in Nepal. It feels like home, in a far away place. I also fell in love with my mountain guide (Rovin) when I was in Langtang. When I get back to Nepal, hopefully he's still there.

I could go on and on about the trek, but it would just be a bunch of words and they wouldn't be adequate. Check out the pictures. They aren't adequate either, but they set the scene.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2428832253493.127633.1632204269&type=1&l=49480a4882

If this works okay, you might be able to get a video here too. Copy and paste this into your URL bar:

http://www.facebook.com/v/2439260234186" /&gt

 *In this video, Rovin is nervously playing with a wooden pipe we found for sale on the table outside of the spot we stopped at for lunch. Nobody in our party used it or bought it, but I think he needed to fidget with something because he was nervous that I was taping. He kept putting it up to his mouth....cute! He explained it's a special pipe used to smoke marijuana.

http://www.facebook.com/v/2439339276162" /&gt
*In this video, I'm trying to do mini interviews with the guys. It turns into a little birth month survey, which wasn't planned but ended up being fun. Ganesh speaks very little English, so it's understandable how nervous he must have been...though he walks right up to the camera and introduces himself when Rovin tells him to.

See if you can hear the Nepali I'm speaking...I actually picked up quite a few words in Langtang. For some reason- communicating with these guys was much more important to me this time than it was this summer.

Catch you on the flip-side people. Thanks for staying tuned in.

Check out the website for Ace. They are a great trekking company, which I recommend to anyone visiting Nepal. Here's the link:

http://www.acethehimalaya.com/index.php