Trek day 1 - Kathmandu to Lukla to Phakding

September 30th

We woke up early to take a morning flight from Kathmandu to the gateway to the Everest region - the town of Lukla.  Lukla is a small town at 9380ft on the side of a mountain.

Beautiful mountain views on the flight.

You feel like you could reach out and touch the scenery.

They leave the cockpit door open.

This lets you see the crazy angle of the runway as you come in for a landing.  Before landing, you fly over a ridge and dive down toward Lukla on the other side of the valley.  At the last minute, the pilot pulls up and you land going uphill.

Our little plane.

This gives a good idea of the actual angle of the runway.

When you take off, the runway ends in a cliff.

Starting off!  Look, we're trekking!  The animals here are called zobkyo (pronounced like "job Q").  Zobkyo are a cross between a yak and a cow and are used at lower altitudes (well, lower by Himalayan standards) to carry supplies and equipment.

First view of a big mountain!  We're definitely in the Himalayas!

Tiny town on the other side of the valley - just a few houses and some terraced fields.

Here's a view down the valley.  The sheer scale of the landforms is incredible.

Beautiful view up the Dudh Khosi River valley.  We'll be heading up this valley for most of the trek!  The hike from Lukla to today's destination - Phakding, has some up and down but overall we descend around 1000 feet.

Uh, oh!  The toilet facilities along the trail leave a lot to be desired.  This is just a wooden shack with four holes in the floor.  Why are there four instead of one?  Good question.

The Dudh Khosi river.  The word "dudh" means milk and the river is aptly named.  The source of the Dudh Khosi are glaciers high in the Himalayas which give the water a gray-ish, white-ish color and the river is made even whiter by the fact that it's nearly all rapids.

A large mani stone (prayer stone) along the path.  Mani stones are Buddhist shrines with the mantra "Om mani padme hum" (Behold Buddha in the lotus flower) carved on them.

While zobkyo do carry some supplies, the majority of the items moving up and down the trail are carried on the heads and backs of porters.  I can't imagine how much work it must be to carry all of those planks.

A large prayer wheel along the way.

More mani stones.

Four hours of walking, and we made it to the town of Phakding and our first trekking lodge, the oddly named "Hotel Beer Garden".

Kathmandu

September 29th

We spent a day with our trekking group on a guided tour around Kathmandu.  There we were taken to two temples - Pashupatinath, a Hindu temple, and Boudhanath, a Buddhist stupa.  The country of Nepal is majority Hindu though the mountain areas are mainly inhabited by Buddhist people.  Often the two religions are intertwined in Nepalese culture with some Buddhist elements being co-opted by Hinduism and vice versa.

Pashupatinath

The Pashupatinath temple is one of the most sacred Hindu temples in Nepal.  It has Ghats going down to the river, some of which are used for cremation.

A powedered dye seller outside of the temple.  Dyes are used for many of the rituals at Pashupatinath.

Cremation pyres at the ghats.  This side of the temple is where ordinary people are cremated.  To the right there is a bridge, and the other side is reserved for government officials and other important people.

The architecture of Nepal is very different to what we are used to in South India.  There is definitely more of a Chinese influence as you can see from the Pagodas of the Pashupatinath temple.

On the "important" side of the bridge we saw a body covered in cloth and draped in flowers, being readied for the cremation pyre (which is also draped in flowers).

A line of small temples.

Interesting sculpture detail on a corner of one of the small temples.

A sadhu at Pashupatinath.

More sadhus, some covered in ash and paint.  These Hindu holy men allow people to take pictures of them, but only if they give a donation.

Boudhanath

Stupas are dome-shaped Buddhist shrines (which I think are particularly cool-looking).  Stupas in Nepal generally consist of a dome above which Buddha's eyes look out in all directions.  Above the Buddha's eyes is a conical stepped section.  Boudhanath is the largest stupa in Nepal.

The entrance to Boudhanath.

There are many Buddhist monasteries around Boudhanath.

Mandi and Boudhanath.

Prayer flags surround one of the smaller stupas at the Boudhanath complex.

Inside another monestary in the Boudhanath complex.

A giant prayer wheel inscribed with the mantra, "Om Mani Padme Hum" which translates roughtly to "Behold Buddha in the lotus flower".  Prayer wheels come in all sizes and are spun to the left.

Around the whole Boudhanath stupa are smaller prayer wheels.  As prayer wheels are supposed to be spun to the left, you are also supposed to circle the stupa in a clockwise fashion (this is true of any Buddhist or Hindu temple).

Nepal Trip

From September 28th to October 11th, we went to Nepal - a tiny country tucked between the giants of India and China and home to the highest mountains in the world, including the highest of them all: Mt. Everest.  In Nepal, we went on an 8-day trek in the Everest region - from the town of Lukla at 9380 feet to the Tengboche monestary at 12687 feet.  We also spent a few days in the capital and largest city, Kathmandu.

Mandi is currently spending two weeks at a yoga ashram, so during the meantime, I'll be updating the blog with a day-by-day rundown of our entire Nepal trip.  So... here it goes!

September 28th

We flew from Bangalore to Kathmandu via Delhi.  For the Delhi to Kathmandu flight, we did the recommended thing and chose seats on the left side of the airplane.  We were rewarded with some stunning views of the Himalayas.

Here are some massive snow-covered peak of the Himalayas

Himalayas, clouds, lush greenery, and a large river.

As we descended into the Kathmandu valley, we flew over some beautiful hilly terrain dotted with houses and terraced fields.

It's amazing how people in Nepal are able to farm on steep hillsides by creating terraces for planting.

Interesting Minutiae by Jon- Threshing

Here is an interesting example of ingenuity:

On the way back from Kabini, there were a number of places we passed where farmers had dumped loads of whole grain on the road.  As cars and trucks passed, they would run over the grain, effectively threshing it (removing the indedible chaff from the edible grain).  After some time, the farmers would then sweep up the "processed" grain from the road.

Somnathpur

On our way back from Kabini River, we stopped at an ancient temple called Somnathpur.  It was filled with intricate carvings.  Dating all the way back to 1268.   It was amazing to see it still standing and in good condition!  

Here is an up close shot of one of the many carvings that made up the outside walls of the temple.
Here is a look at how intricately the carving was done.  
This was just one side of the temple.  It was huge as well as intricate.  Truly incredible!
A look at a statue inside the temple.  There were various rooms all full of these types of statues.
Here is Mandi going into one of these many rooms.  The pillars on the inside were incredible too.  They were spun on a lathe, which must have been extremely difficult!
Somnathpur was incredible to see!  The history of it all is fascinating, and the fact that we are still able to enjoy these things today is quite remarkable!

Jon's Birthday Surprise! Kabini River and Nagarhole National Park.

For Jon's Birthday, we went to the Kabini River and Nagarhole National Park.  We stayed at the Cicada Resorts where they greeted us on arrival with a tasty coconut water!

We spent a lot of time relaxing and enjoying the view from our deck! We were right on the river!
We went on a jeep safari where we saw all kinds of animals! Here is a langer monkey just hanging out.
We also saw a wild boar, and Jon took this time to comment on the delicious wild boar sandwich he had eaten back in Seattle.
What kind of animal is this??? Oh, it is just Jon, on safari!

Here is our awesome jeep for the safari! We were the only two on it, so we had great views!
And here Mandi is doing some ultimate relaxing! We definitely fell in love with the hammock after this weekend!
Jon and palm tress and the Kabini River.
We also took an fun boat safari as well.  This, however, is not us.  It is a coracle being used as a taxi to get people across the river.
On our boat safari, we were able to get right up to the edge of the forrest and see elephants up close!
Just coasting through the waterways along the banks of the river.
We are on a Safari!!!
And then we saw the best thing of all, a Tiger, just hanging out on the banks of the river!! Well, here you can see it darting off as our boat approaches it.  It is a very rare thing to actually see a Tiger while on safari, so we consider ourselves very lucky!!!
This little critter was not on our safari, he was in our shower!!  Mandi kindly asked Jon to please remove the frog from the shower!  

Mandi's Observations - The Struggle

After spending nearly 8 months in India, the world of being a woman in India has opened itself up further to me as I meet more people and have more interactions with different types of women. All in all, I have come to the conclusion that being a woman in Indian society is extremely difficult. Regardless of the caste that a woman occupies, she is still subjugated in a society that values maleness above all else. As time continues to pass by here, more and more of my questions and uncertainties about this place seem to slowly find answers. When I first started volunteering at Vimochana, I was bombarded with images, stories, and first hand accounts of the egregious acts of violence and inequality women here face. My senses were overwhelmed with these atrocities; things were happening in their lives that I had no framework of even beginning to understand. Being relegated to second class citizens and often experiencing abuse because of their status as women, along with the complexity of the interconnectedness between gender, class, caste, and all the other forms of oppression started to overwhelm any ideas I could foresee for change towards equality on all fronts.

The biggest problem that I keep noticing about the movement for women in India is that there does not seem to be a cohesive one. Everything feels fragmented and separatist because even though women can share the common bond of being female, the lives of women in different castes are completely different, making it hard to find a common bond overall. All of these issues compounding started to bring questions of uncertainty to my mind of how any of this was going to be improved. India as a system is extremely complex and the workings of it are deeply embedded in the system in which it operates. I started to feel hopeless without any answers of how the society was going to change for the better.

Lately, it has become apparent to me that the movements toward equality will eventually prevail and India will come together as a whole. I know this will take time, but I believe that it will happen. At a protest for peace, I watched Vimochana women as activists hold strong and firmly to their convictions to ending violence. I saw in all of them the inner strength that pushes this movement forward. I watched as one woman's teenage son helped light the candles for the protest and realized that this is the way India will eventually change. Mother's will teach their sons to respect women as equals, and these men will together with women change the status of women in the society. Both men and women here need to be taught that it is not acceptable for women to be victims of abuse. When India can become a society that does not allow violence to be perpetrated on half of it's population, and the cycles of oppression begin to break down, harmony can ensue and the wonderful qualities of kindness, hospitality, and familial bonds can come to the forefront of this nation, thus showcasing the great ideals that already exist here. Until that day, the struggle for peace and equality will continue, and the Vimochana women will continue to dedicate their lives to ending the violence in their society.