Search results matching tags 'nepal' and 'ktm'

Nepal Clicks - EBC Trek Part 1: Kathmandu - Lukla - Namche Bazar - Thyangboche

Free — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 09:04:00 GMT

[Note: As we did the EBC trekking in the company of a bunch of Californians who don't speak anything but English 8-] (as far as we found out, at least) we'll try and make sure they can read this and the next few blog posts. Anything that is in Dutch is, of course, about them.
By the way: on this and all other pages, if you want to see a full-screen image, just click on the pic!]

Day 0: Kathmandu - Kathmandu

Yep, indeed. Although we felt the gods were with us, and though we finally made it to the plane and the plane made it into the sky... it turned back a few minutes later because of bad visibility... <Grrrmblhhhh>

After all though, it was quite a nice "mountain flight", as you can see below!

Test Flight

Although the voice from the KTM airport speakers "All flights to mountain have been cancelled" is still going through my head today (about a month later), we found the hills of the Kathmandu Valley to be as beautiful from the air as they are when seen through streams of sweat on a bicycle... Just as blurred, as well.

Day 1: Kathmandu - Lukla - Pak Ding

Ready for ACTION!

After taking the shaky ride on the plane from KTM to Lukla, and having quite a nice lunch in the North Face hotel (dal bhaat, what else?), we left for the hike to Pak Ding. Still unaware of the hardship we were about to face...

Eversmiling Tara

Face, indeed. "Rise and Shine", could be the name of the standard expression on the face of Tara, one of our "assistant-guides". In some respect, the way he greeted you in the morning reminded me of the definition of a diplomat: somebody who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you're actually looking forward to the trip.

Jordan's Sense of Snow

Although you know it's going to happen, you know there's nothing special about it, you know you're gonna see lots and lots of them....... the first snowy peaks coming in sight do give you a kind of special feeling...

Tree Man

Alright, I admit - it's not the best picture ever. Yet, what you should see is a man in the top of the tree, with that tree being just on the side of a steep slope. Nothing special for the Nepalis it seemed - it just made me wonder how many ropes, safety nets, harnesses,... it would take for any white guy to do the same...

In Good Cowpany

Heleen wasn't feeling very comfortable, although the cows didn't mind sharing that bridge :-)

Van Gezaag Gesproken

Try and get this: on March 13th, on our way to Pak Ding, we saw these guys cutting rough planks from logs. Twelve days later, on the same spot they were still working on those planks (I'm not sure, but I really think that was still the very same "set" of planks being crafted)...

As with so many things, there are different "laws" governing life in the Himalayas, it appears.

Team Spirit (1)

Team Spirit (2)

Not sure what, but heavy it was.

Day 2: Pak Ding - Namche Bazar

Puppy Love

Sweet, isn't it :-)

Ice Hose

Apart from the plastic of the hose, it's very natural... yet very amazing.

Lonesome Tree

Just the result of a casual lookup, and a not-so-easy-to-explain "wow"-feeling - anyway, for some reason I've always liked trees with one side of their branches cut off. I even have this small theory that you most often see them near burial places.

Prayers on a Stick

Never actually got someone to explain what "kind" of prayers is on the flags - and whether it's always the same message or it varies. They seem to be everywhere though - not only in the Himalayas. Oh, and the colors do mean something - yellow for Sun.

Over a (little) Troubled Water

One of the first "big" bridges to cross - about an hour after Pak Ding, if I remember well.

1 mp

mp for manpower, that is. Can't imagine there would be any other activity that is more "calorie-consuming" than carrying stuff up a mountain. 1 J = 1 kg carried 1 m higher, remember! :-)

Namche, at last...!

And then came the snow. Not on the top of far-away mountains, this time, but falling right on top of our heads. Two hours before reaching Namche... two long hours.

The smile on Heleens face is about as green as her jacket......8-)

Snow snow snow your plow...

...gently down the field...

Even though I couldn't wait to get to Hotel Everest when reaching Namche, just had to stop to watch this farmer for a second. Not sure who is to be admired most, the cows or the man.

Day 2: Namche Bazar - Everest Viewpoint - Somewhere Uphill - Namche Air Strip

...getting familiar with the word "acclimatisation day"...

(usually it means: struggle, pain, sweat, seemingly pointless suffering, and not even being allowed to reward yourself with a beer afterwards...8~[ )

Namche: a room with a View - Hotel Everest

The view made us forget (a little) how cold the room was... although the cold was only just beginning. Luckily though, there were also even nicers rooms-with-a-view to come!

Namche Bazar

The green-roofed building on the right (I think the middle one) is Hotel Everest.

Oh - I almost forgot already - in Namche, My Left Shoe begave it (sic) for the first time: the rubber of the sole just cracked, which was an unfortunate reminder that those hiking boots were about 12 years old (the brand is MEINDL, they're the best shoes you can imagine, a real manifestation of German robustness, and I bought them for doing JOEPIE, a 100km hike organized by KSA......)

First sight of Everest!!

It's a kind of magic..... hadn't expected it, but the sight of Everest felt pretty special - mixed with the awareness that "that's where we're going" - well, about half way up, of course...8-]

Oh, maybe it's good to mention that Everest is the left peak, with the cloud just coming off it. The right one is Lhotse.

Ready as Ever (est) !

Facing the highest mountain on earth, it can be difficult to keep behaving "normally" ;-)

We have a visual!

The must-have pic - we're going for it!

Black and White

Some prayer stone, some mountain, some combination.

"Ik ben nog nooit...."

...zo klein geweest...

Behalve misschien toen.

Jam Jam Jam!

Just one out of a thousand possible pics of people fighting mountains...:-)

I'm still somewhat puzzled by the way, that I've never succeeded in taking a picture that really shows how steep a path can be. If you'd have any hints, tell me :o)

A strange kind of feeling

Again, one out of a 1000 possible pics...

(You've got no idea how hard it was to make the selection of photos to put on the blog.)

Meeeuhntain

Yak pic #342

(on Namche Airstrip, as you can planely see)

In your face!

Yak pic #343

(just cuz no-one ever takes a picture of anything but the heads of these animals)

(if you were an ass, you wouldn't be happy feeling neglected either)

Nepali Dryer

The random colorfulness made me happy :-)

Day 3: Namche Bazar - Thyangboche

Monastery, here we come.

Leaving Namche is never easy

Early in the morning, looking ahead to what's up for today.

The Road Ahead - to EBC

Looking back is often said to be no good - but too much looking forward can be a bad idea as well...

V for Valley

...so I guess looking sideways must be the best thing to do...

Especially on this very spot!

A Man with a Plan

The plan being: don't think, just breathe and walk :-)
(with all kinds of variations on that theme, of course)

First sight of... Ama Dablam!

De gustibus et coloribus...... and the same goes for mountains: Ama Dablam sure was my favourite!

(When I learned later on that last year, five people died on Ama Dablam when an avalanch came down on their basecamp, my liking partly turned to respect...)

(and I actually wondered for a second whether that basecamp was similar to the one we were heading to - but my ratio quickly ruled out that idea...$~)

RrrraaaaooaR

I was actually happily surprised with how confident she looked :-)

Oh yeah, if I'm not mistaken that's everest there, well, "in the middle".

Muddy Moves

Good thing we never had to test whether our pseudo-self-made-yaktracks (being a pair of bike-straps to be wrapped around our shoes...) were fit for the job, but this came pretty close to it. Fun, though.

Yakky Moves

#453

What is most amazing about these animals - besides that they only feel at ease above 3000m - is that they simply don't seem to care what terrain they're walking on.

Nepali Time

That "2Hours" was, well, a little optimistic.

All the same

One thing that is - in some way - nice, is that in the mountains, the same rules apply to everyone: yellow, white, or yak, just walk. Of course, there may be some difference in the weight we're carrying: them Nepali people are only about 1m60 high and very thin.......... Moehah 8*)

Yak Power

Porter Power

As I said, all the same...

Monk Power

Just found those sunglasses so really cool!

Pen Power

Check this out: "SteriPEN™ is the only portable water purifier that uses ultraviolet (UV) light to destroy waterborne microbes." And while you're at it, you should definitely read this story about the water some "10000 miler" enjoyed drinking...:-)

Oh by the way - I still prefer to use those purifying pills myself... No hassle with batteries and everything - just throw in a pill and enjoy the view for 15 minutes :-P

(which makes me wonder: hope that 10000 miler was not only sponsored by SteriPen, but by Duracell as well... ;-)

Water Power

One of many...

My favourite hotel...

Well, saying it's my favourite hotel is actually a bit "optimistic" as we didn't get anywhere close to it, but it sure looked nice.

(The hotel is the small dark line in the center of the pic...)

Just w-o-w.

One of many more...

Thyangboche - Porter - Stupa

Thyangboche - at last. That stupa wasn't standing up pretty straight, by the way - guess my exhaustion explains the inclination on the pic...

Oh, don't forget to look at that porter. Nothing special of course, he was only carrying three huge backpacks...

Pounding Thyangboche

To Jordan: do you even remember lying there?

To anyone else: pounding, the head.

Kitchy Beauty

The brand new lambs (?) on the gate of Thyanboche's monastery - with some mountain background. (If anyone knows the name of that mountain, please let me know!)

Ama Sunset

Pretty strange, I thought - that not the top but only that part on the side is still lit by the setting sun.

(Just after that, we heard and saw "our first avalanch" around there - sorry, have no decent pics of that)

Thyang Sunset

So.... who knows the name of that peak?

Thyangboche: a room with... WHAT A VIEW!

Everest indeed - the next morning, just after sunrise.

---

That's it for part 1 - lacking the energy to do the rest now, but it should be coming soon! (depends mostly on how many internet shops we find on our motorbike tour through Northern Thailand...)

Nepal Clicks: Kathmandu and the Nagarkot cycling trip

Free — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 13:43:00 GMT

Jawel, om jullie geduld nog wat extra op de proef te stellen, en ook wel, omdat ik net ontdek dak gister weliswaar alle EBC-foto's geupload heb, maar het nu nog (171/25) *15 minuten duurt eer die op de photo gallery zullen verschijnen, eerst nog de fotookes van Kathmandu zelf, en van de ietwat-korter-dan-voorziene-maar-daarom-niet-minder-mooie mountainbike trip naar Nagarkot, een 2000m hoge heuvel ten NO van de hoofdstad.

Cycling trip to Nagarkot

Van m'n erf!

...zijn woorden die in een mens opkomen als je zo'n batiment tegenkomt, nietwaar?

Een speciale reden voor de overdreven grote pikafstand (jawel, er stonden toch nog wel andere huizen in de buurt) zagen we niet, maar burenlawaai was al zeker geen probleem.

"Had ik maar..."

niet ciskegewijs zomaar "iemand om van te houden", maar heel down-to-earthig "de bus gepakt".

Keppe heeft zich kranig gehouden - het moet gezegd - maar de trip naar Nagarkot heeft toch wel het bestaan ingeluid van Heleens lijstje van "Dingen die ik NOOIT meer wil doen". Een lijstje dat aldra (hmm...) een behoorlijke uitbreiding heeft gekend. Maar echter, een lijstje waarvan de titel geen mening weergeeft over de beleving der vermelde items... of dat beweert ze toch 8-)

Bontrager Terrasjes

Een "sfeerbeeld", zullen we het maar noemen... ongeveer halverwege op weg naar "de top" (die overigens 700m hoger lag dan Kathmandu, for the record)

Sportkeppe

Rraaoooar.

Terrasjes doen...

...kreeg plots een iets andere betekenis, bedachten we zo.

Itwuzntme...

...of zeg anders es wat er vanop dit gezicht af te lezen valt...

Je moet er ff goed naar kijken, die achterderailleur had z'n laatste kettingske versmeten... en daarbij zeer verontwaardigd <krak> gezegd. Des morgens in alle vroegte, bij vertrek uit Nagarkot.

Shop gebeld, local ons uit de nood geholpen door derailleur gewoon eraf te halen en ketting in te korten, en in de plaats van de geplande rit richting Dulikhel, downhillen via Sukha terug richting KTM!

Nagarkottop

Ohja, het dorpje Nagarkot ligt nog net niet op de top van de heuvel - dus daar zijn we nog ff te voet naartoe geweest. En toch wel de moeite want...

Tistgedachtdattelt

...want met een beetje goeie wil konden we effectief de eerste besneeuwde toppen onderscheiden!

(Voor wie het zich zou afvragen: de foto is zo donker omdat de lichtomstandigheden zodanig waren dak de foto compleet moest onderbelichten opdat de toppekes zichtbaar zouden zijn...)

Looking Back

Van schone rondingen gesproken :-)

Downhill Keppe

En jawel, tof vond ze het. Opt gemakske, natuurlijk -- hoe anders? 8o)

Reward or Punishment

Uit respect voor de berg dient iedereen een berg eerst eens op eigen kracht te beklimmen alvorens naar beneden te downhillen, heb ik altijd gedacht. Bij deze dus. Normaal is het downhill-gedeelte dus het plezantste deel.....

Finding Balance

Hip hoi.

Terrasjes Doen (bis)

Naar beneden ditmaal.

Kplantte ne keer patatten...

Nog altijd een van m'n favoriete songs -- zeker als ze zo schoon geschikt zijn.
(als je die link volgt: volgens mij zijnt geen takjes maar staksjes...)

Close Encounters at Sukha (1)

Op de thee gevraagd bij schoolmeester en co... gevolgd door een fotosessie, natuurlijk.

Close Encounters at Sukha (2)

Close Encounters at Sukha (3)

Close Encounters at Sukha (4)

Close Encounters at Sukha (5)

Close Encounters at Sukha (6)

En tenslotte de schoolmeester zelve, compleet met kleinkind ter arm.

Spring int Field

Voor een keer niet alleen in de ogen van de tandartsassistente.

Erwtenhaan

Kgeef toe, letterlijke vertalingen zijn niet altijd plezant.

Backpack - what's in a name?

Let wel: toen hadden we de porters op de EBC-trek nog niet in actie gezien...

East meets West

Tis ni daddet daarom zo schoon is, maar dit gebouw op Durbar Square valt alleszins op.

Shiva in den Hof

Tzou ook ni misstaan in mijnen eigen hof, dacht ik zo.

Dragonwood

Tegenover Shiva.

Beide waren overigens op de binnenkoer van de "living godess" van Kathmandu: een wicht van intussen 9 jaar, dat haar (rotverwende) kindertijd zowel moet als mag doorbrengen als een soortement veronderstelde reincarnatie van een godin - met als quasi enige plichtpleging dat ze dagelijks om 16h ff naar de aanbidders/toeristen/bezoekers moet zwaaien die haar komen bewonderen. Wat ze dan ook doet - voor welgeteld anderhalve seconde, en met een verwaand-verveelde pruillip zonder gelijke.

Ma zeker doen als je ooit in Kathmandu zou komen, natuurlijk! Vlak op Durbar Square! 8-]

Hanumoto

Een sfeerbeeldje, midden op Durbar Square - dat is apengod Hanuman op de achtergrond.

No ***...

...een vogelverschrikker die deel uitmaakt van het ding waarvan de vogels moeten afgeschrikt worden, is dat dan feitelijk nog een vogelverschrikker...?

Humor, toch wel.

Honda CBZ, this time...

Free — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 17:28:00 GMT

...dat worden de motookes (van welgeteld 156cc ipv de 150 van de Bajaj Pulsar voordien) waarmee we de komende pakweg 10 dagen op toer gaan richting Bardia National Park en Pokhara, en zo'n bikke de dingen die daar tussenin liggen...

Tis allemol een bikke hektisch gelopen vandaag, ondermeer daar de beestjes eerst mij lichtjes en daarna Heleen stevig te pakken hadden, en aangezien dit internetcafe technically speaking al gesloten is maar ze mij toch nog ff m'n eitje laten leggen omdak gister zo vriendelijk (welja...;-) was om ff CD Burner XP Pro op een van hun machines te installeren waardoor ze nu een pc extra hebben waarop ze DVDs branden, zal het dus zeer kort zijn...

Dus: massage en toestanden deel 1 was fantastisch, maar deel 2 is naar 10 april verplaatst wegens mijn beestjes, Heleen is er intussen terug bovenop, en we hebben een vliegtuig naar Bangkok geboekt op 11 april!!

Met een bikke geluk geraken we er onderweg in de komende dagen toe om wat EBC-foto's te posten, maar beloftes daaromtrent zouden wat farfetched zijn. Bemerk echter dat er wel nog wat fotokes van in India zijn bijgekomen... Een verhaaltje daarrond (letterlijk) zou ook nog es moeten volgen...

Gotta run!