That Final Nepal Post I've Been Promising.

Seems a bit strange to be posting more Nepal pictures this long after I left, but better late than never I guess.

These are all pictures taken in and around Kathmandu, including my walks to Swayambunath and Boudhanath stupas and Pashnupatinath temple.

Swayambunath




Pashnupatinath




Boudhanath




Around Kathmandu




Leaving Nepal




I don't really have any wrap-up for Nepal other than to mention that I loved just about every minute of my time there (the exception being the part where I was very very ill right after arriving). I already miss it and am starting to think about going back for more hiking.

In other news, I head back to the states in only two days. Since I don't have many pictures from Thailand, this may well be the last real post from this trip. However, I am going diving in the Caymans the first week March and will probably buy or rent an underwater camera for the trip. So, check back around the second week of March for pictures of this post-trip vacation. After that this blog goes on hiatus for about a year until the next trip begins.

Delay

That final Nepal post probably won't happen until I return to Bangkok (i.e. 5 to 6 days), both because the internet connection here is a bit of a ripoff and because I'm not really in the mood after the whole EBC series. Of course that second part could change at any time so you can always hope I get bored with the ocean.

In any case I suspect there will only be one or two more posts before I head home anyway, at which point the blog will go on its usual hiatus until my next trip.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the dive course although so far it has all been classroom and pool work. Tomorrow I have a couple ocean dives though which should be fun.

Hiking To EBC Part 7: Why Am I Doing This Again?

Map here of course.

Day 22: Junbesi to Kinja

At last we come to the single most painful day of the hike. As I'd learned by now the climb wasn't so bad, although when I woke up in the morning the 850 meter gain sounded pretty bad. All in all the morning was great though. The hike up to the Lamajura La pass was pretty and the trail was pretty different from other areas I'd hiked. The end of the climb was a steep clamber up a heavily forested hill before popping out above the tree line right below the pass.




The afternoon was another story entirely. After the pass I had descended over 1900 meters to Kinja. By mid-afternoon my knees were screaming and we won't even talk about the pressure on my toes. I probably should have stopped mid-way in Sette (the usual stop for trekkers coming the other way) but by this point I'd had about enough hiking and just wanted to get back to Jiri as quickly as possible. Not sure why though because even during the painful parts of the hike I knew that I would enjoy sitting around in Kathmandu waiting for my flight even less.




Day 23: Kinja to Bhandar Deurali

Energized by the knowledge that the hard part was behind me this day passed reasonably quickly. The whole day was a climb from Kinja at 1660 meters, through Bhandar to the pass (Deurali) above Bhandar at around 2700 meters.

All in all it was another pleasant days walk. After the big descent the day before, I enjoyed most of the climb, although the walk through Bhandar itself seemed to take forever even though it was the flattest part of the day.



I'd planned to stay in Deurali all along and decided to stick with this plan even though I arrived shortly after lunch and could easily have made it to Shivalaya that afternoon.


Day 24: Bhandar Deurali to Jiri

The last day of the trek started out with another long descent to Shivalaya at 1760 meters. When I arrived I was very glad I'd decided to stay in Deurali as Shivalaya was dangerously close to being back in civilization. There is now a road as far a Shivalaya and as I approached town I could see and here motorcycles and trucks for the first time since leaving Kathmandu.



After a quick cup of tea and a bite to eat I set out for the last leg of the hike. Of course it wouldn't be Nepal without one last climb up to Mali, although by this point 500 meters was really no more than a bump in the trail.



The afternoon turned out to be more exciting than I'd expected though. Shortly after Mali I ran into very heavy cloud cover and at about the same time the nice easy to follow trail broke down as it crossed both the Jiri/Shivalaya road and a series of other trails. I ended up wandering around the ridge for over an hour before descending below the clouds where I could finally see the, by this point obvious, trail to Jiri below me. Had I not had a compass to keep me pointed in approximately the right direction I'd probably still be walking around in circles up there. Once I found the trail again it was a short descent down to Jiri and the end of the trek.




So, I've finally finished the trekking posts. I do have one more set of photos from around Kathmandu I want to post so look for one more Nepal post to wrap things up.

Tonight I'm heading down to Koh Tao by overnight bus + ferry. I'm not sure what time I get to the island tomorrow and I suspect most of the afternoon will be taken up with looking for a place to stay so I may not get to the final Nepal post tomorrow. It is high season in Thailand now and my understanding is that rooms on the islands can be hard to find so wish me luck.