My travel diaries
Monday 28 to Wednesday 30 May, 2007 - Kathmandu, Nepal
I have an enjoyable three days chilling out, exploring and socialising in Kathmandu, while we decide what reconnaissance trekking Siling and I can do before I have to return to the UK in two weeks' time.
Much of my day time is spent walking past Swayambhu into Thamel, sitting in internet cafes reading and replying to my e-mail, and sitting in quiet and secluded outdoor terraced bars, such as New Orleans and Northfields, supping Tuborg and reading. In the evenings we go to restaurants and bars in Thamel and socialise with Siling and Tina's friends.
One day Siling and I spend an afternoon looking at maps, consulting Siling's trekking guide friends, and queuing at the Nepal Tourist Board offices for trekking permits. Siling, as a Nepali, can travel anywhere in the country, but I am a problem as a foreigner. Some trekking areas just require me to pay a fee, but there are other areas that I'm not allowed into at all without submitting a detailed application which will take a couple of days to be considered. We also have a fear in the back of our minds about another strike being called which would render transport impossible and require us to leave a couple of days' contingency for me to catch my flight. Our desire to explore the Nar and Phu region north of the Annapurnas is abandoned because of permit difficults, and in the end we decide to explore the Tamang Heritage Trail near the Tibetan border north of Kathmandu. The permit costs 1000 rupees, but can be purchased immediately, and by trekking through the Helambu region we can pretty much walk all the way back to Kathmandu without having to worry about strikes.
On the Tuesday we spend an evening sitting out on Siling and Tina's roof terrace sharing a few beers. We're joined by their friend Anagha and a Dutch mountaineer called Ronnie whom we met in Sam's Bar. He summited Everest from the north side at the same time that I was there earlier in the month, and I'm interested to learn he was in the same expedition team as the legendary Iceman, who had been a source of conversation among my own companions. The Iceman had been hoping to become the first person to climb Everest in shorts, but Ronnie tells us he got as high as 7700m, but then had to turn back because he was too cold. I expect he was also suffering from shrinkage.
Ronnie tells me that prior to Everest his high altitude mountaineering CV consisted of a failed attempt on Tilicho Peak in the Annapurnas (7134m), a successful ascent of Baruntse (7129m) near Everest, and a successful ascent of Cho Oyu (8201m). This sets my mind racing as it's not a great deal more than I've done myself, but when he tells me he sees himself as more of a trekker than a mountaineer I'm sure he's being way too modest about his achievements.
"I'm not a climber," he insists. "I only climb mountains that you can walk up." But climbing the 100 foot high rock slab of the Second Step at an altitude of 8700m can hardly be described as walking.
Later on Siling tells us about the things he used to get up to as 5 year old boy growing up in Manang.
"We would get bees and throw them into spiders' webs and watch the spiders eat them. Then we would take the spiders out of their webs, put them together and watch them fight each other to their deaths."
The rest of us listen in amazement as the kind-hearted Siling, a devout Buddhist, continues: "We used to make traps for the white-capped redstarts using slates, sticks and earwigs. The birds would take the bait but knock over the stick propping up a slate, which would fall on them and crush them to death. Then we'd have competitions together - 'oh, I've managed to kill four birds today,' we'd say." Siling is laughing and we're not sure whether to believe any of his stories.
"I think you should stop talking now," says Tina, eventually.Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next
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