Back to Business

Now that we're back and fully recharged from our drenching trek, my dad and I are focusing on visiting TRIFC projects and people around Kathmandu.

In a few short days, I'll be back home and a spectacular group of trekkers who fundraised for TRIFC will fly in and begin the Annapurna Circuit Trek, before which they'll get to take part on some volunteer experiences we're currently setting up.

Below are some photos from the last couple days of seeing some of the fantastic people that TRIFC is honored to support.

Rob with Rakesh, a young man TRIFC supports. Rakesh has brittle bone disease and is currently doing well in classes and hopes to attend university after his current studies. 

Rajan Raut of the Nepal Association for the Welfare of the Blind guides Sima who is sponsored by TRIFC, around Boudhanath, a large temple in Kathmandu.

A scene from Boudhanath in Kathmandu. 

Our driver, Harka. 

Some of the children from DNC, or Disabled Newlife Center, a home and support center for children with disability that TRIFC supports. 

Kumar from DNC hijacks my spare camera. He took some fantastic photos, though, to come in a later post. 

Lolita from DNC.

A partial group shot of DNC kids and volunteers who remained during the holidays of Dashain.

Back to Kathmandu

Freshly armed with ponchos and "The North Face" rainproof gear, we set of from Namche Bazaar in the direction of Lukla, where we could catch a flight back to Kathmandu.

It only rained for half a day of our two day return. Damn again.

On the plus side, more beautiful sights awaited us, we were able to visit our friend Nima at The Beyul Hermitage and Farm one last time, and we watched our porter (the man who carried our heavy bags on the trek) dance like Michael Jackson at an Irish pub.

Enjoy the photos, next up, more of Kathmandu and TRIFC's projects.

-Carey

Angry Bird. 

The "almost there" victory photo! One problem: We weren't almost there. 

Quick snap from the Sherpa museum above Namche Bazaar. 

View from partway to the Everest View Hotel above Namche. 

Not Everest, but part of the limited view from the Everest View Hotel. The hotel is commonly used as an acclimatization point for later trekking, at 3,880 meters (nearly 13,000 feet). 

On the return from Namche.

School kids on vacation. 

Night shot of the view from The Beyul.

Morning shot from The Beyul.

One of the views from a meditation spot above The Beyul.

One of the views from a meditation spot above The Beyul.

Not cutting her nails with scissors. Checking out her nails while trimming plants with scissors. 

Our porter with the M.J. moves. 

Alongside the Lukla airport at dusk.

Mother casually chasing kids down the Lukla runway at dusk. 

The only one smiling is our guide, Tapan.

The Irish pub. And an authentic Starbucks. 

Morning view from Lukla. 

It's a small plane. No, I didn't need to use this.  

Before the rain

At first, it was kind of relaxing - the incessant drumming of Seattle-style rain on the aluminum roof of of our guest house in Namche Bazaar at an elevation of 3,440 meters. Then, there was a different dripping... Much closer. Yup, it was dripping onto the foot of my bed. Damn.

No fault of the guest house or the roof though. After all, it was raining for 24 hours already and wouldn't stop for another 36 hours. On the way back, I rediscovered the joy of ponchos. But enough words. Here's some photos from before the rains.


 Every restaurant / bar / guest house is well stocked with that most fortifying of beverages, beer.

Starting off from Lukla. 

Some friends we made from Bangladesh, our guide Tapan, and my dad. 

Large prayer wheels. Spin for good luck. 

All food, beverages and supplies are taken up on foot. Sometimes, naps are a necessity. 

Glamping. Glad to not be in a tent during the rains. 

Our chef at a brand new lodge, The Beyul. He once cooked for Mick Jagger. 

Old and new. Drying beans next to a satellite dish. 

Small farmers market. 

Trail checkpost. 

The rains began. 

One of the many, many bridges we crossed. 

Trek, day one (Kathmandu airport)

First off, some deets about the trek. We fly from Kathmandu to Lukla, which is at 10,000 feet our so. The trek is three days up, to Temboche, and three days back down. The maximum height we reach is about 13,000-14,000 feet, but there's a lot of up-and-down. It is strenuous, to say the least.

So. The journey starts at the Kathmandu airport. During five hours of mysterious flight delays (many other folks had even longer), I made a series of concise photo essays on the following:

- Faces of boredom, fatigue and a general sense of hopelessness
- The 'relaxed' security measures (the metal detectors went off for everyone, resulting in a cursory and haphazard pat down)
- Faces of bewilderment and defeat upon seeing the flight status board
- Flagrant disregard for heeding / enforcing the "photo / video recording strictly prohibited" notices.

Also, they stopped me at security to confiscate a 10mm wrench I had in my backpack. I forgot it was there. I liked that wrench. Maybe they thought I would slowly disassemble the plane with it while in flight. In high school, I used it to fix my Datsun's carburetor. I guess I don't really need a physical representation of that memory anyway.

So, anyway. This whole post turned out to be about the airport. Trek update coming shortly, I'll include some teaser photos.

- Carey

First day in Nepal

Since this is the first of a few blog posts (thanks to Khumbu Resort Wi-Fi, 200 rupees / hr), we'll keep it brief.

After a restful night on a transit hotel in the Incheon airport (bizarrely, our room overlooked a bubble tea venue and a children's playground inside the airport), the flight to Kathmandu went smooth as expected. We landed, and I realized that I had again forgotten the "electric blanket" effect the smog layer has on the city (i.e. it was hot).

The city is, as ever, a cacophony of sorts for all senses, and you are at once assaulted by horns, brightly colored garments, shouts, smells of Nepali dumplings, the sounds of Nepali pop music, and the occasional moo. After a lovely supper at our host Rabendra Pandey's new apartment, some quality time with Sima, a blind student TRIFC supports, and a dinner out at "The Roadhouse Cafe," I promptly passed out from a potent combination of jet lag and Ambien (alright, and one San Miguel beer). The details are fuzzy. The jet lag is extreme.

Attached are a few photos of the flight (sorry), our brief time with Sima and some sights of Kathmandu.

-Carey