And the Trail Ends Back Where We Started in Khamding

Like all good hikes, paddles or cycle tours the end of an adventure always seems to bring both a sense of relief, a feeling of joy and accomplishment and a touch of sadness. However, after 25 days and approximately 270 hard earned kilometres, cycling between 3,500 and 17,600 feet, it is time to take off our hiking boots and perhaps burn our stinky socks! 

We joked throughout the trek about Tendi’s small powers with respect to weather, accommodations, and route finding, but in my humble opinion Tendi’s powers have nothing to do with those things. His true strength is bringing together 7 relative strangers and creating a sense of family on a shared adventure.

When I think of our time in the Himalayas, I am reminded of Robert Fulgham’s book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. At the risk of total plagiarism (please forgive me Mr. Fulgham), I would like to contend that all I really need to know, need to learn, need to relearn or need to appreciate I learned on my way to Gokyo Lakes with my fabulous travelling companions.

1. Share everything. We shared laughter, tears, aches, pains, chocolate, cookies and copious amounts of black tea.

2. Play fair. We attempted to be fair and respectful to our dream team. Sadly, we saw many porters who were not treated fairly or respectfully. I sincerely hope our crew knows how much we value and appreciate their hard work. We could not have completed our route without them.

3. Don’t hit people. Seems obvious and I am proud to say we managed to survive our time together without losing our tempers or exchanging cross words despite the occasional case of the HANGRIES.

4. Put things back where you found them. Easier said than done! Our running joke was watching Rob look for the Garmin. Basically, he performed a full body search each and every time he wanted to drop a location pin. 

5. Clean up your own mess. Sadly, garbage is quite a problem in Nepal. It was heartening to see the Carry Me Back program doing well. Carry me back is the first initiative of Sagarmatha Next to address the waste management challenge in Sagarmatha National Park and the Khumbu region. As its name suggests, carry me back is a crowdsourced waste removal system designed to send waste to its rightful place where it can be recycled by utilising the movement of locals and tourists.

6. Flush. Oh - how we wanted to flush! However, I am proud to say we have all “perfected” our version of the perfect squat and have learned to effectively manage the splash zone! No small feat, especially when executed in the dead of night under the illumination of a head lamp.

10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Words to live by and I guarantee we are all looking forward to warm cookies and cold milk upon our return home. In the meantime, please pass the Dal Bhat.

11. Live a balanced life — learn some and think some and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Upon our return to Khamding, Pasang organized a wonderful dinner and a dance party, so YES - we managed to sing, dance, play and work!

12. Take a nap every afternoon. DONE!

13. When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Not only a metaphor for life, but a necessity when walking across a street in Kathmandu!

14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. On a daily basis we experienced wonder. I would dare anyone to visit Nepal and not wonder. Something about this majestic landscape and these resilient people leaves you with a sense of awe. My hope is we will always continue to be aware of wonder.

15. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned — the biggest word of all — LOOK.

Thank you again for following our blog and for your kind messages and comments. We are signing off to hang out with the elephants for a few days in Chitwan National Park and we wholeheartedly promise to LOOK with wonder.

Namaste

Giggle of the Day

… and for our analytical, mathematical dear brother-in-law Paulo, here is our trek by the numbers:

Highest Elevation - according to our Garmin, our highest point was 17,600 feet

Lowest Elevation - 450 feet

Total Km walked - 270

Total Up / Downs - Countless

Total Steps according to Fitbit - 492,297

Total Steps on Flat Ground - 297

Cups of Tea and Times to Pee - 150

Full Moons - 1.5

Number of Broken Steripens - 3 - seriously!

Number dishes of fried rice - 35

Donkey trains - 125

Dzokios trains - 75

Yak trains - 45

Number of commercial porters - hundreds

Number of ibuprofen - Rob 1 - Jane - more than 1 and Kim went straight to bulk Tylenol for Arthritis

Suspension bridges - 46

Pounds of donkey crap - who the heck weighs donkey crap?

Landslides - 2 as in TOO many!

Nepali shortcuts - ask Pasang

Pomegranates eaten - 25

Hard boiled eggs - 120

Pictures taken - 3383 - don’t worry we won’t force you to watch our home movies

Epic views - countless

Aching muscles - how many muscles does the human body have?

Showers - 2 (yes we were a stinky mess!)

Irishmen from Cork - let’s just ask - are there any men left in Cork?

And last, but certainly not least, our favourite blog comment - “He who hath flung dung is oft the hero unsung.”