"NEPAL" awomanwithoutfear's Profile

I am a French Canadian girl who grew up in a little town near Quebec City. Since I have been able to remember, I have always loved to read about travelling literature. When I was very young, I used to dream that one day I would go to the Himalayas and climb Mount Everest. Naturally, over the years, I got married, had 3 kids and came to the realization that I was not fit enough for such a big project.

Once my children were older and in school, I went to University and achieved a B.A. in Business. I worked for a little while in my field, then I decided that I would prefer to have a career in Music. Therefore, I returned to University and completed a B.A. in Voice interpretation. Now I work as a Voice Teacher in a French Private Music School. Prior to this, I directed a choir for 9 years. Now I concentrate in forming voices and my favorite hobby is travelling. I have visited many countries over the years.

However, in January 2005 I had the opportunity to realize a part of my dream: I went to Nepal and did the trek of the Sanctuary of the Annapurnas. We were a group of 14 people and I had the chance to share this beautiful adventure with my sister Helene and her husband Marc, a physical education teacher who has been an experienced climber for many years.

I will always remember this long trip: we left Montreal in the evening of December the 24th, 2004 and landed first in Toronto (Ontario) Vancouver (B.C.), then Seoul (South Korea) and finally Bangkok (Thailand) on December the 26th, the same day the tsunami hit the coastline of Phuket. We were in transit in Bangkok and had been sleeping in some guest rooms at the Don Muang Airport. We only heard about it when we arrived in Kathmandu, a few hours later. The media were talking about it but at this point, did not emphasize the extent of the tragedy, so we never thought that it was that serious. My husband and my son were following the whole situation on T.V., in Canada, and since they had the big picture, they got scared for a while knowing that we were in Thailand at that precise moment. After they studied the map they felt better because they realized that we were not in the affected area. My husband sent me the Yahoo page to read by email and then I got very upset about the situation. I knew that I would have to motivate myself because I was getting nervous and insecure and I needed all my strength and energy if I was to accomplish the trek.

Crossing one of those "so called" bridges

We stayed in Nepal for about 20 days. We first acclimatized for a few days in Kathmandu. Then we flew to Pokhara and drove to Phedi were we started to climb up the hill for 45 minutes, on a set of steep steps. At this point, I'm already wondering what I'm doing here and I'm counting the days left before the end of our trek! It was not a good start! You will easily figure that the first day, I went to bed at 5 in the afternoon as soon as we reached our lodge. No dinner for me, I was too tired and wanted only to sleep.

Being an unexperienced climber, it was very demanding for me but after the second day, I started to understand how to coordinate my breathing with my walking. My body got used to the effort and I was able to follow the group and even sometimes, take pleasure in walking up an down the hills. The trek lasted 15 days.

We climbed many steps, crossed many villages, suspension bridges and others made of a few crooked and assembled pieces of wood (very scary the first time but you get used to it), walked through dry rivers full of big rocks, slept in simple lodges with cement floors and holes in the walls (Where was my typical North American "5 star" concept of an hotel?), took cold showers when it was possible, met wonderful human beings, saw many multicolored prayer flags, came across spectacular glaciers and majestic sunsets, ate great food prepared by our "cook sherpa" and breathed pure air without polution. We were told that it was possible that we could encounter some Maoists but we didn't. OUF! After dinner, one of our companions had brought his guitar and we would usually sing along with him: I WILL SURVIVE! Wonderful memories!

At this point I would like to acknowledge the work of our many porters and sherpas that accompanied the group, and helped us to reach our ultimate objective: the Machhapuchhre Base Camp. Once I was there I got sick of exhaustion and developed a big fever. Climbing the mountain was very difficult! However the mountain rewarded us with beautiful scenery and a sentiment of purety and freedom that I had never felt before. It is the trip of a lifetime! It is unforgettable! I came back as another person. Now I am closer to nature and althought I'm still pretty small, I feel that the world is there for me to reach out.

One of our goals when going in Nepal was also to help people who were in need. Before leaving Canada, we had collected some money and essential items for the local people. Each time we came into contact with a poor family, we would stop and give them some rupees (this was all organized in advance with our team captain and a local organizer). They work hard all day long and even the children help around the house when they come back from school. Quite often the houses are far apart, very small, and the kitchens are limited to a few pots and pans, an old wooden stove and straw mattresses on the grounded floor.

The father or grand-father has to walk many miles in order to cultivate a dry land full of rocks. One thing impressed me a lot: they always smile, they sing when working and they are very polite when meeting you. They salute you with the simple word NAMASTE, bringing their hands together in front of their chest. They seem happy of their condition. What a beautiful lesson of life!

A donkey carrying heavy bags of rice

On the way back, the descent was easier for me despite having been sick for 4 days. I couldn't eat but I continued to walk with one of the sherpas who carried my bag because I was kind of weak. We met all kind of animals: goats, sheep, donkeys, mules, monkeys, musk deers, roosters, chickens, stray dogs and cats, etc. Some domestic animals have a hard life. They carry a big charge on their back and they are very skinny because there is hardly no food for them. They don't live according to our standards. Stray dogs and cats are all around you. As I love dogs, I ended up giving them often a part of my lunches and snacks. My brother-in-law was concerned about rabies but I did it anyway and I am happy to have at least help them to survive another day (luckily I had received my rabies vaccine).

Finally, we arrived to the old bus that was going to bring us back to Kathmandu: a long trip that lasted many hours in the heat and the fumes. I was personally sad that our trek was over because I was getting in shape and I would have continued to walk for many more miles. In fact, I lost at least 6 pounds and gained muscles in my legs. GREAT!

The Boudhanath Stupa

Here I am, back at our Kathmandu Prince Hotel accomodation, happy and full of energy. Now it was time to visit the city. We were in Thamel, close to downtown and walking distance of everything, from stores to
sacred places. We visited Durbar Square, the Swayambhunath called the Monkey Temple with its 365 stairs, the Boudhanath Stupa (the most important Thibetan Buddhist monument in Nepal), the Kopan Monastery, the beautiful medieval city of Bhaktapur and the Hindu temple of Pashupatinath located in the banks of the Bagmati river.

We also did some shopping and I got many souvenirs for me, my family and my friends. When you travel to Nepal, you should at least get a few tangkas: scenes of Buddhist gods and goddesses painted on scrolls by the monks. They are unique and well representative of the Buddhist culture. You find also singing bowls in silver or copper, rosaries, cushion covers, beautiful Nepali hand made bags, Khukuris (knifes used by the Gurkhas), some incense, spices, teas, pashminas and jeweleries. It was fun to visit the stores and haggle with the owner.

The eve of our departure, my sister, her husband, 2 other members responsible of the trek and me were invited by the owner of the Trek Company to have dinner with him in a beautiful Indian restaurant, called THIRD EYE. We let him ordered the food for us and it was delicious.