Message from the President of the Trekking Agents Association of Nepal

[yakshaver]

"Now we can communicate by phone, fax and e-mail. It is completely possible and you will be able to communicate with the outside world after you arrive in Nepal. Everything is fine and we came back in the normal situation in Nepal. Domestic and international flights are operating. You can make the advance flight reservation anywhere in the world from Nepal. This is true that we have been facing political crisis and conflicting but no more problems especially for tourists who are visiting Nepal. Not even single tourist is harmed and all are safe with us. Trekking groups are still heading out to the different destination of Nepal.

Normally all over the south Asia have been facing similar type of problems but we all are growing and making progress in the field of tourism. So, I am sure that we can full fill the gap as Srilanka and Pakistan they did in the past.

I would like to request all you guest that do not cancel the trip and keep you posted. We are completely able to handle you for your entire trip in Nepal.

Deepak Mahat
President
Trekking Agents Association of Nepal
e-mail: taan@wlink.com.np
Telephone: 00977 1 4427473"

[snaark]

I'd just like to be the first person to say.... YAAAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[Boulia]

I will second that, Snaark. I don't fly out till March 30th so have time to assess. I feel confident all will be OK for trekkers and I pray it is so for all Nepalese people too. I also praise the contributors to this site, definitely including Yakshaver (though I have had lingering doubt about the need to shave Yaks) for keeping it relatively level and free of unsubstantiated crap, and therefore a useful source of information.

[yakshaver]

Boulia,

If you are in KTD on 2nd or 3rd April, how about we have a drink, or breakfast, or lunch, or dinner, whatever? Rum Doodle perhaps?

[Weka]

Yip! Nepal's back on-line. Have just been chatting with my hotel in Kathmandu.

Funny how the world has changed. When I was last there in '77 I'm not sure they even had phones. If they did, it would never have crossed my mind to use one. In '88 it took me 2 days to get a call out of Bangalore. Now I get panicky if the e-mail’s down. Shame! (at least on me).

[Boulia]

Yakshaver

sounds like a good plan.. rum doodle and an oven cooked veg pizza plus ....

I need to confirm when i will head out to Lulka. Risk is it could be about April 1. - I suspect i am a bit down the urgent list from the guys i am talking with in Nepal so no email as yet.

I'll confirm, cheers

[Morrissey]

Yep, I got an e-mail from my buddy in Kathmandu this morning. He said that the only difficulty that everyone faced was the lack of communication. Everything appears to be back to 'Nepal-normal'.

[Linwood]

I would like to thank Yakshaver as well, for his level-headed guidance over the past week. Having participated in other message boards on various topics, I am grateful for his combination of knowledge and kindness (especially towards novice trekkers like myself)... too often one exists without the other, especially online, which makes it all the more valuable here.

Does anyone know if the long-distance buses are running out of Kathmandu yet? The route I am specifically concerned with is in the direction of Langtang (Trisuli, Dhunche).

With a heartfelt wish for peace in Nepal and everywhere,
Linwood

[yakshaver]

No worries Boulia. If you leave on the 1st, that's to early for me, as I land in KTD at about 1pm on the 2nd of April...
If you leave a note for me on this website, for maybe when you will return, that would be good.

[Don Gibson]

Boulia and Yak - I am in Kat that time also (arriving 31st). Can two pom's crash the party? If we are gone already by then, what destinations do you have in mind? We will be doing the ABC and a few others...

[Boulia]

Don and Yakshaver

I'll confirm closer the time but would like to meet up 31st or 1st, Don, and Yak, looks like we fly out same day 24th so will post when and where i get back to KTM if I go out before 2nd. I am going on a round trip of Khumbu. Thame, Gokyo, Cho la pass, Kalapathar, Kongma La pass, Chhukung Ri and back, As always weather and health permiting.

[yakshaver]

Don,
No worries, if you are still in KTD on the 2nd of April you and your compation are more than welcome.
My son and I plan to do AC, with perhaps Tilicho, spending some extra time in some nice Kagbeni or Jharkot etc.

[Dr Doolittle]

..Hmm, you lot are all going to be there too late for me and the other half (Fiona) to gatecrash anything!!
Despite some initial misgivings re the "situation" we are still on track to arrive in Kat on Sat 19th Feb, flying on to Lukla on the 21st and up to Kala Pattar and back to Namche for my 50th on the 4th March.
Having had this trip in mind since doing the Annapurna Circuit in '99, you can imagine my consternation when it looked like it was all going to go pear shaped a fortnight before the appointed day.
Hope to see some of you there sometime, but if it's anything like my last trek,we will meet dozens of interesting, whacky and like minded people within hours..

[yakshaver]

Indeed you will meet a lot of interesting people Dr.Doolitle. Once on the way from Jorsale to Namche Bazaar there a blond lady (this is not a blonde joke) in very tight top and tight knee pants, bright yellow leading a nice spoiled white poodle after her. She had a porter guide for the luggage and a porter for her poodle. Althout the poodle-porter was unepmloyed all the way up into Namche.
A guy and know, Dano, once met another one, not sure if she was blonde, doing the AC with a porter in tow, who was carrying her huge Samsonite luggage case in his doko.
Appart from that, you meet the usual mountain crazy people all starry eyed and wonderful, the yuppies wanting to do the Himalayas before they die and bore their friends at home with the endless video or pics, the greenies like me hugging trees and people (if they are pretty enough and of the opposite sex (the people I mean), for me - I don't know about others), the macho expeditioners conquering mountains and whoever else stands in their way, and an unusually high proportion of ugly women (some of them butt-ugly) coming to Shangri-La to "find themselves", stroke their inner child, whatever...

[Rakshi]

Yak!!
I met a very very interesting man from US last year when we were already descending from Thorung La through Jomsom. Who was that kind of man that other people should be shame of. He landed in Jomdom and was going to Tatopani and to Pokhara - 5 days. Everything was bad. Coffee was cold, patatoes for breakfast (stupid!!) , service too slow... Shame. Yes some people are really strange. The question which comes back to me many times is: How should we behave with the stragers? Is there any chance that they understand that Nepal has its own beauty customs and everything else?
Rakshi:-)

[yakshaver]

You are quite right Rakshi, occasionally you meet one of these whingers, for whom everythyng is bad. Not sure how to deal with them, but if the lodge lounge is small, and these AHs are loud, then it is very tempting do something drastic. The only reason I usually restrain myself, is that I am thinking I am runining my holidays if I take them too seriously. So I tend to watch their obnoxious behaviour as if it was some king of play or movie... Either they feel they are cheated and have been charged 50 rupees to much for their dinner... 80 cents is a lot of money. Of course they say it's not the money, it's just the principle of it. These idiots whinging all the time have very high principles, you know. Or they feel they need to display assertiveness, and Nepal is just as good a place as any to be an assertive AH, in their mind.
These people know exactly how things should be done in Nepal (and everywhere else for that matter), how much things should cost, how warm each item of food should be, how clean the bed sheets should be in the lodge at 4800m altitude, and which particular way one should scratch oneself. It is just lovely scene to watch if you stumble upon such individuals. It is even more interesting if there are two or three of them.

[Dr Doolittle]

...didn't meet too many unpleasant people on my last trip on the Circuit, but I guess the altitude can bring out the worst ( or maybe the "true"..) character in some folks.
I did meet one Australian guy, who we invited to sit with us at dinner. He told us he had been trekking with mate, and they felt really good so they just bombed up the route, past Manang (?)( where the altitude medical thingy is) and he started to get into trouble in the middle of the night at the stop before Thorung La.
He realised what was happening though, and managed to get his porter to come back with him a couple of stops...his trekking mate wouldn't come with him, and said he would meet him back at Pokhora !!
At a lower altitude that night he said he sat looking into a fire in a lodge , hallucinating...he said he saw " Gods hands open out towards him, and draw him and his wife into him.."....which he said was odd, as he wasn't the slightest bit religious.
It took him about another 2 days descent before he started to feel ok again.
We all listened to the story and after he finished there was a long silence....the an old American Paediatrician who had done Mere Peak the previous year said to him...." Well. OK...so now tell us what it was that you promised God you would give up if He saved you !!! .."
Relief laughter all round..the timing ws perfect...but I'll tell you, the way he described his ordeal had a far more profound impact on us than anything we heard later at the Altitude lectures at Manang..

[yakshaver]

It must have been both funny and arresting to listen to something like that. Since it took two days descent for him to recover, maybe altitude was not the only reason he saw God in the flames...

[Dr Doolittle]

Yakshaver...
LOL !! not aware he was higher for any other reason.....but you never know..

[Rakshi]

Yakshaver...
LOL !! not aware he was higher for any other reason.....but you never know..


Almost same story happened to some East Germans guys who were sharply going up to Chukung directly from Namche.... Brave and sharp!!! But suddenly they realized that their heads were almost blowing. They did not reach Pheriche nor Lobuche.... They swore like hell....We met again in Lukla flying back to KTM @ the same plane.

[yakshaver]

The story with the East Germans reminded me about this fellow whom I met on my Gokyo trip in April last year. It was his third time in Nepal. He's done AC and Gokyo before and now he was going to EBC. He was experienced and knew everything about altitude. I went to Gokyo and met him back in Namche, which I did not expect as the trek to EBC is a bit longer than Gokyo. He told me he's rushed it and got quite sick well before EBC. Had to return in a hurry. It is amazing how many people do this, even if they know all the theory.

[Rakshi]

Yes, one never knows what is going to happen. Some people tend to go faster than think. Sometimes the change in air pressure brings additional nasty surprises. That's why it's good to have a bit more time not to rush. But urban reality sometimes forces for stupid moves. I mean that apart from everything there is quite often the deadline to be back in civilazation (at least unfortunately in my case)

:-)

[Unregistered]

In a brazilian trekking forum, a person that did AC told us the following story:

There was he and is partner, trekking the AC til they get in the pass, Everything was going well and at only 20 minutes do complete the pass, his partner stoped and became very quite. The other guy fond this strange and goes back to hem and ask hem what was up. The answer could not be simplier: the guy told hem that from now on he refuse to give one step. Either up or down. He says he backpack was to heavy, therefore he refuse to carry it any longer. Either up or down. After a few minutes trying to persuade the friend the ilogical of his decision and seeing that nothing works to make hem move, not even a inch, the guy gos on till the next stop, hire a porter, come back with the porter, the porter take the backpack and after a few more minutes the guy agrees to do the pass and descent a littl bit. Latter he tells his friend that he doesn't remenber a thing what happens at the pass!

Weird...

I'm very curious to see what gonna happens with me and my brother...

[]'s

Hendrik

[yakshaver]

Now that is sad. To do Thorung La, and not remember... At least his friend could have taken a picture of him and his porter. But maybe after the confrontation with him not wanting to go further, he was in no mood to take pics...
Still, I guess it is not impossible to become irrational and have a blank memory. Irrationality is one of the signs of AMS.

[Unregistered]

Well, not all the pass. Just that bit and till he recovered. But now they laugh about it.

[]'s

Hendrik

[mieke]

Edit Febr. 21 '05: pls. be aware the "LITH" website is currently taken offline.

off topic
Hi guys,

Hendrik can I please ask you something? You say a Brazilian trekkingforum, and by AC you mean the Annapurna Circuit? So going to Nepal was a topic, geographically, that sort of belonged to the discussions on that forum? Was the forum in Portuguese?
In any case: would you please do me a favour and tell me the name of that board (or its URL), so we can include it in the Online Resources section on "Lost in the Himalaya" (http://www.lostinthehimalaya.com), where we're collecting many travelboards from all kinds of countries, with users who take an interest in trekking, climbing or rafting in the mountains of the Himalaya, Karakoram or Hindukush.
You may or may not yet know, but "LITH" is meant to become a helpdesk in case a foreign visitor goes missing in the Himalayan-part of the world.

I'd be grateful if you could either post the name in here, or send me a mail, or register on the "LITH" website and post it there yourself :)

kind regards,
mieke
whitelilies.NL@gmail.com

[Unregistered]

Hello, Mieke

There is a few trekking foruns, but these is the first I've meet, so I did stay there. The forum, in the reality, is a backpacker forum, but they discuss about traveling in general: http://mochileiros.com/default.asp

Normaly the discussions are of local treks (and other backpacker's activity) and the language is portuguese (a few do speaks english also), but you can try make contact with it administrator: mochilabrasil@hotmail.com

Hope they can help you.

[]'s

Hendrik

[mieke]

Thanks a lot for all that info, Hendrik;
much appreciated! :)