Sacred place

Boudha Boudha must be my favorite place on earth. (Forgive my artistic license cabin, Marymore Park, and a few others. Here I feel the energy of hundreds of years of compassionate prayers to end suffering in the world. Perhaps I should take this opportunity to clarify some tibetan terminology. Gumba - monastery Puja - prayer (used to describe the times when monks gather to chant/say prayers) Kora - the act of walking around a stupa for the purpose of reflection, prayer, etc (the most auspicious number for kora is 108 rounds) Mala - a circle of 108 beads used during meditation (similar to a catholic rosary) Mantra - a specific short prayer (most common example Om Mani Padme Hum) Kada - a (usually) white thin shawl used by masters to give blessings and given to travelers departing as a prayer for a safe journey Rinpoche - master or guru Lama - Tibetan term for a monk (in certain sub sects it can mean something specific but Im not up on that) Some of these are poor translations but you can discern the general idea. My favorite thing is watching the people. So many, seemingly so different. Everyone from the mother in her traditional Tibetan dress and two braids to the girlfriends linked arm in arm to the teenage boys in gangster hats and punk haircuts. Would you believe I walked behind two punk boys who touched every sacred place, spun all the prayer wheels, and asked for a blessing from the ancient nun who sits in front of the main monastery in the stupa circle. The Boudha Stupa is the most sacred place for all Tibetan buddhists. Actually, it's also sacred to Hindus. Another example of these two people's living happily side by side.

Rats and a new addiction

Humla continued... Having gotten everything we needed in three days, and having no desire to sleep with the rats one more night than was strictly necessary Charles and i decided to start back on the fourth day. Going the other direction the first day can still be the long one, you just pass Kermi (or Sarak, depending on your inclination to use the Tibetan names or the Nepali) and go on to Dharapuri. Dharapuri is where you stop for lunch on the first day going towards Yangar. I prefer making the first day the longest so that the second requires less energy when you have none left over from the first anyway. That is especially true going back as the last part between Dharapuri and Simikot is uphill. About 4 hours of fairly consistent uphill. Yeah, not my best day ever. Even the shot blocks did little to boost me up that last steep hill. I should explain. I have a new addiction. On this trip I tried, for the first time, Shot Blocks made by Cliff Bar. They must put Meth in these or something. They saved my ass on the way to Yangar. I highly, highly recommend them. Unfortunately not even that miracle food could let me keep up with Charles going back. I pulled out everything anyone had ever taught me. Drink as much water as possible going up hill (your body doesn't need as much going down). Eat something like a Cliff Bar for long term energy and something sugary like chocolate or a fruit rollup for short term energy. Take long steps because they take less energy. Use your inhaler, don't just put it in your pocket. Take deep breaths. Raise your arms up to expand your chest to allow more oxygen in. Don't overheat. (That ones mine) So a heartfelt and never-ending thank you to my dad, my mom, grandma, and my 6th grade PE teacher. See? I was listening all along. Who'd have thought. There are no two ways about it. That is a hard, hard, hard hike. Charles and I definitely earned some street cred from this trip. Once back in Simikot Charles and didn't move for three straight hours other than to take off our shoes and socks. Then we had dinner and continued our not moving for most of the next day. Unfortunately we couldn't get same day flights back to Kathmandu the day after we got back and given a choice between spending the night in a fairly comfortable Simikot or a 1000 degree Nepalgunj it didn't take us long to make that decision. We managed to walk just far enough to my favorite lookout spot to film last thoughts on Humla itself but even that hurt. The next morning we took off for Nepalgunj only three hours late. I pointed out to Charles that I'd rather wait anywhere except Nepalgunj and our flight out of there want until 5:30pm. That wasn't very comforting apparently. He had a point. They stop flying in and out of Simikot around noon because of the wind. We made it out just fine, though. Our roughly six hours in Nepalgunj were not the best ever but 3 Fantas, 4 Slices, 2 Sprites, and 1 mineral water later we were on our way back to Kathmandu. Neither of us could have been happier.

Conflicting stories

(Boudha 5/25) Dropped Charles off at the airport last night. I think he's looking forward to eating those corn dogs in his freezer. No luck getting ahold of the guy from Next Gen Nepal. Not surprising since it's Friday. (The weekend here is Friday and Saturday) I left a message so hopefully I'll get him on sunday. Uh oh. I'm sitting here on a bench next to the Boudha stupa and the iPad is starting to attract attention. Oh well, a few nuns don't bother me. So Charles and I interviewed the ISIS guy and the guy from the Umbrella Foundation. How can two people working for the same goals and the same children tell such different stories. One says there's no child trafficking going on now and the other says the problem is worse than ever across south-east Asia. Hm. Thanks guys. Despite having a committee-like thing dealing with displaced children the Nepali government does not formally acknowledge that there is any child trafficking going on at all in their country. None. UNICEF, USAID, the State Department, and the EU disagree. Interestingly, one party told us that the Nepali government is extremely supportive and dedicated to displaced children, while the other said the exact opposite in no uncertain terms. Hmmm, which one seems more likely?

Language

Traveling to a country like Nepal exercises your language skills. You are constantly forced to simplify thoughts so as to be understood. It's also a great lesson in connotation. A shopkeeper, while selling me a tapestry kept telling me "takes too much work." What he actually means is 'a lot of work'. When does someone understand 'very close' and not get 'far away'. Learned how to tell what someone is trying to say is a challenge. Chouying's "I question it" actually means "I asked him." "What do you weigh?" is unintelligible but " How heavy are you" mostly makes sense. It's like learning a different language. You spend enough time with someone you get to know their personal erroneous phrases. Chembal ends every other sentence with "Isn't it." I still correct my shopkeeper buddy on "too much work". Understanding the intended meaning behind words is extremely important. Countless times I heard "Oh you where fat before, now you are less fat." They mean it as a compliment so I take it as one. If an American guy said that to me I'd slap him. Theres another lesson in there somewhere. Different situations, different expectations?

Questions and answers ... and more questions

(Kathmandu 5/23) The strike is over! Well, in theory anyway. Sometimes they do mini strikes for a few hours during the day but Im not too worried. This means we don't have to walk all the way from Kapan to the monastery! Sweet. Saves us about 2 hours. This morning we have a meeting with the dude from ISIS to tell us more about what they do and the situation in Humla with children. Then it's off to the monastery to see my boys again! I'm actually a little scared. Will they remember me? Will they be excited to see me? Anyway, back to Humla. Our first morning we headed to the hostel at 7:00 to meet the kids. They had a wonderful welcome for us with tree bows and dressed up in their traditional finery. The interviews with kids went well. Charles made the comment that if he was a kid there he would want to leave. He completely understands why they don't return when they finish school. However, when asked that question every child answered they would rather be in their motherland and want to come back when they finish college and university. I'm not so surprised by that. What kid not knowing anything besides their villages would want to move that far away from their family? To an unknown place, not knowing when or if they would be able to come back. We heard the same thing from the parents we interviewed. Given the choice everyone wants to keep their children local. The parents we talked to who have children in school in Kathmandu or India worry constantly and feel it far more likely their kids will get into some kind of trouble. Alcohol, drugs, etc. More importantly they simply miss their children. An extremely understandable and relatable feeling. Interviews at the school revealed that the headmaster himself was kidnapped and held by the Maoists. One father told us that his daughter was taken and held for 8 years until the end of the war. Apparently she's happily married to a Maoist and lives in a nearby village. These interviews are enlightening and frustrating at the same time. There just isn't a good way to ask what his daughter was doing while with the rebels or explain why she's happy to be married now. This is because of a cultural barrier but more to do with language. The nuances of English do not often translate into other languages. English has the most words of any recorded language. We can say the same thing 5 different ways and each has a different connotation if not denotation.

The boots that saved my life and The Hangover I don't deserve

(Kathmandu 5/21) Charles is going to go back early. I am absolutely not envious. Anyway, back to Humla. Not only was our guide 2 hours late the morning we took off but we learned that, in fact, he was a deaf, mute. So, not quite the blind leading the blind but still challenging. In fact not really. He was wonderful. Very sweet and helpful. It's a 2 day trek to get from Simikot to Yangar. You spend the night about 2/3 of the way through in Kermi. Why staying in someone's house and sleeping on wooden pallets with dirty blankets should cost twice as much as I pay for my guesthouse in Kathmandu I don't know. Let's just say Chembal is a very good businessman and dedicated to infusing his district with tourist dollars. The first day takes about 10 hours for us which is super. Luckily the second day is only 5. Ha! Only 5. You loose and gain so much elevation on that trail. Why couldn't they just cut a straight line in the side of the valley? Why all this up and down nonsense? How come I was more scared of heights the second time around? Maybe it's Stingray Syndrome. The first time you don't know what you're getting into so your like "aww aren't they cool. Let's get in the water!" Once you're actually in the water, of course, and have a coffee table sized black thing swimming straight at you they don't seem so cool. I was, overall, very proud of my body. A definite improvement over the first time doing this. And I owe much of it to the lady at Biosports and my buddy from the Arlburg. I had my doubts going down that first gigantic hill. Half way through my right knee was starting to shake and my left foot fell asleep but they sorted themselves out in time. Thank god for my boots! On the other hand I did make a few wardrobe mistakes. One, my pants had no pockets. Big pain in the ass. Two, they are a size too big which means I was constantly pulling them up. Three, I didn't bring a synthetic t-shirt. My cotton one did not serve me well in the heat. Oh well. I owe another big thanks to the ladies at Performance Footwear for their patience and help. My other clothes all worked great. Poor Charles had it the worst. We've decided he suffered from elevation sickness pretty much the entire time we were up there. He refuses to eat daal bhat ever again because he got so sick after lunch he threw up on the side of the trail. We made a good pair. His stomach was so upset he couldn't stand up straight and I couldn't stand up straight because i couldn't breath. The second day did not get off to the best start since every part of my body hurt. Legs, feet, boobs, everything. Not a lot of talking went on since both of us where so focused on getting there and not giving in to our bodies complaints. At last we arrived, except not quite. Because of the big master being there at the monastery in Yangar everyone from all the surrounding villages spends their entire day there. Consequently we couldn't go to settle down in Chembal's house because no one was there. It is also worth noting that the monastery is a 30 minute walk from Chembal's house. Anyway, we arrived about 2:00pm and ended up stuck there until 6:00pm waiting for the teaching to finish so we could follow Chembal home. Our first night in Yangar didn't get off to a great start when we discovered we shared our room with a mouse/rat. Charles didn't sleep at all because of the mouse/rat and the bugs while I had difficulty because I was cold. The first 20 minutes of The Hangover didn't help. However, watching a little of The Hangover each night, probably kept Charles from going completely mental from lack of sleep, mouse phobia, bug paranoia, and a diet of Chinese top ramen. And on a side note, I just cannot get into that movie. Despite everyone saying it's great and Denise Vaughn (who is one of the smartest people I know and whom i trust implicitly) loving it, still can't sit through it.

Hills, wifi, and old men playing chess

(Simikot 5/19) I thought I would die yesterday! The last day back is all uphill. All of it! 5 straight hours of loose, rocky, steep uphill! But we made it. At long, long, long, long, long last we made it! Who knew I'd ever think of Simikot as civilization. There's a lesson in perspective for you. No room in our previous guesthouse so up the hill I walked (god the pain!), following this 9 year old Tibetan girl with pigtails to make inquiries elsewhere. I did this on my own because Charles is glued to the one place in town where we can get wifi. We get a pretty good signal if you stand on the side of the street facing uphill. Even better when the men are out playing chess. Funny how that works.