Flight to Everest; bus ride to Nagarkot

January 25, 2010

Flight to Everest and Two Monks

I awoke at 1 AM and lay there thinking - if I was going for the summit of Everest today, I would already have been hiking for an hour in the darkness but with a headlamp to show the way. It’s a big push on summit day, and you have to start early to make it up and start back down before nightfall. Up over the Golden Band, then one step at a time, resting often, trying to catch my breath, doubting whether I would make it, just counting ten more steps, stopping, then counting ten more and so on. How many times have I had that daydream? I fell back asleep and woke again at 4:35. With the alarm set for 5:15, it wasn’t worth trying to get back to sleep. I lay there thinking and understanding that I had to let this go. Just experience what I have and don’t grasp for what I don’t have and may not get even if I sought it. So I concluded there would be no disappointment if I did not make it.
The alarm went off on time and Bay scurried into the shower while I made sure of the cameras, put out my clothes and locked the room safe. Then I showered and went to breakfast, Bay staying behind, deciding that our flight would not agree with her eating breakfast. We were all early - no stragglers today as 15 eager beavers boarded and spread out on the bus, with Pat giving us a play-by-play description of the Saints-Vikings game on the way to the airport.
Our Yeti Excursion guide handed out our tickets in Russian roulette fashion, shuffling them and then holding them in one hand fanned out for us to each pick one. That way it would be fair and the first one might not necessarily get the best seat. But every seat on the Beech 1900 is a window seat although some are over the wing. I picked 8C and Bay picked 7A, both seats in the back with the best views. Aren’t we the lucky ones? We passed through about 3 or 4 levels of security although none of it was very rigorous as we were in the national flight part of the airport. We were told to wait for a determination of whether we would go or not. I bought a baseball hat with Mt. Everest on it (of course), and looked out to see the usual haze and high scattered clouds to the northeast, our intended direction of flight. It looked pretty good although not perfect. After 30 minutes or so, an attractive young Nepali woman in a uniform came and told us, “The mountains are not visible today so the flight to Everest has been cancelled.” There were a few gasps and many anguished looks. On the way back to the bus, there was a lot of discussion about how disappointed they were, and how good the weather looked, and could we go tomorrow, etc., etc.
When we were all on the bus, I turned from my front row seat and told everyone this story of two monks, an elder monk and a young monk. They were walking down a road when they came upon a pretty young woman in a long dress who was waiting by the side of the muddy road. The elder monk asked her if he could give her a lift across the muddy road so that she would not get her beautiful dress dirty. She replied that she would like a lift. So she got up on his back and he took her across the road. The monks continued walking down the road in silence. Five hours passed, then six hours. At that time the young monk turned to the elder monk, and said, “Father, a while ago, you gave a young girl a lift across the road. That was unusual and we don’t normally do things like that. Why did you do that?” The elder monk turned to the young monk and replied, “I let that girl down from my back over six hours ago. And you are still carrying her after all this time?”
It’s all about letting go and what a great example we had today. It is past.

Journey to Nagarkot

After returning to the hotel and going shopping in the shops here in the hotel and on the hotel premises (Bay shopping and me accompanying her), and resting in our room for a bit, we embarked on an arduous bus ride, through Kathmandu and its environs, through roads under construction, traffic jams and generally awful traffic conditions, to a one lane, paved road into the “foothills”. The foothills range from 5-6000 feet to 9500 feet in elevation. I wonder what they would call Cadillac “Mountain.” Of course, it made it very exciting when we met dump trucks, other buses, and just about anything going the opposite way and there was quite a lot of traffic for this narrow road with no side guards and dropoffs of hundreds of feet all the way up to Nagarkot at 7,500 feet. The land is all farm land and woodland with Himalayan pines and terraced fields. Apparently, the farmers have to pay rent to the government of 20% of their annual yield. The purpose of the trip was to have lunch in a country restaurant and eat really good fresh food and the view of the snowcapped Himalayans in the distance. The food was really great. I had chicken that looked and tasted like steak, potatoes and noodles. Then Shankar asked me to join him “because I had an interest in Indian matters” and shared his lunch of rice with lentil soup used as the sauce, and chicken curry. It was really delicious and it was nice of him to ask me to join him and of Susan to pay for my first lunch (she thought she had been mean to me in the visa line at the airport several days ago, but she was mistaken).
But the view of the Himalayans at 2 PM on a sunny afternoon in the mountains is of course obscured by the clouds, as any mountain pilot could tell you. So I bought a poster with the view which is really spectacular.

“This is past.”

Well, not exactly. We’re going to try the Everest flight again tomorrow before we depart for Delhi on our way home. Wish us luck.

Last comments

Shanker (I’m sorry about the different spellings but Friendly Planet had it “-ar” and the correct spelling is “-er”) has been a wonderful guide and has taught us a lot about patience, perseverance, kindness to all of us on the trip and never failing to fulfill a request from anyone. And for sure this has been the best group we have traveled with in Friendly Planet - there were no whiners and those who were most handicapped by age, or size, or whatever were often the ones who made the greatest effort and never complained in the roughest of conditions.

On a completely different tack, I have gotten the distinct feeling from Shankar that India is on the brink of war with Pakistan. The attack on Mumbai from those trained in Pakistan, and the lack of a military response from India does not sit well with Indians. They will take any excuse and be on the march.

Finally, I want to thank those who followed along and sent us encouraging words or questions or comments, some touch from home. We really are in a different world over here and your contacts were much appreciated from both of us.

Namaste, Nat, Dad, Matt, DB et al.

PS Bay thinks no one reads them anyway. Of course, she said I was “full of crap” today. Is it time to come home? Just kidding. She is a wonderful companion with a wonderful sense of humor. I have enjoyed all our trips together and am thankful for her company. She had a rough day today, when finally getting into the mountains and the fresh air and being under the weather. She’s had a cramp and been miserable once we left for the mountains. At 8:20 PM, she seems to be doing better.

PPS And I can’t wait to come home to my Sugar.