Nepal

Nothing like flying into a country and seeing the tallest mountain in the world out your window, hovering above the clouds as high as you are when you are cruising at 20,000 ft. Great start to my trip in Nepal. Not only did I see Everest peeking above the clouds, but a few other of the world's tallest mountains as well. Pretty amazing stuff. Everest sticks out though because the mountain is almost black in color, and truly looks different from all the other snow covered peaks. The excitement did not stop there though. Upon landing, I realized that I had forgotten to get out USD to pay for my Nepal visa. The only ATMs at the airport were outside, so I had to leave my passport at the border security and walk out of all the customs stops, through armed guards, outside to where thousands of taxi drivers and scammers waited to pounce on their prey. The sketchiest part was that I walked past an exchange counter and the guy motioned me over. He said that the ATM outside usually does not work, and if I need money that I can borrow it from him and pay him back later. That is a new one. Never heard of that scam before. Immediately outside I was swarmed by tiny Nepalese men (they are all very small) and escorted personally to an ATM, I guess they all wanted a tip for walking me 100 meters to an ATM I could see from the exit. When I arrived at the ATM I put my card in, entered my pin, and then when I asked for a withdrawal the machine went out of order. This freaked me out a little. Suddenly, a guy who claimed to be a bank employee was over my shoulder. He told me to do the transaction again, and was a little too close to me while I was entering my information. It worked this time, but I felt as though I was definitely getting scammed. I then had to walk all the way back through all the various security checkpoints and then had to exchange the rupees I had just withdrawn for USD at a counter. The guy ripped me off (I lost a few dollars) but I had to get out USD somehow or I would be stranded. After waiting in the now extremely long line, I finally got through the checkpoint and walked outside to the curb. Once again, I was swarmed by cab drivers and other tiny men wanting money from me. Luckily, my Uncle had arranged for a car to pick me up, so a tiny man with a sign that said "Mr. Daniel" scooped me up and took me in to Kathmandu. The car was a 1980s Mercedes and  the driver claimed that it was one of few in Nepal, so I was looked at as a VIP. Driving through Kathmandu was a trip. Definitely the poorest place in terms of a major city I have ever been. Nepal is one of the poorer countries in the world. The average annual income for the Nepalese is around 500 USD. (for perspective, India is twice that) The streets were filthy, covered in dirt. The people were everywhere, cutting in front of the car, selling trinkets and other touristy items. This is the first time on my trip I really felt like I was in a third world country. The people look a lot like Indians. Dark skin and many have the dot on their forehead, signaling that most of the people were Hindu. I finally got to the hotel and met up with Dave, who was asleep in the lobby, jet-lagged. The area of Kathmandu we are staying in is much nicer compared to the rest of the city I saw. It is definitely a touristy area. We set off in search of a trekking company to take us on our journey, and on our second stop (there are trekking companies everywhere where we are staying along with stores selling fake North Face gear) we found the right one for us, and after some bargaining we got the price we wanted as well. The best part of this excursion was that the company that had picked myself and Dave up from the airport had assumed that we were going trekking with them. They wanted more money than we wanted to spend and were not as experienced. We had to keep avoiding them throughout the day in hopes that we could just book with someone else and they would never even realize we were gone. The only problem was that the company we actually booked with followed us back to the hotel to wait for me to pay, and when we arrived in the lobby, the other guide was waiting for us. He shook hands with our new guide and you could tell he knew something was up. David had to leave and go with him to give them the bad news that we had switched companies, and in Dave's words they "acted like their best friend just died." That night we had an authentic Nepalese meal consisting of a few dishes and rice that I cannot even really explain. I think there was some spinach, chicken, curry, lentils, and some other odds and ends. I enjoyed it, but it was nothing remarkable. Looks like I have a lot to look forward to in the next 21 days. I spent all day today exploring the older area of Kathmandu which is packed with temples and pretty cool sites, but is overpopulated with tourists, sellers, and beggars. Still cool to see though. This blog has actually taken me two days to write. Yesterday when I was writing, I got half of the way through when the power suddenly went out. Kathmandu is the only capital city in the world, from what I understand, that has mandatory power outages everyday for upwards of eight hours. Most places have backup generators that work to power small lights throughout your hotel, but anything else, such as your outlets in your room, or anything else electric powered, is useless. For example, today the power went out at around 9 AM and came back on at 3:30 PM and will most likely go off again later on in the night for a few hours. Pretty incredible stuff. In terms of the next few weeks of my trip, I will be trekking the Annapurna Trail, which is a few bus rides to the northwest. It skirts along the border of Nepal and Tibet, in the foothills of the Himalayas (even up into them at some points). We booked a knowledgeable guide and porter to carry our supplies along the way. We decided to book a trek that stays in guesthouses along the way, because if we stayed in tents and packed in our own food and supplies, it would have almost doubled the price because we would require four porters instead of one. No way I can afford that. In the long run though, I am sure we will be happy to have a bed to sleep in after trekking everyday for seven hours in elevation that makes you want to vomit every step you take. I am not in the best shape anyway so I will not be complaining. Apparently, some stops along the way even have shoddy internet access, so hopefully I can make a few updates to the blog along the way. Next time I post I will be hiking the tallest mountain range in the world, not too shabby.

Oh yeah and one final note. So the major mountain in the range we are going to is Annapurna I. 10th highest in the world and one of 14 of the world's "Eight Thousanders" (meters). Its distinction though is that it is the deadliest mountain in the world to climb. Since 2007, 138 have tried and 50 have died. It has something like an overall fatality rate of 38%. Crazy. Luckily I will not be attempting to summit this beast.