| NAMASTE |
| I\'ve been wanting to go to Nepal for about 15 years, so with two weeks holidays at the end of January, I finally decided that this would be the year! It didn\'t take long to interest a few other \'intrepid travellers\' from the HCT faculty, and before I knew it we had a \'small mob\' ready to leave for a 14-day adventure in the Himalayas. Here\'s a brief description of our journey - the pictures will tell the rest. When most people think of travel in Nepal they think of trekking, sightseeing, shopping, eating and meeting the nice Nepalese people. Everyone has their own order of priorities for a travel agenda and luckily our group was able to agree on an itinerary that more or less suited everyone. Since we wanted to include so many things, it meant doing (what most people would consider to be) a short trek. Five days/four nights didn\'t get us to Everest (too bad) however it enabled us to see some spectacular scenery and meet some wonderful people. For such a short expedition we chose what is called a fully-supported camping trek. That means that you have porters to carry all your gear including tents, sleeping bags, cooking supplies, food, etc. You have a guide, cook and various other helpers and assistants. I mentioned camping but did I mention that it\'s winter in Nepal in January? Well, that wasn\'t going to discourage any of us - after all, the majority of our group was Canadian - "Minus 10 degrees? No problem eh?!" Well, winter camping is one thing when you have the right equipment but quite something else when you don\'t! Never mind - we all turned out to be a hardy and good-humoured bunch and we braved the cold temperatures, rain and snow with inadequate equipment and dealt with stomach upsets, flu, colds, nettles and challenging outdoor toilet facilities without too much complaining (well maybe just a bit!) Anyway, we only climbed to 3,025 meters so the hardships could have been much worse. On the plus side of travelling to Nepal in winter, there are fewer tourists than usual and no leeches (I guess neither likes the cold weather!). Back in Kathmandu after the trek, the restaurants, shops and sightseeing areas weren\'t too crowded since other holiday-makers obviously opted for warmer destinations. You can trek, sightsee, shop and eat in many places in the world but what sets one country apart from another are the people who live there. In the end that\'s what made this trip a unique experience for me. I\'ve traveled throughout many different countries around the world and I must say that the Nepalese people are some of the nicest I\'ve ever met anywhere. With barely enough firewood to keep them warm and only a few warm clothes, they could still manage a friendly greeting \'namaste\' when you met them. Kind, helpful and resourceful are just a few adjectives to describe these mountain people.  And last but not least I\'d like to mention my travelling companions from HCT who helped to make this a very memorable (and fun) holiday. It was great to vacation with such a good-natured bunch!! |