10.28.19
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This afternoon, I came back from my two-week major excursion trip to the Mustang district of northern Nepal. It is near Dhaulagiri, the seventh highest mountain in the world, as well as several other himals (big snowy mountains). Additionally, it extends to the Tibetan Plateau.
In summary, we did a trek-in for three days to Larjung, the rural village where we stayed at for the next six days. Then, we did a trek-out for the last four days.
The trek-in was beautiful but also incredibly dusty--the Nepali phrase for "dusty" is dhulo uDnu, which literally means "dust flies." And indeed, it did. We trekked on the sandy roads, where jeeps and motorbikes would occasionally zoom by and cause dust to envelope us. Additionally, the wind blew storms of dust. Even though I was wearing a buff, I was able to blow out a good amount of black dirt from my nose. However, the trek-in was the easy part; we primarily walked on flat terrain.
The rural homestay in Larjung was wonderful. I was a bit nervous before arriving because I have never lived in a rural village before; my hometown is in Skokie, only about 40 minutes away from the bustling city of Chicago, and most of my living experience has been in urban areas. However, to my relief, my homestay family wholeheartedly welcomed me with open arms. I had an aamaa, didi, daai, and bahini, with a teacher and a cattle carer (is that the right term?) living in the house with them. They were so accommodating and warm (despite the weather being extremely cold every day). I connected with them well and very much enjoyed spending time with them. I loved sitting in the kitchen with my family, with a charcoal fire crackling in the center and eating daal bhat and gossiping. To be quite honest, I felt much closer to my rural homestay family in less than a week than the month and a half I spent with my Kathmandu homestay family. I think closeness is a particular quality in villages that isn't present in the city--everyone in the village knows each other, and everyone keeps their house door wide open. I would often see neighbors walk in and out of my house to come and chat with my aamaa, have a snack, or to buy alcohol. (Drinking alcohol is another common custom of Nepali mountain villages, as the alcohol helps warm up the body in the frigid months.) Also, all the villagers are incredibly friendly. I was able to easily strike up conversations with and easily greet everyone. It's a very different culture than what I'm used to, but it's a very pleasant difference.
I chose to go on the trek-out last-minute. I was originally set on going to Pokhara as the alternative to trekking, but on one of the last days in the village, I went on a short trek with some of my classmates. And I absolutely loved it. Although I fell twice (I have a history of slipping and falling), I actually enjoyed the process of trekking, the beautiful sights, and being with friends. My first trek in Nagurkot, Kathmandu wasn't the best experience, and I let that prevent me from wanting to go on another trek. However, I'm glad that I was able to push myself to experience the village trek, because it was very much rewarding. It may not have been monumental for my other classmates (who were all planning to go on the trek-out), but that day definitely changed my mind. And I'm glad that I chose to go on the trek-out.
I know that I'm more than physically capable of doing a hike, thanks to my history of cross country and track. I think that the biggest factor that hinders me is my fear of falling--which I do a lot. I have poor stability and balance, causing me to fall down a lot. Additionally, I always stare down to prevent myself from falling. However, the first two days of hiking up were much better than I expected. I absolutely love going uphill. It's undoubtedly more tiring, but I feel more accomplished with myself with each stretch of stairs that carries me up higher and higher. Not only are the views of the mountains more gorgeous, but hiking up makes me feel stronger. Also, I have a much less chance of falling down.
However, going down is another story. One of my teachers let me use one of his hiking sticks, which immensely helped me. I go much slower downhill, especially when the steps are simply curved stones embedded in the dirt. During our trek down on the third day, one of my classmates fell and twisted a tendon in her ankle (which we didn't know about at the time). She kept walking, thinking that the pain would subside, but it actually got worse. I gave her my hiking stick and stayed close to her, but I also fell and strained an ankle and knee ligament. Eventually, my classmate was in so much pain that we had to stop, and my teacher ran down to search for a jeep. We rode in the jeep to the next village where we were staying the night, so we didn't really finish that stretch of the trek.
The next day, I ordered muesli for breakfast. I should have been more careful, but I didn't expect it to have peanuts in it...I had a few bites before I felt my throat swelling up, so I ran and took two Benadryl tablets. My peanut allergy isn't extremely life-threatening, but I am mildly anaphylaxic. I was getting anxious because my symptoms weren't subsiding, so then I took my Epi-Pen. Thankfully, that helped a lot. But I had to get to the hospital ASAP. Unfortunately, we were three hours away by jeep to the nearest hospital (in Pokhara). We tried to call our International SOS insurance to book an emergency helicopter flight, but since Nepal has been celebrating its second biggest festival, Tihar, there was difficulty in finding a pilot, and we were uncertain as to how long it would take. Thus, we opted to take the jeep. I was admitted to the CIWEEC Travel Clinic with my classmate, and while she was able to be discharged after receiving a cast and crutches, I was told to stay in the hospital overnight for monitoring. I actually have never stayed overnight at a hospital in America due to my allergies, but I figured that since I waited three hours to get medical treatment, there was a greater chance of an additional delayed reaction. An annoying part of it was that I had a needle embedded in my arm for my entire duration (about 20 hours) to draw blood and give me medicine, and it hurt whenever I moved it. Thankfully, I had no delayed allergic reactions, and I was discharged this morning. (Later, my teacher said that he was suspicious of CIWEEC's intentions. Although my insurance covered the cost of my treatment (and my three meals), there has been a history of clinics scamming travelers and requiring them to stay overnight to overcharge them, which is very unfortunate.)
Day 1:
-flight from Kathmandu to Pokhara (a hip mountain town, on a lake; 820m)
Day 2:
-flight from Pokhara (820m) to Jomsom (2750m; an 18-minute flight!)
-jeep to Muktinath (3800m; we visited the beautiful Muktinath Temple)
-jeep to Kagbeni (2800m; where we stayed overnight)
Day 3:
-trek from Kagbeni to Marpha (2670m; where we stayed overnight)
Day 4:
-trek from Marpha to Tukuche (~2590m) to Larjung (~2590m)
-met with our homestay families
Day 5-10:
-stayed with our homestay families, with 3-hour language classes in the morning
-conducted our "mini-ISP" research projects by asking locals about our chosen topics
-departure dinner & dance party, hosted by the Mother's Group!
Day 11:
-an extremely crowded and painful tour bus to Ghasa
-trek from Ghasa to Tatopani (literally meaning "hot water," a simply glorious hot spring)
Day 12:
-trek uphill from Tatopani (1190m) to Sikha (1980m)
Day 13:
-trek uphill from Sikha to Ghorepani (3195m)
Day 14:
-trek downhill from Ghorepani to Hile (1540m)
-also where my classmate twisted her ankle and where I strained my ankle + knee
Day 15:
-supposedly, trek straight from Hile to Naya Pul, and then jeep from Naya Pul to Pokhara
-but I ate peanuts that morning and took a jeep all the way from Hile to Pokhara
-stayed overnight at the hospital while everyone else stayed at Pokhara
Day 16:
-discharged from the hospital and met up with everyone else at the hotel they stayed at
-flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu
Although I was not particularly excited prior to this trip, I actually surprised myself in how much I enjoyed it. It was definitely an unforgettable experience, and I'm glad that I had the opportunity and will to enjoy it as much as I did. :)
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