Kathmandu to Nagarkot (May 9)
A nice, super hilly bus ride along some narrow, winding roads took us to Nagarkot. It was a huge relief to FINALLY be seeing some of the hills of Nepal. The wedding was spectacular and the trip as a whole already incredible, but to be THAT close and not yet have a glimpse of the Himalaya was a tease!
Upon arriving at the resort, we checked in to our rooms, took in the hills for a few minutes, and grabbed a bite of lunch AKA suspect #2 of digestive misfortune. I retired to my room for a brief nap, then joined my dad, Andrew, and Ayush for a 4.5 mile run to a lookout tower. As my dad was planning to run the Everest Marathon in 20 days time, getting out to run was a must. For me, a must too, as it's hard to just stop the training momentum from 3 months of working out 6 days a week for Team In Training. Plus it was a great chance to use my Garmin 310 XT on the other side of the world. My dad chatted briefly with a group of Indian tourists at the top of the tower who were heavily impressed by his training. While running back, we encountered a squadron of the Nepalese army crossing our path in a military exercise. A friendly "Namaste, dai" from my brother assured the mildly puzzled army that we had no intentions of causing trouble (recreational distance running is far less popular in Nepal.) Following our return was a dip in the pool and a nice dinner back at the resort.
Return to Kathmandu (May 10)
May 10 began with an early morning rise to TRY to catch a sunrise glimpse of the Himalaya (perhaps even Sagarmatha/Everest or Annapurna.) Unfortunately, clouds greatly dampened the view of the recognizable peaks, but I did manage to take a few photos. There was another quite exciting event for my brother's good friend Johanna though, as she accepted a proposal from her boyfriend Chris. How can you beat a sunrise in Nepal for a proposal setting?
After returning to bed for another 2 hours of rest, we boarded the bus and returned to Kathmandu. Sigh..... back to Soaltee. The Soaltee of course was a beautiful resort and highly luxurious, but maybe that itself was a problem. I felt like aside from the crazy monsoon afternoon rains and some slightly different electrical outlets, I could be staying at a Crowne Plaza hotel in Sacramento and not have known a difference.
If the wedding reception and Nagarkot were the Act III climax of a Shakespearean/Braveheartesque play for my Nepal experience, returning to Kathmandu definitely FELT like the falling action in Act IV. The planned activities were through. I had seen most of Kathmandu. I had ambitions and plans to begin a 10+ day trek, but I was at least 5 days away from reaching any trail heads. I, along with all other non-Nepali wedding attendees, had succumbed to intestinal misfortune and was exhausted with little appetite. The next few days were somewhat of a lethargic crawl.
The crawl and the "decision"(May 11-13)
With the wedding attendees slowly trickling away towards their journey home, I had the first few twinges of missing home. My mom left for California on the 11. I spent the next few uneventful days hanging out with my dad at the Soaltee. I slept and took a lot of fluids mainly. These times weren't completely a waste though, as the crawl was intermixed with exciting Chuck Norris movies, daily swims, and evening trips to Thamel highlighted by shots of a Cambodian imported rum infused with cobra and scorpion carcasses. I had a solid 10 minutes of, "Matt THAT was dumb," as I felt the shot to be far more toxic than ordinary rum, before I snapped back. Cheers!
And my dad got a great opportunity: the chance to meet with Maiti Nepal , the organization established to prevent trafficking of Nepal females and to provide support and help for survivors of trafficking. My dad was planning to race in the Everest Marathon and fundraise on behalf of the organization, so it was an honor for him to visit them. Much of his impetus for fundraising was following in the footsteps of Sir Edmund Hillary, who spent much of his energy post Sagarmatha summit improving living conditions for people of Nepal, especially in the Sherpa village of Namche Bazaar.
Ruminating in the back of my mind was a decision to be made. I had traveled for 35 hours and was a mere bus ride from an epic, life-defining adventure in the Himalaya. Yet I was tired, sick, missing parts of my California life (friends, TNT, even my job) and longing for jamba juice. I was done with Kathmandu. But not Nepal. It was either take an earlier flight home, go with my initial plan to trek to Everest Base Camp, or alter my plan and trek to Annapurna Base Camp.
How could anyone NOT desperately long to reach Everest Base Camp??? It's the highest mountain in the world. I had meticulously studied the Lonely Planet route to EBC and anticipated the journey even more. Hiking to Namche, then the Buddhist town of Tengboche. Even the mountain plane ride to Lukla sounded like a great adventure. But in my gut.... something was telling me, "Matt, not this trip. There will be another time for EBC."
So I decided to "take my talents to South Beach." Um... I mean... I TRIED to logically resolve this decision. I had a few pretty solid facts to aid me: 1) I didn't travel around the world to miss out on a chance at an epic adventure to ONE of the famous Nepal base camps. 2) I was sick, but about as sick as having a cold, and I could still handle activity. 3) People from the wedding were traveling to Pokhara, the staging point of Annapurna trekking. 4) In spite of my carpe diem attitude I usually let handle my decisions, there actually would be another shot at EBC.
But maybe all that was bullshit anyway. There was something wrong about me growing up staring at my dad's extensive Himalaya book collection (the man actually MET Sir Hillary) and reaching Everest base camp days before he would (the starting point of his marathon.) And there was also something wrong about reaching base camp alone.
Did that lead to me choosing Annapurna base camp as my trek? Maybe. Was it the right decision? I'm pretty sure. Do I still wonder though? Yeah. Did I enjoy the Annapurna trek? Hell yeah. I told the agency I was trekking with I wanted to officially change my destination to ABC. They obliged and I was on my way. I began taking Cipro, shared a final dinner with my dad, and prepared for Nepal part II.
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