The following posts have been tagged with "Kathmandu". Browse through these Kathmandu articles to gain insight into what you may or may not want to do on your trip if it includes Kathmandu.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
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A Monkey grabbing my camera lens and trying to eat it
If you were to take a survey of human beings and ask what the funniest animal is, the overwhelming majority would answer "Monkeys". They're so similar to us, but still so different. There's something strangely familiar about the monkey, but still so animalistic. They have no rules and rely purely on their instincts, which means they're constantly getting into trouble and goofing around, which is what makes them so funny to us. Below are the top 10 places to visit if you want to see monkeys in the wild.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Our porters said they didn't do the Everest Basecamp trek often, and we also happy to reach the top
Everest Base Camp in Nepal, also known as South Base Camp, is a lot different than the Everest Base Camp on the Tibet side. To start with, you can drive most of the way to EBC Tibet. To get to EBC Nepal, you have to take a (sketchy) 40 minute flight from Kathmandu, then hike 6 days (plus 2 acclimation days) through the Himalayan mountains. South Base Camp is located at 5,364 meters, just short of 18,000 ft. Depending on your source, EBC Tibet (North Everest Base Camp) is either a little higher or a little lower, but regardless they're not more than a few hundred feet different. South Base Camp in Tibet is a lot quicker and easier to reach, because roads run much closer to camp than they do in Nepal.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
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The airport in Lukla, Nepal
There are a lot of sketchy airports acround the world, but according to the History Channel, none as dangerous as the Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla. But if you've already climbed to Everest Base Camp or trekked anywhere in the surrounding Himalayas, you probably already know this. Nestled deep in the mountains, perched on the edge of a cliff with a tiny little uphill runway, you're crashing into a steep hill if the pilot can't stop the plane fast enough upon landing. That is of course assuming that the clouds aren't too thick and he gets the unassisted landing right so you don't crash into the mountain.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The start of the Everest Base Camp Trail in Lukla
The Himalayas are one of the most picturesque and dynamic environments in the world. The photos in this image gallery were taken on a 12 day trek, starting from the Kathmandu airport, along the flight to the Tenzing-Hillary airport in Lukla, up to Everest Base Camp and Kalapathar, and back. Most were taken using a Canon Rebel T2i with the Canon 15-85mm lens, and there are a few which were taken using my friends cell phone. The photos are not in exact sequence, but pretty close, at least on a daily basis. Our Everest trek place in mid to late September, during the tail end of monsoon season, so we got our fair share of temperamental weather.
Monday, October 31, 2011
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Damage from the earthquake on 09/18/2011, luckily this was about the worst of it that we saw
There are a lot of hazards you think of when you imagine the Everest region and the elements that come with it, but we never saw this coming. While waiting for dinner on the second floor of our Namche Bazaar tea house, on the evening of September 18 (2 days into our trek to Everest Base Camp), a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit the mountainous region diving India and Nepal. All of us coming from California, our first thought was "Oh, it's just a little earthquake"; and then it clicked. We were in a small village in the Himalayas, we had seen first hand how these buildings were constructed, they stack bricks and seal them with mud.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
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The last photo of our group as we arrive back in Lukla having completed the trek
The ATM was down in Namche so it took us a little while to get going in the morning, and we needed to pay the remainder of our tab with Boo. It's been surprisingly difficult to get cash since I've gotten to Nepal, but we got it all sorted. We finally got moving around 9:15 AM, and it was bright and sunny. We even got one more peek of Everest. Yesterday I tried to eat a normal meal, and my battered stomach didn't like that at all. I started to feel sick about an hour and a half into the hike, and I had to slow our pace way down.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
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Crossing a river which flooded and overtook the trail during the monsoon rains of day 10
When we woke up it was still raining heavily. There's nothing to do in Pangboche so the idea of staying there sounded worse than walking in the rain. Once we got confirmation from Boo that we could move our flight back up, it was worth pushing through to get to Namche today. Out into the rain we went, shortly before 11 AM. The rain meant that small streams were now gushing rivers, and there were massive waterfalls everywhere. Rivers were overflowing to the point that rocks that you used to be able to walk across were completely underwater. Jit was picking up rocks and carrying them across the rivers to make paths for us. It was crazy.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
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A clear view looking over the town of Namche Bazaar at 3440m
We woke up a little before 7 and started hiking shortly after 8. Fortunately the rain, which had started yesterday afternoon and lasted through most of the night, had stopped. It was pretty cloudy though. We hiked for a little over 2 hours then stopped at the park checkpoint for the TIMS card, which is the permit that allows you to hike in the National Park. We hiked for another half hour until lunch. Some of the uphills were strenuous, but nothing too tough. It got a lot harder after lunch. Lots of very steep uphills that took us about 2 1/2 hours, stopping every 15-20 minutes. We got to Namche Bazaar a little after 2.
Monday, October 17, 2011
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The start of the Everest Base Camp Trail in Lukla
Sam and I arrived late last night into Kathmandu where we met up with Dan, Andrew, and Mike. We had a 4:30 AM wake up call so that we could make our 6 AM flight to Lukla and start our trek! The flight had gorgeous views but was decidedly one of the sketchiest flights we had ever been on. We got situated in Lukla then started off. We hiked for about 4 1/2 hours with stops for photos and a long lunch. Today was the easy day. Only about 3 hours of actual hiking and a lot of downhill. Our guide is named Bhuwan, and he agreed to let us call him Boo. We also have 3 porters - Jit, Case, and Milar.
