Nainital prep for Corbett National Park

we've done our epic train journey, survived another round in Delhi, and a night train and jeep ride to Nainital. it is pretty here, but not a lot for us to do... it is a mainly-Indian tourist attraction -- not oriented to foreign guests. we've played miniature golf [twice], took an arial tram, plan to have a paddle-boat race tomorrow, perhaps visit a cave

we are preparing for a visit to Corbett National Park, and scrambling for other activities to fill our days... it's not a comfortable place for any of us to be in. can't canoe, rafting not available in this area, a few short treks available but we don't seem to be energetic enough to actually schedule them -- people want to sell us bus tours and we look at them and realize we aren't up for that either....... petulant bunch I guess!

news from Nepal is still rough, although for that country perhaps this is a crisis that will result in long-term peace and prosperity -- I certainly hope so. For us, it looks less and less likely that we will be able to visit on this trip -- the US asked everyone to leave as soon as possible; the last time the UK issued a travel warning they waited 10 days after the violence subsided before lifting the warning........... many people who are already IN Nepal are dealing with day-time curfews, food shortages, and violence towards demonstrators as well as those who violate curfew... if we think we are bored now, just what would we be like with DAYS of being sequestered in a hotel room??????

we like each other, and still have lots of good memories of our time together; we are starting to worry that if we continue to "piss about" we will seriously get on each other's nerves... many of the adventurous things we planned to do are just not available here or would require us to travel extensively between each event.

this morning we asked our group leader if the VentureCo company would buy us off and conclude the trip at the first of May if we can't get into Nepal. They gave some members a very generous settlement in Darjeeling, there are some rumors that it was too generous [a miscalculation on their part] -- it would be unfortunate if there was no buy-out option for us, or if they were not equally generous with us............. but we remain in the wait-and-see mode until we have a solid answer from them.

what does this mean for me? we go from here to Corbett, and then back to Delhi around the 29th. once we are in Delhi, what my next steps will be determined by how much funds I have available... there are a couple of things I might do before I leave -- I can hang w/ a subset of people who are planning to stay if they can afford it... or I could change my flights and come home early.

not sure I am able to process the emotional side of this. it feels good to have the conversation out in the open rather than having thoughts and not sharing them. because I like these people, I don't want to end the trip overshadowing some of the great memories we've already made together.

it seems sad and disquieting... the most pervasive feeling is that we are tired. tired of India perhaps, especially since we were pumped to go to Nepal... but even as I write, I realize I'm in limbo -- hadn't planned to be in Utah, so there is just as much reason for me to stay here as to go... guess that I'm a leaf in the breeze, will have to see how the winds blow.

my next post I should have a bit more information about what I will be doing personally [should be around 1st May]

can't access e-mail from this computer, so don't be surprised if I haven't responded to your personal messages; I'll try from a cyber cafe on the other end of town tomorrow.

regards, b

leaving Darjeeling

we got back from white-water rafting mid-day -- time to do a bit of laundry and repack to leave for our next adventure.

we still cannot enter Nepal, so will be spending some more time in India -- have two more times that we can reassess the situation and do parts of what we had originally planned in Nepal -- we are all still hoping that the situation will settle down so that we are able to either do the trek or the other activities that were planned [national park, biking, canyoning, etc]

our next segment takes us to Nainital, a resort area where we will plan some events prior to 1st of May, then an alternate trek if we still can't enter Nepal... a 10-day to Nanda Devi glacier, if weather permits

Three of our group decided to travel independently -- they have flown to the southern tip of India and will travel up the western coastline. They were already acting like they were not a part of the larger group before the Nepal situation, so perhaps it is for the best.

mood of the team is pretty low -- we are tired and homesick and sorry we can't do our original itenary -- we had definitely geared ourselves up for a new experience/country -- but the news makes us glad we didn't get ourselves INTO Nepal and then find ourselves dealing with shortages/ violence [right before the rafting, we had a 12-hour bandh here in Darjeeling -- a strike where most everything shuttered -- definitely makes the life of a tourist "interesting"-- and this strike was because a local official was murdered and his party didn't think that the police were working fast enough to apprehend the murderer]

out of time, so that's all for now!

partial trek summary; personal impressions

beautiful and cold. rated "easy" by the trekking guides, but certainly challenging enough for me! I'm a little stiff in my muscles, but certainly capable of the effort required to cover the distance [about 100 kms over the 8 days]

I was tired and each day my knees increasingly uncomfortable -- one of the cook's assistants carried my backpack and walked beside me for the last two days -- I was a little embarrassed, but it made more sense than me being totally unable to walk and having to need even MORE help. Poles kept me much safer, since my upper body could help going uphill and if I was slipping they often stopped me from a full-on fall. [well, not always... I fell the first day to smush my thumb and bruise a hip -- my thumb was regularly soaked in salt water in the evenings, and to look at it now you wouldn't know it was hurt, although sometimes I forget to be kind to it! The hip didn't impact walking at all, although some nights when I would roll over in the sleeping bag it would wake me up]

on day 6 we got up at 2:30 am and walked in the dark up to a view point [where the picture was taken] -- it was so cold that the tube of my platypus drinking system froze... but stunning scenery and worth the effort and stress [walking in the dark is hard, even though we walked part of the journey the afternoon before so that we were a bit familiar]

I continue to love the mountains and although the Himalayas are different than mountain ranges I've visited before, they are equally nourishing to me... far more interesting to me than a city!

the hardest part for me was that I am too cold at night -- we talked about me buying an expedition-weight down sleeping bag and a down coat -- the "Ice Dragon" works very well for water resistance and cooler temps, but I need more than that...... it was surprising to me how warm I would get while we were walking -- but as soon as we stopped I needed some layers.

We returned to Darjeeling yesterday, to news that the British Embassy has issued a travel advisory for Nepal -- which we were scheduled to enter tomorrow. Because VentureCo is a British company, we will not be able to continue unless the advsory is lifted. We spent parts of the morning looking for what our alternatives are. Since it seems like a situation that could sort itself out in the next few days, we are talking about waiting in this area for a bit before deciding precisely what we will do.

None of our alternatives are all that cool, and several involve some brutal travel sections -- for example, several days by crowded local bus. We could take another trek, but many of them are not to a destination, so walking for the sake of the walk doesn't seem to appeal to everyone... and if we take another trek and then can enter Nepal, some of us want to do the non-trekking itenerary rather than the Everest Base Camp... since we want to ride elephants and search for rhinos and white-water raft...

all very complicated and stressful. one of the many days that I'm glad I am not Andy, our trip leader!

I have a cold -- decided to forgo the evening's activities and go to bed; tomorrow we will wander about Darjeeling with our trekking guide Veevik [sp?], whom I enjoy very much -- he is a genuinely happy human being, smiles from the heart.

today I bought elastic supports for my knees -- and when we trek again I will need to hire a porter to carry the heaviest items for me; I would take my water and clothes needed during the day.. I told Andy I was not willing to put him and the guides under the risk of having to transport me, so if a porter wasn't possible I would need to do something else... he agreed and was actually quite supportive when I was being a "slow walker" -- so much easier to carry on when someone is being kind [he commented that I wasn't complaining much -- I asked him what good it would do for me to complain? he smiled and said "not much, and it would turn me against you!"]

partial trek summary; what I sent for VentureCo web site

Yesterday we returned to Darjeeling after our "warm-up" trekking experience. "warm" wasn't always a part of our experience, but it certainly was a learning opportunity -- it helped each of us to realize what we already knew and what needs to be different for the longer Everest Base Camp trek. {For me, that means a better sleeping bag, because I froze, even with all of my clothes on and my coat on top of the bag!!! }

Sikkim is a lovely part of the world -- in the lower elevations, we saw a variety of flowers, wild strawberries, magnolia and rhododendron trees in bloom. As we went higher, there were still smaller alpine flowers and rhododendron bushes that were not yet in bloom [our guide said about a month later]. We traveled to a view point where we were able to see the 3rd highest peak of the world in the distance

One of the days we were acclimatizing to the altitude, we gathered in the dining tent to be sociable... rather than playing cards, we decided to define our own board game, based on our adventure so far. Several hours of happy reminiscing resulted in a set of experiences that could be along a path that game pieces could navigate. Neil drew the graphics and carved a small potato as our die [6 came up more often than one would expect, especially when Rich rolled!]

Some of the squares that we could land on:
-- too relaxed from yoga, lose a turn
-- toilet/toilet tent -- return to Cipro square for a course of antibiotics
-- food risk [roll again, evens advance those additional squares, odds sends you to the Cipro square]
-- got a flat tire, go directly to the school -- how to turn a typically-unpleasant experience into a bonus
-- saw a tiger, advance to the end of the Bandhavgarh section
-- did NOT see a tiger, return to beginning of the Bandhavgarh section
-- team leader, swap places with the person who is farthest along

What did we learn from this? It is amazing to us that our time in India has been so full and so varied, and we were able to see and learn so much. We realize that we can focus on the positive aspects of the experience that we want to remember, and minimize the rest... PMA -- Positive Mental Attitude. It makes even the difficult things bearable.

Andy prepared us very well for trekking. We've had day treks on weekends and whenever they could be fit into the schedule. This allowed us to get used to walking over a variety of terrain and also helped us think about what we would need readily accessible in our packs.

We were spoiled by a well-prepared support team, often tea and coffee as our wake-up call, and a variety of hot meals. The heavier gear was carried by horses, and we also shared the trail with yaks and porters who RUN up and down with baskets on their backs, often in flip-flops -- they certainly put us to shame in the fitness department!

I personally have some vivid memories from the trek. I'll try to share some of them here, although words seem a bit inadequate:
-- Sunrise over the Himalayas is a singular pleasure -- something that made me thrilled each time I was lucky enough to experience it. Sometimes we had a clear morning, then the clouds would roll in and obscure the peaks -- that made the early-morning wake up even more distinct.
-- Returning to camp seeing the tents as tiny little specks in the distance -- the sheer scale of the place and realizing how small and humble we are in comparison.
-- How quickly the weather changes -- clouds roll in and envelop you with fog, then leave again while you are concentrating on the trail in front of you.
-- How poor a camera is at capturing a scene. Our eyes and our noses and our skin all help us to SEE a scene, feel it and smell it -- the photograph often pales in comparison.
-- How much simple kindnesses between teams and crews can improve a day and a trip.
-- How little is really needed to live, and to live relatively comfortably... our lives get cluttered with so much stuff -- when you have to pack it on your back for hours at a time, you definitely prioritize to the bare necessities!

I'll attach a photo from Alex of the group at the view point.

Bea, on behalf of Himalaya Venture Team 21