5.01.2007
About Nepal
Nepal is a beautiful but extremely poor country that has a very special place in our hearts. It was here that we got engaged, after climbing to the summit of our trek – Poon Hill, at 3210m. It was here where we fell in love with the amazing landscape, with its formidable mountain ranges, and also with its even more amazing people. As we trekked through their back yards, tiny Nepalese children would offer us beaming smiles, hand picked flowers, and walking sticks, in exchange for nothing more than our greeting of Namaste. The Nepalese are a gentle people, but they are also very entertaining – as we found out on the night of our engagement when we gatecrashed an impromptu party in the tiny village of Tatapani. We only had time for a five day trek in the Annapurna region, but resolved that we would one day return to climb the entire Annapurna circuit.
During our short visit in 2003, we encountered two deaths. On one occasion, we were travelling by rickety taxi from the end of our trek back to Pokhara, and our taxi driver stopped to speak to a motorcyclist for a few minutes. Five minutes later, an ambulance came racing past, and we learnt that that same motorcyclist had been run over, ironically, by the ambulance, and was pretty much close to death, but was being rushed to the nearest hospital anyway.
The other death was in Ghorepani. The trekking party was in high spirits one night, and the porters started singing some bawdy Nepali songs. The landlord came over and requested that they stop singing. Apparently one of the young girls of the village had taken ill after drinking cow’s blood as part of a ritual. She complained of abdominal pain, and when her condition deteriorated someone carried her on their back to try to reach the nearest health post, which was 2 days away. She died on the way.
Nepal had given us so many unforgettable experiences in such a short space of time. We wanted to not only return and trek the spectacular mountainous regions, but also to give back to these beautiful and generous people, who gave with their whole hearts and expected so little in return.
