Thoughts before May 1

Headlines here with pic in The Himalayan (March 30, 2010) "a huge cashe of materials used for making petrol bombs being presented before mediapersons by Metropolitan Police in Kathmandu on Thursday" .. and "As UCPN-Maoist is preparing for May 1 showdown across the country terming it People's Movement III, more than 200 Maoist cadres, including People's Liberation Army brigade commander, have revolted against the party" .... and, here we are! Gislene and I parted company this morning, after a lovely breakfast on a terrace of Throng La guest house, and she putting her birthday gift (a little buddah charm necklace) around my neck. Indeed, fond farewells. We have such wonderful memories of our times together. Now, she will go and do a couple of small treks north of Kathmandu for the next week or so. Thapa, my Khatmandu guide hopes that she can travel, as he feels there will be much unrest in the neighbouring villages and towns, and transport may well be affected.

I am so happy that Thapa, my K. guide insisted that I not stick around here and had me organize myself to be picked up this afternoon by the Childhaven administration. So, those of you who may be worrying about me, dont, as I will be behind the safe walls of the Khatmandu orphanage, settling down to volunteer with as much zest and energies and understanding that I can muster.

I must say that this mode of communication, although not perfect, and always $$$s rushed, is great; it gets me off the hook and you can stay with me for my entire journey. Believe me there are times when it is important to know that I have such a great family and friends.

Oh yes, the weather here is much less tropical, as in Chitwan and Lumbini. It is overcast here in this city, and there is an air of expectation. The huge parade we saw this morning was extraordinarily touching. The pure intent and beauty in each face.... folks from the mountains and villages of Nepal .... beautiful costumes, simple flowers, nepalese headgear, cymbols, drums ... not of war, just wake up calls. Many many people's honest eyes contaced mine, warm smiles were shared, a certain understanding and love connected us.

Good talking, lots of love, hugs and NAMESTE/ PEACE and freedom to one and all

Kathmandu again

Hello! late at night and Gislene (sp?) and I have just arrived in Kathmandu after 15 HOURS of busride from Lumbini, birthplace of Buddah! The bus had to pull in to three garages along the way. Then there were huge lineups of buses filled with people,jeeps, etc. all blowing their various horns. Preparation for May 1st Maoist activities I presume. We were in Lumbini for 2 nights wandering around temples built to cebebrate Lord Buddah and world peace. Yesterday, being my birthday, and thank you for your good wishes, we spent cycling around the area and Gislene brought me out for dinner and gave me a lovely golden buddah charm. So I am here in Kathmandu to extend my tourist visa (only paid for one month and have to pay for 3 more) and sign up with the Canadian embassy ... then, next week I will be off to Childhaven to volunteer for the three months. Please look again at their website childhaven.ca and if you would like to donate to this so worthwhile cause please do so. You could send your contribution c/o sister R. Wood, 390 Cummer, Toronto, Ontario M2M 2G2 Canada. She is collecting on my behalf. Thank you! my next blog will probably be about my first impressions and experiences at Childhaven.

I am feeling very fulfilled and very well at this point! Having trekked the Annapurna circuit, and all that that entails, meeting wonderful folks, having a great traveling partner, Gislene, spending time with a real Nepalese family and the teaching in the college and school were times I will never forget. The warmth and generousity of these people is amazing these days. Neither the Paneru family or the college principal would accept money from me .... I am wearing two bangles and a necklace from Chandra Paneru and when I look at them I think of her beauty and warmth....

It is impossible to write properly on blogs, I have decided. But better this than nothing.

Hugs to you, Dyane

Sorry it has taken so long to get here again... I did post something last week, but in the wrong place and if you find it you are a better person than m! Thanks Wilma for your tip. Well, it is Sunday, April 25th and I have just finished teaching 40 Tharpa tribe college students in the Chitwan area, south of Kathmandu and am now using their reluctant computer here inthe lab before going home to the nepalese family I am staying with for 3 days. This afternoon I am involved with kindergarten kids I understand! What a wonderful opportunity for one 60+ year old Canadian.... went cycling last evening after been watched attentively FOR HOURS by several family members, neighbours and friends who cycled over to see this phenomenon! MOST uncomfortable, I might add,but the cycling with an uncle and his 3 year old behind was fun, in the summer tropical heat, through a couple of villages and all that entails (goats,shops, horns, kids and moms, dads building something, stalls and etc.) and through the countryside with its rice paddies and palms.... yeah, and so much more....

I arrived in Chita wildlife national park on Thursday, April 22nd,after a wonderful celebratory jeep ride with Australian friends and various guides and porters, allsinging and/or arm dancing allthe way from Pokara,the town at the end of our trek and a fancy hotel to relax, unwind, entertain and shopped for baggy and appropriate pants and top for teaching and riding on moter scooter to and fromthe school here in the Chitwan area. Met up with Giselyn, french buddy and we came by bus to the wildlife area. Another lovely resort type of hotel (all in the packagedeal) and metnew friends and caught up with old trekkers. Here we bird watched, went on a river to see crocs, etc, on an elephant through the jungle and another elephant in a river, got doused and dumped and laughed with others there. Elephants everywhere... natural phenomenon alongwiththe colourful birds, goats etc. Onthe jungle ride sawrhinos, peacocks, wild pig and babies and lots of birds.... lovely end to trek.

Now, brass tacks.... bit scarey... back to Dahl Bat (rice and side dishes, delicious when, as inall things,taken in moderation) I cantget too hungry in this heat.. Gotup this morning to wash teeth (6 am... leave on moter scooter at 7and teach at 8, onSUNDAY) and crouch/fire toilet.. looked out window and there is my handsome nepalese host and his beau t i ful wife both descretely bathing while being wrapped at all times from a acouple of basins at the back of their lot,beyond their one or two bufflo and goats. She rinsing her gorgeous long hair. Such a lovely sight.

Must go now. I am going to Lupini (sp?), Sidhartha's or Buddah's birth place in a couple of days with Ghislane, and then back to Khatmandu to pick up bags and arrange to go to Childhaven orphanage sometime next week, definitely before or after May 1st when there is a Nepal wide communist rallying thing happening ... not good to be travelling, lets say.

Many of my friends have been delayed going home because of the volcano, but think things are settling down (literally and figuratively speaking).

Onwards and upwards ... this is an amazing place, did I tell you that?! as for teaching the young folks, well, what an honour.

Thanks to those who write and sorry about the impersonal communicado. hugs, Dyane

Throng La

Hi! at last, a computer! I havent seen one for days and my gmail does not work at this place, so, here goes, hopefully I can quickly send this off. It is Wednesday, April 13th and I am in a place called Jomsom, Nepal and have, at last been able to get some money from an exchange place here in this ancient village.
In short, mission completed. I got to the summit of Throng La the day before yesterday and what a thrill it was. 17,765 feet. The highest pass in the world! We started just after 4:30 am, in the dark, and crossed ice and snow and climbed into the oncoming day. It was a perfect morning. The silence and concentration as we climbed step by step towards our goal. At the beginning it was so dark you could barely see patchs of snow and ice and small gulies. Unfortunately my questionable porter went far ahead of us and we could not see him for hours!!! But, Gis and I plodded pumped upwards, retgardless.You had to go with faith, I guess. Others had left before us, and many came after. Gis, my french friend was having difficulyt iwth her breathing and was carrying a very heavy pack. I stayed iwth her or just in front and waved my head (lamp) for encouragement. After about an hour of climbing slowly the darkness began to lighten and I could see the outline of the spectacular mountains around me, just black at first and later, as the sun came over the mountains, you could see the deep \white snow, shiny glaciers, crevacies, etc. At first the moon was a tiny arc in the dark early morning and then was taken over by an ever blue sky and bright sunshine all around. We still kept our very winter gear on (it was the first time I wore this stuff). The sunrise, as you can imagine was thrilling to see; it appeared over one peaak then rose to include the neighbouring peaks. It was a thrill for me to stop a while to watch the sun as it rose to our exciting Throng La peak. The last three to four hours of constant climbing upward saw many of us in various stages of exertion, flagging of will,and resting and sharing stories of others somewhere below fighting or trying to stop their dizziness, headache or sick stomach. I met, remet some folks I had encountered during my past ten days of trekking the Annapurna Circuit. Unique yet wonderful friendships, shall I say "dangerous liasions?"! I had heard a few days previously that trekking Throng La was quite difficult at the beginning, thenwould get harder then, extremely tough and then, PURE HELL! As Gis and I wsere going slower were at the almost 4th hour, almost 9 am and i was still waiting for the PURE HELL! but it did not come for me, for us. It was hard work, yes, we had to stop to breath, sip water and take in the experience... but the peak or the part leading up to the Throng La Pass was ok. We arrived, folks there beside the welcoming board and Tibetan prayer flags... Gis was emotional for a minute or tweo. We were thankful and happy to have arrived at our goal. I went about 50 yardsfor a few minutes to self to a stupa and spent a bit of time out, took some pictures, plantedsome Oojchook (sp) stones for Arran and all my family and then joined the other relieved trekkers. We danced, had tea, touched the Tibetan flags and just hung out a while. We celebrated the ones that finally made it to the top despite awful odds....

After an hour or so we started our way down... about 15,000 feet of down hill Himalayan mountains. In short it was the worst afternoon of my entire trek! My right tibia, right side of leg gave me an awful time. Also was worried about twisting leg, or ankle, not being able to enjoy/ continue trek not to mention be able to stay in Nepal to help out in Childhaven for three more months .... Yes, the head took over. I was exhausted and cranky and worried. On top of this my guide forgot to bring lunch!!!! and we had had breakfast at 4 am and it was now 2 and 3 pm!! Anyways, we arrived back finally at the Mukinath Hotel exhausted and I had tea and biscuits and flopped into bed EXHAUSTED. Next day, yesterday, work up feeling a new person. Gis and I joined a group of new friends at the famous ancient temple (Hindu and Buddhist) and had a very interesting time there seeing the birth of wind, water and fire ... more later. One of the gals in the group is a physio, and here she was giving me exercises to help my (not serious) problem of my right leg. Laughs!

I have, as you can imagine, SO MUCH to tell you. But this costs big bucks and I must leave you now. I have 5 or 6 more days left of my Annapurna Circuit and I will get to my blog sometime when I can. Forgive the grammar and the rather factual note here, but I wanted to share a little about my actual Throng La experience.

I hope that this finds you all well. I will try to get to my gmail now and hope to find a note or two from you!!

hugs from the Himalayas! Dyane

Acclimitizing at 11,482 feet

I have just done a bit of maths and find out it is April 8th, my 6th day trekking and I have arrived at a very important point in my journey! Two days in Manage to ACCLIMITIZE before, what we have heard, is the big one; what I or we have been doing during the past days is warm ups. Yeah! right!! It has been and is the most fantastic journey ...

The real electricity is flashing on and off and the computer still seems to work!

The wind is whirling around outside. The sun is shining. It is an exsquisite day. The po;ular 'acclimitizing' village, Manange is 3,500m/ 11,482ft. I am staying in a tiny hut beside my new French friend Jiesling (sp?) in a large tea house with views of flat roofed houses and encircling us, Annapurna II, Annapurna III (7,555 meters), Gangapurna (7,454 meters) to the south, Tilicho (7,132 m) and the Grand Barrier to the west, Chulu West (6,583 m) and Chulu East 6,059 m) to the north.

This morning in Pisang, after my first rough night when the folks next to me talked for hours and a dog barked NON STOP until about 5 am!!!! we had breakfast (Pisang is 3,500 m/11,482 ft) at 7 am we started with a pleasant walk through pine forests and had scenic views in the Manang valley of the Pisang peak to the north and the Chulu peak above. Once again we came across Tibetan houses. Jisling (sp) and I climbed up hundreds of steps yesterday to visit a monastery and quietly participated in a v e r y ancient part of Nepal.

Those are some facts written fast, always conscious of $$$ time and the expense of internetting in this remote and high part of the world. You may want to know how I feel. Well the images that come at you once you step out of your tea house until you enter the next are many, are ancient, are absolutely breathtaking... from looking at the scenery to the many encounters of the Nepalese folks and seeing them go about their every day business. Totally unspoiled they are... really like pages taken from ancient days... I am reminded of the west of Ireland and how it must have been all those years ago. I have not seen a tire mark for days now.

I have so many more things to talk about and I just cannot relax enough to do it now. Sufficith it to say that it is a journey of a lifetime. The prayer wheels, the flags blowing in the wind the earnest smiles of welcome, the hard hard loads carried by men, women and children alike. The whiteness of the clothes they wash in the streams or by a tap, the shining bowls and wonderful colours and style of dress. The children love playing with sticks, they dig for their family in between the stones, I have seen ancient type of ploughing, and n'er a look of self consciousness! You slowly make your way up yet another mountain and at the top, under some trees there is an ancient man with a table of Nepalese jewellry and animals heads.. all the while he is chanting Ommm name name name.

I saw a school this morning and I peered over the tall fence. There were kids playing with one ball and a group talking in a corner and a group of older men conversing with a group of boys ....

I have had good days and tough days... but the tough does not last long. Its all about managing your free time, managing your mind and when you are PRESENT you feel a peace and love that knows no bounds. I have time to think of family, of friends, of folks here and across the line and lovely thoughts come to mind. Rosemary gave me a scarf (good for the wind and blowing sand), and I feel it is like a prayer flag flapping gently around my neck, reminding me of the support I feel!

I must go, I see that I have a load of e-mails to read and this will cost a fortune. This will be the last blog before I am truly challenged in a couple of days.

Hugs to all who read.

Dyane

Note to family from Chame, 8,891 ft

I cannot believe it. I am actually writing to you both. Where to start? First it sounds that all is well with all the house hunting, car searching/ buying etc. Keep me informed!

Where to start? I am going to look for the actual itinerary sent to me ages ago and send it to you (should have done this before). Anyway, after a FANTASTIC tour around Katmandu and traditional Nepalese meal and dancing in the evening I was met by my porter and guide. The guide, I am very disappointed, hardly speaks any english ... I have been meeting people on the route the last couple of days and get some information. Anyway I thought I was doing very well on this bus (where I left my Nepal little guide book and diary behind!!!! sooh annorying) for about 4 hours and though I had it all under my belt. But, at Beshisahar we had to change and the three of us piled into a van. I am not kidding you there were about 14 - 16 people in it... no room for the guide and porter so they sat on top with the bags. What a ride! many folks got sick! I had a bit of space beside me so offered a little boy to sit beside me. After an hour or so he hollered something to his mom behind and proceeded to get sick, several times! Fortunately nothing landed on me. Everyone has little bags and then toss them out the window when done!

The trekking started on Sunday ... its another place this circuit..... villages in the mountains dotted throughout out trek. It is like going back in time. No radios, no cars, no tv, NO NUFFIN!! the folks are dressed in colourful traditional style, the women all gorgeous. The kids look after their younger siblings. Everyone is busy, washing clothes in a river or pond, and themselves beside waterfalls, etc. Men and women carry huge loads of wood on their back. The wood is cut the same size and stored outside their homes. Real order and total self esteem and true true joy and happiness as they go about their business. Men are often working in the mountains making bricks, sawing wood, making well made houses. During our trek we are met very often by donkies or ponies carrying stuff to the next village. The first few animals are all decked out in nepalese colours, pom poms and one or more of them carry a sort of gentle cow bell. I have met many folks, and the word NEMESTE (I salute the god in you) is exchanged, even by the little three year olds!

My impressions could go on and on, as you can imagine, but I am on paid time here.

The trekking itself has gotten, lets say challenging! breathing and going v e r y slowly is very important. We are in Chame now, about half way up on our upward journey and the last couple of days have been hard for me. Today when I arrived at yet another lovely tea house (I am in a separate cottage overlooking mountains) I was exhausted and my hip/right side of knee was dully painful. This is a given for me and I feel it sometimes at night. But as my doc says, with building up the quad muscles it hopefully will support me throughout! The pathways on the trek are all rough and so when walking even on a switchback I am very careful. Dont like to mention it. When we arrived for lunch at about noon today, after 3 hours of straight uphill I had a bit of a meltdown on my own as I lay on a bench outside the teahouse. Its this and the breathing and being constantly careful of movements which took its toll. I was not hungry but had some delicious fresh ginger tea and a couple of biscuits and my guide cut up some apples oranges and pomegranate seeds. I went to bed when we arrived at our destination here at Chame and slept for about an hour and did a bit of reading.

Outside there is a meeting of Maoists happening in the square! there are a few communists here in the area.

It is definitely Tibetan country here, prayer wheels and flags everywhere. I think of the Dalai Lama and feel so sorry that he cannot visit his beautiful beautiful homeland.

I SAW ANNAPURNA 11 for the first time as I came into Chame! Towering and beautiful covered with snow. Apparently it will be very visible in the early morning (tomorrow)

Last night I met a french gal who does not speak much english. We are meeting again for dinner this evening and she may join me for the hard part (the peak of Thrung La).

I have been having wonderful bowel movements until today.... little bit, shall I say, wathery? better be careful not to fart!!

Anyways, I will probably copy and paste this onto my blog.

I will call you (COLLECT) ON Monday or Tuesday, when I actually make the peak.

Lots of love. Miss you and feel your support.

Arran the head rest was fabulous for all my flights!

Dyane/ Mom