A little frantic with planning the trek, acquiring all the necessary gear for the trek and then the week beyond the trek when I'd like to go to Bhutan. I'm becoming less interested in figuring out this city and more interested in getting on the trek.
I've spent most of the day in the KEEP office, a fantastic nonprofit agency that has books, journals and information and advice galore on all the trekking options. They sat me down with a sweet cup of Nepali milk tea and answered patiently as I fired question after worry after question. After much internal debate, I decided that the trek to Mt. Everest base camp would be best. The Everest base camp trek takes approximately 19 days to complete, depending on how many days of rest you require and how hard you are struck with altitude sickness, blisters, nausea, giardia or any other host of ailments along the way. To begin the trek, you have to fly from Kathmandu to a town called Lukla -- or maybe it's just an airstrip called Lukla. You begin right away to make it to the first town, and you are on your way.
With the trek sorted out (sort of), the nice man at the KEEP office helped me make a large dent in my shopping list. There's a lot of gear required for a trek, and aside from underwear, none of it is the same gear required for SE Asia. The KEEP man took me to the clothing storage room and outfitted me with some trekking essentials -- boots, a down jacket, gloves, pants and a hat. All of the items are for rental for about $.50/day, which means that I don't have to bother selling anything or get stuck with a purple and pink down jacket when I've finished. Now for that trekking companion and the rest of my shopping list.
To find a trekking companion, I posted notes on the key message boards around the city. One at the KEEP office, another at Kathmandu Lodge and a third at Pumpernickel bakery. If the message boards fail to find me a companion, my plan is to fly to the starting point of the trek -- a town called Lukla -- on Thursday and bank on meeting some people along the way. Meeting people along the way hasn't been a challenge so far. But if I step off the plane and have an anxiety attack, there will be guides for hire the whole way.
And for the rest of the shopping list, well, it's underway. I've already have or have acquired: sleeping bag, fleece jacket, long trousers, walking boots, flip-flops, socks, scarf, water bottle, water tablets, flashlight, thermos, map, camera, film, notebook, wash kit, tampons, sun hat, lip balm, sun screen, book (War and Peace, that should last me), down jacket.
I have yet to acquire:
- fast drying t-shirt
- fast drying long sleeve shirts (2)
- Nepali Phrasebook
- knit hat and gloves
- pen knife (damn, why didn't I pack my Leatherman)
- more film (you never know)
- towel
- plastic bags (garbage and other)
- drugs (the kind for illness)
- duct tape, mole skin and other blister recovery items
- sunglasses (function not Century 21 fashion)
- snacks
- pencil/pen (preferrably one that works at -50, even though my hands won't)
- fleece pants/thermal underwear
Luckily, there are no shortage of trekking gear stores here selling fake North Face, Patagonia, Eagle Creek, etc. Unluckily, I already own all of this gear and it is sitting in the top of my closet with the rest of my snowboarding clothes in NYC. But a dollar is good for 76 Rupees, and 76 rupees go a long way.
And if all that isn't enough, I need to book my trip to Bhutan, which is exorbitantly expensive (I knew that) and fairly inconvenient in terms of dates. So, with all these items that have to be purchased and decisions to be made before I leave tomorrow, I have little else to say of Kathmandu. Except that the people are more cheerful and friendly than anywhere I've been so far. And the display of Hinduism is fascinating -- women in colorful saris, crowds lined up at temples in the morning to pay homage to their god, bright red marks on foreheads, flowers woven in hair, the drinking and splashing of holy water for happiness, the colorful stories and gods of the religion, the clang of bells as people enter temples to awaken the god within, cows and yaks, released holy animals, wandering in public squares... all of which should be far more interesting than my shopping list, but not to me at the moment. And then there's that war...
