It was a trekking adventure! Although, this is what I signed up for when I began this trip three months ago...Imagine taking a 6-hour, over-crowded, sweaty bus ride and than hiking for 4 hours in the rain with a heavy backpack through waterfalls and landslides, just to arrive at your starting point for the 10-day trek....That was the case for me, as I left Kathmandu and ventured to the small village of Dhunche!
Dhunche is a village of 5,000 people with shops, restaurants, and guest houses lining the main street. The village lies within the Langtang National Park at an elevation of 2,000 meters. After staying a night in Dhunche, I hired a porter/guide, named Rakesh to go along with me on the trek.
Rakesh was twenty years old and had been doing guided treks for the last three years. He left school at age 16, common in the smaller villages to work with his family as a full-time farmer. His English was minimal, but as has been the case on this trip, we would use hand gestures, smiles, drawings, and patience to communicate our thoughts on family, Nepali/USA culture, travels, girls, music, etc. with each other. The music part was a common theme for both of us and usually led to Rakesh listening to Bob Marley on my IPOD at the end each day's trek!
The 10-day trek began in Dhunche at 2,000 meters and climbed to an elevation of 4,300 meters in Langshisha Kharka with views of the surrounding Himalayan peaks at 6,000 to 7,000 meters. A typical trekking day included a breakfast (hard-boiled eggs, tibetan bread, peanut butter, and black tea) at 7:00 or 8:00 a.m., trekking for 4 to 6 hours up and down the mountains with stops for lunch (noodle soup, tibetan bread, potato momo, and black tea) and a tea break, reaching our destination around 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. and relaxing, reading, writing, or talking with locals around the fire place, and finishing up with a dinner (dal bhat - rice, lentil soup, vegetable curry, tibetan bread, pickled mangos, black tea, and the occasional beer) at 7:00 p.m. This was the day and sleep happened around 8:00 p.m., as most of the villages had limited solar power for lights, heat, radios, and hot showers.
Some of the highlights of the trek are as follows:
-Making it through 5-days of trekking in the monsoon rain with an umbrella, rain jacket, and poncho and winning the blood battle with the many leeches;
-Seeing the stunning valley, rivers, mountain peaks, and wildlife (yaks, goats, horses, sheep, birds, and monkeys) on the 5-days on blue skies and sunshine;
-Observing the many porters with their heavy supplies walking up and down the trail in barefoot or sandals and showing off their balance and strength;
-Watching the simplicity of life in the villages, which consisted of limited farming, collecting wood, making meals, overseeing the guest houses, etc.
-Enjoying the many conversations and smiles with local villagers, as well as learning much about the education system provided to the villagers (Most villagers want to send their children to boarding school rather than the public school because of the higher level quality of education, mainly better English skills. However, the cost (50000-100000 rupees per year, 700-1000 US Dollars) is high for them, so they ask and receive from many foreign trekkers this money to be able to send their children to school. It's great to assist these villagers, but its not addressing the real problem in Nepal! The government needs to develop a more equality-based education system, so that all children have the opportunity to learn English and Nepali in the public school system equivalent to the boarding schools. THIS IS JUST ONE ITEM THAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED!);
-Visting two local cheese factories above 3,500 meters and enjoying the cheese made from Yak milk;
-Sharing the Yak cheese, biddys (Indian cigarettes), and Everest Beer with my guide, Rakesh;
-Being asked to donate 1,000 rupees to the Communist Organization of the Maoists as I was departing for Kathmandu (i did not pay, as I do not support war, and than received some hostility from the group!) -- MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE MAOISTS PROVIDED BELOW; and
-Lastly, riding on the rooftop of the bus back to Kathmandu!!!
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HERE IS A SIDE NOTE FOR THOSE NOT AWARE OF THE CURRENT AND PAST CONFLICT BETWEEN THE NEPALI GOVERNMENT AND MAOIST ORGANIZATION (COMMUNIST PARTY OF NEPAL) IN NEPAL:
Currently, the two groups are in a cease-fire and having discussions about the future of the political arena in Nepal. In 1996, the Maoists initiated the People's War with raids against government buildings, police posts, and private buildings. Over a 10-year people, at least 10,000 people have died and many other injured in this conflict (some are forced sympathizers; many are women and children who have been abused; others are teachers and educators) from violations of human-rights by both the government and Maoist organizations. The People's War has many reasons why it was started, so I will not list them here, but let you, if interested search and learn about this conflict.
Below are two excerpts from a book titled, "A Kingdon Under Siege," by Deepak Thapa which left a lasting impression on me of WHY WAR IS TERRIBLE AND WHY WE (THE USA) SHOULD NOT SUPPORT OR ENDORSE IT AT ANYTIME THROUGH FUNDING OF THE NEPALI NATIONAL ARMY, THE IRAQ WAR, SOON-TO-BE AFGHAN CONFLICT, AND THE LIST THAT CONTINUES TO GO ON AND ON:
EXCERPT #1 - One of the incidents that shocked the country was the Maoist brutal slaying of Muktinath Adhikari in January 2002, not after the country had been placed under an emergency. A very popular teacher, Muktinath had elected to remain in his village and teach, rather than relocate to a safer area of the district. But Muktinath was that rather rare breed--a committed teacher. On this day, he was in his classroom with his students when he was asked to step out: "A group of Maoists tied Muktinath Adhikari's hands behind his back, and took him about 200 meters from the school. There he was tied to a tree and shot in the head. He died on the spot." Much speculation has been written about the reasons for his death, but regardless of that, this was a brutal murder and one caused by WAR.
EXCERPT #2 - Mistaken identities have been all too common. Another tragic instance occurred in the Angapani village in Bajura district. Being about a day's walk from Martadi, the district headquarters, the villagers had been pretty much left to fend for themselves against the Maoists. But now and then the army and police would patrol their area, as happened on October 28, 2003. Having trekked the whole night and arrived in Angapani at the crack of dawn, they saw lights in a house and heard voices inside. They surrounded the house and ordered those inside to come outside. Instead the light was turned off and everything became silent. The order to open the door was given once again but there was no response. The troops then stormed into the house and killed everyone inside.
Seven people lost their lives; and all because of a misunderstanding. The seven were local villagers who had sat down for a night of gambling after harvesting their millet. 'Villagers think they may have suspected the people outside to be local Maoists, who have banned drinking and gambling. So they turned the lights off and kept quiet....Ironically, three of the dead were members of the "Kaal Sena," an anti-Maoist resistance group that the villagers had formed after they couldn't bear harassment by the Maoist militia any more.'
AS YOU CAN SEE, THESE EVENTS ARE JUST A SMALL ELEMENT OF THE MANY CASUALITIES OF THIS WAR AND OTHER WARS. I HOPE FOR YOUR SAKE AND THE COUNTRY THAT YOU REPRESENT THAT YOU MIGHT TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS CONFLICT IN NEPAL. OVER THE LAST WEEK, I HAVE HAD EXPERIENCED THREE EVENTS BY THE MAOISTS: 1) Maoist's tax in Langtang National Park that I did not pay; 2)Yesterday, our bus to go bungee jumping was stopped by a Maoist group and propaganda posters of communism and this organization were posted on the bus; and 3) This morning, I awoke to street demonstrations by the Maoists with chants and th Communist Flag being held high as they walked the streets of Kathmandu. IT'S A REALITY AND QUITE SCARY TO WITNESS THE POWER OF THIS CURRENT REVOLUTION!
I ENCOURAGE YOU TO TAKE SOME TIME AND LEARN MORE OR SHARE WHAT YOU KNOW WITH OTHERS ABOUT THIS CONFLICT IN NEPAL. THEIR ARE MANY BOOKS, JOURNALS, AND WEBSITES WITH INFORMATION ABOUT THIS CONFLICT, SO TAKE THE TIME TO PERFORM A WEB SEARCH AND EDUCATE....MAYBE, ONE DAY IN THE NEAR FUTURE, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO LOOK AT THE WORLD AND CONFIDENTLY SAY "EVERYONE HAS A SMILE FOR THEIR NEIGHBOR!"
http://www.kathmandupost.com
http://www.cpnm.org/
http://www.lionesto.net/
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