Healthcare in rural communities. Something which I came face to face with while on my trip to Nepal. I contracted a bacterial infection which without medical care could have been a serious problem. When I arrived at the hospital in Kathmandu I was feverish, dehydrated and disoriented. When airlifted out of the Himalayan mountains I could not walk, was unconscious and I have no recollection of the hours before-hand. I was very lucky, having access to the proper medical care meant that I was treated and back on a plane to family within a week, but others in Nepal are not so lucky. 13,000 children under 5 every year die in Nepal from diarrheal diseases due to poor hygiene and sanitation. Only 46% percent of the country has access to latrines, with only 12% having access to the sewerage facilities. 80% of communicable diseases in Nepal are due to contaminated water and poor sanitation.
While on this trip we were sitting outside our teahouse waiting to get ready for the day when a man carrying a basket came down the steps towards us. This is a normal sight in Nepal as everyone uses baskets, held by a strap across the forehead, to carry loads. He was not however carrying just a load, but a sick old man, who needed medical care. The only way for those in rural areas to reach the necessary medical care is to travel down the mountain, carrying the ill person, to reach transportation to a major city. This could take over a week and once they reach a hospital, care is not guaranteed. Childreach works with Dhulikhel hospital to provide healthcare to the rural populations in Nepal. They run a ‘School and Child Health Programme’ which assists in health education and health camps for mothers and their children. So far the program has touched the lives of over 2,500 mothers and children. Following Childreach’s effors to make each project self-sustainable they are working to increase the knowledge and skills of the health workers in areas most needed, establishing telemedicine facilities in Outreach centers and helping rural healthcare become more accessible to all.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Last Diary Post
Woke up and knew that I wanted to go home, today. Childreach had been amazing and told me they could get me on a flight back to London as soon as I was out of the hospital and my dad was in Surrey visiting my grandma. I wanted to come home.
When they asked me if I wanted food I knew that if I wanted to leave I had to try to eat something. Never before has half a slice of toast and a banana felt so victorious. I had finished my antibiotics course during the night and the doctor came to speak to me. The swelling in my stomach was still pretty bad and I was in pain but knowing that I could receive medical attention and just had to be well enough to fly he agreed to discharge me, providing that I receive medical care as soon as I arrived back in England. I could go home.
The next day I got on a flight back to New Delhi and then transferred to Heathrow. My dad was waiting for me when I landed and I have never been so happy to see my family.
Childreach, Really Wild! Travel and Insure&Go, were amazing throughout this experience. I was well taken care of at the CIWEC Clinic Travel Medicine center under Dr. Ramsay and cannot express my gratitude enough for taking care of me, they do an amazing job.
Overall my experience in Nepal was not the one which I had hoped for but getting ill taught me some valuable lessons, and the importance of the money which was donated. I got to speak with more Childreach volunteers than I would have and learn firsthand about medical care as well as life in Nepal. The work that Childreach is doing in Nepal and around the world is invaluable and I plan on posting segments of the importance of your donations and how I saw how much they were needed. Thank you so much for all of your time and your kind donations, it means the world to me and to others whom you have helped.
I wish you all a happy and healthy new year!
Sophie Goggins
xxx
When they asked me if I wanted food I knew that if I wanted to leave I had to try to eat something. Never before has half a slice of toast and a banana felt so victorious. I had finished my antibiotics course during the night and the doctor came to speak to me. The swelling in my stomach was still pretty bad and I was in pain but knowing that I could receive medical attention and just had to be well enough to fly he agreed to discharge me, providing that I receive medical care as soon as I arrived back in England. I could go home.
The next day I got on a flight back to New Delhi and then transferred to Heathrow. My dad was waiting for me when I landed and I have never been so happy to see my family.
Childreach, Really Wild! Travel and Insure&Go, were amazing throughout this experience. I was well taken care of at the CIWEC Clinic Travel Medicine center under Dr. Ramsay and cannot express my gratitude enough for taking care of me, they do an amazing job.
Overall my experience in Nepal was not the one which I had hoped for but getting ill taught me some valuable lessons, and the importance of the money which was donated. I got to speak with more Childreach volunteers than I would have and learn firsthand about medical care as well as life in Nepal. The work that Childreach is doing in Nepal and around the world is invaluable and I plan on posting segments of the importance of your donations and how I saw how much they were needed. Thank you so much for all of your time and your kind donations, it means the world to me and to others whom you have helped.
I wish you all a happy and healthy new year!
Sophie Goggins
xxx
Day 11: Kathmandu Hospital
When the next morning came and shifts changed I was still awake. The day nurse told me that the doctor would soon be here to check on me. He did and was surprised that I seemed to be worse. Normally fluids tend to fix most problems trekkers come in with but it became apparent that was not my problem. I was still nauseous and my stomach was swollen and severely tender. I was having trouble moving and still couldn’t stand without help.
I had been trying to get through to my family all morning but due to the bad connection and electricity cycling in Kathmandu (the electricity is limited to each section of Kathmandu and cuts every so often) my family was having a very hard time to get through to me and me to them. When we did the connection was so horrible that I could hear them perfectly but they couldn’t hear a word I was saying, which obviously caused my mum to get upset as she could tell I was in pain but she couldn’t hear a word I was saying. I hadn’t really cried up until that point but I worked myself into a state and I completely lost it. When the nurse came in to check on me she gave me an IV which knocked me out, giving me some much needed rest.
Embarrassingly during this time visitors came from Childreach to visit and I apparently had a fair conversation with them which I do not recollect. The nurse on their way out apparently told them she was shocked I even came out of my sleep to talk and I slept for much of that day with the medicine’s aid. That afternoon when I woke up I still felt horrible and the nauseau while getting better meant that the pain in my stomach was becoming much harder to ignore. When the doctor came in to check on me I was sent straight for a scan of my stomach. He had told me that my test results had come back and it seemed I had a nasty bacterial infection but just wanted to check. The ultra-sound doctor tried to be gentle but my stomach was so swollen and tender that even the softest touch felt excruciating and I tried to hold back tears through the scan. She had to call the doctor in to “check something” which was more than slightly terrifying as they apparently thought I had appendicitis. Upon further inspection I was told that was not the case but instead I had “very unhappy swollen intestines” which they would keep an eye on. I was put back to bed and started on an IV of antibiotics. At this point they had switched to my hand, as the two IV points on my inner arms were now full arm bruises which made it hard for me to bend my arms. I was told that I would not be discharged that day and probably not even tomorrow.
Nima came to visit me that night and was really lovely as he came late after work and just talked to me as I was having trouble sleeping and still in a lot of pain. He told me about his daughter and about work and about why I had met so many Nimas on the trip. Turns out it depends on the day of the week you were born. Everyone born on a certain day is named Nima. I did get to go to the storeroom to make a call to my parents telling them what had happened and not to worry (likely!). I was asked if I would like any dinner but food seemed out of the question. I was told if I didn’t eat it was likely I would not be going home until I did so.
I had been trying to get through to my family all morning but due to the bad connection and electricity cycling in Kathmandu (the electricity is limited to each section of Kathmandu and cuts every so often) my family was having a very hard time to get through to me and me to them. When we did the connection was so horrible that I could hear them perfectly but they couldn’t hear a word I was saying, which obviously caused my mum to get upset as she could tell I was in pain but she couldn’t hear a word I was saying. I hadn’t really cried up until that point but I worked myself into a state and I completely lost it. When the nurse came in to check on me she gave me an IV which knocked me out, giving me some much needed rest.
Embarrassingly during this time visitors came from Childreach to visit and I apparently had a fair conversation with them which I do not recollect. The nurse on their way out apparently told them she was shocked I even came out of my sleep to talk and I slept for much of that day with the medicine’s aid. That afternoon when I woke up I still felt horrible and the nauseau while getting better meant that the pain in my stomach was becoming much harder to ignore. When the doctor came in to check on me I was sent straight for a scan of my stomach. He had told me that my test results had come back and it seemed I had a nasty bacterial infection but just wanted to check. The ultra-sound doctor tried to be gentle but my stomach was so swollen and tender that even the softest touch felt excruciating and I tried to hold back tears through the scan. She had to call the doctor in to “check something” which was more than slightly terrifying as they apparently thought I had appendicitis. Upon further inspection I was told that was not the case but instead I had “very unhappy swollen intestines” which they would keep an eye on. I was put back to bed and started on an IV of antibiotics. At this point they had switched to my hand, as the two IV points on my inner arms were now full arm bruises which made it hard for me to bend my arms. I was told that I would not be discharged that day and probably not even tomorrow.
Nima came to visit me that night and was really lovely as he came late after work and just talked to me as I was having trouble sleeping and still in a lot of pain. He told me about his daughter and about work and about why I had met so many Nimas on the trip. Turns out it depends on the day of the week you were born. Everyone born on a certain day is named Nima. I did get to go to the storeroom to make a call to my parents telling them what had happened and not to worry (likely!). I was asked if I would like any dinner but food seemed out of the question. I was told if I didn’t eat it was likely I would not be going home until I did so.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Day 10: Helicopter Insurance was a good idea
I do not remember a lot about this day. I remember waking up and hearing everyone exclaiming over the view, since we had arrived in a cloud last night no one had been able to see the view that the tea house boasted of. It was breathtaking, like nothing I had seen before. We finally had a view of Annapurna and it was like nothing I have ever seen before. Pictures you see cannot explain the absolutely awe-inspiring view. I don’t think I have ever felt so small before.
Everyone got ready and ate breakfast, plain porridge for me. I still wasn’t feeling very well but it was easier to hide my nausea just sitting waiting to leave. I was hoping that the medicine the nurse had given me a day earlier would kick in soon, as I could not wait to reach the Annapurna base camp now that I had gotten a full view of the gorgeous mountain. We got our warm up finished and then headed out. I didn’t make it far before I began retching again. I tried to hold it back at first but as we continued to climb it got harder to keep from heaving. By an hour in Shona, Naomi, Nima and I had dropped behind the main group as I was moving so slowly, stopping every few minutes to retch. I felt dizzy and while I continued to try and sip water it made me feel horrible, but I felt so horrible letting everyone down and dropping behind so I tried to keep going on. We bumped into a another group of doctors which had a set of doctors who were German. As they watched me they stopped and attempted to talk to us through our guides to figure out what was wrong. They gave me some pills for nausea that they were carrying and told Nima and Shona to just make sure I keep drinking water. I know about another hour passed but I do not remember much of it. I do remember getting to a small village and passing out as we arrived. I kept trying to stand but I just couldn’t do it. The world was spinning around and I felt like my stomach was trying to come out my mouth but just couldn’t. I got to lay down in the village where two other groups were eating lunch. Both groups contained doctors who stood nearby watching me. I remember then my retching got even worse and I couldn’t think about anything else. I couldn’t stand up and when I tried I lost consciousness again. I do remember one of the doctors saying to Nima, “You have to get her off the mountain. Now.” As Nima got out his radio. I don’t remember a lot else. I remember laying down in a room in the house nearby and being given a large garlic clove by the woman that ran the tea house to smell, as the Nepalese believe that garlic cures altitude sickness. I don’t remember a lot but I remember figuring out that I was leaving only when Nima took Shona’s coat to try and signal to the helicopter. I was carried outside and remember sitting in the mud while the helicopter attempted to land on a patch of grass not larger than a room. I don’t remember much else only that the retching didn’t stop and I came in and out of consciousness as we flew towards Kathmandu. When we landed I tried to walk from the helicopter to the ambulance but couldn’t make it, I collapsed right as I got out of the helicopter. I remember laying in the ambulance and panicking because I didn’t know where I was and retching while lying down gave me the horrible sensation of choking. I remember Nima (tour company owner) telling me that we would be at the hospital soon. I was told after it took us a long time to get to the hospital since it was the largest holiday in Nepal on that day and all of the roads were closed for the celebrations. When we arrived at the hospital I remember laying on an examination table and having an IV put in my arm. When the doctor first arrived I thought I was imagining him. He was Scottish and walked in to the room and I remember he had to address me multiple times as I genuinely thought I was imaging him. They gave me an anti nausea drug and some fluids which he said would hopefully help. I was put up in a room and called my mum to tell her what had happened, she shockingly took it fairly well as I was already in hospital and being treated. I felt horrible. I was still retching and the medicine didn’t seem to be helping much, I still felt extraordinarily weak and the thought of eating food or seeing it immediately made me gag. I was introduced to the night nurse, who was lovely and told to try and get some sleep. I didn’t. My IV bag had to be changed every 4 hours and when it wasn’t my IV had to be replaced, something which was excruciating, I was told because I had hard veins to find due to dehydration. Every time the nurse came into the room quietly to check on me she found me sitting up awake, as lying down while retching still meant I had trouble breathing. I sat up all night watching the fluid from the bag drip into my IV hoping that I would soon feel better and be able to go home.
Everyone got ready and ate breakfast, plain porridge for me. I still wasn’t feeling very well but it was easier to hide my nausea just sitting waiting to leave. I was hoping that the medicine the nurse had given me a day earlier would kick in soon, as I could not wait to reach the Annapurna base camp now that I had gotten a full view of the gorgeous mountain. We got our warm up finished and then headed out. I didn’t make it far before I began retching again. I tried to hold it back at first but as we continued to climb it got harder to keep from heaving. By an hour in Shona, Naomi, Nima and I had dropped behind the main group as I was moving so slowly, stopping every few minutes to retch. I felt dizzy and while I continued to try and sip water it made me feel horrible, but I felt so horrible letting everyone down and dropping behind so I tried to keep going on. We bumped into a another group of doctors which had a set of doctors who were German. As they watched me they stopped and attempted to talk to us through our guides to figure out what was wrong. They gave me some pills for nausea that they were carrying and told Nima and Shona to just make sure I keep drinking water. I know about another hour passed but I do not remember much of it. I do remember getting to a small village and passing out as we arrived. I kept trying to stand but I just couldn’t do it. The world was spinning around and I felt like my stomach was trying to come out my mouth but just couldn’t. I got to lay down in the village where two other groups were eating lunch. Both groups contained doctors who stood nearby watching me. I remember then my retching got even worse and I couldn’t think about anything else. I couldn’t stand up and when I tried I lost consciousness again. I do remember one of the doctors saying to Nima, “You have to get her off the mountain. Now.” As Nima got out his radio. I don’t remember a lot else. I remember laying down in a room in the house nearby and being given a large garlic clove by the woman that ran the tea house to smell, as the Nepalese believe that garlic cures altitude sickness. I don’t remember a lot but I remember figuring out that I was leaving only when Nima took Shona’s coat to try and signal to the helicopter. I was carried outside and remember sitting in the mud while the helicopter attempted to land on a patch of grass not larger than a room. I don’t remember much else only that the retching didn’t stop and I came in and out of consciousness as we flew towards Kathmandu. When we landed I tried to walk from the helicopter to the ambulance but couldn’t make it, I collapsed right as I got out of the helicopter. I remember laying in the ambulance and panicking because I didn’t know where I was and retching while lying down gave me the horrible sensation of choking. I remember Nima (tour company owner) telling me that we would be at the hospital soon. I was told after it took us a long time to get to the hospital since it was the largest holiday in Nepal on that day and all of the roads were closed for the celebrations. When we arrived at the hospital I remember laying on an examination table and having an IV put in my arm. When the doctor first arrived I thought I was imagining him. He was Scottish and walked in to the room and I remember he had to address me multiple times as I genuinely thought I was imaging him. They gave me an anti nausea drug and some fluids which he said would hopefully help. I was put up in a room and called my mum to tell her what had happened, she shockingly took it fairly well as I was already in hospital and being treated. I felt horrible. I was still retching and the medicine didn’t seem to be helping much, I still felt extraordinarily weak and the thought of eating food or seeing it immediately made me gag. I was introduced to the night nurse, who was lovely and told to try and get some sleep. I didn’t. My IV bag had to be changed every 4 hours and when it wasn’t my IV had to be replaced, something which was excruciating, I was told because I had hard veins to find due to dehydration. Every time the nurse came into the room quietly to check on me she found me sitting up awake, as lying down while retching still meant I had trouble breathing. I sat up all night watching the fluid from the bag drip into my IV hoping that I would soon feel better and be able to go home.
Day 9: Early Days
Didn't feel very well when I woke up this morning but didn't have an awesome night's sleep so probably just a little tired. Woke up at 6 am promtly from a knock on the door from Nima. Got ready quickly and headed across the path to breakfast. We ate our porridge as the donkeys next to us ate from their feed bags. We started with a warmup dance much to the amusement of the owners of the tea house and the porters. It involves standing in a big circle and yelling very loudly a song to which there are hand movements, and then we were off. The hike before lunch was very steeply uphill making for a sweaty morning going through 3 Litres of water. Got to lunch and felt really ill, thought that I just hadn't drunk enough water during the hike as we are still going through a jungle-like part of the mountains and it's still very hot during the day. Went to go fill up my Camelback and Nalgene from the tap, which was boiling hot (good for bacteria, not good for gulping). While I was doing this I had left my little glass bottles of water purification tablets out on the side and had taken the cotton balls out of the iodine tablets. A curious horse (who I hadn't seen) came over ate the cotton, knocked over the bottle and began eating the tablets. He did not seem pleased when i interrupted him. I have been assured iodine does not injure horses. Whew. At least it wasn't a cow. Here is Nepal killing a cow carries a life jail sentence. Sadly the one and only thing we were warned about when we got here.
Sat down to wait for lunch and began to shiver. I felt freezing although everyone else in the group was overheating. Rachel leant me her down jacket which I put on and I tried to take a nap before lunch. Woke up 2 hours later feeling even worse. Really really nauseous. Didn't even manage to eat anything at lunch. We've gained over 1000 meters today so far so it could be attributed to the altitude which apparently affects some of us earlier than others. Shona tried to get me to eat something but the last thing I wanted to do was eat. Toby gave me some rehydration salts which tasted surprisingly good. Not what you want to say. Apparently rehydration salts taste awful if you don't need them and I thought it tasted wonderful. Still didn't feel well but figured the best thing to do would be to try to power through it. I tried to take my mind off being sick by chatting and playing games with the others. Games make the hills go faster but as everyone started to become short of breath the games died out and it became harder to ignore how bad I was really feeling. I started to feel more and more like I was going to be sick. I finally stopped and retched but nothing came up. My throat and eyes just burned. The nausea continued and Shona, Naomi and I dropped behind the group and I started to feel sicker and sicker and the retching became more and more frequent. I still wasn't managing to throw anything up. Gross but true, after about an hour of this I couldn't take it anymore and stopped to make myself sick. Bad Idea. I only threw up liquid and bile but the retching continued but worse. The bile just got worse and the retching became every few steps. Nima started to get really concerned as he had never seen anyone ill like this and became even more concerned when it became apparent I had quite a fever. We got nearer and nearer where we were spending the night and right before we arrived there we came across a medical outpost and Nima insisted we stop and I get checked out.
When we got the outpost there was no one there so Nima went in search of the doctor who ran the post. Sadly there was no doctor, but a nurse who only spoke Nepali. As she watched me dry heaving as Nima tried to explain how I'd been doing she attempted to convince him that I wasn't in fact ill but pregnant. Probably my first clue there I should have taken her advice with a pinch of salt. After Nima persuaded her that was not the case and she agreed to examine me. She felt and listened to my stomach which is quite swollen and told Nima that I had too much acid in my stomach. She told me to only eat boiled rice and gave me anti nausea medicine and chalk to eat. When we left the outpost it only took a couple of minutes for us to reach where some people from the group were waiting for us. T.C. was really lovely and took my backpack off me to take up to the tea house.
The tea house looks like something out of a sci-fi movie, a house in the clouds. It was pretty cool looking but very cold. We all sat round in the communal room around the stove playing games while we got out rooms assigned. Embarrassingly Nima was still very worried about me and had one of the porters bring my pack up to my room and wouldn't let me bring it up myself but to be honest I wasn't feeling up to even that. We sat around and waited for dinner which I still wasn't very interested in. I still kept feeling like retching but tried to hold it back and I really hoped that the medicine would begin to work. Had some boiled rice and broth for dinner and headed to sleep, hoping I feel a lot better tomorrow.
Sat down to wait for lunch and began to shiver. I felt freezing although everyone else in the group was overheating. Rachel leant me her down jacket which I put on and I tried to take a nap before lunch. Woke up 2 hours later feeling even worse. Really really nauseous. Didn't even manage to eat anything at lunch. We've gained over 1000 meters today so far so it could be attributed to the altitude which apparently affects some of us earlier than others. Shona tried to get me to eat something but the last thing I wanted to do was eat. Toby gave me some rehydration salts which tasted surprisingly good. Not what you want to say. Apparently rehydration salts taste awful if you don't need them and I thought it tasted wonderful. Still didn't feel well but figured the best thing to do would be to try to power through it. I tried to take my mind off being sick by chatting and playing games with the others. Games make the hills go faster but as everyone started to become short of breath the games died out and it became harder to ignore how bad I was really feeling. I started to feel more and more like I was going to be sick. I finally stopped and retched but nothing came up. My throat and eyes just burned. The nausea continued and Shona, Naomi and I dropped behind the group and I started to feel sicker and sicker and the retching became more and more frequent. I still wasn't managing to throw anything up. Gross but true, after about an hour of this I couldn't take it anymore and stopped to make myself sick. Bad Idea. I only threw up liquid and bile but the retching continued but worse. The bile just got worse and the retching became every few steps. Nima started to get really concerned as he had never seen anyone ill like this and became even more concerned when it became apparent I had quite a fever. We got nearer and nearer where we were spending the night and right before we arrived there we came across a medical outpost and Nima insisted we stop and I get checked out.
When we got the outpost there was no one there so Nima went in search of the doctor who ran the post. Sadly there was no doctor, but a nurse who only spoke Nepali. As she watched me dry heaving as Nima tried to explain how I'd been doing she attempted to convince him that I wasn't in fact ill but pregnant. Probably my first clue there I should have taken her advice with a pinch of salt. After Nima persuaded her that was not the case and she agreed to examine me. She felt and listened to my stomach which is quite swollen and told Nima that I had too much acid in my stomach. She told me to only eat boiled rice and gave me anti nausea medicine and chalk to eat. When we left the outpost it only took a couple of minutes for us to reach where some people from the group were waiting for us. T.C. was really lovely and took my backpack off me to take up to the tea house.
The tea house looks like something out of a sci-fi movie, a house in the clouds. It was pretty cool looking but very cold. We all sat round in the communal room around the stove playing games while we got out rooms assigned. Embarrassingly Nima was still very worried about me and had one of the porters bring my pack up to my room and wouldn't let me bring it up myself but to be honest I wasn't feeling up to even that. We sat around and waited for dinner which I still wasn't very interested in. I still kept feeling like retching but tried to hold it back and I really hoped that the medicine would begin to work. Had some boiled rice and broth for dinner and headed to sleep, hoping I feel a lot better tomorrow.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Day 8: First Trek Day
First day of trekking! Cannot wait to finally be going somewhere. The Annapurna trek is the most popular and most beautiful in Nepal. We woke up this morning to a gorgeous view of the Fish-Tail mountain, an amazing looking mountain which does in fact look like a fish tail, like an M. You cannot actually climb the mountain as it is sacred and is officially named, Machhapuchhare, something I am still incapable of saying. We were all gobsmacked by our first views of the Himalayas. None of the pictures which you see can prepare you for seeing it in real life. It is a sight I cannot properly describe. We set off from Pokhara by bus to the start of the trail, which is really in the middle of nowhere. We were introduced to the 10 porters who have been traveling with us since Kathmandu all of whom had chatted with a few of us. Humorously most of them have the second name of Sherpa which they all found quite funny. Learning first names will be hard and most of them can't actually talk to us however seem to find everything we do very amusing. They do put us all to shame with the loads which they carry. They each carry between 40-60 kg (2-3 packs) which they bind together with rope. They then attach a rope with a forehead strap and carry their load that way. It looks extremely painful. Nima, our main guide, started working first as a porter before working his way up to be a main guide. He showed us his forehead which has been left flat and the hair rubbed away. Scarier still was the back of his beck where the bones protrude very far out from bending and lifting such heavy weights. As we exclaimed over when looks extremely painful Nima seemed unfazed. He told us that children now are much luckier than he was a child, getting education and not having to help make money for his family like he did. He told us that as a very small child he helped carrying large amounts of dried corn (corn drying from railings in a very common sight here) and leaves as well as wood for home. It still seems embarrassing as the porters laugh at us trying to climb the steep stairs in twice the time it took them with their heavy loads.
I forgot to mention the stairs! Which after today I may never want to see again. I have no idea how they managed it but our relatively short but by steep trek from Birethanti to Banthanti was 98% stairs. We have been speculating who an earth managed to build them while cursing them at the same time. The fairly short time until lunch (2 hours) already led us through mainly small villages with many tea houses geared towards trekkers. We managed to cover quite a few suspension bridges which gave us time to admire the awe-inspiring view, something you cannot do while trying to climb the stone stairs. The stairs, while amazing for being there are slightly haphazard and steep. I have trouble reaching the next step and I am fairly average sized here. the main concern in falling however is the horse and donkey poo which almost evenly covers the stairs. From where we began there is no access by vehicle so everything in this region is carried by donkey or horse as long as possible and then when they can no longer travel, by foot.
As I said before, I don't think any of us accounted for how hot it would be in Annapurna. Those of us who were attempting to follow the rules of modesty , covering your shoulders and knees, were quickly cast aside as pants were rolled and pinned up and athletic tank tops were unapologetically put on. For some reason still teased about my 95+ sunscreen but after seeing some of the sunburns today I think I can deal with the teasing. Pretty sure none of us remember sweating this much. Stopped for lunch at a place with an amazing view. One of the guides on the trip is in charge of food and cooks everything we eat, hopefully to stop any of us from getting sick. Lunch takes about 2 hours to prepare as there are so many of us and he makes sure all the plates and silverware are probably clean and all the vegetables and water used are boiled. [ NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: this next bit makes me laugh now, and is quite funny knowing what happens]. Medical care this high is extraordinarily hard to find and often when seriously ill the only option is to head back to Kathamandu, which would take days, so everyone is trying to be very careful not to get ill. We reached camp (a tea house) this evening and when were were there we saw a man carrying what we at first thought was a heavy load from his head strap which turned out to be a sick relative who needed medical attention but lived high in the Annapurna region. Being carried for 3-4 days can't be comfortable for someone that ill but for most people it's the only option. Hope he was ok. This highlights the importance of being safe about water sanitation as we have just begun using the water from the taps here (using water purification tablets of course).
When we reached the tea house (beautiful view) we were happy to learn that showers were available. Took an invigorating ice cold shower with an open window which allowed me to have a startling but very lovely conversation with a Nepali woman farming who seemed very unconcerned with my lack of clothing. Got out the shower and in to some normal and much warmer clothes as this high in the mountains it begins to get much colder at night. While some of us learnt to play tigers and goats and others backgammon I tried to write up the day in my journal.
As we all sat together in one of the rooms George informed us of the presence of some very large and quite scary looking spiders in the tea house. The room setups here are very simple. Each floor has rooms which are separated by either a very thin piece of plywood or a blue trap meaning that we can all have very nice conversations from bed with everyone around and above us. Before Bed we had some fun trying to fill out out Camelback pouches (water bladders) with purified water something which is easier said than done. The phrase water baby is born.
Had an interesting night. Got into my sleeping bag said goodnight to Naomi and tried to drift off to sleep knowing we had a tough day tomorrow. Instead around 15 minutes in I began to hear scratching noises above my head. Knowing I had to get some sleep I tried to tell myself it was either chickens or the donkeys grazing. However as the noise began to get louder it became harder to sleep but the worst came when I was awoken by sawdust on my face. I won't lie, I panicked as I thought the mice or rats which were obviously chewing the floor above me were about to fall on my head. Didn't help when I choose that moment to turn on my headlamp and have the following conversation with Naomi, "Was that you?" - "Of course not!" N "Are the spiders in Nepal poisonous?" - "Naomi, I don't think it's a spider I think its either mice or ra-" N " No I'm just asking because when I went to the bathroom there was a huge one on our door and inside above your pack but when I came back they were gone - Night!" And she turned over and fell asleep.
Did not sleep well.
I forgot to mention the stairs! Which after today I may never want to see again. I have no idea how they managed it but our relatively short but by steep trek from Birethanti to Banthanti was 98% stairs. We have been speculating who an earth managed to build them while cursing them at the same time. The fairly short time until lunch (2 hours) already led us through mainly small villages with many tea houses geared towards trekkers. We managed to cover quite a few suspension bridges which gave us time to admire the awe-inspiring view, something you cannot do while trying to climb the stone stairs. The stairs, while amazing for being there are slightly haphazard and steep. I have trouble reaching the next step and I am fairly average sized here. the main concern in falling however is the horse and donkey poo which almost evenly covers the stairs. From where we began there is no access by vehicle so everything in this region is carried by donkey or horse as long as possible and then when they can no longer travel, by foot.
As I said before, I don't think any of us accounted for how hot it would be in Annapurna. Those of us who were attempting to follow the rules of modesty , covering your shoulders and knees, were quickly cast aside as pants were rolled and pinned up and athletic tank tops were unapologetically put on. For some reason still teased about my 95+ sunscreen but after seeing some of the sunburns today I think I can deal with the teasing. Pretty sure none of us remember sweating this much. Stopped for lunch at a place with an amazing view. One of the guides on the trip is in charge of food and cooks everything we eat, hopefully to stop any of us from getting sick. Lunch takes about 2 hours to prepare as there are so many of us and he makes sure all the plates and silverware are probably clean and all the vegetables and water used are boiled. [ NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: this next bit makes me laugh now, and is quite funny knowing what happens]. Medical care this high is extraordinarily hard to find and often when seriously ill the only option is to head back to Kathamandu, which would take days, so everyone is trying to be very careful not to get ill. We reached camp (a tea house) this evening and when were were there we saw a man carrying what we at first thought was a heavy load from his head strap which turned out to be a sick relative who needed medical attention but lived high in the Annapurna region. Being carried for 3-4 days can't be comfortable for someone that ill but for most people it's the only option. Hope he was ok. This highlights the importance of being safe about water sanitation as we have just begun using the water from the taps here (using water purification tablets of course).
When we reached the tea house (beautiful view) we were happy to learn that showers were available. Took an invigorating ice cold shower with an open window which allowed me to have a startling but very lovely conversation with a Nepali woman farming who seemed very unconcerned with my lack of clothing. Got out the shower and in to some normal and much warmer clothes as this high in the mountains it begins to get much colder at night. While some of us learnt to play tigers and goats and others backgammon I tried to write up the day in my journal.
As we all sat together in one of the rooms George informed us of the presence of some very large and quite scary looking spiders in the tea house. The room setups here are very simple. Each floor has rooms which are separated by either a very thin piece of plywood or a blue trap meaning that we can all have very nice conversations from bed with everyone around and above us. Before Bed we had some fun trying to fill out out Camelback pouches (water bladders) with purified water something which is easier said than done. The phrase water baby is born.
Had an interesting night. Got into my sleeping bag said goodnight to Naomi and tried to drift off to sleep knowing we had a tough day tomorrow. Instead around 15 minutes in I began to hear scratching noises above my head. Knowing I had to get some sleep I tried to tell myself it was either chickens or the donkeys grazing. However as the noise began to get louder it became harder to sleep but the worst came when I was awoken by sawdust on my face. I won't lie, I panicked as I thought the mice or rats which were obviously chewing the floor above me were about to fall on my head. Didn't help when I choose that moment to turn on my headlamp and have the following conversation with Naomi, "Was that you?" - "Of course not!" N "Are the spiders in Nepal poisonous?" - "Naomi, I don't think it's a spider I think its either mice or ra-" N " No I'm just asking because when I went to the bathroom there was a huge one on our door and inside above your pack but when I came back they were gone - Night!" And she turned over and fell asleep.
Did not sleep well.
Day 7: Mud Slide
Bus ride to Pokhara was certainly one of the most interesting trips I have ever taken in my life, not one I would like to repeat anytime soon. I woke up this morning with quite a queasy stomach but thought I had possibly just eaten something off the night before and I would feel better after a nap on the bus, bad idea. We hit traffic before we even left Kathmandu and as soon as the bus stopped I did not feel well. Managed to get off the bus in time and since we were stuck in a huge traffic jam got to sit on the step of the bus with my feet dangling off trying to get some fresh air. Something I have no mentioned before is that Kathmandu is very very hot. Something that not many of us have the clothes for as were were only supposed to be here for a few days in total besides the Everest trek which of course was suppose to be quite chilly. Also there is no such thing as air conditioning on the bus and keeping the windows open is not an option in much of the city because of the smell but also the dust, much of the roads are dirt and the dust which is kicked up by all of the vehicles is not to be inhaled. Did not particularly help with the stomach.
The trip to Pokhara is one which is suppose to take 5-6 hours, 7 hours max. When we first hit traffic we were worried but we could see ahead at the top of the hill it appeared that traffic was moving. The bus driver thought it would take us around 20 minutes to reach the top of the hill, but what we didn't know is that there had been a number of landslides the night before. We assumed that we would be running just slightly behind schedule, but we were very very wrong. It took over 5 hours for us to reach the top of the hill, putting us just on the edge of Kathmandu. When we reached the top of the hill we were thrilled. Sadly meaning a 6 hour drive from there, however we were caught in a 4 hour traffic jam. When the driver had told us there had been a landslide, I assumed he meant one at the top of the hill. Instead we probably saw more than 20 landslides and quite a few vehicles which had been caught in the landslide when it occurred either on the road or off the edge of the cliffs. The cars we saw had their windows smashed and the entire inside filled with mud. There were no signs of the passengers. It was slightly terrifying. The entire ride we kept seeing ambulances attempting to get through the traffic both to and away from Kathmandu, however in Nepal the ambulance etiquette is not the same and no one lets them through. It must have taken them hours to get to hospital. We also horrifyingly saw a man on a motorcycle get caught between two buses when trying to squeeze between the two of them and who required serious medical attention. The first really scary bit was when were were trying to squeeze past another bus on a small piece of road and the road on the left side of our bus began to give way beneath the bus. Oddly we just stopped as the road began to fall and just waited to see if it would stop or collapse and then continued.
Got to our lunch stop to grab some food quickly and use the bathroom, something no one had done in hours and then sadly headed back on to the bus. To add to the trip after our quick stock the driver of our bus began to reach fairly high speeds towards Pokhara. The roads in Nepal aren't very well maintained and the Nepali way of driving involves just honking if you wish to pass or before going around a blind corner. Sadly as it began to get dark he didn't slow down and the brakes began to make a horrible squeaky noise whenever he had to throw on the breaks when we reached a turn in the road. This went on for awhile before the general consensus on the bus led to a "bathroom stop" where the brakes were examined. Turns out the dirt and rust in the breaks had become a bit too much and the driver attempted to clean them while we all waited. When we finally reached Pokhara we had been on the bus over 14 hours, bringing a new meaning to 'Nepali' time. Got to the Candle Inn, which to us appeared to be a palace. The inn boasted views of the fish tail mountain which we have yet to see since we arrived long after dark.
Never has anyone been so happy to hear "Dinner is ready". We are a 'western' carb filled dinner of Nepali vegetarian lasagna and pizza. Sadly no running water, but the better get used to that before tomorrow! Let's hope tomorrow goes great!
The trip to Pokhara is one which is suppose to take 5-6 hours, 7 hours max. When we first hit traffic we were worried but we could see ahead at the top of the hill it appeared that traffic was moving. The bus driver thought it would take us around 20 minutes to reach the top of the hill, but what we didn't know is that there had been a number of landslides the night before. We assumed that we would be running just slightly behind schedule, but we were very very wrong. It took over 5 hours for us to reach the top of the hill, putting us just on the edge of Kathmandu. When we reached the top of the hill we were thrilled. Sadly meaning a 6 hour drive from there, however we were caught in a 4 hour traffic jam. When the driver had told us there had been a landslide, I assumed he meant one at the top of the hill. Instead we probably saw more than 20 landslides and quite a few vehicles which had been caught in the landslide when it occurred either on the road or off the edge of the cliffs. The cars we saw had their windows smashed and the entire inside filled with mud. There were no signs of the passengers. It was slightly terrifying. The entire ride we kept seeing ambulances attempting to get through the traffic both to and away from Kathmandu, however in Nepal the ambulance etiquette is not the same and no one lets them through. It must have taken them hours to get to hospital. We also horrifyingly saw a man on a motorcycle get caught between two buses when trying to squeeze between the two of them and who required serious medical attention. The first really scary bit was when were were trying to squeeze past another bus on a small piece of road and the road on the left side of our bus began to give way beneath the bus. Oddly we just stopped as the road began to fall and just waited to see if it would stop or collapse and then continued.
Got to our lunch stop to grab some food quickly and use the bathroom, something no one had done in hours and then sadly headed back on to the bus. To add to the trip after our quick stock the driver of our bus began to reach fairly high speeds towards Pokhara. The roads in Nepal aren't very well maintained and the Nepali way of driving involves just honking if you wish to pass or before going around a blind corner. Sadly as it began to get dark he didn't slow down and the brakes began to make a horrible squeaky noise whenever he had to throw on the breaks when we reached a turn in the road. This went on for awhile before the general consensus on the bus led to a "bathroom stop" where the brakes were examined. Turns out the dirt and rust in the breaks had become a bit too much and the driver attempted to clean them while we all waited. When we finally reached Pokhara we had been on the bus over 14 hours, bringing a new meaning to 'Nepali' time. Got to the Candle Inn, which to us appeared to be a palace. The inn boasted views of the fish tail mountain which we have yet to see since we arrived long after dark.
Never has anyone been so happy to hear "Dinner is ready". We are a 'western' carb filled dinner of Nepali vegetarian lasagna and pizza. Sadly no running water, but the better get used to that before tomorrow! Let's hope tomorrow goes great!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)