Day 1 - Sunday, March 29, 2015 And so the journey begins… At about noon on a beautiful Sunday morning I packed up my two bags and walked out to the car. It was a strange feeling knowing that for the past month I had been working like a mad man to clear out enough time to be […]
Day 2 - Monday, March 30, 2015 I woke up very early and headed to Portland International Airport (PDX, obligatory carpet picture attached) in time for a 7:00 am Air Canada flight to Vancouver, BC. This was the beginning of a 26+ hour trip, plus a 12 hour and 15 minute forward time change, meaning I would arrive […]
Day 3 - Tuesday, March 31, 2015 After flying for 13 hours with little sleep we caught up to daylight again, over China where the time was approaching late afternoon. I was tired but excited to get off the plane for a couple hours before flying to Nepal. As we dropped below the clouds I got my first […]
Why I’m Here - Now would be a good time to explain why I went to Nepal in the first place. (Not that one needs an excuse to visit Nepal; it’s a wonderful place!) There were three aspects to the trip. The primary reason was to visit my adopted daughter, Nora Collins. Nora is a school teacher and she […]
Day 4 - Wednesday, April 1, 2015 The first thing I learned is that Nepal is a loud place! I awoke at 5:45 am to the sounds of birds chirping loudly, dogs barking, and either doves outside on the balcony or a kid in the bathtub next door having a very good time. (Maybe it was waking up […]
Day 5 - Thursday, April 2, 2015 I woke up 2:45 am, though my alarm was set for 4:00 am, with a headache. I wasn’t feeling too jet-lagged but I think the dust was getting to my sinuses. I had walked many miles in Kathmandu the day before. I was able to get back to sleep and then […]
Day 6 - Friday, April 3, 2016 I started my first full day in Tansen with a Skype call to Eileen. It was good to be in contact after only a few messages while traveling and in Kathmandu. I also messaged with my son, Adam, who lives in Hawaii. Later in the morning I went up the hill […]
Day 7 - Saturday, April 4, 2016 I was still waking up early in the morning, mostly because I went to bed so early and don’t usually sleep more than 7 hours. I was still having headaches from the dust, but otherwise feeling pretty good during the days. When I was getting dressed I heard something behind the […]
Day 8 - Sunday, April 5, 2015 Mornings in Tansen were the best, and this Easter morning was no exception! As the sky lightened toward the east the birds would start to sing, then the dogs and the people would start to move about and make noise. Nora’s place was a nice two bedroom and bath house, perfect […]
Day 9 - Monday, April 6, 2015 After breakfast I went up the hill to help in Nora’s classroom. When I got to the schoolhouse I looked out over the playground and for the first time saw the Himalayas! This picture does not convey the amazing presence and grandeur of this mountain range! I had to stop and […]
Day 10 - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 First thing in the morning a whole crew from the workshop showed up at the door! Four men along with two didis to clean up after them. They installed a new gas shower, patched several holes in the plaster, fixed a toilet seat, painted a bathroom and a few other things. […]
Day 11 - Wednesday, April 8, 2015 I woke up at 5:30 to birds singing – lots of birds, it was wonderful! It was just getting light outside as I looked out my bedroom window. To the east I could see it was another clear day and the Himalaya Mountains visible. So I went up to the school […]
Day 12 - Thursday, April 9, 2015 I woke up at 5:30 am again and since it was clear we up to Srinigar to watch the sunrise. The stairs up to the top are long and fairly steep at points, and they skirt along a pine forest. Yes, pine, like in Oregon! I had begun to notice many […]
Day 13 - Friday, April 10, 2015 In the morning I did laundry in preparation for trekking. Laundry amounted to a washtub of water and some soap, then hanging everything outside on a line in the sun. It was kind of cool to do it so simply. Then I skyped with Adam a long time, and headed up […]
Three Things - While I was in Nepal I learned the truth of three things Nora told me about the Nepali culture: 1) Nepalis re-purpose everything! 2) Nepalis make it work. 3) “That is not a problem!” Bonus item: One more thing I learned… If you see a Nepali running it means one of two things, either it’s […]
Day 14 - Saturday, April 11, 2015 In the morning I went up to the school and finished the network/computer work. Everything worked, but they still needed a power supply for the switch and a monitor. Luke will follow up on that. I came back and we had lunch at the nursing school’s festival and fundraiser, called The […]
Day 15 - Sunday, April 12, 2015 I woke up around 4 am and noticed a light on. Nora was in the living room with a nauseating migraine, trying to sleep on the couch. I prayed for her and she went back to bed. I was thinking this is not the best start to a trip, but when […]
Day 16 - Monday, April 13, 2015 This was our day to prepare, and also site see. Pokhara is “the” place to be a tourist in Nepal, to the point of embarrassment. We saw so many people there trying to look the part of the world traveler, the spiritual seeker, the enlightened one going to Nepal to write […]
Day 17, Trek-1 - Tuesday, April 14, 2015 Trekking Day #1 7:30 am – On the Nepali New Years Day we left Pokhara by taxi for Nayapul. The cost was 2000 NR, and if you look at the last half of the drive on the map you will see it is constant switchbacks, and over very rough dirt roads. […]
Day 18, Trek-2 - Wednesday, April 15, 2015 Trekking Day #2 7:55 am – When we were getting ready to leave Ulleri we met Peter and Marjolein Vogelaar who were going in the same direction as we were and they offered to join up with us for a while. There was a light rain on and off in the […]
Poon Hill, Trek-3 - Thursday, April 16, 2015 Poon Hill dawn trek Before leaving Ghorepani we decided to take the dawn trek to Poon Hill. We got up about 4:00 am and got geared up, and with headlamps on started the trek. It takes 45 minutes to get to the top, which is 10,531 feet in elevation. At 5:25 […]
Day 19, Trek-3 - Thursday, April 16, 2015 Trekking Day #3 After returning from Poon Hill we had breakfast and packed our packs. It was a beautiful day; sunny with clear skies. My favorite thing about this guesthouse was the people themselves. The dinning hall was a meeting place for the family, around the wood stove, and it just […]
Day 20, Trek-4 - Friday, April 17, 2015 Trekking Day #4 7:50 am – We left Siprong, crossed the Kimrong river and headed back uphill again. Dropping down to low valleys only to climb up higher again is the theme you get used to following. 8:15 am – Shortly after leaving Siprong we came upon the actual guesthouse that […]
Day 21, Trek-5 - Saturday, April 18, 2015 Trekking Day #5 7:05 am – We left Bamboo at first morning light because we were up, and because we were excited to get up higher. 7:55 am – Within less than an hour we reached Dovan. It had some very nice guesthouses! Beyond that the valley continued to get narrower, […]
Day 22, Trek-6 - Sunday, April 19, 2015 Trekking Day #6 6:25 am – When we left Deurali the sun was still behind the mountains, and it was cold, but not extremely so. The Modi valley was in shadows, but up ahead the mountain peaks above Machhapuchhre Base Camp (MBC) had sun on them, and to the east, our […]
Day 23, Trek-7 - Monday, April 20, 2015 Trekking Day #7 5:30 am – We got up early to watch the sunrise. It was, of course, spectacular as light poured around the peaks slowly adding color to the gray morning. As we stood out there in our light vests I struck up a conversation with a man who used […]
Day 24, Trek-8 - Tuesday, April 21, 2015 Trekking Day #8 The early morning light and sunrise over the valley, with the birds singing wonderfully made a great start to the day. Nora was suffering a bit from some burnt lips and chin from the day before (I’ll spare the pictures). We went down to the deck outside and […]
Day 25, Trek-9 - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 Trekking Day #9 We were up early and down to the dining hall/kitchen before 6:00 am. It was a new building and the kitchen had a new oven, big enough for a man to lean inside it while he cooked. As I was waiting for them to prepare breakfast I looked […]
Day 26 - Thursday, April 23, 2015 For our last day together in Pokhara (I would leave for Kathmandu by bus the next day) we decided to walk to breakfast at Mike’s Restaurant, on the boardwalk of Lake Fewa. I highly recommend it! The food and service are great, they have a good mix of Nepali and American […]
Day 27 - Friday, April 24, 2016 The morning began with one last breakfast at Sacred Valley, then it was time to haul myself and my luggage to the Greenline bus station just a few blocks away. Nora accompanied me to see me off on the bus. It was a bit chaotic, and my luggage almost went on […]
Day 28 – Quake! - In the next one to two seconds my mind went through the following progression: that jet is really low. Is it going to crash? Maybe it's not a jet, but an earthquake. It can't be an earthquake. It's an earthquake! It can't be "the big one." Yes, it's a major quake!
Day 29 - Sunday, April 26, 2015 The first night after the earthquake was long and sleep wasn’t easy to get. I remember one particularly alarming aftershock in the early hours of the morning that felt like a bomb going off. If you have ever lived near a train yard, you know the sound of trains being assembled […]
Day 30 - Monday, April 27, 2015 I woke up at 5:00 am after very little actual sleep, cold and aching from the hard floor and drafty hallway. I gathered up my stuff and wandered around. At the security check-in area people were sleeping on folding tables, so I joined them on one of the tables for a […]
Day 31 - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 Touching down at a little after 2:00 am local time in Guangzhou, China, we disembarked and loaded on to a shuttle bus to the terminal. From there we went through customs, were lead to where our baggage was held (in case we needed something out of it), and then were taken […]
Day 32 - Wednesday, April 29, 2015 The Maucks treated me to another wonderful homemade breakfast, we visited a while longer and after thanking them for all their wonderful service and hospitality I loaded my gear in the car and drove out for Coos Bay, Oregon. At 4:15 pm I reached what is a welcoming landmark for all […]
