July 16, 2013
Or should I say Namche bazaar to Tengboche to Dengboche back to Tengboche and then back to Dengboche!
Today was the best! It is as simple as that. Highlights to follow nclude mountains, rhododendron Forrest's, and sitting with kinks during prayer sessions.
Well sleeping was not so great actually. Throughout the Night all I could here were rats fighting outside my room.
The first two hours of walking was surreal. The mountains were peaking out from the clouds and in the distance Lhotse, often mistaken as Everest, was in full view. The pathway was a gentle slopping cut into the mountain side. When you looked down you saw deep valleys full of trees and sharp cliff edges. Far down was the raging river. Birds flew in and out of the valley and soared high above.
I have come to one conclusion for sure. Mountains are the single met beautiful thing in the entire world. More beautiful than lakes, beaches, jungles, farms (sorry dad), forests, and any other beautiful location. There is something so majestic and powerful about their presence above the beautiful valleys. Their peaks and summits are so sharp against the sky and clouds and the snow and glaciers are mesmerizing. I really do not think there is anything more impressive or beautiful than mountains. This is not just for the Himalayas but all mountains. These are just the largest and the greatest of them all.
Not a single person occupied the trail. Yes! I knew I did this in off season for a reason. This feels like a movie. Halfway through the path I realized what I was doing. Here I was, thousands if mikes from home, exploring the world and following my dream. Many people talk about going places and doing things they dreamed of, but here I was actually living my dream. At 23 I had already managed to travel most of Europe and now take on a huge adventure all by myself. I had come to Nepal and lived with a family, helped a school, and now set off into the wild of the Khumbu valley during off season. Being alone and here in off season was giving me a chance to explore the areas true culture instead of the tourist driven life during other months.
I was being forced out of my comfort zone everyday being the minority. My entire life I have maybe felt uncomfortable for ten minutes before being myself and soaking up a situation. Here that was not possible. I was the outsider looking in.
How proud I suddenly felt as I thought of these things. I had done it and I was living my dreams instead of thinking them up at home. This feeling I had ranks among some of the happiest of my life when I felt this accomplished or proud. One would be the day I got my job at Yough. Another was seeing my sister get married one year ago. The final one, as much as I hate to admit it, was walking across the stage at pennstate graduation.
Back to reality!
My guide informed me that we would need to cross the river. That meant hiking down a thousand meters only to hike back up even further. Oh boy! The town at the bottom of the river had be restaurant with a sign that read "last food here then making 2 hour climb. Ok. See you :)"
For all of those people who accompanied me to one if my weekend dry lands to mt Nittany or the fire tower you would never believe that I actually did this. This hike back up makes mt Nittany look like a joke. I'm sure a few of you would remember the time we made it maybe twenty minutes up before giving up and hanging out on a log listening to music. Or the dry land in which we drove to the firepower. Geez what a work out we had!!! Hahs anyways here I am now being a total struggle bus in a high altitude setting climbing up this hill.
The best way I found was to stare at the ground and not look up for awhile. That way I would feel like I made it somewhere the next time I looked.
I'm pretty sure anyone who knows me would be surprised that I am carrying my own back pack and climbing up these hills everyday. The only believable part is that anyone who knows me even slightly knows that if I am determined to do something or want something I will stop at nothing to succeed. I just never thought it would entail putting my body through his physical stress.
Reaching Tengboche was a relief but not to find out that all of the guest houses were closed! Instead we would have to walk down the hill to Deboche which was fine with me since I would be sleeping lower. First I took a peak in the monastery which is supposedly the highest altitude monastery in the world. The place was deserted. Luckily we found a monk that unlocked the prayer room and allowed me to take a peak inside.
The prayer room is an overwhelming amount of bright colors. Everywhere you look there are painting on the walls depicting the different gods and demons. Long rows wi cushion line the middle if the room with prayer robes waiting to be worn during the afternoon prayer session. In the front there is a chair with a microphone for the head llama: directly behind this are giant statues. In the middle stood the largest statue, a giant gold Buddha overlooking the room.
I dropped a small donation in the box and proceeded to leave. On the way out one f the monks invited me to come back at 4 pm for a 2 hour prayer session to observe what they do. How cool?!?!
We made our way down to our hotel. The walk down was a beautiful path through the rhododendron forests. The beaches were very eerie in the light drizzle and twisted around each other as far as you could see.
My guide picked a guesthouse called Rivendell and I was shown to my room. It was a nice room with a shower and toilet, that did not work. The beds were y far the most comfortable I had felt since coming to Nepal. I may never leave, a statement I wish I never made! I sat out in the common room with a cozy fire reading more about the yeti and ate delicious fried veg fried rice, another choice I would soon regret with all my heart.
We walked back up to the monastery and waited for the signal. While we were waiting my guide, a devout Buddhist, explained some of the beliefs. One of the things he ex,wined were how all the temples and monasteries kept two statue guards at the entrance to keep evil out. One guard is male and the other is female, it's easy to tell which is which when looking them.
Two monks appeared in the upper window and began to blow a horn made out of conch shells. One by one the monks made their way into the monastery. In the third and final call we were allowed to follow. Taking off our shoes we quietly stepped into the room and took a seat on a rug near the right side.
I was prepared for two hours of meditation. Woah was I wrong!! I think monks were quiet!! Immediately they started chanting their prayers written on scripts of parchment kept in a small folder. The head llama was the most vocal chanting into his microphone while others could still be heard. One on the end if my row had the oddest, deep, old man in pain voice. The sound they make is not really describable. Luckily I was given permission to take a short video! I seemed however that one monk was now happy to be there. Throughout the session his head was down and he rocked back and forth. I guess kinks have bad days too!
Then it of no where the gong sounded and everyone raided different instruments to made a cluster of noises. Some had bells while others had horns. This totally was different Than my expectations. One monk brought tea around to everyone and the head llama motioned for a glass to be poured for us. This could have been one of the coolest experiences of my trip. Every so often it would alternate from quiet chanting to loud instruments.
Here I am in the mountains of the Himalayas sitting with monks, drinking tea, listening to chants, and am the only foreigner.
At one point the grumpy monk got up and walked out. My guess was to use the toilet. When he returned however I noticed him dancing behind the entrance to the chant music. We made eye contact and in the middle of a quiet moment both struggled to hold back our laughter. I guess he wasn't that grumpy after all.
After the prayer was over we walked outside me I talked to him for a little. It turned out we had matching shoes!
We headed back to Rivendell and from that point I have written another post. Read only if you dare. It's graphic and gross.
I need to give a shout out to Tom! If anyone from my high school is reading this you know how much I hated reading. Well somewhere along the line and from Toms suggestions I slowly got into in. Now I've managed to read a couple classics and random novels during my free time here. It's amazing how exciting a book can be when you take away the options of phones, tv, computers, and games and instead you are stuck in a 12 bus journey or in a tea house in the Himalayas looking out the window at the rain. So thank you Tom for getting me I to reading and suggesting some thing to read while I was here.
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