Lions and Tigers and Bears - Oh, My!

Chitwan National Park in Nepal was our next destination. After a very exciting bus ride down a typical Nepali road (involving an exhaust getting knocked off, the bus engine not being able to start again, and some other various miscommunications with the bus driver), we finally arrived at Island Jungle Resort. We were able to at least watch an awesome sunset.

Early the next morning, we saddled up an elephant to go "interact" with the local wildlife.

Getting ready for the morning commute

Rhinos, wild boars, and langur monkeys were going through their morning ablutions and eating breakfast.

The tranquility of the jungle was only disturbed by 20 people riding 4 elephants trampling through the thick brush. Really, the rhinos didn't seem to mind.

Afterwards, we walked through the jungle with a local tracker to try to find tigers and sloth bears, only the most feared animals in Chitwan. No, this doesn't sound smart to me either. The weapon of choice held by our tracker and guide: a big stick. We saw neither of these beasts, but did see tiger paw prints and sloth bear pits in the mud where they forage for termites. We were instructed to run up a tree if confronted by a rhino.

The elephant and Alan worked up quite a sweat walking (it was only about 36C/97F), so they both decided to take a bath in the river. 

An elephant sneezes on Alan.

The national park was relaxing and tranquil, but we wanted to learn a bit about the Tharu people who used to live in the area that is now the park. Most of the Tharu now live in the areas surrounding the park in Sauraha. We learned that the Tharu are descendants of the Rajasthani tribes who migrated to the area. (We're currently in Rajasthan in India, and we do see some of the similarities in the customs.)

Hot as it was, we rented two bicycles to explore the local Tharu villages. Most Tharu people's mode of transportation is bicycle, not elephant, not car.

Jennifer and her trusty steed. Check out the cool brakes and bling on the bike. Just needs tassles on the handlebars.

In the evening, we visited a local Tharu family to learn how to cook a typical Tharu meal. Guess what we cooked - dal bhat!! Sapana Village Lodge organized this for us, and it was definitely a highlight for me.

It's actually a pretty sweet deal for the family. We pay them money to prepare an entire meal for them. But honestly, we learned a lot and had fun. Hopefully they had as much fun as we did (I think Alan provided some nice evening entertainment) and enjoyed the meal we cooked for them.

Alan stirring the onions while sitting on a Nepali-sized stool. The Tharu ladies laughed each time he had to stand up to stretch. Poor Alan.

Alan plants some rice. He needs to go back in a couple of months to harvest now. Rice planting is typically done by the women. Yes, the little kids are laughing at Alan. Poor Alan.

Post-Trek Play and Preen in Pokhara

With the trekking part of our trip completed at the end of March, it was time to go to the mountain town of Pokhara for a well earned shave and head massage. This was Alan's best shave in years.

Then we went to the International Museum of Mountaineering that contains an exciting rock collection.

and a scale(able) model of Manaslu. It was treacherous. White paint on rocks is suprisingly slippery!

The closest Jennifer will ever get to climbing an 8k+ meter peak.

The museum closed early because, we were told, the prime minister of Nepal had been killed! It turns out the an ex-prime minister had died of old age a few days before. It was at about this point that we realized we had not seen a newspaper for nearly a month. We pondered whether everything in the homeland was still OK and had another beer.

We plucked up courage to try paragliding as Pokhara is one of the best sites in the world for it. The feeling of running off the side of a cliff is exhilarating. We circled on thermals following hawks and then the pilot performed some acrobatics before landing by the lake. Jennifer's pilot let her take control of the wing for a few minutes and everyone survived to tell the tale.

Jennifer can barely drive a car. How can she fly?

The Dal Bhat Challenge (aka Annapurna Circuit)

Nearly a month ago, Alan and I started the Dal Bhat Challenge. The goal: eat dal bhat (Nepal's national dish consisting of lentils, rice, and vegetables) everyday after walking long distances each day. Whose digestive system will reign supreme?

Yes, that's a YakDonald's in Kagbeni!

OK, the primary goal wasn't to determine whose stomach could handle the endless days of white rice. It was to trek the Annapurna Circuit, frequently deemed as one of the "classic" treks. It's approximately 128 miles long and traverses diverse terrain, from sub-tropical through alpine to an arid semi-desert akin to Tibet. The route goes through villages, so there's an opportunity to meet the different people living in the region as well as stay in a cozy (or really not so cozy, especially at 14,530 feet elevation) lodge each night. We would also get to 17,768 feet which would be the highest we've ever been. In a nutshell, it's the ultimate hike!

Why try to eat dal bhat everyday?

1) It really is yummy. Each family has their own secret recipe.
2) It's safe to eat. Nepalis eat it everyday, so there's high turnover of the ingredients. It's piping hot, so any nasties should have been killed off.
3) 24 hour power! Porters and guides love to eat the stuff, and they carry amazing loads at superhuman speeds. If it's good enough for them, it should be good enough for us, right? It's also all-you-can-eat, so it's perfect for those long days on the trail.

Sunrise at Annapurna Base Camp

So, you ask, who won the challenge...

Jennifer's DB count: 10
Alan's DB count: 7

Um, we were on the trail for a total of 23 days, so yeah, neither of us could keep it up for very long. You would think with my genetic makeup (my ancestors were all voracious rice eaters, after all) I would easily beat the Englishman.

Even though we both lost the DB challenge miserably, we both enjoyed the trail immensely. We loved the trail so much, we ended up extending it by adding the Annapurna Sanctuary trek to it. Not only did we see the most beautiful mountain scenery, we both got to meet the most interesting, intriguing people (locals, as well as fellow trekkers from around the world) and learn from them. Where else would you be able to learn how to race goats through narrow alleyways or how you would describe Baywatch to a mountain guide who has only ever lived in a landlocked country?

Kids attacking us on the trail on Holi

Alan the Hong Kong Superstar

We were dropped off at San Francisco International by Jeffrey and Linda after what could be our last Italian supper in months (Yeah, I know you can get Italian in Kathmandu, but I'm going to try to stick with local food).

Since there's a 40-lb limit on checked luggage and we were ever so slightly over, we stuffed our pant and jacket pockets full of random heavy items.

After an uneventful flight from San Francisco, we had a 10+ hour layover in Hong Kong. This gave us time to ride the Airport Express train into Kowloon. The train dumped us into a manicured sterile complex of highrises and designer malls that we could only escape from by using the airport shuttle to the Marco Polo Hotel.

We went to the historic clock tower (remanant of HK's colonial days), and this led us to the Avenue of Stars with stars and handprints of our all-time favorite kung-fu stars (like Bruce Lee!!!, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat).

So what if it's just like the Hollywood Walk of Stars... it doesn't have a cool statue of Bruce Lee.

As we were walking down the Avenue, two 8-year-old girls accosted Alan, squealing in Mandarin and waving him towards their mother, who was clutching a camera. Since my knowledge of Mandarin is non-existent, I could not understand what they were saying. But I think that they may have a) confused him for someone famous (i.e. Mr. Bean who has always been well-loved by the Chinese) or b) never seen a white guy.

I wish I could've gotten the snap of a bemused Alan standing between two beaming little Chinese girls with their mother taking a photo.

After his 15 (er, 2) minutes of fame, we ate congee and vegetarian tomato/egg over rice (yes, Mom, you can get veg food in HK). We took the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island and climbed up the Escher-like escalators and stairs close to the tram for Victoria Peak.

Soon it was time to boogie back to the airport to board our flight to KTM. At the HK airport, we checked our email and found out that there was a transportation strike in Nepal, which is a somewhat common occurrence. The airline didn't seem to have much information, so we just decided to wait and see what would happen when we arrived.

The KTM airport was a low-tech affair with the security agents haphazardly X-raying bags, while arbitrarily letting others pass through without being X-rayed. After realizing our hotel pickup wasn't going to materialize, we took an exciting taxi ride (think lots of honking, near misses with bicyclists, driving towards oncoming traffic... not unlike riding in a Parisian taxi) to our hotel at midnight.

Sleep was lovely.

(Moving) Truck Drivin' Man

Despite Craigslisting/Freecycling/Goodwilling/landfilling about a third of our possessions (including a car, TV, VCR (yes, we're Luddites), couch, washer/dryer, and precious Star Wars/Star Trek toys (Wicket was getting exhausted from all of the moving)), we still managed to fill a 16' moving truck (!!!).

Even though it would be somewhat entertaining to have me drive the truck, we felt that it would give Alan a minor heart attack, so he begged to drive it instead. Many people know that it's been his lifelong ambition to be a truck driver.

I got to drive up in Alan's lil' race car instead and did a wonderful job not crashing it.

I still can't believe we had so much... stuff! I cursed each time I hauled yet another box up and down stairs. I like to think that I can still pull off a DIY move and that we really don't have a whole lot, but perhaps we've still managed to acquire way too much junk to do this? While piling our belongings into self storage, we realized that the bulk of our belongings fell into one of the following categories:

• Outdoors gear (Can't really get rid of this)
• Computers (Many of these can be easily turned into virtual machines, so no more carrying physical machines that aren't laptops!) and their associated accessories
• Books (Many of these can be referenced electronically/online, so no more carrying dead trees! Love Safari Books Online and Trails.com!)

Perhaps our next move can be a less stressful one once we've gotten rid of the myriad computers and books. Inflatable furniture also sounds appealing.

We've been hanging out with my parents in Sacramento and have a medium-length to-do list before we leave the country for a while. We will be celebrating the Chinese/Lunar New Year at The Pasty Shack. Alan has been waiting for this for a while. 

Happy New Year!

Walking the Local Hills for One Last Time

Several storms this past week brought snow to our mountains (above: San Gorgonio Range). We wanted to be in the snow, but strolling up to Sitton Peak for quite possibly our last hill walk in Orange County ever was not a bad way to avoid packing and making final arrangements. From the peak, there was an enjoyable view of where I would have preferred to have been. After many months of planning, we are finally leaving soon! Yes, Alan is dreading having to eat rice-based dishes for months on end.

70s Style Skiing

After the much-needed storms of the last two weeks, we went for our second weekend in a row to Baldy to downhill ski. It's a very rustic, "retro" resort, with what look like barely working lifts (I'm sure they're safe, even with the broken seats and backs!), and a somewhat smelly day lodge. But we love the skiing there if we're staying in town. It has a mom/pop feel to it, and most of the staff are friendly. It doesn't have the typical crowded, high-strung LA vibe to it either. It's a definite throwback to the 70s.

Joining us today was Dave with his "retro" (now back in high style) flourescent orange ski jacket. He blended in well with the rest of the resort. :)

The runs had pretty good coverage. Snow quality was better last weekend because there were colder temps, but can't complain! We were even able to ski all the way down to our cars at 6500'!