Thursday, October 22: Dhaka

This was our last day in Bangladesh. We spent this day learning more about what MCC does in Bangladesh and buying gifts to take back home. In the morning we went to MCC's office and met many of the people there. Everyone was very friendly. Like the office in Bogra, most of the workers were Bengalis. Before we went on the trip, I had never really considered that MCC hires so many local people including people of other faiths.


After stopping at the office we went to meet Austin Miller. Austin is from Ohio but has lived in Bangladesh for about 13 years. He works on coming up with ideas for new handmade products that Bengalis can make and also marketing them to stores in the U.S. and other countries. Some of the people who make these handcrafts are former sex workers who are trained to make them to support themselves.


We visited two stores in Dhaka. The first was The Source. It had a lot handmade paper products and handwoven clothes. We decided not to buy much because we knew we were going to another store later, and we planned on stopping at The Source again later. The other store we went to was Aarong. It was more like a department store you would find in the U.S. It had four floors and had some nicer clothes along with some handmade products. It was also the only place where we found postcards in Bangladesh which was a request of my mom's. Unfortunately, both the designs were really bad and did not represent Bangladesh well at all. This only confirmed what we knew before...no one comes to Bangladesh for tourism. We did happen to see one of only three white people (not including those with MCC) we saw the entire time we were in Bangladesh. She was a large blond woman who was trying on clothes.

After our shopping we met Austin and his wife, Marita and their three sons. We got a couple of rickshaws to go to a restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately what is normally a 15 minute ride turned into a 30 minute ride because a divider was recently put in a road that we had to cross and we chose to go at the same time that a local school was releasing. The picture below is of the traffic jam we were in. The restaurant we went to was Nandos. It is a Portuguese/South African restaurant chain that the boys really enjoy because it has a play area.


After lunch, we went back to The Source and finished our shopping. We all bought quite a bit to bring back. I'm sure they love when foreigners visit. On the way back, dad and I climbed to the top of a walkway over a busy road while Phillip went to buy a shirt from a guy on the street. The picture below is when Phillip realized that I was taking his picture.

We ended our day by having supper at Austin and Marita's apartment. We were supposed to eat there two days before, but of course our airplane from Nepal had other plans. Marita made a wonderful meal of Mexican food, and we had a good time visiting with them.

Austin, Marita, and their sons

Wednesday, October 21: Return to Bangladesh...Take 2

Since we were stuck unexpectedly in Kathmandu until the afternoon, we had to figure out what we were going to do with the morning. The missed flight and extra day in Nepal caused a couple of problems including:

1. We had nothing to do for the morning.
   
2. We had to miss a trip planned for this day in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. We were going to see some of the programs that MCC is working with in that area.
3. We were expected the prior evening for supper at a co-worker of Phillip.
   
4. We did not have to much of a way to communicate to those expecting us back in Bangladesh. Phillip had to pay for a phone call when we got to the hotel to let them know that we weren't going to be there as planned.
5. We didn't know where we were in Kathmandu.
6. And last but certainly not least, we had no more clean clothes. We had planned on a certain number of days in Nepal and left anything not essential in Bangladesh.

Using some maps of Kathmandu and a Lonely Planet guide book, we were able to figure out where we were. They had put us in a hotel near the business district. It also appeared that we were in a hotel that was frequented by Indians. Many of the TV channels were from India and was got the impression that most of the other people we saw staying that the hotel were Indian. We took our time getting up and around in the morning. We enjoyed being able to watch a couple of American channels. We watched part of a show on the Discovery Channel and watched part of the Yankees-Angels baseball playoff game. Due to the time difference, the game was on at about 8 am in Nepal.

Eventually, we decided to go find some breakfast and someplace to get on the internet. We started to walk towards the Thamel area that we had stayed in before knowing that there were many places there to use the internet. It took about 20 minutes to walk there, and on the way, we stopped at a bakery to buy some donuts. We also joked about running into Krishna (our travel agent). We were not particularly impressed by him and were glad to through dealing with him. He was very nice, but we all got the impression that whatever he said or did was ultimately done with the thought of how could it benefit him. So of course after we had finished using the internet and were on our way back, we turned a corner ran right into him. We quickly filled him in and insisted that we were ok and didn't need his services. Fortunately, he did not insist on helping us, and we were able to joke about this later.

After lunch at the hotel, we were picked up to go to the airport for another attempt at a return to Bangladesh. They assured us that there would not be technical problems this time since they had flown in another plane from Bangladesh. This plane was much bigger than the original one, and we later figured out that this was because they combined the previous day's flight with the current day's flight. That would also be why our flight was not rescheduled until the afternoon. After we got checked in, we made sure to wait to go to the terminal with the urine stench until absolutely necessary.

Of course even when waiting until we had to, we still sat in the worst terminal on earth for a while. Eventually our flight was called and we made it on the plane without any problem. Unfortunately, when they assigned seats, they didn't put any of us together. I had a seat in the middle of the plane, and Phillip and dad were on different sides of the plane further back. After we boarded, we settled in and waited for take off. A large number of the seats were not filled, and I was hopeful that I would not have anyone next to me. It's awkward enough having a stranger sit next to you, but one who doesn't speak the same language is more so.

We waited another 15 minutes or so without many more people boarding the plane, and it appeared that everyone was on board and we would be going soon. Finally, after about 30 minutes they had everyone on the plane and were ready for take off...as soon as they had something to move the plane back away from the gate. Of course with our luck, the vehicle that usually pushes the plane away from the gate had broke and they were trying to get another one. It was about this time that I started to get scared that we were going to be stuck in Nepal for yet another day. Eventually, they did get the plane pushed back, and we were able to take off.

Goodbye Mountains!

I don't believe I mentioned it before, but for those of you who have never flown with Bengalis before, it can be an interesting experience. There are two events from our trip that stand out in my mind. The first was when we were arriving in Bangladesh at the beginning of our trip. Phillip had warned us that Bengalis are good at getting of crowded vehicles quickly and to be patient and just let them go. Well, we landed in Dhaka and were still on the runway taxiing to the terminal when all at once you could hear what seemed like every seat belt in the plane being unbuckled. Additionally, while we were still taxiing to the terminal, everyone started to get up and move towards the exits. This prompted the flight attendants to tell everyone to sit back down and wait. The second event happened as we landed in Dhaka on our flight back from Nepal. For this flight we flew Biman Airlines which is not know for its quality, and I don't see another airline allowing this to happen. Well it seemed that the guy in front of me was a friend to the guys in the window seats across the aisle from me. I assume this because during the entire landing, the guy in front of me was in the aisle leaning over the guys across from me looking out their window. I prayed for a smooth landing, so this guy wouldn't wind up in my lap.

It was a relief when we did land in Bangladesh. It was evening already by this time, and we still had to get back to MCC's apartment in Dhaka. We made it though immigration without any problems and went to find transportation. Phillip negotiated a price with the driver of a CNG. It is a little vehicle that was just big enough for the three of us. He said the drive normally takes about 30 minutes, so of course traffic was heavy and it took us closer to an hour. We were so glad when we arrived after being cramped in the CNG and it being so hot and humid.

I don't have a good picture of one, but the little green vehicle above is a CNG.

Tuesday, October 20: Monkeys! and the Sweet Smell of Success...Oh, Wait...That's Urine

Contrary to what you might believe by the title to this post, the monkeys and the smell of urine are from two separate unrelated events. That's not to say that the monkeys didn't smell like urine. I really don't know. I didn't get close enough to get a good whiff of one. Anyway, I must digress. This was our last day in Nepal before we went back to Bangladesh, or at least it was supposed to be, but I'll get to that in a couple of paragraphs. We started the morning by meeting Krishna (our travel agent). He took us to the Swayambhunath Stupa which is more commonly known as the Monkey Temple. It is the oldest Buddhist temple in Nepal and is believed to be at least 2,500 years old. I probably don't have to explain that it is also well known for the large number of monkeys that make their home there. They are very comfortable around people and will harass you if you are not careful.

The temple itself was a series of buildings and monuments that were all very ornate. I felt a little uncomfortable because there were many Buddhists there practicing their religion, and I was trying not to get in the way. Of course it is a popular tourist spot, so we were not the only non-Buddhists there. We didn't get much of a tour by Krishna. He explained some things regarding Buddhism and the buildings, but I still did not come away feeling I knew very much about the religion. The temple was on top of a hill on the west side of the city, so there was a great view of the city. It was interesting to see the monuments and buildings, but I was a little disappointed overall.

The other thing that was very noticeable about the Monkey Temple was the amount of stray dogs that live there. We even saw a couple of dogs that had a litter of puppies. In fact, Phillip even got a picture of two dogs making a litter of puppies! If you want to see that picture, you'll have to ask Phillip for it.

The picture above is of a Buddhist holy man. I don't know what they are called, but in Kathmandu, they would go around and hand out flowers and put a red mark on people's foreheads for good luck. I found this out the hard way the night before as we walked around Kathmandu. I told the guy that I didn't want one but before I could even finish saying no, he reached up and put the mark on me real quick. Fortunately it came off easily.


And now for the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say...

Like I said before, this was supposed to be our last day in Nepal. After lunch, we went to the airport for our flight at 3:05. We got checked in and had some extra time, so we sat in a waiting area for a while. After it got closer to our flight time, we decided to go to our gate. We got to our gate to discover that there were a couple of hundred people packed into a large room. These people made up several flights to different parts of Asia and Europe. We also quickly discovered that the room had a very strong odor which we determined were from the restrooms in the corner. I'm sure the BO from the number of people packed into the room also didn't help the smell.

Anyway, our flight was late in boarding, but I wasn't going to be too upset as long as we made it back to Bangladesh that day. To board our flight we had to walk down a hallway and board a bus that would take us to our airplane. We made it as far as the bus. We kept waiting for them to take us to the plane, but finally after probably 15 minutes, we were told there was a problem and taken to another room. There we waited for awhile longer before we were told that there was a "technical problem" and they would let us know in 30 minutes whether or not the flight was going to go on this day. Of course, in typical developing world fashion, 30 minutes turned into two hours. Finally, they told us that our flight was canceled, and we would fly to Bangladesh the next day. Then we had to go back into the waiting room with the incredible stench and were given lousy boxed airline food to eat. We ate what we deemed to be safely edible and waited some more.

Eventually we were told that our flight would not be until 2:55 the next afternoon, and that we would be put up for the night in a hotel at the airlines expense. We were not happy! Another hour later, finally saw us leaving the airport about seven hours after we had arrived and taken to our hotel. Most of the people on our flight were Bengalis, and we were separated from them along with a couple of Bengalis that we think were a little more financially well off. I'm not sure where the majority of them were taken, but we were taken to a hotel that said on its front that it was a "real deluxe hotel". We were of course not impressed with how "fancy" the hotel was. Below are a couple of pictures of the hotel. You can see how "deluxe" it was. I can only imagine what the hotel the Bengalis were taken to was like. The only amenity that was nice was that it had cable TV and even had several American channels like ESPN and the Discovery Channel. This was nice since our flight didn't leave until the following afternoon and we had to figure out what to do for the morning. Needless to say, this day was not a very good day. Instead of being back in Bangladesh, we spent the night in a pink hotel room somewhere in Kathmandu.

This picture was taken in the stairwell. We saw this on a couple of the different floors. It was not real comforting.

And to make this day even better, it was dad's birthday! We were supposed to go to one of Phillip's co-workers apartment when we got back to Dhaka for a home cooked meal and cake. Fortunately, we were able to enjoy that meal another day. I'm sure this was a birthday that dad won't forget.

Monday, October 19: The Long Road Back

This day was not too eventful. We spent the previous night at the same hotel that we stayed at in Pokhara before we went on our trek. We of course went up to the roof in the morning to watch the sun rise over the mountains. Mornings are the best time to look at the mountains for two reasons: the color from the sun is awesome and mornings are when it is the clearest.


After watching the sunrise we finished packing for the bus ride back to Kathmandu. This was not something we looked forward to. We were hoping that we could make the trip faster than the seven hours or so that it took to get to Pokhara. We also took a different bus company because the first bus we had was not very nice. This bus was better with one exception. One of the seats in front of us was missing its window. This was were two twenty-something European women were assigned to sit. They were not happy about this, but fortunately for them, there was a free seat in the front for one, and after someone got off on the way, the other was able to move. There was not a whole lot to do on the bus, so Phillip and I got a lot of reading done and dad took a nap.
The picture above was taken from the bus as we left Pokhara. This was pretty typical of what it looked like outside of town. One thing we found amusing was how many people we saw standing outside brushing their teeth. We also noticed this in Bangladesh.

We made it to Kathmandu in the middle of the afternoon without too much discomfort on the bus. Along the way we said goodbye to Shailesh. He got off at a small town that was close to where he lived. We were very pleased with his services. If anyone is interested in treking in Nepal, I highly recommend him as a guide, and I have his email address. One interesting even did occur as we entered Kathmandu. There appeared to be some kind of rally or parade. There were a lot of people gathered and traffic was stopped. It looked like most of them were under 30. Most of them then piled into the backs of trucks or jumped on motorcycles and had a mini parade. We didn't find out what it was about, but I think it was something political because many of them were wearing red. We had heard about Maoist rebels setting up roadblocks occasionally in Nepal and stopping all traffic, so I was a little concerned at first. Fortunately, nothing negative happened except that we were delayed about 15 minutes.

We spent the rest of the afternoon in Kathmandu relaxing and checking out the rest of the Thamel area. We did not want to walk too far since we were all extremely sore still. Luckily by this time, Phillip's medicine was making me feel better. I hadn't been very sick the last couple of days, but I didn't have an appetite and my stomach felt a little weird. I had been eating what I could, but I'm sure between that and the treking I lost several pounds in those few days. Once I got my appetite back, I made sure not to worry about eating too healthy.

Sunday, October 18: Victory!

This was the last day of our trek and was the easiest day even though we were very tired and sore. I have never been more sore in my life. For the next couple of days, I couldn't take a step without my calves screaming at me to stop moving. Fortunately for me, I wasn't as sore as dad and Phillip. Phillip's calves and thighs were sore, and Dad's calves and thighs were sore, and he also had bad blisters on his feet. We must have been a sight going up stairs. Elderly people probably could have raced us to the top and beat us.

German family we met on the trail.

Typical scene from the trail. Our guide waiting on us to catch up.

We started the last day of our trek early in the morning and made it back to Naya Pul by late morning. Dad did a lot better than we thought after he had trouble with his knee the day before. Phillip and I were both a little worried that he would have problems again this day. After we made it back, crammed into the backseat of a taxi. The taxis in Nepal were just wide enough that the three of us can fit in the back seat if Phillip sat in the middle and put his arms around us. Needless to say, after a few hours of treking, cramming into a car with Phillip's arm around me for two hours was not my idea of relaxing.

A victory candy bar in the taxi on our way back to Pokhara.

As we started on our way back to Pokhara, we came upon some kids in the street. They were singing and clapping and would not move for us. Our driver and guide tried to get them to move, but they wouldn't get out of the way until they gave them some money. We found out later that it was part of a Hindu festival called Diwali. On this day of the festival, children do what I just described. We learned in the evening that in the city, the children don't stop traffic, but instead they go from business to business singing and clapping and won't leave until they are given some money. On the way back to Pokhara, we probably were stopped by kids about 10 times. After about the sixth or seventh time, I was ready just to get back to Pokhara and was really starting to get annoyed. It was also annoying when children came around our hotel singing right about the time that we were trying to go to sleep. Luckily they moved on before it got too late.

Saturday, October 17: Disappointment & Amazement

I'm not quite sure where Friday ended and Saturday began. This was supposed to be the day that we woke up early and trekked to the top of Poon Hill to watch the sunrise. Friday night, right around the time I went to bed, my stomach started to feel a little weird. As I lay there trying to fall asleep, it kept getting worse. On top of that, I became very cold. At the elevation that we were at it was pretty cold, and the rooms had no heat. As the night went on, I wound up putting on as many clothes as I could.

My stomach got to the point where I thought I was going to throw up. I felt sorry for the lady in the room by the bathroom. I went there to try to throw up once or twice, and the walls were so thin, I could hear her roll over in her bed. I heard her make a comment to her guide in the morning about people in the bathroom in the middle of the night. I really thought my stomach was upset because of something I ate, and if I threw up I would feel better. I'll spare you too many more details, but I did wind up throwing up sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Unfortunately, this did not make my stomach feel better. We later decided that I got Giardia which is what Phillip had when we were in Bangladesh. Fortunately, Phillip had some medicine for this. Unfortunately, I didn't know this in the middle of the night, and I started to get a little worried. What if I got really sick? We were two days trek from anywhere, and we don't have any extra days to take to get back. I'm sure the lack of sleep made me feel worse than I really was.

I did manage to get a couple of hours of sleep before we were supposed to get up. I was feeling better after I woke up, but I decided that I should stay back while the rest of them go to the top of Poon Hill. After the sunrise, they were to come back and eat breakfast before we left. It takes about 45 minutes to trek from Ghorepani to Poon Hill. After dad and Phillip left, I tried to get a little more sleep. I eventually gave up on that and went outside to watch the sunrise from town. The view from Poon Hill is amazing as you can see by the pictures here, but the view from Ghorepani was almost as great. I walked up a few flights of steps in town and found a good spot to watch the sunrise.

The picture right above was taken from Poon Hill.
The picture below was taken from Ghorepani.

Ghorepani and Poon Hill are amazing in that you can see to separate ranges in the Himalayas. To the northeast is the Annapurna range that we could see from Pokhara, and to the northwest is the Dhalagiri range. The mountains were dozens of miles away, but they still looked huge. The two panoramic pictures above contain he 7th and 10th highest mountains in the world. Can you guess which two? I'll post the answer below.

We were supposed to make a large loop on our trek, and go to Ghandruk next. This would be about an 8 hour trek and would be the longest day of the entire trek. With me having been sick and dad being exhausted each day, we decided that we would go back the way we came. The first couple of hours weren't too bad. We made good time, and dad and I both felt better than we expected. My stomach still felt bad, and I didn't have any appetite, but I didn't get weak or tired. Dad did great until we stopped for lunch at the last village before we got to the 3,280 steps that we had to go down. It wasn't very long after we started going down these steps that dad started struggling. His knees are bad, and he began having trouble with one of them. He got to the point where our guide was helping him. As we got further down the steps, he lost all his strength in the knee, and Phillip had to help him as well. We did eventually make it to Tikedhunga where we stayed before. We spent the rest of the day taking showers and napping before going to bed early. In the morning, we would finish our trek and go back to Pokhara.

Did you figure out which two peaks in the pictures above are the 7th and 10th tallest mountains in the world? In the picture below, Dhaulagiri I is the large peak on the left. It is the 7th highest at 26,795 ft. high. Annapurna I is the 10th highest peak at 26,545 ft. Of the two peaks on the right, it is the rounded one on the left. The pointed peak on the right is Annapurna South which is 23,684 ft. high and the 101st tallest mountain in the world. In the Dhaulagiri range on the left, you can also see Dhaulagiri II in the far distance just to the left of Dhaulagiri I. It is the white peak that you can just barely see. It is the 30th highest peak in the world at 25,430 ft.

Friday, October 16: Part 2

I realized after I made my last post that I wanted to mention the elevation change for this day but forgot. We left Tikedhunga earlier in the morning and ended in Ghorepani. A map I have from our trip shows Tikedhunga at an elevation of 1,480 meters and Ghorepani at an elevation of 2,860 meters. This is a net elevation change for the day of 1,380 meters. This converts to 4,485 feet. That means we ended our 17/20 of a mile higher than we started. Again for reference, the Sears Tower is 1,450 feet tall. That's roughly a third of what we gained for the day.

Our trek was only four days long, but we met many people who were doing the whole circuit around the Annapurna mountain range. This takes about 20-22 days. If anyone is looking to lose a significant amount of weight in less than a month, I highly recommend treking this circuit. We didn't have scales there, but we each estimate we lost at least five pounds. I bet if we had done the whole circuit, I would have lost at least 10-15 pounds.