pre-trek post

Ok. So where have I stopped last? Varanasi. Sunday I spent most of the day with Gabriele, a red headed Italian carpenter I met in my friends’ guesthouse. We went to Sarnat, which is the place where Buddha delivered his first sermon. O. we went there by local bus, which was an experience on its own, and I felt as though I haven’t done it in a while… anyway – sarnat. There is a nice archeological museum there (Indian standards…) and some ruins and an impressive Stupa, and Gabriele and I had some interesting conversations about religions sitting in the grass between the ruins, but what was most interesting for me were the temples around – active Buddhist temples, that really made it feel like the Jerusalem of India… a lot of Pilgrims, and interesting, impressive golden and other Buddha statues.
The next day I started my way to Nepal, and what a way that was!
I had bought my ticket together with an Israeli couple from another guesthouse – Shiran and Aviad. Thay didn’t want to leave very early in the morning, but also didn’t want to squeeze 3 people in a rickshaw, so I was on my own in the morning (I was actually on my own since sun\day morning, Yael and Yasmine left, I didn’t mention….). I got to the place, stood in line, registered (first time I actually had to do it since I got to India…), and was sent to siat and wait and have breakfast that was included in the ticket – believe it or not… we were supposed to ride the bus from 8:30 in the morning till around 5 pm, then cross the borer to Nepal, sleep in a guest house near the border, then drive another day to Pokhara.
Nice plan.
While waiting I met a nice Irish couple, and other than us there was a group of 10 Spanish, around 10 Japanese (or at least some of them were, some might have been other Asians…), one nervous Rumanian guy, one WEIRD African American man, an older man of unknown origin, another European couple which will become my friends only the next day, and a Dutch guy. O, and Aviad and Shiran who showed up a5 minuteds before departure. Obviously there were not enough seats for everyone, and on top of that two s\eats were broken. And the seat numbers on the tickets meant nothing. But somehow we started driving. After 45 minutes we stopped for half an hour to fix the broken seats. Then we drove again. The day went by, the Dutch guy next to me, Steven, was very nice and interesting, he had traveled Iran, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt and Turkey before he got to India (Iranians are apparently very hospitable and food in Syria is amazing, he reports…). 5 oclock came went by, that’s normal in India, but then came 6,7,8,9, an at 11 pm we got to the borer… luckily I was luckily I was first in line, so I got to the guest house more or less first (with the Irish couple). The guesthouse was nothing to write home about, but I will anyway… it had a changing no. Of beds in each room, in which we were put randomly. I was given a room and they seem to have forgot about me so I prepared to go to bed. Just as I was finally in and turned the lights off someone knocked on the door… they put the European couple with me – Joanna is from Poland and Kuba is from the Czech republic, but they live in England. First thing they (or more like it Joanna) did when they got in was making fun of me for being the only one who slept the whole way and yet I am the first to go to bed…so I laughed and then went out with them to have a very late dinner at the restaurant on the roof. (or whatever that was cause the rooms were the sane level…). The next day we departed at 6:30 in the morning. The bus this time was even smaller, and it served as a local bus as well, meaning Nepali people kept coming up and down. O, did I mention Steven, who was sitting next to me is over 2 meters tall? So he is… in Nepoal they have that creative way to put a board between the 2 rows of chairs, an squeeze 2 nepalis on it as a seat. So Joanna, kuba, steven and I were in the back seat with a changing local, stubbornly refusing the ongoing attempts of adding a 6th person to the seat…
This ride was not as long as the other one, but it was so much more painful!
We stopped a lot, but on most stopped we were too lazy to get off cause it was such a mission to climb out, one one of them Kuba was brave and bought us some local snack and passed it5 through the window, and on another I had a nice Welcome to Nepal, ny a little boy, not older than 9, who was running his parents shop, helping me with what I needed AND explaining me slowly how to work out my change between Nepali and Indian Rupees! (In Nepal most places accept Indian rupees but give you change in Nepali. Very confusing…) the rest was much less cheerful. The reads were horrible and bumpy and I kept falling in and out of my sleep. And my stomach started hurting which is very much unlike me.
We finally got to Pokhara, and I went, with Aviad and shiran (somehow with them again…the other 3 filled a cab) to find a guesthouse. We found an actual hotel, with carpets (!) and a TV(!!) and toilet paper in the bathroom (!!!!!!!) for less than I paid for the cheapest single room in India, so we took it. Then I found out I had my first diarrhea on the trip… well, I guess everyone has to go through it…
The next few days I was mainly recovering, looking dfor more Israelis, hoping to find some trek-mates, and stocking up on winter/trekking gear. Pokhara is the capital of what we call “The North Fake” - all kinds of (CHEAP) trekking equipment in different levels of imitation…
So now im all geared up but no trace of an Israeli. Until yesterday, when I simultaneously got a note from one girl (I left a message at a travel agency) and met some guys, some of which I’ve met in Pushkar before, and one of them – whom I haven’t im going to trek with starting Sunday morning…
So my plans have changed a bit, Shlomi kid of scared me that the around annapurna is gonna be a lot of days of walking in the snow, but also I figured out that im gonna be too pressed in time before Purim If I do it, so I decided to join his plan and do the Annapurna base camp and the poonhill, which will take us probably 10-12 days. There’s another guy joining us, named Udi, whom I haven’t met yet.
This morning I rented Bicycle (pink, with a basket…) and went to get a trek permit, which was such a nice drive by the lake, I was so happy im gonna have time to come back to pokhara and do a day of that…
And here I am. So I have to run prepare for Shabbat abnd get foo for the trek,
Miss me for 2 weeks!
:-)
Eliraz