Incredible India

Spending 2 weeks in the mountains without a shower, change of clothes or much sleep, we were very much looking forward to our return to civilization and a long relaxing trip to India. After treating ourselves to a sauna/massage and yak steaks we left to catch a bus to the Nepal/India border. The primitive but functional bus left the station half full. With our legs stretched out we departed with the sun setting, staring out the window to the peaceful orange tinted Kathmandu skyline; India only a few hundred miles away. The bus however, was not ready to begin it’s journey. We wandered the streets of Kathmandu for the next two hours picking up passengers until every seat was filled and all floor space covered. Floor space designated for the most colorful/poorest passengers. We were herded into the rear of the bus with our legs jammed against the back of the seat in front of us. (Picture Seth in advanced yoga pose). Even with a healthy dose of sedatives, the 8 hour ride was miserable. Every few miles pot holes literally flung us out of our seats. When our were asses were planted, we would be catapulted forward by the bus breaking to nearly avoid hitting something (not necessarily another vehicle) accompanied with the drivers constant and obnoxious use of his horn. At one point we were woken by heavy rains that somehow flooded our seats. This forced us to shut the windows, which turned our pool into a steam room. The next time we woke up Benjy was covered in mosquito bites. The last bus plague that fell on us were the multiple rest stops. Like U.S. highway rest stops, all Nepalese are standardized. Instead of McDonalds and Baskin Robbins the Nepalese stops all have diseased dogs, massive piles of garbage, beggars and filthy food. When we finally reached the border we had to take a jeep three hours to the closest Indian train station. The driver packed 16 people into the Jeep!! There was little English spoken at this Indian rail station, but we managed to figure out our train left in four hours. We found the seediest hotel available, crashed for a few hours and jumped on the train for a six hour ride. 24 hours after embarking we finally arrived to our destination, Varanasi, probably the hottest most disgusting city on the planet. Welcome to India.

Varanasi is reputed to be one of the holiest cities in the world. Many Hindus flock to this city on the Ganges River to be cremated and have their ashes spread into the holy river. Some that cannot afford the wood required to properly cremate the body simply attach rocks to the corpse and throw into the river.

Along with human remains, the Ganges river is on of the most polluted on the planet. In recent water testing for fecal bacteria, researches found 500,000 bacteria per centiliter of water, the government standard for safe river swimming is 5.

These kids were swimming less than 100 yards from cremation ceremonies.
We gladly left this holy city to meet up with Benjy’s friend Erin in Delhi. The highly populated city of Delhi is spread out over a great area and is clearly divided into two parts, New and Old. New Delhi has extra wide tree lined roads, elegant apartment houses, parks and some modern shopping districts. Old Delhi has some of the cities impressive religious and tourist sites including the mosque, Jama Masjid. Not sure if we really had to ‘cover up’, could have just been one of many Indian scam artists.
Regardless, we look amazing!!
The rest of Old Delhi is a maze of bustling streets filled with people, rickshaws, motorbikes and livestock.

Not all of the livestock wander the streets forever.

Goat hooves for sale.
At 115 degrees, the dingy city of Agra leaves little to be desired less one exception. The triumph of the Mughal empire the Taj Mahal, built in 1632 as a tomb for the emperor’s wife, took over 20 years to construct. Recognized by many as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Taj did not disappoint; it is truly one of the greatest things ever constructed.
People from all over India come to visit this historic monument. For some taking a picture with the Taj is as impressive as taking a picture with these funny looking white people.
I think these guys liked Erin.
Looking to escape the heat, we headed down south to the famous beach state of Goa. Goa is like most beaches except the Sacred Cow is always entitled to the prime real estate
One of our days in Goa was spent working as extras on a Bollywood movie set. We were posed sitting down or walking next to these famous Bollywood stars. One of the actors, Sunjay Dutt we later discovered was a huge star. Described to us as the “Indian Al Pacino” his picture appeared in the Mumbai newspaper everyday we were there.

Sunjay testing out a Segway with his personal bus in the background.

The filming was done at a '7-star beach resort' where we sat around all day, ate lunch and were given 1000 rupes for our labor. After the shooting, we went to the hotel's casino and Benjy and Seth each turned their 1,000 rupees into 8,000! It is important to note that 1000 rupees is only $20. That being said, our hotel was only 500 rupees per night. Long story short...we were ballin that night.

Erin "extraing"

To get to Mumbai we took the famous and scenic all day train trip. The non AC and sleeper class cars were jam packed with traveling Indians, but ours sat the three of us plus one comfortably.

Benjy having a rest.
We would later discover that alcohol on the train is strictly prohibited and had to fend of the security guard with a few rupees.
Our hotel in Mumbai was located directly behind the famous/infamous Taj Mahal Hotel and Tower. The old hotel is an extraordinary building.
Along with the Taj Hotel there are several remarkable buildings in the old part of the city. Among these buildings stand out The University of Mumbai and Victoria Terminal train station (frequented by 2.5 million passengers a day). The buildings are an impressive specimen of 16th century Gothic architecture. It was too hot to take any pictures of them, but if you are interested Google away.

Benjy and Seth inside the train station and no Benjy did not run to the terminal.
Mumbai is a city of extremes. It is the most heavily populated city on the planet (see wikipedia). There are fabulously wealthy people, plush apartment buildings and terrific restaurants. On our last evening together, we went to a restaurant to “see and be seen”. Not sure if we saw anyone or anyone saw us, but the food was really good and most importantly it didn’t make anyone sick.
What makes Mumbai so unique is the contrast between the extremes. At night, the sidewalks in front of these high rise apartment buildings are cleared and literally the next lot down the sidewalk is completely carpeted with the sleeping homeless. Try to imagine New York City and add another 5 million people with no additional jobs or housing. People often defecate in public and rubbish is scattered every where. Over fifty percent of the city is made up of slums. The Oscar winning movie Slumdog Millionaire showed the slums very well. Benjy explored the Tharavi Slums which are the largest in city and also where they filmed the movie.

A two story home.
Benjy was given some rupees to distribute to the children and was quickly the most popular guy in the neighborhood.

On three everyone say ‘CURRRY’!!

Sagamartha

We assented into the mountains in a 12 seater propeller plane with a 1st row view of the cockpit.

We caught our first hint of intimidation looking out of the airplane window and being surrounded by mountains towering above the plane on all sides. Right when it looked as though we were headed directly into a mountainside we banked right and touched down on what appeared to be more like a driveway, then a runway. Our destination was the town of Lukla at 9300 ft above sea level.


No Sherpa, no guides just a map and a rough game plan to get to Everest Base Camp and back. Mount Everest is known world wide, however, few know the origin of its name. In the late 19th century the British commissioned the Great Trigonomic Survey, which at the time was the largest scientific undertaking in history. The survey resulted in the mapping of the sub continent of India as well as the discovery of the Himilayan giants, among them, Everest. The project also provided the first measurements of the earths curvature. One of the leaders and main surveyors of the project was Sir George Everest and although he never actually saw the mountain they choose to name it after him in honor of his work elsewhere. It was known, and still is known locally as Sagamartha “Godess of the Sky”.

Day one, Lukla to Manjo about 5 hours of walking with little change in altitude.

Lukla


Day two, Manjo to Namche Bazaar, this was about a 4 hour walk straight up taking us from around 9,000 ft to 11,200 ft. Namche is the biggest village along the route to Everest. We spent two days here while we acclimated to the altitude.

Namche



Day 3, on our acclimization day we set out by ourselves to catch our first view of Everest.



By the end of the day we gained a local friend, hung out at a monastery, saw a Yeti skull, and visited the village of Khumjung.

Our local friend Edic

Khumjung
Monastery

Day 4 , Namche to Pengboche. It was about a 6 hour walk and took us through Tengboche which has a world famous monastery.

Tengboche Monastery


Pengboche


Our lodging ran us approximately 60 cents per night. Typical room below.




Day 5, Pengboche to Dengboche 12,800 to 14,100 ft. Only around a 3 to 4 hour walk but it was our first time encountering snow. This assent brought upon a new dimension to the trek. Above this altitude the air becomes exponentially thinner and each subsequent gasp of air yields less and less oxygen. From here on up the we battled splitting headaches, sleepless nights, the inescapable cold and eventually frigid temperatures.

Dengboche


Day 6, Our last acclimization day here and since it snowed the entire time we spent our time reading, Benjy beating Seth in chess and our relentlessly joyful friend.

Ram, our lodge’s owner.


Day 7, Dengboche to Lebuche, 14,100 to 16,000 ft

After a few snowy, cloud covered days the weather started to turn in our favor and the enormity and beauty of our surroundings came into view.



Day 8, Lebuche to Gorek Shep 16,000 to 16,800 ft, to Base camp 17,600 ft and Back to Gorek Shep. Long day about 9 hours hiking.

Gorek Shep



Base camp was a city of tents set up at the base of the Khumbu Glacier where the remarkable Everest assent begins. You can not actually see the mountain from camp but the views are almost as impressive.

Base Camp

View from 18,200 ft

People from all around the world come here to attempt to reach the top of the world. Expeditions spend anywhere from six weeks at base camp to two months while they go up and come back down to acclimate to the altitude before making the final push to the top. Mount Everest, the worlds tallest mountain stands at 8848 meters about 29,000 ft.

Day 9, Gorek Shep to Khala Pattar, 16,800 to 18,200 ft. After a grueling 1200 ft vertical incline we were treated to a stunning 360 degree view of the Himalayas. The view from Kala Pattar offers what the locals refer to as the million dollar view of Mt Everest.

The Million Dollar Shot


After taking in this special place we were ready to get back downside and spent the next few days quickly making our way down to Lukla.

Along our trek, we had the pleasure of meeting some of the most impressive people in the world, the Sherpa. Their feats of strength are extraordinary and style of life very unique. They are generally little men, but can be seen carrying 200 lb packs with their heads almost effortlessly.

Biggest pak we saw, weighed around 200 lbs.

Mini Sherpa

Taking a quick break

They have great calves

How else do you think the beer gets up

When it was all said and done we ended up walking with our 30 lb packs about 70 miles up and down the sides of mountains and assenting (then descending) almost two vertical miles.
No showers, no heat, little food…unbelievable