God. I haven't posted a text in years. I am truely sorry but being out
isde India has changed my routines I guess. About four weeks ago I decided that I had to realize my dream about going to Nepal and trekk in the Himalayas and about 12 days ago I left. Wonderful decision! But I never thought that trekking would be that strainful for my poor legs or that I would find myself having conversations in German on 3000 meters above sea level in the south of Asia. Do I have to say more than that to make you understand that Nepal kept surprising me? It is sometimes difficult to explain nature with words, my author friend would do fine but myself, I prefere pictures:
I have now seen more tourists in the remote mountain areas (don't even know if these areas can be called remote..) in Nepal in one day than I have seen during my whole two and a half months' stay in India! It was quite interesting to see how stunningly similair the skiing scene is with to the trekking scene. Let's make it easy with some points:
Trekking and skiing...
1) ...take place in the mountains
2) ...make both use of some kind of walking/skiing poles
3) ...are two sports where your outfit is deadly important. Note that Germans are far better dressed in the snowless mountains than I remember them being in the Austrian mountains in the middle of the ninetees. To make myself clear, I never saw any neon colours on any Germans this time.
4) ...bring an international crowd (as for all skiing resorts outside of Sweden I guess? Check out the picture further down) and the Germans are dominating, verbally as well as with their physical appearence.
5) ...bring French people who keep greeting in their own laguage despite the millions of miles' distance to their home origins.
6) ...is nice with a warm cup of something that can give you a great smile or just warm you up, with or without alcohol.
7) ...make your legs feel shit the subsequent day after going downhill.
As you can see, trekking and skiing come with a lot of similarities. For instance, you would see the small Tibetan flags on every roof top in the Nepalese mountains and for me they became the equivalece to the flags that mark the different sloapes when you go skiing, e.g where a green flag shows that the sloape is easy to descend whereas black is difficult. Well, in Nepal the flags are a little bit different, the Tibetan flags which come as a combination of 5 colours (white, yellow, red, green and blue) and this is hence no sign for the mountain's steepness but for the call for freedom... It is horrible the things that happen in Tibet and that no one keeps track of. 
I walked for 7 days and my guide, Dhaka, was a really nice guy. We met a lot of nice people along the way and along with other travellers, also porters, who are carrying up to 50-70 kg on their backs, poorly dressed in cold clothes and worn out slippers (!!!) on their feet. This was probably the Nepalese equivalence to the European lifts in the alps, with the difference that the lifts in Europe probably would be better taken care of. To be honest, I found this porter thing rather disgusting and I felt even worse, talking to elder trekkers in the guesthouses in the evenings, telling me that they were sooo relieved for not having to carry their stuff themselves. I couldn't help myself from thingking; "Well of course stupid, but someone else is actually carrying your shit for no money, still feeling good are you?", but I never said anything. I am a coward.
Do I have to mention that female trekkers bring makeup with them or that middle aged couples probably have 5 sets of jackets, pants, sweaters and loafers tucked down in the backpacks they so gladely hand over to the Nepali porter, probably half their size in length as well as weight. Judge yourself, you see the backpacks in this very picture and these are rather light ones. There was never an end to smiles from the Nepalese, despite hard working hours, the porters were chating and having fun together...
It is not difficult to understand that if you live in the mountains with your family, and the neighbouring village is 10 km away, transport of groceries and goods, comes with manpower. This would be quite obvious, but it doesn't defend the fact that tourist porters have to work very hard for alomost no pay (40 euro per month). And it makes it even worse when you know that people in the north (e.g. people from developed countries) are the big clients, no Nepalese go for trekks. Now you might think it is good to provide the Nepalese jobs, yes it is, but aren't there certain conditions everyone should obey? Nepal have signed the labour rights as well, right? And as a tourist you do have a certain responsibility I reckon, don't you? These jobs would never exist in Europe that is one for sure. I would also like 
to add that dozens of porters die every year from cold, having slept in windsheds on 5000 meters above sealevel (do I have to tell you that the tourists sleep in well equipped tents with excellent sleepingbags?). I discussed this with most people a met besides for the ones using porters and I felt that I wanted to share it with you too. Hope you don't mind? By the way, I happen to love youngsters nowadays, check these kids out! I just love the girl in the tie, she is the gang leader, I reckon..
Kathmandu turned out to a really nice city and I was lucky to find a jolly crowd of people in a French run guesthouse in the centre of the city. Going for holy sites, shopping and constant bakery eating (you found delights everywhere, yum), my stay in Kathmandu was a rather success! And I almost forgot, the sadu talks continued, in Hindi this time (well, I am slightly restricted to hold conversations with less than 15 words). The sadu to the right on the picture here, has five times as long dreads as I have!
I am now writing to you from Gorakhpur where I arrived this morning after a crazy night busride to the Indian border from lovely K-town itself. I am still alive and leave for Kanpur in less than an hour. Have realized that I am about to come home to Sweden in 11 days and that makes my remaining days here even crazier cause there is a lot of things to do before that!
* National dish in Nepal. Tastes wonderful!
isde India has changed my routines I guess. About four weeks ago I decided that I had to realize my dream about going to Nepal and trekk in the Himalayas and about 12 days ago I left. Wonderful decision! But I never thought that trekking would be that strainful for my poor legs or that I would find myself having conversations in German on 3000 meters above sea level in the south of Asia. Do I have to say more than that to make you understand that Nepal kept surprising me? It is sometimes difficult to explain nature with words, my author friend would do fine but myself, I prefere pictures:I have now seen more tourists in the remote mountain areas (don't even know if these areas can be called remote..) in Nepal in one day than I have seen during my whole two and a half months' stay in India! It was quite interesting to see how stunningly similair the skiing scene is with to the trekking scene. Let's make it easy with some points:Trekking and skiing...
1) ...take place in the mountains
2) ...make both use of some kind of walking/skiing poles
3) ...are two sports where your outfit is deadly important. Note that Germans are far better dressed in the snowless mountains than I remember them being in the Austrian mountains in the middle of the ninetees. To make myself clear, I never saw any neon colours on any Germans this time.
4) ...bring an international crowd (as for all skiing resorts outside of Sweden I guess? Check out the picture further down) and the Germans are dominating, verbally as well as with their physical appearence.
5) ...bring French people who keep greeting in their own laguage despite the millions of miles' distance to their home origins.
6) ...is nice with a warm cup of something that can give you a great smile or just warm you up, with or without alcohol.
7) ...make your legs feel shit the subsequent day after going downhill.
As you can see, trekking and skiing come with a lot of similarities. For instance, you would see the small Tibetan flags on every roof top in the Nepalese mountains and for me they became the equivalece to the flags that mark the different sloapes when you go skiing, e.g where a green flag shows that the sloape is easy to descend whereas black is difficult. Well, in Nepal the flags are a little bit different, the Tibetan flags which come as a combination of 5 colours (white, yellow, red, green and blue) and this is hence no sign for the mountain's steepness but for the call for freedom... It is horrible the things that happen in Tibet and that no one keeps track of. 
I walked for 7 days and my guide, Dhaka, was a really nice guy. We met a lot of nice people along the way and along with other travellers, also porters, who are carrying up to 50-70 kg on their backs, poorly dressed in cold clothes and worn out slippers (!!!) on their feet. This was probably the Nepalese equivalence to the European lifts in the alps, with the difference that the lifts in Europe probably would be better taken care of. To be honest, I found this porter thing rather disgusting and I felt even worse, talking to elder trekkers in the guesthouses in the evenings, telling me that they were sooo relieved for not having to carry their stuff themselves. I couldn't help myself from thingking; "Well of course stupid, but someone else is actually carrying your shit for no money, still feeling good are you?", but I never said anything. I am a coward.
Do I have to mention that female trekkers bring makeup with them or that middle aged couples probably have 5 sets of jackets, pants, sweaters and loafers tucked down in the backpacks they so gladely hand over to the Nepali porter, probably half their size in length as well as weight. Judge yourself, you see the backpacks in this very picture and these are rather light ones. There was never an end to smiles from the Nepalese, despite hard working hours, the porters were chating and having fun together...
It is not difficult to understand that if you live in the mountains with your family, and the neighbouring village is 10 km away, transport of groceries and goods, comes with manpower. This would be quite obvious, but it doesn't defend the fact that tourist porters have to work very hard for alomost no pay (40 euro per month). And it makes it even worse when you know that people in the north (e.g. people from developed countries) are the big clients, no Nepalese go for trekks. Now you might think it is good to provide the Nepalese jobs, yes it is, but aren't there certain conditions everyone should obey? Nepal have signed the labour rights as well, right? And as a tourist you do have a certain responsibility I reckon, don't you? These jobs would never exist in Europe that is one for sure. I would also like 
to add that dozens of porters die every year from cold, having slept in windsheds on 5000 meters above sealevel (do I have to tell you that the tourists sleep in well equipped tents with excellent sleepingbags?). I discussed this with most people a met besides for the ones using porters and I felt that I wanted to share it with you too. Hope you don't mind? By the way, I happen to love youngsters nowadays, check these kids out! I just love the girl in the tie, she is the gang leader, I reckon..
Kathmandu turned out to a really nice city and I was lucky to find a jolly crowd of people in a French run guesthouse in the centre of the city. Going for holy sites, shopping and constant bakery eating (you found delights everywhere, yum), my stay in Kathmandu was a rather success! And I almost forgot, the sadu talks continued, in Hindi this time (well, I am slightly restricted to hold conversations with less than 15 words). The sadu to the right on the picture here, has five times as long dreads as I have!
I am now writing to you from Gorakhpur where I arrived this morning after a crazy night busride to the Indian border from lovely K-town itself. I am still alive and leave for Kanpur in less than an hour. Have realized that I am about to come home to Sweden in 11 days and that makes my remaining days here even crazier cause there is a lot of things to do before that!Dhal Bhat* or what?
cheers people, keep fighting!
/LindiZ
cheers people, keep fighting!
/LindiZ
