If you can imagine a hidden place, tucked safely away from the world… concealed by walls of high, snow-capped mountains… a place rich with all the strange beauty of your nighttime dreams… then you know where I am.
-the Himalayas, as described by Heinrich Harrer in Seven Years in Tibet.
This is from my favorite scene of Seven Years in Tibet, which is one of my favorite movies. I thought of the movie often in Nepal because I was amongst the Himalayas, but also because it’s obviously a very spiritual film, and the natural beauty of the place ignites my spirituality.
On the second day of my trek, I first saw the mountains of the Himalayas. We climbed up-up-up… up into the sky… gaining ~4,500 feet in elevation (Tikhedhunga is at ~5,000 feet, and Ghorepani is ~9,500 feet).
While I’m a more ‘spiritual’ person, I appreciate all religions AND the literature produced from them. I love the beautifully written poetry of the Bible, particularly Genesis, and I was thinking of it while trekking.
And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
feeling among the vault of clouds
Seven Years in Tibet illustrates the complicated (non-) relationship between Heinrich and his son, whom he’s never met. In a letter to his son, he writes:
In this place where time stands still, it seems like everything is moving. Including me. I can’t say I know where I’m going nor if my bad deeds can be purified. There are so many things I have done that I regret. But when I come to a full stop, I hope you understand that the distance between us is not as great as it seems.
His letter to his son illuminates angst, love, remorse, hope… and he’s internally unsettled.
We’re all searching for something, aren’t we?
I saw this sign on the wall in the dining room of the Chandra Guest House:
HHDL
At that moment, in the headspace I was in, reading those words was extremely impactful.
It’s strange how feelings reach us and escape us as time unyieldingly pushes forward – and suddenly, what was once a worrisome burden is only memory, moved out of the way and replaced.
It takes the right concoction of inspiration and experience… And then we’re no longer chasing ghosts – we’re chasing rhinos, and we’re not building walls but we’re surrounded by walls of snow-capped mountains, and there is a sort of alignment in everything we see, at every moment. Peace.
When we feel there’s nothing more to search for, we do come to a full stop. And in other ways, we’re free to journey onward, to climb other mountains and focus on the true meaning of life.
“Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.”
Chandra Guest House, bottom middle
blues and greens
first hello to annapurna south mountain
splash of red
lunch stop
steps up
waterfall and pool (not quite warm enough to swim)
across the way
waterfall stare
“Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.”
rest break
action shot
under the arch
view from our hotel
ghorepani arrival!
cold selfie in front of hotel
pano
double selfie
view out my window
valley filled with milky fog
“Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.”
you did it, Harry😏
obligatory sign marker photo
annapurnas
annapurnas
annapurnas
I AM IN NEPAL NOW
sunrise
dhaulagiri – good morning, 7th highest mountain on earth
sunrise
annapurnas
sunrise
pano
sunrise
❤️ nepal
God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness.
“Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.”
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Next up: Cool Koreans and Climbing Down
JamJam and LaLaLa
Nepalese language lesson😆
(oops, I thought this posted already… this is the first day of trek!!!!)
Quickly after starting the trek, Harry and I both discovered that he would say “jamjam” to me a lot. Jamjam! = Let’s go!
The first day of walking was up-up-up-a.little.flat-up-up-a.little.down-up. Lots of ups. Lots of jamjams!
On the first morning of the trek, we took a taxi from Pokhara to Nayapul. Beauty everywhere.
on the way to nayapul
And some technology… Discovery of Nepali bluetooth…
step 1: secure cell phone under hat
step 2: talk hands-free
Nayapul drop-off. And start walkin.
village on mountainside
quadruple waterfall
welcome! ACA
Hi Harry! buying oranges
houses across the way
this is through a hole in the wall of the bathroom.
restaurant view
spinach growing
dal bhat – spinach picked from garden
Dal bhat for our inaugural lunch, of course.
On the first day, we walked for a total of maybe 4 hours. Our destination on Day 1 was the village of Tikhedhunga.
road portion
i love the colors!
foggy but pretty
fellow trekkers – and a rooster
The colors are so beautiful… I can’t imagine the summertime when there are rhododendrons blooming everywhere!
As we were walking, I got to listen to Harry’s conversations on his cell phone some, and I was noticing, every time he was getting off the phone, the last thing he would say was: “La, la, la. La!” Every time. What does it mean?? “La” means “Okay”. So, I’m thinking that once I get back to the states and can use my cell phone again, when I want to get off the phone with someone, I will just say, “La, La, La! LA!!!” and hang up. Will that work?
We got to Tikhedhunga around 3pm. It was significantly colder than Pokhara! And no heat. But it didn’t matter because it was soo much fun! We stayed at a place called Chandra Guest House, and the owner’s name is Asta. He’s hilarious and treated us really nicely. His Chef was great too – he let me stay in the kitchen while he was cooking because it was the only place with any heat, even though I was in the way😊!
curry! from a REAL kitchen:)
flat stanley cooking
final product! chicken curry
we all use the same walkway
This guy is awesome (Asta, not Flat Stanley). He knows 7 languages, he’s lived all over the world… He and Harry made the freezing night so much fun😌 He shared some yak cheese with us too, which was the first time I’ve ever had any food product from a yak. Very mild in flavor.
Asta and Flat Stanley!
Sad to leave! Look at this place, it’s beautiful, and this is in the wintertime.
Hasta, Asta!
Nepal was super cold for me at night, and I didn’t get to see the rhododendrons, but I’m glad that I visited during the off-season because there weren’t huge amounts of tourists everywhere. There actually weren’t many at all. Which is good when you’re trekking – it’s not fun to hike and have people crowding around you.
Day 1 was a lot of uphill walking, including lots of stairs. But, at the end of the day, Harry told me that it WASN’T much uphill and that Day 2 would be a lot more climbing😓! Then, he said, “Jamjam!”😟 Of. Course.
Next up: More Nepal😊
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