Buhoo's Adventures

Gallery: As easy as ABC??

buhoo — Mon, 6 Jul 2009 21:25:00 GMT

As easy as ABC??

buhoo — Sat, 4 Jul 2009 01:48:00 GMT

The Annapurna Base Camp trek or as it’s more commonly knows as, the ABC, proved to be a 9 day trekking adventure for me. As my first ‘real’ trekking experience, I’m extremely glad I decided to contract the services of a guide and porter each. Yes, I needed both a guide AND porter. This would not come as a surprise to those of you who are familiar with my packing style. Once again, I managed to take everything but the kitchen sink. I had a total for ~15 kgs of ‘stuff’. Approx 10 kgs was kindly ported by a 54 year old Nepali who was old enough to be my dad. The other 5 kgs of camera equipment I carried on my own.

Even with all the help I got, the trek definitely was “as easy as ABC… 123…” (quote unquote Jackson 5). Each day was spent trekking for an average of 6 and a half hours throughout the mountainous regions of the Annapurna Conservation Area. We spent the first 6 days climbing up from 1070m at Naya Pul, to our final destination of the Annapurna Base Camp at 4130m. The next three involved a quick descent down to Khare.

The rest of my days were consumed with the basic activities of eating, sleeping, reading, washing, or just laying in bed willing my aches and pains away. I do have to say, the sleep I got throughout this trek has definitely been the best sleep I’ve had since arriving in Nepal. The cold climate and the absence of pesky mosquitoes was a pleasant chance from my nights at Kathmandu and Pokhara. Most importantly though, I greatly enjoyed my sleep as I felt every minute of it had been well deserved. I had worked hard to earn my rest and it felt oh so good to claim it!

Trekking definitely brings back the simple pleasures in life. It was amazing how happy I felt just after stepping out of the taxi at our starting point at Naya Pul. The cool fresh air and relaxing village atmosphere just brought a huge smile to my face. Imagine sleeping to the sounds of flowing river water, awakening to the calls of birds & crickets chirping, and having the sight of green green mountains to greet me each morning. Life was simple and good.

My mood however rapidly deteriorated with the developing weather. Early on in the trek, we started to encounter ‘off-season’ monsoon rains. The constant showers not only made our treks more difficult and uncomfortable, but also brought out the leeches in full force. I was bitten a total of 12 times over nine days! Those buggers seriously managed to crawl all over me to bite me on my head, neck, under arms, stomach and feet. Irritating buggers!!

The worst thing about the weather definitely had to be the ruined views and its associated photo opportunities. While packing back in KL, I had bought and additional 40GBs of SD card space for my camera specifically for this trek (in addition to the 10GBs I already had). However, due mostly to the weather, I only managed to fill up on3 16 GB card *sob sob*. My trigger happy fingers were severely deprived! My unfit condition also partially lead to this disappointment. I just couldn’t be arsed to take out my camera when I could barely move my feet any further. Additionally, I think my heavy breathing/panting would have led to shaky, blurry and generally unacceptable pictures.

Halfway through the trip, I was seriously starting to doubt that I would ever be able to see the clear mountain views I had been assured off by my travel agent and guide. I even started to mentally calculated how much time and money I’d wasted on my futile Himalayan range viewing attempts. (Please note that this was one of the many ways my mind tried to pre-ocupy itself during the long trek. Was so strange not having any workd related issues to worry about. My brain even resorted to counting the no. of steps I took. I averaged ~4000 per hour. Sad no?) My hazy mountain flight was the 1^st strike, the cloudy overnight stay & climb up to Sarangkot was the 2^nd… was I going to strike out even after 9 days in the mountains??

THANKFULLY someone up there took some pity on me… On the morning right after we reached ABC, we were greeted with a very welcome view of the Annapurna Range. At first, only Mt Fish Tail’s peak revealed itself. Even this tiny window to the full beauty of the Himalayas was enough to make me and my fellow ABC trekkers jubilant. You can imagine how ecstatic we were when the entire range slowly cleared up over the next half hour. 360 degrees of snow capped mountain views! I was heads over heels! I finally had a reason to bring out the tripod my poor porter had been carrying! Think I may have scared some folks away with my sudden bubble of enthusiasm though. Oh well, no harm done… they’ll just attribute it to me being Malaysian =p

Anyhoo… enough banter for the day. Will upload pics from the trek into the gallery section as soon as I can. Can I just say it feels great to be reconnected to civilization?? All hail the internet!!! =D

Bumming around Pokhara…

buhoo — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:59:00 GMT

Have been spending the last few days wandering around Pokhara and its nearby villages. Definitely feel as if these past few days of relative inactivity has helped ease the muscular pains and bruises from the kayaking trip. Am now feeling all psyched up for my upcoming 10 day Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek. Leave first thing in the morning tomorrow =)

After only just purchasing a headlamp and walking stick (with much haggling involved), I think I’m all set gear-wise. Fitness-wise, I can only pray for now... only time will tell whether my bony legs will be able to carry me up to 4130m above sea level. Am currently thinking of my previous failed Mount Kinabalu ascent as my personal performance benchmark. Pray for me!!

Acknowledging my unfit/’couch potato’ condition, I rented a bicycle to exercise my muscle-less legs. RM 10 for two days =) Quadriceps are already hurting after only one day of biking around. Even worse, my bum aches so bad now! The cheap plastic seat compounded with the numerous potholes around Pokhara have left me walking funnily now @_@

Anyhoo… pics from Pewa Tal (the main lake around Pokhara), Begnas Tal (a smaller less touristy lake 45 mins away), Sarangkot (a small hilltop village) and some others are in the gallery. Will be back with more in 10 days!

Success at last!

buhoo — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:47:00 GMT

I’ve finally renewed my tourist visa! Has taken me 4 separate tries over the last week to get this done. My first attempt involved a painful let down by the almighty travel bible a.k.a. the Lonely Planet guide to Nepal, which had outdated information on the location of the Immigration office in Pokhara. My second attempt involved me taking another taxi ride to the correct location but at the wrong time! Although the immigration office was technically open when I arrived, little did I know that there was a specific visa application window from 10am to 1pm on Sundays to Thursdays. I was 30 mins too late =( My third attempt left me standing in bewilderment at what I finally thought was the right place, day and time. Me and my amazing traveling luck… I had apparently decided to renew my visa on the same day the Nepalese civil servants decided to hold a strike! ARGHhhhhh!!! Thank goodness I had planned to renew my visa with loads of spare time for unforeseeable setbacks like these. Was thus extremely happy to finally get it sorted today on my fourth and final attempt! =)

Gallery: Bumming around Pokhara...

buhoo — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:32:00 GMT

Gallery: I believe I can fly...

buhoo — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:59:00 GMT

I believe I can fly…

buhoo — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:32:00 GMT

… for USD 120, I definitely can!

Took an early morning mountain flight with the Avia Flying Club Nepal on Friday. During the 30 min flight from Pokhara’s tiny airport, we headed as closely as we could to the Annapurna Mountain Range. Managed to catch a glimpse of both the peaks of Mt. Fishtail and Annapurna South although they were surrounded by a thick cloud of dust/haze. It hasn’t been raining in this region for a week now, leading to pretty bad visibility of the surrounding mountains. Dearly wished for two things during my flight…

1) that I was in Nepal in October and not June, as the visibility during the autumn/winter months is meant to be perfect!

2) that I am not on my way back to being a debt ridden student, and thus not able to fund a 1 hour trip vs a 30 min one. Would have been able to get up much closer to the mountains with a longer flight…

Will be uploading pics into the photo gallery soon

In search of the elusive eskimo roll...

buhoo — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:42:00 GMT

Having just returned from a 4 day battering, I do have to admit that river kayaking is way more challenging than the leisurely sea kayaking I’ve been accustomed to. In sea kayaking, there really isn’t the feeling of mortal danger associated with capsizing. What I mean by this is that there are no nearby rapids that pose the threat of sucking you in and churning you round like a washing machine. I exaggerate, but honestly, that’s how it feels like going under. The second major difference is in the kayaks themselves. River kayaks have this unique setup where you are actually attached in a fixed position to the kayak via a ‘skirt’ and some elaborate leg and seat arrangements. The idea is to transfer every motion in your body to your kayak for better sensitivity and control. Conversely, what this also means is that the kayak is extremely unstable for balanced challenged individuals like me! Just to illustrate, it took me less than 20 paddle strokes before I capsized my kayak - embarrassing @_@ Last but not least, this kayak arrangement also ensures that you stay attached to the kayak even upon capsizing... a strange claustrophobic and inflexible position to be in under water. Imagine your head/upper body left dangling while your legs are being held in the air. Now switch the air with murky muddy water… That’s what I mean!

So what happens when you do capsize? There are 3 main options…

1 – Execute an Eskimo roll. Literally right the kayak using a combination of torso, hip, and paddle motions. Am led to believe that this roll was invented by the Eskimos in the polar regions, hence its name.

2 – If option 1 fails, call for help by pounding on the base of your kayak (while capsized) till a fellow kayaker appears by your side. Then using the nose of you saviors kayak as support, pull yourself up right with a strong flick from your hip

3 – If all else fails, bail by pulling your ‘skirt’ off, kick yourself out of the boat, and swim for shore. This is usually followed by some 10 mins of frantic work from the guides as they try to secure your runaway kayak and paddle in the fast flowing currents

As you can probably guess, option 1 is easy to talk about, but extremely difficult to do. Even after the watchful eyes of our guides throughout the trip, I was only able to ekimo-roll myself 2-3 times under controlled conditions i.e. in calm water by our camp site. Nevertheless, this is an ‘achievement’ I’m quite proud of. So don’t laugh k!

I shared my 4 day adventure with a young Danish couple, Laerke and Thomas. Of the 4 days, 1 was spent on the Phewa Lake in Pokhara learning the bare basics, while the last 3 days involved a back to nature trip down the River Seti. Seti is a Grade II-II+ river that in rafting terms has rapids which are as mild as you can get. However, on a tiny kayak, every tiny ripple is felt, amplifying the magnitude of excitement and fear by a factor of 10

Watching everyday village life pass me by on the river banks had a very calming and relaxing effect. We were also lucky enough to enjoy rain free weather and starlit skies every night. The night skyline was also pleasantly interrupted my flickering fireflies. For basic amenities, we had a hole as our toilet and the sandy river banks as our bed =) All that being said, I think we were still pretty spoiled and pampered throughout the trip. We had a total of 4 guides with us. 2 kayak instructors, and 2 other guides who ported all our equipment in a fully loaded raft. They did all the heavy lifting, cooking, camp setup, and even ‘loo’ setup for us. Please see the associated pics in the photo gallery section. To cap off the trip, I spent the 5 hour bus ride back to Pokhara on the rooftop of a local bus. An awesome experience in itself!

All in all, it was a fun and exhausting trip. Picked up many muscle aches, bruises and insect bites along the way, but definitely think they were worth it. Would definitely recommend this or a similar trip to anyone who’s looking to try something different. Over and out for now...

Gallery: In search of the elusive eskimo roll...

buhoo — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:26:00 GMT

Gallery: The adventure begins...

buhoo — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:21:00 GMT

The adventure begins....

buhoo — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:51:00 GMT

It's now been 4 days since I've arrived in Nepal, of which the first 3 were spent in Kathmandu, while the 4th was spent in a 7 and a half hour bus ride to Pokhara. The trip hasn't been entirely exciting to date. Am however looking forward to 4 adrenaline pumped days ahead as part of a kayaking clinic down the Seti river.

Plans have changed quite a bit since arriving. I am no longer going for the 9 day Sunkosi white water rafting trip I was so eagerly anticipating before. My tour agent wasn’t able to secure enough customers to fill a raft for this trip. Was pretty disappointed when I heard this. Curse the dreaded monsoon! Tourists have been leaving Nepal by the throngs in anticipation of the upcoming humid/hot weather. Oh well… no point crying over spilt milk. At least I’ll get to put my new camera (now dubbed ‘the sub’) to good use with some underwater action on the Seti River =)

Kathmandu really reminds me of a smaller version of Indonesia/India. Highly populated, dusty, crammed and with never ended sounds of vehicle honks ringing in my ears. Am quite glad I’ve finally escaped from the chaos to Pokhara.

Nevertheless, chaos or no chaos, I was still happily photographing away =) Have uploaded some ‘untouched and unedited’ in the photo gallery of the blog. Mr Rosien… you’d better be a very loyal reader… you know who’s to blame for its creation!