Petra by Kathleen

We visited Petra over two days. Walking through the sic was amazing. The sic is a crack in the rock, 20 feet wide, 70 feet tall and 2 kms. long. The first thing you see when you come to an opening is the Treasury. It is magnificent! Rob and I had our picture taken in it with the guard and he was wearing the traditional desert uniform with his gun, bullets and knife strapped to his body.

Petra is huge! The first day we climbed to the High Place of Sacrifices, which gave us a super view over the whole site.

The next day, after walking through the sic again we visited the ruined Colonnade that was the main market back in 300BC. Then we hiked up to the Monastery, which is at the top of another mountain. It took us an hour to climb up but once there we had views of the beautiful Monastery, the site again as well as views towards Israel. We had our lunch up there, taking in the beauty all around us.

To leave the Petra site we had heard that there was another sic which we could take. The trail to this sic is not very well marked. Rob had gone over on his ankle the day before and by the end of the day it was bothering him, so we decided to hire a donkey and the owner of the donkey then showed us the way to the start of this smaller sic. This sic was terrific. It is very, very narrow, 2 feet wide and 50 feet tall and 1.5 kms long. It was very quiet in this sic as we were the only ones there. At times we were nervous wondering if we were on the right trail. Sometimes we had to climb up over big rocks, which made it an exciting adventure. We had snacks half way through and did lots of shouting to hear the wonderful echoing sounds. When we finally came out of the sic there was a sign that said “Venturing beyond this point is dangerous, without a guide.” We took our picture beside the sign and we were very happy to have tried this route by ourselves and succeed! Even though we were really tired, it made our trip to Petra very memorable.

Wadi Rum Desert Apr 23-24 by Rob

After a quick breakfast we stocked up on water and food for a picnic and headed out for a 3 km hike in the desert. We were headed towards Lawrence's Spring, named after TE Lawrence because he wrote about it in his book "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" and it is supposed to be the place where he washed his clothes before heading into battle against the Turks. The Spring is half way up a mountain with huge stones and we climbed up to see the Spring and to have a view over the desert while we ate out lunch under the only tree we could see as far as we could see. As we walked back to the village, a sandstorm blew up and thank goodness it was blowing from behind us because as it was it was hard on the eyes.

We rested in the afternoon back at our campsite and luckily by the late afternoon the wind died down and Dad, Kathleen and I were able to have a camel ride into the desert with three Bedouins. The camels knelt down for us to be able to climb on so that when they stood up, you felt like you were falling off. When riding a camel you sway from side to side. Out in the desert, on the back of a camel with the wind blowing lightly around you with the sun setting was amazing. At one point I was able to get my camel to go faster and it was lots of fun. That night we slept in tents out in the desert. It was so peaceful, but exciting and scary too!

Sinai April 16-21

Ten hours on the bus brought us from Cairo and Pharaonic Egypt to the bottom of Mt. Sinai and the holy land of Bible stories. The Sinai Peninsula is a massive desert which rises from the sea up to a long chain of rocky barren mountains. The highest point at over 2200m is Mt.Sinai and at the base of the mountain is St. Katherine’s Monastery built in the 6th C on the site of the original Burning Bush where Moses saw God (a cutting still flourishes in one corner).

We climbed the mountain, and although God did not give us any commandments we could understand why God chose this spot to speak to Moses and we marveled at the multitude of colours that could be seen on the desert mountains. At night we stayed in a “Desert Camp” where we ate in Bedouin style tent and slept in a cozy room built into the hillside, but facing onto an olive garden. It was very peaceful and absolutely quiet after Cairo.

Next day we hired a taxi for the 120 km trip to down from the mountains to Nuweiba, about half way down the coast from the Israeli border on the Gulf of Aquaba, looking across the 13 km of water to Saudi Arabia. We are staying at the Soft Beach Camp, where the soft, almost powdery sand stretches into the clear water of the Red Sea (it’s really blue). We sleep in a tiny hut made of reeds and spend our waking hours on the beach or in one of the Bedouin tent-style shady dining areas, where we lounge on low cushions and Nabil brings us drinks. The Red Sea is supposed to be world famous for diving and we have seen some colourful fish at a clump of coral just off our beach, but the water was quite rough so we never ventured out to the main reefs. Still, it has been a delightful rest from the hectic touring and we are now ready to head into Jordan and the next chapter of our adventure.

Cairo April 10-16

Cairo is a huge, vibrant city. I was going to use the word “bustling” but somehow it doesn’t do justice to the intensity of life in the capital of Egypt. We were most impressed by the sophistication of Cairo. The modern sections are like Paris in many ways, with wide boulevards, stylish architecture, impressive squares, fashionable people and Peugeots everywhere, but with a distinctive Arab character. We shopped at the local vegetable market, bought bread and croissants at the bakery and ate delicious shawarma and falalfals at street-side stalls.

At any time of day or night the streets are packed and stop-and-go traffic seems the norm. Three or four policemen in smart uniforms are on every corner, but none seem to direct traffic and crossing the multiple lanes is a hair-raising game of chicken. On side streets pedestrians walk on the roadway as the sidewalks are crowded with stalls selling bread, vegetables, underwear, Kleenex and everything in between. Cafes spill out onto the sidewalks with men sipping tea and smoking hookahs. People are washing cars, shining shoes, fixing flats, or just hanging out. One evening we went to the Khan, a huge bazaar with miles of narrow alleyways lined with brightly lit shops selling anything you could imagine, and then some! Part of the experience was navigating crowds that Canadians normally see only in shopping malls the weeks before Christmas.

One of the main reasons we came to Egypt was to see a good friend from my university days, Rob Switzer and his family. The Switzers came in 1991 for a two-year contract at the American University in Cairo, and16 years later have no intentions of leaving. We saw quite a bit of Rob, Judy and their son Michael, who is the same age as our Robert. They were able to tell us many things to see and do in Egypt, and a high point of our stay in Cairo was a delightful afternoon on their balcony, and later dinner at a classy restaurant in Maadi, their neighbourhood. Rob and Judy are gifted conversationalists and time flew by talking about the old days, catching up on what we have been doing these past years, and of course asking them all about Cairo and Egypt.

Rob had arranged an apartment for us in Garden City, a district close to downtown laid out in the 1920s with art deco residences and elegant embassies, which have since been “in-filled” with bland office and apartment buildings. The location was ideal as we could walk to the Egyptian Museum and the Metro was only two blocks away. The apartment was quite large and bright with a well-equipped kitchen so we loved having a home after almost 3 months of staying in hotels and spent lots of time making meals, writing blogs, reading books and just being “at home”.

The two must-sees of Cairo are the pyramids and the Egyptian Museum. The Egyptian Museum is fabulous. This is where all the treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamon are displayed, as well as some actual mummies of Pharaohs from 1600-1400 BC, an entire wing of sarcophagi and an incredible array of artefacts. It was so interesting that after four hours the kids still wanted to stay and see “just one more room”. The Pyramids are the only remaining wonder of the world and they truly are a wonder to see. We took the metro and bus to get there as Giza is now a suburb of Cairo, but once away from the souvenir sellers and out on the plateau gazing at those huge monuments, one can feel transported far away in time. The kids went down into the tomb part of the pyramid, but Ann and Steve were too tall to fit in the tunnel (at least that’s our excuse!) A recent attraction at the Pyramids is the Solar Barque Museum where on display is the actual boat that was used to carry the mummy of Cheops across the Nile to his Pyramid in 3500BC. The barque was discovered in 1959 in a pit at the foot of the pyramid, but in remarkably good condition, and the museum is built over the pit where the boat was buried. Throughout Egypt we have seen so many ancient artefacts, but somehow seeing this wooden boat that is over 5000 years old, but looks quite like the fishing boats we had seen in Kerala, made the history seem so believable and real.

Next we are off to the Sinai to climb the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments, and to snorkel in the Red Sea.

Photos on Flickr

To see many more pictures of Egypt and all our trip, click on the link to our Flickr site. The link is below the archives on the right of this page.
There are also links to maps of India and Egypt.

Luxor by Ann & Steve

April 8.
Egypt...where to start? Everything seems to be going as planned. The trip from Nepal to Egypt was smooth if a bit long. We got flights with Air Arabia, the deep discount airline of the middle east, (in flight service is one glass of water) to Sharjah, where we ate the last of our Nepali sandwiches and waited 8 hours till midnight to get our connection to Luxor. The flight took 3 hours but each of us snapped up three seats to sleep on. We got into Luxor at 2 am which was 5 am Nepal time, found a cab to the hotel and collapsed. In the morning we were disappointed to find out that the pool was closed so we moved down the street to the St. Joseph Hotel whose pool is open. It is soooo hot here, up near 40 degrees in the pm, that afternoon swims are much appreciated.

Luxor is the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, famous for its grand monuments and we have managed to get a good overview. We get up with the call to prayers at 5 am and head out to see the sights while it’s cool. We have seen the Valleys of the Kings, Queens, Nobles and Workers as well as Karnak and Hatshupsut’s Temple. The first day we went to Karnak, a temple complex that was started over 4000 years ago and added to by successive pharoahs each trying to outdo his or her predecessor. The scale of everything is mind-boggling and we had fun playing tag in the the famous hall of pillars which I am sure was used for chase scenes in James Bond and Indiana Jones movies. By 11am we were feeling baked and headed for lunch at Chez Omar, a small cafe with French speaking waiters serving Egyptian fare. Then to the pool and a nap.

Next morning we started with a ferry ride over the Nile where we rented bicylces to tour the tombs of the West Bank. As it was Friday, the muslim holy day, the streets were particularly quiet with not many cars or buses, in fact there were more donkeys with wagons bringing things to the market. We started at some tombs of of the workmen who built the Pharoah’s tombs and were most impressed by the tomb of an artist who had painted very detailed, bright and lively scenes on his small and otherwise humble resting place. Next, to the valley of the Nobles where the tombs were a bit bigger, and mercifully easier to get into, but with amazingly clear paintings depicting their lives. Finally we saw two tombs in the valley of the queens which had much larger rooms with complex paintings, but were more deteriorated than we had seen earlier, probably because they had been looted and open to the elements much longer.

By noon we were hot and hungry, but soon found a terrific place for lunch in a shaded spot under a 600 year old tree. Mohamed’s is a typical Egyptian restaurant with big setees under an outdoor arbour. There were only two choices on the menu- chichen or lamb- each with a salad, rice and vegetables plus cake and tea for dessert. The food was delicious, the surroundings so relaxed that we could have had a nap there, but instead we got back on our bikes, took a quick ferry ride home and plunged into the pool. Our hotel rooftop has an amazing view of the Nile. In the morning you can see the hot air ballons floating tourists around and at sunset there are a flotilla of faluccas cruising the river.

Next day we went back to the west bank to see the star attraction of Luxor, the Valley of the Kings. Hidden in the most desolate spot imaginable it is an amazing that the little doorways into the mountains lead into such huge marvelous rooms all carved out of the rock. The three tombs we chose to visit all had exquisite paintings of elaborate scenes adorning the walls of the many halls that one held the possesions and remains of the Pharoahs. Only one still had the sarcophagus, a ten tonne piece of sculpted granite that was more than 100 m underground. Having done a brief tour of a few tombs I could imagine reading up and going for a longer tour with an expert guide, but that will have to wait for another visit. We chose not to see Tutenkamun’s tomb as our book said it is not as spectacular as many of the others and probably not worth the extra $25 entrance fee.

Getting to Valley of the Kings early was a good idea as we were ahead of the crowds and done by 8:30 am when it was still cool enough to climb up over the mountain and down the other side to Hatshepsut’s Temple. The book described it like walking on a lunar landscape, very stark and barren (and hot even at that hour) but the view of the Valley of the Kings on one side and of the green fields adjacent to the Nile and Luxor on the other side is breath-taking. Coming down the views of Hatshepsut’s Temple were terrific too, better than our actual visit inside the temple.
That afternoon we went to lunch at an Egyptian family’s home. Our waiter from the night before, Mohamed, had extended the invitation and although we were a bit unsure, he seemed genuine so we accepted. He met us near our hotel with his 2 year old son and we drove to his village, which was only about 2 km, but a world away from the tourist strip of Luxor. We had an amazing lunch with a salad, rice, bread and a beef stew cooked in an earthen pot called a tagen, along with watermelon and ice-cream for dessert and of course tea. He has four kids from 2 to 16. His wife is a lovely woman with a beautiful smile and perfect teeth (how is it that everyone in India, Nepal and Egypt has lovely teeth?) who wore lots of gold jewlery (which Mohamed said was her dowery) and who makes the most delicious bread! It was so good, we asked her if we could take home a loaf.
Mohamend joined us at the table to be polite but he told us that he had eaten before he picked us up. His wife, having spent the morning preparing the food. relaxed on the floor watching television with the kids. After lunch the kids played together. Mohamed showed us around his simple 3 bedroom appartment and graciously answered all our questions about life in Luxor. Tourism is the only industry and when it is down (as it has been the last few years because of the bombings), everyone is affected. Hence, Mohamed’s side-line business of inviting tourists into their home for an ”authentic Egyptian” experience. That evening we were still full so we ate the bread for supper with cheese, vine ripened delicious tomatoes and cucumbers and baclava for desert which we had bought in the souk. We are enjoying the abundance of fresh veg and fruit after Nepal.

This morning, the Easter Bunny found us in Luxor and after a chocolate high, we retired to the pool for an hour before hitting the school books. Today is a day off from touring to relax. Tonight we are going out to a fancy restaurant for our Easter Dinner with Rob Switzer and his family. Rob is a friend of Steve’s who lives in Cairo and is in Luxor for the long weekend.

Our introduction to the ancient monuments of Egypt complete, tomorrow we leave Luxor by overnight train to Cairo. Rob has arranged for us to have the AUC flat for visiting professors for a week (not sure if I will have to give a guest lecture) and we are looking forward to our time in Cairo, (we hear it is cooler!) where we will see the Pyramids, the Egyptian Museum, and many other sights in that city of 14 million.

Luxor par Rob

Luxor, Egypte

Une partie de Luxor s’appelle la ville des morts parce que tous les tombeaux sont dans les vallées à la rive Ouest du Nil.

Il y a beaucoup de différentes sortes de tombeaux, comme ceux des Pharaons, Reines, les Nobles et même les ouvriers.

Les décorations sont très belles et elles sont toutes peintures sur les murs. Les dessins montres les dieux avec celui qui est enterré dans les tombeaux.

Il y avait deux tombeaux qui m’ont touché le plus. Ils étaient ceux de Sennofer et Tuthmosis IV. Sennofer était un Noble et les couleurs des peintures étaient très vives. Tuthmosis IV était un Pharaon et son tombeau descend et descend très profond dans la montagne. Au fond était son sarcophage fait de granite rouge qui pense 10 tons et qui a beaucoup de petits signes gravées dessus.

Nous avons marché sur le sentier qui passe au-dessus des montagnes entre la vallée des Rois et le temple de Hatshepsut.

Au temple de Karnak, il y a des sections qui date de 4000 ans. Incroyable!!! Nous avons joué à ‘’tag’’ dans le champ des 130 énorme colonnes.

La première journée nous avons loué des vélos pour se rendre aux vallées des tombeaux. C’était vraiment excitant de descendre au Nil après notre visite.

Baktapur by Kathleen

In Baktapur, we stayed at the Golden Gate House which is close to a gate into the palace carved out of gold. It was a very pleasant stay. Baktapur is half an hour away from Kathmandu and is quieter and less modernized. The sightseeing in was incredible. To see the doors and windows carved out of wood and gold was really impressive. The kings during the 17th century ordered the work to be done.
All the squares have most extraordinary temples with high roofs that come out. The streets are similar to the ones in Varanasi, very narrow and windy. Around one bend we came upon a group of ladies knitting mittens exactly like the ones we bought in Kathmandu for our trek. Some of the ladies knitting were in fact girls not much older than me. They told us it takes them two hours to knit the mittens, however we are not sure if that is two hours for one mitten or for a pair.
For breakfast every day we ate some famous, thick, rich Baktapur curd (yoghurt) with fruit on our muesli and curd and apple on delicious crepes. My absolute favourite part of Baktapur was eating breakfast with lots of curd while on the roof of our hotel overlooking this amazing old city!

Rafting on the Trisuli River, Nepal

When we went rafting, I found it was so exciting because we were zooming down the rapids. Some had huge rooster tails and we got splashed all over, but luckily we never fell out.
Once, on a flat part of the river, Dad, Kathleen and I jumped out of the raft and floated down the river with our life jackets on. Brrr, the water was cold.
We camped for the night on a beautiful white sandy beach where Kathleen and I dug a huge hole and made water slides.
The raft was controlled by our guide, Balsain, who knew Daddy from 20 years ago. He used oars to steer the raft down the river and into the rapids! Balsain also prepared delicious meals for us. It was a great rafting experience. I hope to do it again.

By Robert

Nepal Agriculture et batiments

Agriculture

L’agriculture au Nepal est très différente qu’au Canada. L’agriculture au Canada est faite aux endroits plats, au Nepal il n’y a pas d’endroits plats et comme ça ils font des terrasses qui ressemblent à des énormes escaliers.

Pour préparer la terre ils trouvent un endroit avec de la bonne terre, et ils coupent les terrasses. Les terrasses finies, ils tournent le sol à la main ou à l’aide des bœufs, et l’enrichissent avec du fumier.

Ils cultive différents choses dépendant de la saison. Le riz est normal au mousson quand les champs sont inondés. Nous avons vu les champs avec du blé mûr qui est cultivé en hiver, et aussi des légumes, comme patates, épinards, choux et tomates qui poussent toute l‘année.

Les Nepalais gardent plusieurs animaux. Nous avons vu les buffalos, qui produisent le lait, et leur fumier peut être utilisé pour fumier ou le brûler pour cuisinier. Les Boeufs sont utiles pour tourne le sol. Les moutons et les chèvres donnent du lait, de la viande, et de la laine. Les poules donnes des œufs et de la viande.

À deux mille mètres d’altitude sont les fruitiers à la pomme, abricot à Marpha et les oranges se trouvent plus bas à Tatopanni.

L’agriculture est très importante dans les villages au Népal parce qu’il n’y a pas de routes dès le monde mangent ce qu’ils cultivent, ou ce qui est importé sur les dos des porters. Pour ces raisons, nous avons bien mange pendant notre trek avec un menu assez élaboré.

Bâtiments

Les maisons au Népal sont très différentes qu’au Canada, parce que le climat est différent et aussi les matériaux utilisés. Dans les montagnes, les bâtiments sont faits de pierre taillée pour les rendre plats. Les gens mettent de la boue entre les pierres et non pas du ciment parce que le ciment est trop lourd d’apporter dans les montagnes.

Pour le type de toit, ça dépend ou les maisons sont situées. Si les maisons sont à côté de la rivière et loin des routes, les gens utilisent les bardons de pierres. Si les maisons sont très nouvelles ou proches des routes les toits sont fabrique en métal.

Aussi, la paille fait de la bonne isolation et elle est utilisée pour faire le toit quand la maison est proche d’ou elle peut la pousser. Aux endroits secs, les toits sont plats et faits avec de la boue.

J’étais impressionné de la façon que les Népalais utilisent ce qu’il y a autours d’eux pour faire construire leurs maisons.

par Robert

Trekking in Nepal Mar 6-27

Trekking in Nepal is like nothing else in the world. It is a mix of incredible vistas, awe-inspiring geology and a rich variety of cultural interactions. It is not a wilderness experience and so one constantly meets other people on the trails, particularly in Kali Gandaki Valley, which is an ancient trading and pilgrimage route. The trails a busy with fellow trekkers, Nepalis going back to their village for a wedding or festival, villagers going to and from their fields, pilgrims heading to Muktinath (some wearing only a loincloth and carrying a rice bowl), porters and mule trails ferrying supplies up to remote villages.

The villages, with narrow stone walkways are captivating and provide a window into traditional Nepali life. As in places where houses are primitive, the Nepali villagers live much of their life out in public. At the local water source women wash clothes, dishes and particularly, their hair. On their front steps and doorways, people spin wool, weave carpets, play a Nepali version of Chrokinole, mend fishing nets, make baskets and boil raksi (the local wine) while chatting and sharing tea with neighbours. We met children running up and down the stone steps, heading to and from school in their matching uniforms, always polite and always smiling. And what beautiful faces and smiles! It is said that visitors to Nepal come first for the mountains and return for the people! The Nepalese are warm, helpful, caring, generous people. We witnessed acts of kindness and generosity by those that we met and as well, by our guide and porter for our trek. During a rainstorm a family invited us into their kitchen to drink tea, warm our toes and dry our clothes over hot coals. For Kate’s birthday, our guide, Raj Kumar, ordered a special cake and carried it in a box eight hours the next day so that she would be sure to have a special treat on her birthday. Our porter Vishnu, after having carried seventy pounds of our luggage, could often be found at the end of a day’s trek helping lodge owners by using his command of English to show rooms to potential guests or by helping to serve dinner.

We were a bit worried if we could handle such a long trek staying in the primitive lodges. Steve had warned us about 3 weeks sleeping in smelly dormitories without a shower and eating nothing but rice and dhal. Fortunately the lodges have much improved since his last visit with most having electricity, many having hot water and all serving a varied menu. Some of the better places made apple pie and served sizzling steaks! One place we stayed for $1 a night even had glass windows and amazing views of the mountains.
Another high point of the trek was meeting all the other adventurous people and hearing their stories as we sat around the supper tables in the lodges. We learned to play Skaad from some Germans and Kathleen taught a group of young American and Canadian volunteers to play Euchre. We met so many interesting people including an Australian couple finishing up a three year trip around the world, a Japanese man who was working his way around the world by working on organic farms through the organization WOOF, including 6 months in Nelson, B.C. He said that working your way around the world was a great way to get to know the local population and to see the world on a budget. A sixty-year old Dutch mother trekking and mountain biking with her daughter and their guide was the Nepali orphan they had sponsored 15 years earlier. And, most impressing, an American couple trekking with their 7 year old, 4 year old and yes, 1 year old!

How does one sum up our trek in Nepal? Fantastic!
First, it’s a great way to spend a holiday together as a family and in many ways the best part of the trek was the time spent together. Whether two by two, or on wider paths all together, or even from time silently lost in your own thoughts, trekking is a wonderful way to just be together. We had lots of time to discuss the sights we were seeing and to figure out how suspension bridges are made, why the bamboo grows in the valley, how the tiny electricity generators and flour mills work by water power, and so on. The kids had lots of questions. Some of the questions we couldn’t answer, but with the help of Raje, Vishnu and the many Nepalese we met we all learned lots about the land and how it affects life in Nepal.
We also talked in great length about future plans, about school next year and what it will be like to be back home with family and friends (whom we miss) and about getting a family dog (we are getting closer to a consensus). Each day brought surprises, challenges and each of us were tested in new and different ways.

Trekking is also a great way to get into shape and is a complete break from the regular routine of work, meals, housework, shuttling kids, etc. In the mornings, once the bags are packed, you are free for the day with no worries other than deciding what to order for meals along the way (and as every lodge has the same menu, the choices are limited). The walking is exhilarating. Other than stopping for meals, tea breaks and sleeping, you are climbing up and down. It is like being on a Stairmaster for 6 hours a day, but that is where the similarity ends. In Nepal the climbing (gentle climbing up and down is referred to as “Nepali flat”) involves enjoying the spectacular scenery while you are huffing and puffing along. Everywhere you look is an impressive vista and around each bend is a new mountain panorama. As temperatures soared in the valley or dipped on alpine terrain, we passed orchards and orchids, rice paddies and high pasture, pine and bamboo forests (great for finding walking sticks), bougainvillea trees, snow and ice. Every day you feel better than the last and every night you hit the pillow by 9:00 pm, exhausted but happy.

The culmination of our trek was the Annapurna Sanctuary. Our original plan was to head straight up towards the Sanctuary at the beginning of the trip and, if we had time afterwards, to make a side-trip to the Kali Gandaki Valley (KGV). Reports of heavy snow in the Sanctuary led us to make a last minute route change and to start in the KGV. This ended up being a very good choice in more ways than one. Our thoughts of the snow melting did not materialize, but the 10 days we spent over in the KGV got us used to life on the trail, allowed us to get our trekking legs so we could hike up and down hills for 6 hrs and having climbed over 3000 m on two separate occasions, helped us acclimatized to altitude, so by the time we reached the Annnapurna Sanctuary, we were fit and mentally prepared for the tough days at altitude.
On day ten we crossed the pass at Gorepani and headed towards Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) not knowing if the pass into the Sanctuary was even open, due to the continued rain (and therefore snow in the Sanctuary). With ever increasing excitement and anticipation, each day we went up higher and into colder temperatures. At night we huddled around heated tables drying our gear before heading to sleep in our cold, candle lit room. Waking at day-break each morning and hiking all day meant it was no problem to fall asleep at night. We encountered our first deep snow at Deurali where we were able to rent gaiters. The next morning was the big day. We were up and on the trail by 7 am to get by the four possible avalanche plumes before the sun hit them. It was an icy two-hour walk to Machupuchare Base Camp (MBC) where we arrived just as the sun came over the mountaintops. A quick bite and we headed on to ABC. Amazing, breathtaking, awesome! We were alone on the trail, which snakes up along the ridge to get by another avalanche plume. Once by that, we breathed a big sigh of relief and relaxed so that we could enjoy the sights around us. The Sanctuary, so named because you are in a bowl surrounded by massive peaks of rock, snow and ice is also referred to as the Cathedral with spires. With no wind it was a quiet, mystical, magical place. We walked in brilliant sunshine, which was reflecting off the snow in every direction and we kept peeling the layers off as the temperature shot up to 22 degrees. We arrived exhausted, but exhilarated, at ABC at 1 pm, to be treated to one of the tastiest lunches of the previous two weeks. We wrung out our socks and tried to ready ourselves for the hike back to MBC. By 2 pm it had clouded over which was a blessing as it slowed the softening of the snow and made our trip back a delight. Instead of sinking up to our hips on every step, which we had heard reports of from other trekkers, we were able to slide back down in our wet (and I mean wet) trekking shoes (not boots!). It only took an hour for the return trip and even though our feet were wet, they were not cold. It was like skiing but very funny with face plants and mittens flying. We arrived back at MBC (by the avalanche plume safely once again) feeling like we were on top of the world (we almost were!). Around the dinner table that night with other successful trekkers we shared the communal feeling in the air of the success of having just been in one of the world’s truly special places, the Annnapurna Sanctuary. Despite the burnt noses, sore legs and avalanche scares it was mission accomplished.

Annapurna Sanctuary by Rob

Day 16 was a day I had been looking forward to because we were going to be up in the Annapurna Sanctuary. We got up really early so that we could pass the avalanches before the sun hit them. In the morning the snow is very icy so that if you slipped you could fall into the river. Some of the bridges over the river were unstable. After two hours of hiking on icy snow covered trails, we finally got to Machupuchare Base Camp (MBC) at 3700m.

We arrived at MBC and were into the Annapurna Sanctuary, it was spectacular! We were half way up Annapurna, an 8000m peak, with another 4000 m of snow, rock and ice reflecting the sun making it the brightest time in my life. As the sun hit everything it started to melt. Normally, at this time of year there is no snow so it is much easier and you hike in the bottom of the valley, but because there was lots of snow we had to hike on the top of the ridge so any avalanche would not hit us. For fun and to figure out the principle of avalanches, my sister and I made snowballs and rolled them down the hill. They broke and we made new ones, but we never started an avalanche.

It took us two hours more to get to Annnapuna Base Camp at 4030m, where we had the best vegetables in our noodle soup and a delicious pizza. With our tummies full, we headed back down to MBC. Going down was so much fun! First, we saw some guys tubing and asked them if we could have a try. Kathleen and I went for two runs and thanked them very much. Then we walked back up onto the ridge and continued down the trail. The sun was strong, which melted the snow and it was much easier to slide down the hill. We were almost skiing in out two boots. I liked it so much that I didn’t care that my boots were getting soaking wet! It took us one hour to get back to MBC safely. My socks were so wet I had to wring them out.

I was so proud of myself because I had been to the Annapurna Base Camp, which I had always wanted to do. At supper time a man from TV5 in France came over to interview us because he was so surprised that children our age had been to the Annapurna Base Camp!