Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi everyone,
Probably the last Nepal blog entry I think. Might manage one tomorrow maybe. I arrived back in Kathmandu yesterday and am enjoying the delights of a really plush hotel (still only $30 per night, but that's 5 star luxury!). There's a bath tub! Bliss! And a proper mattress too, amazing. I've had all my aches and pains soothed away with a massage this morning, and now I'm going to potter around in the old city. A similar day tomorrow, very relaxing, then the plane home on Saturday.
The trek was great, very tough, interesting, unlike anything I've ever done before. I managed to pick up a nasty sinus infection a couple of days before we went over Thorung La (the world's highest pass at 5416m) which hampered me somewhat, combined with the effects of altitude that was a very tough day! I got as far as Thorung High Camp (at 4950m) on my own two feet, but my breathing was affected so badly by the combination of sinus problems and the altitude that I couldn't walk any further. So our guide, Shanti, stuck me on a horse for the remaining journey to the top!
It was an epic journey, which of course I have commemorated in verse. The rest of the group howled with laughter when I read this out to them the day after. It's in the style of David White, who wrote some great poetry about the Annapurna Circuit (including Bedbugs in Kagbeni, my favourite)
Ponies on Thorung La
Thorung La is a bit of a blur,
If I'm honest
A dizzying kaleidoscope of
Prayer flags
French people
Ponies and
Wind.
I reached it on a pony,
Not Shanks's though: Crazy Horse
Dreadlocked Tibetan Pony Man
Loaded me up
At High Camp
And led me tamely to a tea house
(Apart from the bit where the ponies nearly slipped into an ice crevasse)
At the tea shop
They roped us together in a wagon train
It made me think of the American prairies
If they had snow
And impassively visaged natives
With gaudy blankets
Hmmmm.....
Crazy Horse was crazy.
He tried to follow side trails
He wanted to be in front, and
Bit
the other ponies (the French girl in front actually said 'Oh la la')
He had bright green and pink ribbons woven in his mane.
They didn't do much for his mood.
When Dreadlocked Tibetan Pony Man
Lifted me down
I wanted to hug him
But I was too cold and dizzy, and besides
I noticed Crazy Horse tried to bite him too.
- comments