Maoists and Marijuana

We left the village of Thorung Phedi at 4 am after be awakened by our guide Suresh with an abrupt knocking on the door at 3 am and the explanantion of, "I did not sleep, we go now.". We packed up out gear, had a stale cinnamon roll and some black tea and headed up to the Thorung La Pass. The highest mountain pass in the world. It was a rugged 3-4 hour hike uphil through some snow fields and well below freezing before the sun rose over the nearby mountans. It tends to get cloudy and windy in the afternoons at 5140 meters (17,800 or so feet) elevetaion so you want to head over the pass in the morning. After the pass however it's literally all downhill.

Thorung La Pass was maybe our 10th day out on the trail. Things went pretty well. We didnt have to "donate" too much money at the maoist checkpoint, I think the amount they settled with was equivalent to around $16 US. I'm still working on my Nepali rupee to US dollar conversions. We climbed steadly through lush low elevaton valleys with waterfalls and and banana trees up to more arid landscapes with fields of wild marijuana plants then further up to pine forests and eventually up above tree line entirely. Many of the guesthouses we slept in were quite nice (relatively speaking) and we met a bunch of great people we were treking along with. There was a bit of concern with Casey and a bout of altitude sickness when we got up to around 4000 meters but we took an extra day off, backtracked a little ways downhill and the next morning he was feelling well enough to go on.

We've eaten a lot of Tibetan bread, Dal bhat, Fried momos and black tea (and of course coca-cola's as well). I relaxed in a hot spring and then jumped in a glacier fed river. I pinched a nerve in my knee but after a couple of days of limping that seems to be mostly healed. I am still allergic to the sun but at least this time I'm prepared. We found out that sometimes nepali menu items are more literal than you would think such as a "cheeseburger" a friend ordered which turned out to be a sweet bread bun with some shredded yak cheese on it, then a big patty of fried yak cheese, then some more shredded cheese on top and then another piece of bread. I bushwhacked my way off to the trail from the village of Manang and officially touched my first real glacier.

It's been a good time so far. We'll be staying here in Pokhara, Nepal for a few days to a week before catching a bus for the 6-8 ride back to Kathmandu. then it's off to the long version of the Everest Base Camp Trek. I'll attempt to post some funy treking stories the next few days but that's the basic rundown of what we have been up to thus far. I think I am going to rent a motorcycle for a day here too and bomb around the crazy roads filled with water buffalo and ornately decorated buses. wish me luck.