Nepal (1981) Part 1

Cleaning out old stored items, I came across a journal that I wrote during our trek in Nepal from the winter of 1981.  I've decided to reproduce it on the blog. 

The trek duration was about 3.5 weeks.  I've posted it in nine entries.  The images are a combination of new scans of 35-mm slides taken during the trip and new photos of stored memorabilia.

26 January 1981
Well, the long awaited time has arrived.  Today we are off on our 24-day trek from Barahbise to Kala Pattar.

We arrived in Kathmandu on the day before yesterday after a week in Bombay.  In Bombay, I spent the week attending a conference: Second Special Symposium on the Natural Radiation Environment at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC).  Ingrid visited Bombay and spent much time with relatives of Pram Garg, an ex-clerk at Pacific Telephone.  The relatives were Mridula and Vishnu Paddar, Urmila Roongta and her husband, and Neeta, Pram's cousin.

Sunset in Bombay

For me, the stay was quite tiring.  We typically were up at 6 AM and had tea and toast (room service) for breakfast.  At 7:30, the bus came for the one-hour ride to BARC.  We met for most of the day, with 1.5 hours for lunch.  At 5 PM or so, the bus would return us to our hotel or, more commonly, take us out for the evening program.  Monday night, we were treated to a banquet at the Taj International (*****), Tuesday in the gardens of the Hotel Horizon at Juhu Beach, Wednesday there was a lovely program of Indian classical dance.  Wednesday evening, Ingrid and I ate dinner at Mridula's -- Indian style chupattis with dal and other curries and no utensils at all.  On Thursday, we ate at Urmila's. Both families are upper middle class with cars and multibedroom flats.  Urmila's husband works for the trains; Mridula's is a sales rep for Newsweek and other publications.  These people were wonderful to us, really helping us to understand some of the good things of Indian life: close family, and moderately easy life (Mridula has 2 servants).

Dinner at Urmila's included "dress up" for Ingrid and me.

Bombay is in a scenic setting but it is extremely congested.  From our hotel to BARC is about a 15 mile distance and the drive took 45-90 minutes, depending on traffic.  Many people in the city have come from rural areas looking for work, but prices are so expensive (by Indian standards) that they must live in shanty town shacks built of stone or thatch or wood and rags; these have sprung up all over the city.

Our hotel, called Nataraj (god of dance), was decent although hardly up to its 4-star rating.

Other than a moderate stomach ache for 8 hours or so on Monday night, my health was okay.  I probably lost a few pounds though as my stomach seemed tender and my appetite modest.

Our flight over (to India) was smooth, although tiring.  We landed Monday 3 AM after ~ 24 hours.  It took 2 hours to clear customs & immigration.  We were met by someone from BARC and carted to our hotel.  I then had about 2 hours before the conference began.  I didn't catch up on sleep all week.

The conference was fairly good.  Indoor radon is not as hot an international topic as I had expected, although quite a few papers dealt with the topic.  I presented two papers, one on alpha spectroscopic techniques for radon daughter measurement, the other a general overview of our program.  The papers were well-received, although the audience numbered only about 60.

Our trip to Nepal was typically unpleasant.  We checked out of our hotel at 5 AM Saturday, took a taxi to the airport and caught a 6 AM flight to Delhi, arriving 7:45 AM.  Our connection to Kathmandu was scheduled for 9:30 AM, but, somehow, it departed at 8:15 AM, before we reached the check-in counter.  We then had to sit around the Delhi airport for what turned out to be 7.5 hours before catching an RNAC flight.

We were pleasantly surprised on arrival to be greeted by Woody, our trek leader.  Backtracking, our flight into Nepal was less scenic than normal because of heavy clouds and rain.  As we dropped into the valley, however, we got a tremendous view seeing widely spaced, multistory houses, gentle roads and streams, the terraced rice fields and the brick factories.  The appearance was very quaint and my face exploded in a smile.

We stayed at the Yellow Pagoda Saturday and Sunday before departing today on our trek.  The accommodations and service were excellent.

27 January 1981
On Saturday, we arrived about 5 PM and after a brief meeting about the trek, I conked out.  Sunday, we were taken on a short tour of the city, visiting Pashupatinath, a large Hindu temple, and Bodinath, a large Buddhist stupa and monastery.  After lunch, we bought two Tibetan carpets, one for my parents and one for us.  They are top quality, 3' x 6', and cost Rs 1125 (US$95), down from Rs 1300.  In the evening, we had a lengthy pre-departure meeting and packed our gear carefully for the last time before departure.

The hotel food was excellent and very great in quantity.  Breakfast was fruit juice, cereal, eggs, toast & croissants, and tea.  Lunch and dinner consisted of soup, meat, vegetables, potatoes & dessert.  The weather on Kathmandu was not excellent.  It rained Saturday and was overcast Sunday; on Monday when we departed, it was socked-in foggy.

The long awaited (!) moment had finally arrived.  I was literally quivering with excitement.  Physically, I don't think I have ever felt better in Asia and I'm certain that much of this well-being is attributable to my mental state.

The bus ride was about 3 hours, although we traveled less than 90 km.  During the ride, Ingrid and I sat in the front of the bus. As we headed NE from Kathmandu, we began climbing and finally lifted out of the fog.  As we reached the top of a ridge, we got our first views of the mountains.  Spectacular!  Spanning almost 180 degrees on the horizon -- heavily snow capped and very craggy.  The countryside was well populated alongside the road and we passed many small villages and road toll booths.  We crossed the Sun Kosi, a large river basin, passed a hydroelectric plant (Chinese built) on the Bhote Kosi and finally a Swiss built steel-girder bridge that marks the beginning of the traditional route.