It has been an interesting few weeks for me – some time to stop and reflect, think about what I want to do (trust me, this traveling stuff can be stressful without a plan!!) and wait for an Indian visa to come through. I thought it good timing to head back to the mountains, get away from the crazy tourist hub that Nepal becomes during season and log off from the phone, the net, the world. The luxuries I guess of living a nomadic life, you CAN just head to the mountains whenever the mood takes you.
Anyways, back to my last few weeks......I was fortunate enough to celebrate Diwali (kinda like our New Year) with a family just out of Kathmandu. The hospitality of people still blows me away here, it was a friend of a friend and he wanted me to experience Nepali celebrations, so off I went to spend an evening with his family and a few other ring ins from around the globe. A truly lovely day and making it special was the hosts and their open door policy to seemingly random strangers. True hospitality. From the celebrations I headed to the Langtang region for a 12 day trek....I was looking forward to the mountains, words can’t describe how you feel in the Himalaya’s, but on the flip side, I was conscious that it would give me loads of time to think. In fact, this is what had deterred me somewhat in going. All of those hours with you and a trail, and your mind. I was not sure I was ready for that.
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| Diwali celebrations - Kathmandu |
I decided to not go with a group but brave it on my own with a guide. Again, courageous or perhaps dangerous when you are craving distractions of company, but nonetheless I figured I would either survive or go crazy.....either way it would be a shift. We started our adventure with a 7hour bus ride, bumpy and bearable for the first couple of hours until the 30 seater bus was filled (or should I say over filled) to capacity with about 60 people in total. So my guide offered the roof top “It is much safer up there” as a seating alternative, and we enjoyed the fresh air and views from the top of the bus for the last few hours of our journey. On our first night, my guide Anoj starts explaining the suggested itinerary and finishes with “I hope you don’t mind me saying, but you remind me of peace (Shanti in Nepali)”. Funny, as the last thing I was feeling was peaceful, but nice he saw me in that light. So from then on, my name became Shanti.
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| The first of many Surya Anunda (sun relax) |
The Himalaya’s are hard to describe, the sheer beauty of those mountains, the snow capped peaks, the harshness of the landscape, the sunsets, the sunrises, the breathtaking moments where you are so overwhelmed you are reduced to tears.....they all culminate into an experience that is like no other. Even as my 3rd time trekking, everything was new and different, and oh so shanti. It is hard not to be at peace when you are surrounded by nature at it’s best. The simplicity of seeing the sunrise, of being in air so thin it is hard to breath, of being with people that live without running water that is one of the best reality checks you can ever have. I was fortunate enough to have a great guide and some clear days with views of the entire region. We stayed in tea houses with local people who survive in the harshest conditions. The advantage of trekking alone is you can stop and start as the mood takes you, you can indulge in surya anunda (relaxing in the sun) and you can change your plans as you see fit. I didn’t really have a plan of what I wanted to see or do, I just wanted to walk. So after 12 days of putting one foot in front of the other, of making it up and down those damn mountains one more time, of being on the side of a mountain and being reduced to tears at how truly beautiful life can be, I think I have found my peace. My Shanti.
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| Very Shanti Shanti |
So now back in Kathmandu for a few days, I have the chance to be back at the children's home to help out before I leave for India - the visa came through....from there, anything is possible, this is where I continue to make it up as I go. Shanti Shanti though....and a quote from my favourite Bollywood movie, aal iz well :)
