Part 4 Volunteering in an orphanage in Nepal gave me an amazing new start in life

This guest post is by Viktoria Barna. This is Part 4 and concluding part in a beautiful series of articles chronicling her experiences as a volunteer in a Nepalese orphanage and trekking through the Himalayas which gave her a new start in life. Read Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Annapurna Circuit Trek

I got to know Kate on the trek who lives in Nepal with her Nepalese hubby Amrit, and worked for VSN back then. She told me about their plan to do another trek, because her brother and his wife were visiting them from England. I got invited to do it with them, and it was going to happen in just 3 weeks time!! I was so excited. I was going to do the Annapurna Circuit Trek!!

Before my story on the most amazing trek I’ve ever done, let me tell you where our money went which we fundraised. I was lucky enough to witness our 33 orphans move to a clean, new, safe home. I was moved from my ‘home’ as well, and lived with a young couple and their son.

Once again, they lived in one room and I had my own. Only this time, they even had the kitchen in their room? With the new home, the children got a big scrubbing and some new clothes, shoes, school bags. They were over the moon.

We had a cook, and fresh vegetables and fruits every day. The children were no longer malnourished. It was all worth it at the end….working hard back in England, not going out while my friends were having the time of their life, saving every penny…I would do it again.

Kate and I were so excited. We had been to Everest Base Camp and now it was time to do the Annapurna Circuit Trek, which means a longer and more steady climb…no altitude sickness this time, please?

We had Kate’s husband as a guide, and one of the porters –who we called Elephant- from Everest Base Camp Trek was coming with us, though we were carrying our own bags this time. My bag weighed 18 kg at he start of our trek, out of that 3kg was chocolate?

It was 7.30am, 13th November 2009 (wow! Exactly 3 years ago today!) that we left Kathmandu in a little van we hired. For about two and a half hours we were stuck in traffic, and once we got the speed back, we had a flat tyre.

It got changed in no time, and we were on the top of a bus from Besi Sahar (760m;2493 feet) to Khudi (790m;2591 feet) which was one hour of hell.

We were on the roof top of the bus, legs hanging down from the side. We thought it would be fun to try to travel like locals do. If it wasn’t enough that we had to watch out for wires pulled across roads in order not be decapitated before our adventures even began, here is another one.

The roads were so bad, that the bus was constantly swinging and there was a massive drop right beneath my feet with a raging river at the bottom. I aged at least 10 years on that ride?

After the bus ride we walked to Bhulbhule (840m;2756 feet) where stayed for the night. The next day was an easy walk, which was great to get me used to my backpack.

After a night in Ghermu (1100m;3609 feet) we started the day with a steep climb. We stopped for lunch in a little village, where we picked some beans, pulled up some radish, and in about an hour we had the most delicious dhal baat in front of us. I had about three servings. The rule with dhal baat is, one can have as much as one wants. In my case, as much as there is?

The landscape was beautiful. There were papaya and banana trees, ferns, on the top of the rocky hills some palm trees. We even saw some naughty monkeys.

Before we got to Tal (1700m;5577 feet) –our destination for the day- we were stopped by the army, because they were blasting a mountain side to build a new path or road. BANG! BANG! BANG! There were some Israeli trekkers, who didn’t even blink, while Kate and I almost jumped out of our skins, and ended up giggling a lot.

The next day was so much fun. We had lots of uphill, and at one point our way was blocked by donkeys, so a villager told us to take a different path. We ended up where we supposed to anyway, but we were walking along a river, and we had to rock climb a little, and use a dodgy bamboo ladder instead of just a boring path.

It was lovely to enjoy the peace and quiet of our lovely lodge in Danakyu (2300m;7546 feet) until some guys turned up and made so much noise all night. Annoying.

After the usual Tibetan bread for breakfast, we set off to Chame (2670m;8760 feet). We had a very steep start, but not a very long day, so we had the pleasure of playing card for hours and hours in the afternoon and after dinner.

The next day was very easy. We stayed in Lower Pisang (3200m;10498 feet) in a very nice teahouse. We had hot water. While on the Everest Base Camp trek I would go for days without showering, and even then it would be freezing cold, here most of the lodges had hot water. Luxury.

We did an acclimatization trek to Upper Pisang to a Buddhist Monastery. It was so cold, we ran all the way down to our lodge. It was colder on this trek than any time on the Everest one.

The next day was once again an easy walk with breathtaking views, and as we were arriving to a village, a lovely lady brought out some freshly baked chocolate croissants on a tray. Tea time it was. They were the best croissants I’ve ever had!

In the afternoon we got to Manang (3540m;11614 feet) where we found more bakeries with more delicious snacks. We spent two nights here and did an acclimatization trek to the ‘100 rupees Lama’ who lives in a cave and gives blessings for safe trekking if one gives him 100 Rupees.

In the evening we went for a lecture on altitude sickness, which was very interesting. I went back to give some donations, and had a hot chocolate and a nice chat with a volunteer doctor from Norway.
We had a very short walk to our next stop in Gunsang (3900m;12795 feet), so me and a couple went for a walk. We saw some Tibetan prayer flags on a hill, so our goal was to reach that. Two hours up-up-up the hill. Slowly, but we made it.

On the way down I was going much faster then the couple, so I sat on a big flat rock and I was taking in the beautiful view that surrounded me. Majestic mountains, birds flying.. I had the most amazing experience. For a moment there was no wind, no sound. Total silence. I felt one with everything and felt like I was all alone. I can’t describe it, but it was one of the most precious moments in my life.

The next day we stayed in Letdar (4200m;13780 feet). It was freezing, but our lodge had the best Chinese blankets ever, so we didn’t feel the cold at night. We ate like horses at this stage. After each meal we would have a Snickers bar with no guilt whatsoever?

Our last night before the pass was in Thorung Phedi (4450m;14600 feet). It was so windy, I thought the lodge would take off and some guys were chatting for a long time, so I didn’t have a good night.
We had breakfast at 5.15am and left for our toughest day yet around 6am.

20 minutes after we left I stopped to have a sip of my drink, and to my surprise it turned into slush. That’s how cold it was! The first 1 hour and 10 minutes was steep uphill till upper base camp, where we had tea and met Kate, who was going to the top on pony back. I went to the toilet, and it felt like I was skating on poo and pee. Yuck!

We had such a good weather. It was a beautiful sunny day, no wind. Perfect. It was more and more difficult to breathe as we were getting to the top, and my heart was pounding so much. The last half an hour was so hard. I had to stop after every 10 steps and catch my breath, and felt dizzy from time to time and our speed was extremely slow, but we made it over the Thorung La Pass (5416m;17770 feet).

The way down was the icing on the cake! It was steep-steep down hill for 5 hours. Not a tea house in sight, nothing. It was like walking on the Moon.

It was tough. I was exhausted. We stopped for a bowl of soup after 5 hours. I was dead at this point. I remember sitting down and crashing on the table, while my soup was prepared. The soup put some life back into us, and we made our way to Muktinath (3760m;12336 feet).

After our well deserved breakfast, we went to Muktinath Temple. It’s the second most important Hindu pilgrim destination. I washed my head with the 108 ice cold holy water, which gave me the ticket to heaven (that’s what so special about the place!?)

We also visited a Buddhist Temple which holds the ‘eternal flame’. It was a lovely place. Took us 2 hours to walk to Kagbeni (2800m;9186 feet). The way there was like walking on the Moon. I was imagining some giant spider-like creatures crawling out of the weird shaped rocks. Sci-fi live?

I took a walk in the village. I was taken by it’s old, medieval streets, buildings. Chickens, cows, all sort of animals wandering around the streets while dirty, smiley children played with bones and strings alongside them. I loved that place!

There was a special stupa in this village which had some paintings inside it. If one stands inside and sees the paintings, one shall be released from all sins. Of course I did it, so I did a good job today. I made sure I’m going to heaven without any sins?

The next day we had a very windy walk through a valley to Marpha (2670m;) This place is known for it’s apple. We did have a lovely apple juice, apple pie and saw lots and lots of apples getting dried on the roof tops.

We were getting close to the end of our journey. We passed through many more of lovely villages, enjoyed more dhal baat and I didn’t want the adventure to end.

But like everything, this amazing trek had to come to an end too.
Took me a while to adjust to the busy streets of Kathmandu, the noise but it was sure nice to wash my hair after three weeks?

I had some really nice pictures from this trek, but I have moved around a lot in the past few years and somehow I managed to lose them. I learned to live with this one too?

I had a month left in Nepal, and it was great. I went to Chitwan National Park in the south of Nepal for a long weekend, where I rode an elephant, I went for a jungle walk and saw some rhinos and managed to scare the hell out of some people. I copied the trek guide and climbed up on a tree, so I could see the rhino better. Everyone was so cautious and quiet. “It’s coming!” I said really loud. You should’ve seen people’s faces! It was so funny!

I felt a bit bad after my guide told us how he got attacked by a rhino, and he showed his scar, which was massive. I probably scared him to death. But he got me back by telling us his rhino attack story while we were walking through the jungle?

I met some really crazy, interesting, fun people while volunteering and with some of them I’m still in touch. Going to Nepal has definitely changed my life, the way I think, the way I act. I would go back and do it all over a gain 100 times.

I spent two weeks in Thailand, 10 days in Mayanmar (Burma) and 4 days in Oman before my return to England. I had fun, but it was nice to be back.

Then I checked my e-mails. “Come home. Mum passed away.” Said the massage from my brother.We just don’t know when it’s our time to go….

Live here, live now.

To follow up on this inspirational volunteer story please connect with Viktoria Barna on Facebook

Credits for the images in this article about voluntary work in Nepal and getting fit for trekking in the Himalayas belong to Viktoria Barna. To view more of Viktoria’s images visit everest base camp | orphanage | annapurna circuit trek

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