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

Luke Bream — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:23:06 +0000

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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The Adventure of a Lifetime – Cycling, Walking and Mountaineering

Luke Bream — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:04:13 +0000

This guest post is by Lee Hughes. who is preparing for a worldwide expedition that includes cycling, walking and mountaineering. I wish him the best of luck.

The Adventure of a Lifetime

“Firstly I would like to thank Luke for allowing me to contribute to this fantastic website were we can become inspired and live or our dreams.

So, What am I doing here?

Well, shortly after university, rather than getting caught up trying to find a job a place to live etc etc I have decided to take life by the scruff of the neck and see what it can offer and what I can learn from it.

I will do this by doing 3 expeditions, cycling, walking and climbing… A 4th to be announced.

So, on the 5th January I will leave my house and cycle to 12,000 miles to New Zealand. Once in New Zealand, I plan to walk the entire length of both islands (3000km) then after some time in New Zealand I shall cycle my way up the Americas onward to Alaska. Now, once in Alaska Mount Mckinley is on my hit list…

It’s a long way a way yet but I am looking forward to updating my website and giving advice into how to set up a expedition. I will be documenting my adventure in various styles…. blog posts, photography, audio, film and a web series.

To follow up on this inspirational adventure of a lifetime please visit www.LeeHughes.co.uk

Credits for the images in this article about an adventure of a lifetime belong to Lee Hughes.

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Part 3 Volunteering in an orphanage in Nepal gave me an amazing new start in life

Luke Bream — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:14:01 +0000

This guest post is by Viktoria Barna. This is Part 3 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

Everest Base Camp

We did an acclimatization trek to Everest View Hotel, which is the highest 5*Hotel. It was a 3.5 hours trek, elevation 350-400m. It could’ve been our first time to see Everest if it wasn’t cloudy. No luck.

After we got back to the teahouse I started to feel unwell. I lost my appetite and couldn’t eat dinner. The first sign of altitude sickness. ‘No!!! This can’t be happening to me!!’ I was screaming inside. Our guides Ram Krishna and Sujan made me eat a bowl of super strong garlic soup. Everyone was feeling sick now, because of the smell of my garlic soup.

They told me it was a difficult day, so I hopefully was going to feel better after some rest. The next day we did a 6 hour trek to Tengboche (3860m;12664 feet). One of the guys carried my bag from half way, because I was feeling weak. Everyone was really supportive and worried, of course. Our guides were great! They made me feel strong(er) and kept a good eye on me…and gave me more garlic soup?

There was a bakery, and my buddy ‘Sahara’ brought me back a muffin, which I couldn’t eat. That night I had a mouse running all the way up from my legs to my back. It made me jump like nothing ever before and the naughty one ate my muffin…all of it!

The next morning I felt better. I had proper breakfast. We went for the morning ceremony to the highest monastery on Everest region at 6.30am.

We did another 5-6 hour trek. The landscape was amazing! At about 4000m (13123 feet) the trees suddenly disappeared and rocky mountains took their places.

We spent two nights in Dingboche (4410m;14468 feet) where most of us felt pretty ill at arrival, but after a good night sleep we were ready for more adventure. I awoke myself by catching for breath a couple of times. There was 57% oxygen in the air at this point compared to the amount at sea level.

We did an acclimatization trek to Chukhung (4730m;15518 feet). It was getting more and more challenging. One of the girls was told to turn around, because she felt really bad, but she refused. She would not give up this close to our destination, even if she had to crawl to Base Camp.

We were in Lobuche (4910m;16109 feet) at this point. That day was really long and hard. Many steep climbs and the altitude made it really hard to breathe. We got to our last teahouse before the big day in Gorak Shep (5140m;16863).

We got up at 4am, and after a cup of hot lemon we were off to Everest Base Camp. It was a cloudless morning, with the white, snow capped mountains glowing in the dark, surrounding us, making us feel so tiny…and the full moon was shining above. It was breathtaking.

It was also a very difficult climb. Not only because of the altitude, but the rocky path made us watch every single step we took. The last half an hour we were walking on glaciers. Around 2pm we were sitting at Everest Base Camp (5364m;17598 feet), watching four of our crazy boys change into their pink ladies underwear, and light a cigar…what a sight!

It was a good feeling, but to be honest, I was a little bit disappointed. I imagined Base Camp being at the foothill of Everest, and from Base Camp to Base 1 one has to climb up a glacier, which is what we saw. Everest was high above it, and all we could see was like a piece of a Toblerone chocolate.

But someone once said, it’s not the destination that makes a journey special, it’s the journey itself. How very true.

On the way down I threw up. We were all feeling rough and at this point, every single one of us hated Everest. It was now time to finish the other half of the journey, and walk back to Lukla. We were playing cards most of the afternoons, visited some lovely villages, ate delicious pastries in a bakery, danced to our Nepalese porter’s songs.

At one teahouse the walls were so thin, that me and ‘Sahara’ could hear the guys next to us chat, so we joined in…and Dan in the room next to theirs joined us too. The walls in the teahouses all along the journey were so thin, I could hear the person sleeping in the room next to mine breathe.

We were chased by some beautiful beasts called yaks, which was quiet scary due to their sizes. They’re such cool animals though.
Our guides and porters bought some chickens, which we killed and plucked and ate. It was their way of ending our adventures in Everest region. Food, drinks, singing Nepalese songs and some dancing. What else could’ve we wished for?

At the end of our trek we had a good night out, which ended with a hole in the dance floor and some very sore heads the next morning.
If you wonder why I don’t show any pictures of the trek…well, in a moment of blondness, I managed to format my memory card in my camera on the way back. I stopped beating myself up for it.

Once we were back in Kathmandu, we rented some bicycles and explored the town. It was very similar to a play station game, but here we only had one life and luckily we all made it?

This story continues tomorrow as Viktoria tackles the Annapurna Circuit Trek.

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

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Part 2 Volunteering in an orphanage in Nepal gave me an amazing new start in life

Luke Bream — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:41:02 +0000

This guest post is by Viktoria Barna. This is Part 2 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

An Orphanage in Nepal

My duty as a volunteer was to look after 33 orphans’ health, clean their sores every day, take them for dental check ups, stay with them in hospital when needed, make sure the –not very nice- manager gives food to them, and buy fruits and vitamins from donations.

They were 3-17 years old. Some of these children had parents, but they lived far away and were very poor, so they would pay the manager of the orphanage to take care of their child, and send them to school (which they couldn’t afford). Now, sometimes the managers’ heart is truly in it, and they do everything to make the children’s life better and happier.

BUT, there are managers who would save money on buying food for them, or would sell the pretty girls in India. The later was true to the manager of the orphanage I was placed. Our lovely manager, Emma was on the case. Her goal was to take over, and move the children to a better home.

I spent the first day in the orphanage in shock. It was dirty, smelly, and the children’s little bodies were full of infected sores from scabies, and head lice was common too. I went home feeling angry, sad, disappointed and ashamed to be a human. How can we let this happen!???

The next day I went back and saw these children smiling, getting ready for school. They were happy. They don’t know any better. This is the life they know, and they just get on with it. They don’t demand anything! They didn’t have anything…when a volunteer bought a football for them, they would jump around with joy, and take it to the fields as soon as they could. It was so much fun playing with them. They loved flying kites too.

I gave them two dried dates each one day, which I brought with me from Oman, where I spent a few days staying with a friend before going to Nepal. Those children were savouring them for 10 minutes…and there we go. Umm umm umm….a whole box gone in a minute. It was amazing to watch them enjoy every little bite they took.

After a month and a half spent in Nepal, it was time for my exciting adventure. Everest Base Camp Fundraising Trek, which was organized by VSN and the money fund raised was going towards a new home for the children I was looking after, as soon as VSN took over from that horrible manager.

A group of 12 of us from 7 different countries met in Vaishali Hotel, Kathmandu and took an early morning flight to Lukla on 2nd October 2006. It was a scary flight with a breathtaking view. The tiniest plane, flying through the Himalayas landing on a 100m long -or short in this case- landing strip, which is built into the mountain side. Crazy!

After a tea and a cheese sandwich in Lukla (2840m;93117 feet) we started to make our way to Everest Base Camp. We stopped walking in the afternoon and spent the evening playing cards, drinking endless amount of tea, reading and chatting. These were the activities for most of our evenings.

After waking up, we saw the most spectacular snow capped mountains, what weren’t visible when we arrived. At this point we didn’t know each other too well, but we all had a twinkle in our eyes, which said. This is going to be such a fun adventure!

The second day was the most difficult one, simply because it was the steepest climb, and we had reached the altitude where ‘altitude sickness’ can kick in. We left Phakding (2610m;8563 feet) after breakfast and walked through forests and passed many suspension bridges. One of the many rivers was roaming below, giving a lovely background noise throughout the trek.

We were stopped by the Maoist and we had to “donate” some money. Lucky we were with guides, and that it was a fundraising trek, otherwise we would’ve had to “donate” much more.

We arrived to Namche Bazaar (3440m;11286 feet), which is the last town before Everest therefore a major stop off point for those trekking to Everest Base Camp.

Some of the porters we saw on the way made our jaws drop to the ground. They carry all sort of stuff from food to metal wires wearing flip flops, taking us over. And there goes the German guy with his full on gear huffing and puffing. Sorry, nothing against Germans, it’s just they are probably the most prepared bunch out of all nations, right?
I got to taste my very first deep fried Mars bar here, which I think was the last one as well.

This story continues tomorrow as Viktoria reaches Everest Base Camp and prepares for the Annapurna Circuit Trek.

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

Please support CrazyJourneys.com by taking a moment to comment on this inspirational volunteer story and also tweet or share it. Help Luke to spread the word. The buttons are below:

CrazyJourney Community comments on travel in Nepal

I’ve just done a 100 mile run in himalayas in indian/napal border. Amazing. Heres my race review | www.johnnysultrablog.co.uk

I trekked the Annapurna Himalayas last year – SO amazing, fell in love, want to go back and do Everest Base Camp.
www.desireekoh.com

Never Nepal, but yes to Rockies, Appalachians, Andes, Alps and several mountain peaks in the Caribbean. All exciting and fun
www.walknevis.com

Not for luxury travellers, for most it is beautiful, people are friendly, take your shots before going, drink bottle water. jimsswong.yolasite.com

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Expedition Amazonas – 153 days on the Amazon

Luke Bream — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:09:24 +0000

Expedition Amazonas spent 153 days on this epic, 7000km trek and paddle, along the entire length of the mighty Amazon River – by far the world’s biggest and longest river.

The journey traversed the South American continent, from the river’s source high in the Andes of Peru, to it’s mouth where it meets the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil.

Watch the following video for a fantastic insight into the trip:

This video was made on a really easy to use website. It is free to use for short video’s of less than 30 seconds. Find out more click Make your own video like this

You can read more about this adventure by visiting their website. Before you do please support CrazyJourneys.com by taking a moment to tweet or share this post. The buttons are below: www.expeditionamazonas.com