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Goks Worldthe adventures of a Canadian boy hanging out in London, India, Australia, New Zealand, Edinborough, Nepal and Dubai 12/25/2006 All Good Things must come to an EndI am back in Toronto. My 2006 Expedition entitled Aneil 2K6 is over. Today is Christmas day and there is less than 1 week remaining in this year. I have had an amazing year filled with so many wonderful experiences. I have grown so much closer to my family and met a tonne of new people from all sorts of countries along the way.
Some stats from the year...
- I flew on 33 different airplanes in 2006
- I visited 9 different countries in 2006
- I summited a mountain (Mera Peak) at a height of approximately 6,400 metres, jumped out of a plane from 12,000 feet, white water rafted in Grade 5 rapids, sailed for 3 days on an America's Cup yacht, snorkelled in the Great Barrier Reef, climbed Ayers Rock, hiked around on a glacier, snowboarded on Canada Day, sheared a sheep, rode a horse along the beach, kayaked in a Rain Forest and slept overnight in a desert
- I went to Wimbledon, saw an All Blacks rugby match in New Zealand, attended an English Premiership Football match in London, went to an ICC Cricket Tournament match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand, watched an AFL Footy match in Melbourne and the State of Origin Rugby match in Sydney
- I took part and attended my brother's tri-continental wedding in India, Australia and Canada
- I saw at least 10 wonderfully beautiful sunrises and sunsets from various vantage points around the world (including the far east coast of New Zealand where I was one of the first people in the world to see the sunrise)
- I encountered camels, crocodiles, alligators, monkeys, huge fish, dingos, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, koalas, horses, dogs and cats
- I rode on several different modes of transport including planes (large and small), trains, buses, cars, motorcycles, scooters, horses, camels, canoes, yachts and 4X4 vehicles
- I ate sev puri, haggis, strawberries and cream, deep fried prawns, "fush and chups", neeps and tatties, masala dosa, kangaroo steaks, corn fritters, pav bhaji, momos, shwarma, Naturals ice cream, Pooran Polee/Kata Amtee, Yak steaks, fresh sashimi, fresh jilabi and several other amazing types of cuisine
- I read 4 books (Down Under by Bill Bryson, Londonstani by Gautam Malkani, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich and am on the verge of completing 2 more - Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts and Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
- I volunteered with an excellent organization and got to help about 20 under-privledged students with computer skills, grammer skills and preparing for job interviews
I think I will always look back at this year and never regret one second of it. Okay, well maybe a couple seconds here and there but we don't have to get into that ;o) Overall, this has been just an amazing experience and it's come at the perfect time. 2007 will be a new challenge and I know that I'm up for all it has to offer.
Thanks for coming with me on this journey.
I hope you enjoyed the ride.
I know I certainly did.
Happy Holidays everyone! 12/18/2006 Almost time to leave...Sorry, the last post was cut short a little abruptly. But just to finish that thought...
At the end of the 30-day course that the students are enrolled in, they will be appearing for job interviews with companies like ICICI and other banks, telecoms. The jobs being offered are call centre jobs (the booming market here in India at the moment). So all of these students are really focused on improving and practicing their English. For them, hearing my Canadian accent is good because they are exposed to something different from the regular Indian English that they normally hear. I've started to develop quite a rapport with some of them so it will be sad to leave and unfortunately, my time with them was so short. I hope that I can stay in touch with many of them though and now, I have new people to visit and see the next time I come back here.
So over the past 4 weeks (since I got back from Nepal), I have just been visiting relatives and chilling out. I was hanging out with Vas a lot as I mentioned earlier and we got up to no good at a few places, most notably trekking (yeah I did do some more climbing) at an old fort called Sinhagad and playing golf at the Poona Golf Club where we refused Caddies (our stupid mistake) and carried our bags for 4 hours in the blistering heat! In any case, a few Kingfishers made the pain go away so there was no problem with that and then of course, we made the obligatory visit to MacDonald's for a Maharajah Mac. I also saw a few movies over the past few weeks - Casino Royale, Dhoom 2 and Lage Raho Munnabhai. In case you haven't seen them, I won't say much but let's just say that I probably won't be watching the first two ever again. I really want to see Lage Raho again cause I saw it on a small screen in a bus so the sound was bad. Also, there were no subtitles and I didn't have one my cousins with me to do any translating. My hindi still isn't that great so I sometimes miss what is going on (especially in the intricate dialogue). I've also eaten a lot and I think I've managed to put back on some of that weight that I lost while in Nepal. I'm still at a nice and sound 70 kg though so I'm happy. I hope I can maintain this when I return home so it'll be back to the gym asap (well, after the fun of Christmas and New Years of course). I have been eating all sorts of chaat (well, especially Bhel Puri and Sev Puri) like it's going out of style. I can't get enough of it. And to top it off - at our final Gokhale get together tomorrow night, we have a chaat wala coming to make for us at my cousin Saroj's place. I am really looking forward to that!!!
Funny story from yesterday. I had to go and meet someone in a subarb called Malad. I was going to take the train but my cousin Shekhar offered his car and driver. Sounded perfect but there was only one catch. The driver (Kasim) wasn't from Mumbai - he's from Gujurat. Also, he doesn't speak Marathi - only Hindi and Gujrathi. I only speak Marathi and English. Somehow, someway - we managed to get to Malad and back and run the errands I needed to get done. It was the blind leading the blind so to speak but it seemed to work out.
Yesterday was also my nephew Ashvin's Munj ceremony. It was a blast to see all of my "Gokhale" relatives at the event - always a good time with all of them and of course, I am the brunt of most of the jokes these days because I am pretty much the only one left who is still "available for marriage" as they say. The two questions I get asked the most are "When are you getting married?" and that is followed quickly by "When is your next trip to India?". I guess for them, the two are going to be hand in hand... We'll have to wait and see.
12/14/2006 Living Life in Mumbai and PuneI've had a great few weeks since returning from Nepal. It has felt quite comfortable here in Mumbai just chilling out and doing regular stuff. Vas (my buddy from home) has been here pretty much the whole time and we've hung out quite a bit, ate at some great restaurants and generally done some fun exploring.
I've become a regular Mumbai commuter over the past two weeks so that has been quite amusing. The reason I've been commuting regularly is because I have a job. It's a volunteer job with an organization called the Sujaya Foundation. One of my goals when I came on this crazy trip was to do some work with an NGO while I'm here in India. After returning from Nepal, I started searching for NGO's around Mumbai and I ended up finding an organization called iVolunteer in Vile Parle (the subarb where I'm staying with my aunt). I contacted them and after a little time, I was put in touch with Sujaya Foundation. The work I'm doing is with 20 - 25 year olds who come from underprivledged situations. They are enrolled in an intensive 30-day course that focuses on their english and computer skills. 11/28/2006 Back from the Top of the World (Part 3 of 3)November 13 at 1:30am we got our wake up call. We ate some soup, had some breakfast and started changing/getting ready. We left our campsite just before 3:00am. The group was Nima in the front, me second, Vik third and Kaji at the back end. We were all tied together (with about 5 metres in between each of us) and the rope tied to our harnesses. It was pitch black when we started, cold and windy. We were going very slowly because our toes and fingers were frozen. The other guys had started about 30 minutes before us. As we were going, we started seeing lights coming towards us. It turns out that 3 from the English group had decided to turn back an hour into their ascent because it was just too cold and they couldn't do it. That was quite disheartening. Somehow, Vik and I managed to maintain our wits and help each other get through the next few hours. We just took it literally one step at a time and really slowed things down to ensure we were breathing correctly and getting enough rest. Going slowly and not stopping is much better than going quickly but stopping for 2 minutes every 5 minutes. At one point Nima turned around and said "Are we going up or down? to me in a very sarcastic tone so I could tell he was getting annoyed with how fast, sorry slow, we were going. He even started yanking the rope so I would speed up but I did my best to keep the pace slow and steady.
At 9:15 am we finally reached the summit at an altitude of 6475m.
Vik and I pretty much both collapsed at the top for a few seconds (actually probably minutes) just to collect our breath. We weren't even ready to take in the scenery and views around us - it was just way too much all at once. We were both experiencing relief, triumph, tiredness, deliria. It was such a mix of emotions but something neither of us will every feel again I'm sure. That feeling of being "on top of the world" is pretty damn cool. I know we weren't b/c obviously Everest and other peaks are higher but for those 10 minutes on the Mera Peak summit, staring at the other peaks in the distance - it truly felt like we were at the highest point.
The descent from the summit just felt like a chore. Both of us were hurting, had bad headaches and no appetites. We had to walk all the way down to Khare that day too, past High Camp and past Base Camp. That afternoon of walking was really a test of will and determination. Both of us were struggling and just wanted it to end. In total, we must have walked for about 10 hours that day and we finally reached Khare at around 3:00 pm in the afternoon. We celebrated with the English lads (congrats to Mark and Damian for summitting as well) and had a nice feast that night to celebrate our triumph. We slept very well that night and woke up the next morning both thinking the same thing. Let's get back to Lukla as fast as we can - we want this to be over and we are finished with camping!
The next 3 days was spent walking back to Lukla. We were retracing ground that we had already covered so it made the walk a tad boring most of the time. I just found my mind wandering a lot because the hard work was already behind us. The problem with a wandering mind though is that you lose focus and then you tend to trip, fall, etc and the downhills make things even crazier. Attempting the Zetra La pass again was also scary. The first part of the descent, we used a harness and rope. The rest of the way, we were just doing free climbing and I was sure I was going to fall. Well, I did fall several times but luckily I didn't hurt myself too bad as the snow was pretty soft. Other parts though weren't as forgiving so that made for an interesting afternoon.
Vik and I finally returned to Lukla on November 17 and managed to get an earlier flight back to Kathmandu on November 18. Arriving in Kathmandu and getting to our hotel was definitely a treat. My first shower in 17 days! Grooming by beard was a chore because it had grown quite long in the 25 days. Wow, it was so nice to just sit around and watch TV and order room service for that first day. We both completely relaxed and chilled out. That night we met up with the English lads and had some Indian food.
So, the trek is done. I'm back in India now and I wonder - "Would I ever do anything like that again?" The short answer is no. I think it's a been there done that thing. I can cross it off my list and find something else to tackle. Overall I enjoyed it but it could have been so miserable if the weather hadn't cooperated (just based on all those other people we met along the way). I am really proud of my accomplishment and I've especially glad I was able to experience it all with somebody else. Vik and I really enjoyed ourselves and helped each other through rough stretches so all in all, I think we are both very satisfied with our accomplishments.
Thanks for taking the time to read this entries and peruse my photos. I hope that maybe some of this will inspire you all to do something like this and experience a trip like this. Taking yourself outside of your natural environment, stretching your limits and just testing your self are all great things to do from time to time. I'm glad I did it and glad that I passed the test with flying colours. Back from the Top of the World (Part 2 of 3)So on Day 8 of the trek (November 3 to be exact), Vik and I set off in an easterly direction towards our target - Mera Peak. With us was our crew: Nima (our sherpa), Chirring (our cook), Prem (one of our guides), Kaji (another guide), Passang (kitchen helper and porter) and 3 porters who were carrying our gear, the tents and various other supplies. Our first stop was Chitanga (3200m) where we enjoyed a nice night's sleep and then we made our way to Khar-ke-Tang (4000m) where we were met with our only foul weather of the trip. From Khar-ke-Tang, our intention was to attempt the Zetra La pass (4600m) that afternoon but there was way too much fog and the mountain was very icy so we decided to have a rest afternoon in Khar-ke-Tang and let the bad weather pass. To kill the time, Vik and I managed to learn and play a Nepali card game called Dhumal with a bunch of our staff (that we have now become addicted to playing). We also made up a game of horizontal darts with rocks and a hand drawn dartboard in the dirt. Then, we decided to make a snowman as well. Overall, it was a fun afternoon and actually I think we were both happy not to walk in that fog and slipperiness. That would have been chaotic. That night however was VERY cold - minus 8 actually in the tent and that's with our bodyheat too.
We successfully crossed the pass the next day but the annoying part was after going up and over 4600m, we had to come all the way back down to 3200 for our next night's camp. These constant up and downs are what really kill you while trekking because they take a toll both mentally and physically. The downhills really started to affect my knees and I then we both started getting some more severe headaches. Almost every day actually - especially whenever we would stop activity for a prolonged period of time (lunch, end of day, etc).
The next few nights, we slept in Tachtor, Kote (3800m), Tangnag (4600m) mixing with locals and primarily staying in guest houses. Our guide Nima was arranging for us to sleep indoors rather than in the tents. We weren't complaining at all b/c it's much warmer in the guesthouses and you just have more space for your bag, to pack up, etc.
We had a rest day in Tangnag and we made a couple of acclimatization walks as a result. Rest days interspersed throughout our itinerary were good because they gave our bodies time to breath but they also helped us to get acclimatized because we were making some pretty quick ascents from day to day. During our walk in the afternoon, we were sitting peacefully enjoying the view of a glacial lake when all of a sudden, we started hearing this heavy rumbling. We still couldn't see anything but within a few more seconds, started to see tonnes of snow rolling down the side of one of the mountains into the lake (luckily this was opposite where we were sitting). We were witnessing an avalanche and it was absolutely crazy just to see how loud and powerful it was.
On these days as we started rising more, we started encountering more groups of people who were on their down from Mera Peak. Most were actually in quite negative moods because they had horrible weather, minimal visibility, lots of snow and cold, windy nights. Our fingers were crossed that the weather would change and if every day until now was any indication, our prayers were going to be answered.
The next morning we made our way to Khare (4900m) which took about 3 hours. Once there, we met an English group trekking with another company. They seemed to be on the same schedule as us and they were some really good guys so Vik and I hung out with Damian, Rich and Mark quite a bit. We had a rest day in Khare where we did another acclimatization walk but this time in our plastic boots and crampons. We rented this gear in Khare and had to try it out to make sure it all fit, worked, etc. Overall, I wasn't very satisfied at all with my gear or with the safety it was going to provide me but I didn't have much of a choice b/c that's all they had. Initially, I don't think Vik or I had any clue we would be attempting the summit so we didn't even consider hiring crampons for climbing etc but I definitely would have preferred to have my own gear or at least better rental gear than the crap that I got stuck with.
On November 11, we made our way to Base Camp and passed the Mera La pass (5300m). Now we were in territory that was almost entirely covered in snow and ice. Everything was looking beautiful and we were experiencing perfect sunny bright blue skies so you couldn't complain at all. There was no longer any fresh water available in lakes and streams so we had to find ice to melt and then boil for our drinking/cooking water. We arrived at Mera High Camp (5800m) on the afternoon of November 12 and unfortunately, Vik and I didn't get the prime location behind the big rock. Our tent was kind of out in the open in the howling wind and it made for a very scary evening and night. Both of us had bad headaches when we arrived at camp and neither of us really had an appetite at all but we both had to force ourselves to eat because we needed the energy as we would be attempting the summit EARLY the next morning. Back from the Top of the World (Part 1 of 3)Hello folks. Sorry it's taken me so long to write this blog. I returned back from my Nepal trip a week ago. I'm now here in India just relaxing and trying to remember all the great memories from my 25 days in Nepal. I just uploaded my photos from the trek and I really think you will enjoy them - sorry in advance that there are so many but I (and Vik) just couldn't stop pushing the trigger on our cameras. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and we were totally blessed with amazing weather throughout the entire journey so you can't complain at all about that.
I honestly don't even know where to begin telling you about this journey. The word I could use to sum it up is Triumph. It was a pretty grueling trek, my first in fact. There were many moments where I thought about turning back but in the end - Vik and I have a great story to tell.
I flew to Kathmandu (via Delhi) over a month ago on October 26th. Arriving in Kathmandu was beautiful as the scenery was immediately everywhere you looked. Mountain views from the plane ride in greeted us and well, the rest just gets better from there.
Niv, Atul and I were on the same flight to Kathmandu (1800m) and Vik arrived earlier that day so we all met at our swanky hotel - the Hyatt. It was a really nice and VERY expensive place but one good thing is that we managed to sneak all 4 of us into one room (much the hotel's chagrin) but there was no way we were paying for 2 rooms at that place!!! We had this palace as our home for less than 10 hours and in that time; we packed and re-packed, showered and tried to get a little sleep. Kathmandu is a nice city with quite friendly people. Nepal generally feels a lot like India but it isn't as crowded and the climate is a lot nicer. There are Indian looking people, Chinese looking people and a bunch of mixes (probably closely resembling Thai or Philipino people). That night at the hotel, we met the owner of our trekking company (Karma Lama) and also our Climbing Guide, Nima Sherpa. Nima has a lot of experience - he's summited Mera about 7 times, other peaks as well and has also made it to Everest Camp 6 as well. Overall, we all got a very good vibe from Nima and had confidence that he knew what to do and where to take us.
On October 27 we flew to Lukla (2600m) on a small plane (about a 15 - 20 seater). The ride was quite smooth and throughout it we were greeted with amazing views of the surrounding scenery including snow covered peaks on either side of the plane. The airport in Lukla is a site to be seen as the runway is quite small and angled up. This helps planes decelerate quickly when they land and accelerate quickly during take off. The planes fly in and out of the airport like clockwork, unloading goods and people so quickly and then re-loading and taking off just like that. These pilots navigate around the tightest corners and overall are very skilled (in my opinion, possibly more so that those that fly big commercial airlines).
We headed out along the way and started walking. Walking was going to be what we did for the next 25 days. Up, down, sideways, you name it. Walking, Walking and more Walking. Essentially that's what trekking is and in Nepal, it's also navigating around Yaks, other tourists and porters too. Our first 7 days of the trek was strictly for acclimatization and we were taking the Everest Base Camp route up to Tengboche. That route is VERY busy with tourists as well as commercial traffic. Porters are carrying heavy loads as are yaks and as a result, stretches of the track can be very slow and log jammed (especially the precarious bridges we had to cross to get over the slinking river throughout the terrain).
On day 2 in the afternoon, we arrived in Namche Bazaar, a bit of a tourist oasis (or trap) as there are multiple restaurants, shops, bars, internet, phones, etc. It's a lot more built up in Namche compared to other parts we saw and it seems to be pretty much the final place to buy supplies, gear, etc on your way to Everest. It's at an altitude of 3400m so for us, it was good to make that climb and definitely helped with our acclimatization. There is a museum in Namche that talks about the history of climbing - has plenty of stats about tourism, the environment, etc. The country who sends the largest number of tourists to Nepal is Germany, followed by England and then Japan. Canada is something like 7th I believe. From Namche, it was a one day walk to Tengboche (3800m) where there is a beautiful Buddhist Monastery that we were able to see and then go in for some prayers before dinner in the evening. The setting of this place is absolutely gorgeous and our campsite was nothing short of brilliant. Nestled on a little spot of land with mountains almost all around us for 360 degrees.
The next morning we started our way back to Namche and then eventually back to Lukla. The whole purpose of this first 7 days was to get our bodies, hearts, lungs, etc used to higher altitudes and used to the lower amount of oxygen. Overall, Vik and I were in pretty good shape (minus a mild cough and the odd headache). Unfortunately, Niv's knee wasn't doing too well and Atul was suffering from a bad case of AMS (Altitude Sickness). Upon returning back to Lukla, Niv and Atul decided that they would forego the rest of the trip and return back to Kathmandu.
Vik and I wanted to continue in hopes of reaching our final destination - Mera Peak. 10/25/2006 Survived Diwali and READY for Nepal!!!Shuba Deepawali The last few days here in Mumbai have been great. I've really enjoyed myself here with all of my relatives. So many stories to share and fun times to write about. I have uploaded a whole wack of photos so you can check out all of those and really get a feel for what I've been up to. The sites, the sounds, the colours - words just cant describe it all. What I can tell you about though is getting the hairs on my right forearm singed as I walked past a firecracker exploding on Saturday night. I was walking with my cousin Gaurav and both of us were trying to be cautious and looking in all directions. However, neither of us was able to see this one and bang, it went off. It was a smaller one (that kind of spread out like a big mushroom) and it caught both of our arms. Me in short sleeves have some singed hairs now and my cousin Gaurav has a small hole in the cuff of his sleeve. Anyway, it was definitely a nice Diwali souvenier to have for sure... Meeting up with my buddy Vas last Saturday night was really cool. He's a guy we've known for years in Toronto and to hang out with him at a couple bars in Mumbai was a pretty strange experience - especially at Tendulkar's bar. It turns out that Vas was at the cricket match I went to as well the day before but unfortunately, we didn't know that the other one was there so we couldn't meet up. That definitely would have made it more fun but oh well, can't win them all I guess. So what's next you ask??? Well, for starters - 3 weeks of absolutely ZERO contact with the outside world. Starting tomorrow, I am flying to Kathmandu and on Friday, I start trekking for 21 days, returning to Mumbai on November 20. I'll be climbing Mera Peak (Altitude is 6800 metres) over that stretch and getting an amazing view of Everest and 3 of the World's 5 highest peaks. I found someone's blog online with some amazing photos of what I'll be seeing over the next few weeks - check it out. I hope I can see all of this stuff with my own eyes. Thanks for all your emails since I've been away. I miss you all and can't wait to share my stories when I return. I reallly appreciate all of your support. Love, Aneil |
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