17 march 2002
Namaste dudes and dudettes
We are currently weathering out a nasty thunderstorm in a cybercafe in Kathmandu so thought it would be a good chance to send a group email and let you know how we are doing…
Kathmandu so far has been an amazing and FREAKY place…
The town is filthy, smelly and crowded. The pollution is thick, and just the ride from the airport was enough to scare the shit out of us…
The streets are incredibly narrow and as there are no footpaths, you are forever dodging cars and rickshaws and motorcycles whilst trying to avoid the touts that want to sell you tiger balm or trekking guides…
But somehow, the place has charm and the people as hassling as they are, are genuinely lovely, and there is no McDonalds here which is great…
Before arriving here we had some reservations over safety as there is a state of emergency that has been called due to a civil war with some Moaist (communist) militants…
However, the war has actually been waged for about 15 years, but recently, it has included bombings and shoot outs which unfortunately has had a devastating effect on the tourism here…. but, it’s kind of good for us though cause everything is so cheap although the poverty is quite palpable here…
Katmandu is in general a lot less developed than we would have expected from a major backpacking city, but then again saying that, our days have been spent pigging on fantastic food and bumming around on the internet…
We actually feel quite safe and secure and in the city, the state of emergency doesn’t seem to be a problem here.
We have also spent the last few days organising our trek to Everest Base Camp.
We are currently travelling with Andrew Parker, a friend from my college days and we managed to hook up with Mijke a girl from Holland, and 2 german guys Ulrich and Mathis who’ll also be trekking with us.
It’s been hard to find factual information in Kathmandu as everyone wants to sell you their business, but it seems that the walk into Everest at this stage seems safe, so we are heading out tomorrow as we have heard of quite a few people who have returned without any problems.
Most trekkers head to the Annapurna ranges which has a lot less altitude problems, or fly half way up into Lukla in the Everest area, so as we are actually walking in from the Himalayan foothills we are kind of reguarding this as hardcore…
Anyhows, the trip to base camp at 5,500m and back down to fly out will probably take us 4 weeks so we’ll be out of touch until at least mid April.
In any case, we’ll email again when we return and let you know how it all was.
Lotsa love and smooches
Yeti dude and Yak girl
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