Heading to the Himalayas

Today we are flying out of Kathmandu!!! Finally leaving the city behind us! We will be flying to Nepalgunj a town that is about 5 miles from India and apparently ridiculously hot. Not looking forward to the hot but very excited to start our journey. We spend the night in Nepalgunj and then take a flight around 5 am to Simikot where the trekking actually starts. We will spend our first day in Simikot building a chicken coop for the local people before we go, so that we acclimatise to the elevation (about 12,000 ft) and help their community. After that it is all uphill! I am so ready to get to the Himalayas and start seeing how beautiful they are, not to mention not having to play frogger to cross a street. Seriously though crossing roads here is the scariest thing ever, and people probably don't drive over 30mph ever. I'm going to come home and feel like speed racer going 60. The task today is to play musical bags so that we get our weight down to 33lbs per person which may sound easy but you try to pack for the Himalayas with that limit. This is my last for sure day with internet and so it may be my last post for a few weeks but I will have so much to say when I get back you wont be able to shut me up. Remember if you follow that link a few posts down you can physically see where we are in mountains. Keep praying that all us girls stay healthy throughout the trip too, a few of them already have a bug that hopefully will go away soon. I have been lucky knock on wood. I'm ready for the experience of a lifetime to start, and I can't wait to share it with you!

Last Full Day in Kathmandu

Hey all, this will be a short post because I am on a time crunch. I went to Mt Everest yesterday on a flight and it was by far one of the best experiences of my life. I have never seen something so beautiful. It was the first time in my life that I was actually speechless. After that the whole group went to 2 Buddhist temples and a Hindu temple. At the Hindu temple we watched families as they were cremating bodies which was really intense and interesting, it was strange that it was a tourist destination. There was also a lot of rain yesterday, and it was very sudden. I also fell down some marble stairs and have a very colorful bruise on my lower back. Hopefully that goes away quickly cause sleeping last night sucked. Today we are heading to the palace where the former king lived so that should be interesting and then tomorrow we are heading to the mountains. I cant lie I am ready to be out of the city. Well I have to head out now but Hopefully I will post later today! Just wanted to let everyone know that we are having a great time!

First full day in Nepal

So today the Everest flight was cancelled because of the weather so we are trying again tomorrow but we went to Kopan which is a Buddhist Monastary! It was absolutly amazing, we had a lesson from one of the monks. He had such a great sense of humor and was really insightful. After that discussion we were eating lunch and llama came back! He had a stroke a month ago and while we were at the monastry he returned. It was so amazing to see all the monks lined up for him and come to find out he is a very high ranking llama in the Buddhist faith. We were lucky enough to be in the line which he went by and blessed everyone. While I do not practice Buddhism it was a very powerful moment. Tonight we are going over to Eva's house (a Nepali girl from SNC) for dinner. I am so excited to get going on the trekk, this whole city thing is fun and so eye opening but I want to get my hike on! After the Everest flight (cross your fingers for good weather) we will be going to a Buddhist Stuppa that is gorgeous and I can't wait to get pictures. By the way I took such a great picture of monkey today, he was so close to the car it was unbelievable! Miss you all already xo from Nepal!

Made it safe!

Well, turns out I can update this in the lobby of our guest house! So we made it safe and sound, 30 hours of traveling later. The flights weren't too bad the first one to Bangkok took 16 hours which was far too long to sit on a plane but we survived. We got in around noon local time (12 hour 45 min ahead of CA) and then spent the rest of the day getting into our rooms and did some shopping. We are about to go to dinner and then bed which is what I am excited about. I will try and update this everyday till we leave, I am going on a flight to Everest tomorrow so lots of pictures I'm sure! Well signing off from Kathmandu!

Waiting in the airport

So our flight was delayed a little bit so now I'm sitting here waiting with Erika and Amye. Amye is practicing braiding her hair without a mirror and is failing. But overall it's going to be an awesome experience I can already tell. It's scary that this trip is starting now. Hopefully this next month is filled with excitement.

Holy Cow I leave Tomorrow!

So the past few days have been full of sleepless nights and hasty preparation! I can't believe I am getting on a plane for Nepal in less than 30 hours! I am all packed and spent the day getting all my financial stuff done, making sure my cards will work if I need them and getting spending money. I looked at the weather report for Simikot (where we will be trekking) and it has not been warm but it can't be much worse than the snow in Tahoe so I think I can handle it. It apparently rains for at least an hour every day so I am preparing myself to be wet but I have good gear and a lot of faith that everything will work out perfectly! I am so thankful for all the support and prayers from everyone it means so much to me that I know you are behind me during this journey.

I am so close to leaving now that I'm not even thinking about getting sick or not being fit enough, I am just so excited. I think about it and I can't stop smiling my face actually hurts because of how big my smile is. I know it is cliche but I am really going to miss my family, I hadn't thought about it before but this is probably the longest time period I will go without seeing my parents. Going to school so close to them I see them at least once every 2 weeks and if I don't I talk to them constantly. But I doubt that will happen while I am there. I really owe them so much for allowing me to do trips like this, not that I would let them ever say no. Ever since I was little my parents have let me follow my passion for helping others and traveling, I can't thank them enough for their belief in me!

On a less serious note.... I am going to NEPAL TOMORROW!! I hope to be able to update the blog a few times in Kathmandu but if I don't you will have to check my facebook I'll have my mom put updates on my wall when she gets them. Oh and if you are really wondering where in the world I am going the organization that I'm going with has a GPS that they are bringing on the trek so if you click on the link below you can actually see where I am! I wont be leaving Kathmandu till the 10th (US time)  because we need a few days to adjust to the time change, after that though we will be getting down to business. Thank you again for all the support and see you in a month!

The Bodhi Tree Foundation GPS... Follow us!!

 http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0dPtUGJjtlkzVOvqd4xZFArngpbv8oRlB