Nepal: The Festival of Lights

By chance, our time in Nepal fell over the Festival of Lights, called Deepawali, or also called Diwali. It's a festival celebrated by Hindus all over the world. Many of the people in the countries we're visiting follow the religion of Hinduism, such as in Mauritius, Nepal, India, and Malaysia, so I was excited to see this beautiful festival and learn more about the colourful religion. Here are a few things that I learned.

Deepawali takes place each year between mid-October and mid-November depending on the phase of the moon and the Hindu calendar. It lasts five days, and each day carries its own significance.

In Nepal, the first day worships the crow, and offerings are made because they are seen as divine messengers. On the second day, dogs are given food and are worshipped for their honesty. The third day is when Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth comes to visit homes that have been lit up. People place burning candles outside their doorsteps leading inside homes and businesses to welcome her in. The fourth day is the first day of the New Year, and the fifth day is a special day where brothers and sisters meet and exchange gifts. It was difficult to find stores and restaurants that were open this day because it was a day to visit families.

Throughout the festival, children go carolling in the evenings and receive gifts of money, rice, and fruit. They donate some of the money they receive to charity after the festival, and use the rest to go on a family picnic.

It was such a beautiful festival with colourful flags hung, and paintings done on the street out of grains of rice, seeds, glitter, and, of course, paint.

Mr Elder getting blessed and receiving a tika by a Hindu priest.
It represents the 'third eye' and is a sign of protection.

Nepal: A Lesson on Perseverance

Teachers are always talking about 'perseverance,' right? It's often something commented on for report cards, and we ask you to reflect and assess for it yourselves. But this time, I'm the one who had to demonstrate it.

My eight day trek in the Himalaya mountain range started as expected. It was tough - steep uphill climbs in high altitude areas, but the views were fantastic, and I was proud of what I was accomplishing.

My water was frozen in its bottle when I woke up!

But by Day Four, my spirits were lessening. Each day had been a steep climb to higher elevation, and with it, the temperature dropped and the wind grew. The teahouses we stayed in were little more than planks of wood nailed together, so they didn't do much to keep the wind out at night. I huddled inside my sleeping bag in multiple layers of clothing to try to stay warm enough to sleep. The toilets were squat - a hole in the ground usually in a separate building outside of the sleeping house, and shared with twenty other people. The worst ones had ice all over the ground around them so you had to be really careful. Basically, I was feeling drained.

Day Four was the toughest of all. It was the day we had to climb up and over the mountain pass. It was probably -15 degrees C and snowing, which I was not prepared for with my thin wool mittens and gortex raincoat. But I had my eyes trained on what looked like the peak above me so I gritted my teeth and kept going. When I reached that peak, I was able to see the path beyond, not down to the other side, as I had hoped, but further up, into the windy, snowy pass. I'd say, 'I just about cried,' but that would be a lie... I did cry a little. It looked like so much further to go, and my hands were so cold already I couldn't move them, and it was slippery, and the elevation was so high that it was hard to catch your breath before the biting wind whipped it away... I thought I was going to collapse in the snow in a full-blown panic attack. But then I had a tiny little thought as I looked up: I was hiking through a mountain pass in the HIMALAYAS. The highest, most unforgiving mountain range in the WORLD! This wasn't Everest, but Everest wasn't that far away from us! It was SUPPOSED to be hard!!!

Plus, I had started this strategy back in Calgary, six months before I left for the trip. I was worried that the gorilla trek in Uganda was going to be really hard, so I tried finding hikes to do in the Rockies that were really steep as a way to practice. And when it got hard, I'd chant to myself, in my head, "Gorillas, Gorillas, Gorillas" for motivation. It really worked! So after the gorilla trek, I realized that I needed a new goal, and the trek through the Himalaya seemed like the perfect one. So all through Madagascar, every time we'd go for a hike, and things got difficult (like our Peak Boby trek!), I'd chant in my head, "Himalaya, Himalaya, Himalaya."

So here I was, trying to make it through this mountain pass, when a tiny voice in my head said, "Himalaya, Himalaya, Himalaya," and I realized that I had been preparing for this for the past two months. I KNEW it was going to be hard - really hard, and I had done other treks to prepare myself for it. So yes, it was going to be really difficult for a little bit longer, but then I would make it. I would get to the other side. And that made me smile and keep going.



Plus, there was another little voice in my head that tried to be rational. It said, "What do you want to happen here? If you sit down in the snow and cry, your guide is going to think that you can't do this, and you'll have to go back down the way you came, back to the beginning of the trek. Is that really what you want? Or, you could go just a little bit further, and the hard part of the trek will be over, and you will get to go down the other side." That voice was pretty smart.

We made it! With our guide, Surendra, and porter,
Niraj,at the end of the day's hike.

Now, I'd like to say that it was that easy, that I finished the pass, and the rest of the day hiking without any other moments where I wanted to give up. But truthfully, about five minutes later, I was in tears again when I slipped on some ice and fell on my shoulder. And then again ten minutes after that when my hands were so cold I had trouble using my poles and I was worried I might slide down the slope. But, I did it. And I can hold on to that moment of good perseverance for future struggles to come. Then the best thing of all? Despite it being so difficult, and feeling a little embarrassed about not handling it better, it is now one of the things I am the most proud of myself for ever doing.

Relaxing with a game of cards after the hike.
We used pistachio shells as a way to keep score!

Nepal: Trekking in the Himalaya

The view from the bus to Dhunche

To get to Langtang National Park, we had to take an eight-hour bus ride, much like the buses we experienced in Madagascar - old, broken-down, and cramped full of people. There were frequent stops to let people from the aisle head up on top of the roof of the bus. Some even jumped aboard and climbed up there while the bus was moving! We were thankful we had paid a bit more to book actual seats so we at least had a bit of room for ourselves and all our luggage. At one point, the radio playing Nepali and Indian music throughout the bus started blaring one of our favourites: Jai Ho, from Zumba! It definitely got me bouncing in my seat! :)

As more and more people came aboard we were squished between them and their belongings. People were friendly, though, and we tried to make room under seats for bags and such. One woman asked me if I would be willing to help her with her load - and gave me her baby to hold!

  

After eight hours, we arrived in the town of Dhunche, where we would start our trek. The first day proved to be a model for all of the other days - either straight up or straight down was the norm (often both in one day, over and over again). It was nothing short of gruelling. But the views were diverse and outstanding! Here are some of my favourites:

The view starting our hike from Dhunche

Hiking up, up, up!

It's autumn in Nepal now, too.

A typical Nepali mountain house.

Lunch at a teahouse on the trail.

The Prayer Flags hanging from a temple.

One of the nicer teahouses we stayed in.

We think this is a Mountain Eagle.

At a hilltop Buddhist stupa.

The Hindu sacred lake, Gosaikunda.

Nepal: Above the Top of the World

 


Nepal is a small country sandwiched between India, Bangladesh, and Tibet. It is famous for bordering the Himalaya mountain range - the tallest mountains in the world, and home to Mount Everest, THE tallest mountain in the world at 8848 m. (Click here to see my previous post on elevation to see Canada's tallest mountains). The most popular thing to do in Nepal is trek. There are many National Parks to visit, and you can hike for weeks along the border of the country! Many visitors go to Everest Base Camp, where people prepare for the treacherous climb up it (complete with ice climbing gear and oxygen tanks!), just to admire views of the famous mountain. Others opt for a view from the sky, which is what I did!

My family treated Mr. Elder and I to a Mountain Flight to see Everest from the air in honour of my birthday the week before. We were at the airport at 6:30 am, but had to wait hours for the fog to lift so we could leave. It was worth the wait, though! We had been in the air only minutes, and I was looking at Kathmandu from above when something caught my eye. There, looming above the city, above the horizon, above the clouds was the wall of giants, nothing like I'd ever seen, even coming from the Rocky Mountains!

The flight attendant handed out sheets with the panorama of mountains drawn on them so we could keep track. Then once we'd hit cruising altitude, guests were invited up into the cockpit for a full view, and I got to go first!

  

The pilot pointed out two twin peaks up ahead and told me that the one on the left was Everest - my first look! We then flew all the way out to it, turned around and flew back, so the other side of the plane got good views, too. It was a great birthday present!

Mount Everest is the peak on the left

Next, we're leaving to go on a nine-day trek through Langtang National Park where we'll hike from 1900 m up as high as 4610 m to go through a mountain pass, and down the other side. We'll stay at little 'teahouses' which are really basic cabins with bare beds and shared squat toilets. Check out my next entry to read all about it!

Mauritius

 



After a quick four days in Réunion, we flew to Mauritius, an island that was owned by the British, but is now independent. It seemed to be in the middle in terms of quality of life - much better than Madagascar, where people are very poor, but not as high of a standard of living as Réunion.

In Mauritius, children learn French and a local Creole language at home, then learn English when they go to school, so communicating was very easy for us. The island makes its money mainly from sugarcane crops, tea plantations, and other agriculture. It had rolling hills and beautiful beaches (that are protected from coral reefs, so swimming is safe!).

The beach at Blue Bay

For my quick four days on the island, I ate lots of delicious food, which is a mix of Indian, Chinese, and Creole (so lots of chicken fried rice for me!), and they make use of the local deer and wild boar.

I relaxed at a beautiful beach called Blue Bay, which was on the south-east shore, and toured the sites of the South. Here were a few highlights:

Grand Bassin: A Sacred Hindu Lake

A giant statue depicting the Hindu lord Shiva

The waterfall in Chamarel

The giant tortoises in Chamarel's protected area

The Seven Coloured Earths of Chamarel

The beach at La Morne

La Reunion

 



Next up was a quick tour of two islands east of Madagascar: Réunion and Mauritius. Despite the close proximity of these three islands, they are all very different in culture and quality of life.

We visited Réunion first. Believe it or not, it's actually a part of France! We thought it would have more of an `island feel`but it definitely felt like Europe, with little cafes, people out jogging, and fancy cars everywhere. It was such a big change for us from our first three months that we experienced a bit of culture shock. Everything was extremely expensive and we didn't encounter the friendliest people.

During our quick four days here, we spent some time at the beach, but we didn't swim. Réunion is known for the high number of shark attacks it has. The island rises quickly out of the ocean and there is no coral reef to protect it, so it is not safe for swimming. Plus, it's very rocky and wavy!

I celebrated my birthday while we were here, and we wanted to make it special. As you can imagine, that's difficult to do when every day of our trip already feels like a new adventure. So, we made sure to do something I'd never done before: we climbed an active volcano!

Now, I'll point out first that this volcano is not dangerous to climb. Most of the time it lays dormant, its hot lava bubbling below the earth. When it does erupt, it's not explosive, meaning the lava comes up over the side and flows down to the ocean. It does not spew lava up into the air. The third thing that makes it safe to climb is that there are volcanologists who constantly monitor the volcano's activity, and we were told they would alert climbers if they detected anything.

The volcano is called Piton de la Fournaise (remember they speak French in Réunion), and it's the island's second highest peak. It is very popular to climb, so we definitely were not alone. The hike was difficult, 15 Km in total, taking us down 580 steps, across a flat plain of hardened lava, and up and around the side of the volcano to a spot at the mouth that's safe to stand on. The sun was hot, as was the heat radiating off the blackened ground. But the views were incredible!

At the top we were a little disappointed that there was no red lava on the inside, but I was proud of doing the climb and excited to have tried something new!

Looking into the mouth of the volcano!