a little recap of the past month. well really the first 3weeks trekking up to everest base camp, over the cho-la pass to gokyo and down the valley to lukla's steep heck of an airstrip out.

i decided a slideshow could do better justice than words. plus, i still have one day in ktm and want to go check out the Bagmati river.

-sbb

KTM: thoughts and pics.

Kathmandu is a dust storm. A frenzied pulse. A spectrum of colours. Hindi and Buddhist threads weave a rich fabric. The traffic burps. There is a steady stream of horns from the cars & bikes. Pedestrians wear masks to avoid choking on the exhaust & dust. Livestock get the right of way.

A river runs through Old Kathmandu. It resembles more of a liquid garbage dump than water. A sludge of methane coats the suface. The pennyless sift amongst the riverbanks for any potential value. The bridge which crosses the river boasts a local market: fruit & vegetables spread on carpets next to Khukuri knives and children crawling out of their mothers arms.

The city is frantic. The city is fluid.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sbbrady/Kathmandu?feat=directlink

(a few random shots through KTM).

Few Pics...

Take a look at the below link for a few pics of Nepal:

The first two are of me crossing the Cho-la Pass at 5340m. The following are shots of Everest's West side and of Base Camp.

http://picasaweb.google.com/sbbrady/Nepal?feat=directlink

Dali-zuntight

I took a small day trip up to a town called Kungjung (3900m) today. A small mountain town home to the Hillary School and a Buddhist monestary famous for having a Yeti skull on display.

Take a look at the picuture on the right of the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeti

Anyway, I entered the monestary to witness a Lama prayer session. Very trance-like. After about 10 minutes one of the monks sneezed. I remained silent, but it certainly raised the question of "what does one say when a monk sneezes?"

-stumped.

... and then it hit me

I've been trekking for just over two weeks now, but I'm back in Namche and thus back online. Mind you the electricity in town has a tendency to shut off in the afternoon for indefinite periods of time. For the moment all is working.

Over the past couple weeks I've had many hours of reflection. Lots of time for mental drift.

So there I was trekking up to Labouche minding my step along the loose skree when 'it' hit me. My insides started barking like a rabid rottweiller. The churn was violent. It was at that moment that I realized I have two serious qualms with diarrhea:
i) I'm never certain how to spell it (diarrhea, diarrhoea...) and
ii) It never strikes just once.

On the trail, Immodium is its own food group.