Our time at Bayalpata Hospital has flown by, and we're already past the halfway point. It surprised us to realize that we had been working at the hospital for six weeks with only two days off. We needed a break! So we took advantage of a week's leave to go to Kathmandu (Nardi) where wife Marja was traveling on her way to India, and to Pokhara (Bryan and me) to get some rest and relaxation. Bryan and I met up with a fantastic gentleman named Dinesh, who turned out to be the CEO of Helping Hands, about which you'll here more in a future post. Dinesh became our guide, friend, and connection-maker during our week in Pokhara.
Based on the advice of some of our coworkers at the hospital, we decided to go on a four day trek into the Annapurna mountains (part of the Himalayas). It's a risky time of year to go, because it is monsoon season throughout the Indian sub-continent. We were told that it was likely that we wouldn't have views of the snow-capped Himalayas, that our trip might be dampened by rain, delayed by mudslides and hampered by leeches, but that the trip would be beautiful regardless. We decided to chance it. The saying is that God can't steer a parked car, and my heart told me that if a miracle was to happen, we needed to put ourselves in a position to experience it.
We met up with our guide, Mandan, in Pokhara and drove to Nayapul, our starting point. It was raining, but we had purchased head-to-toe rain gear, and brought plastic to cover our backpacks. After one hour the rain mostly stopped, and that turned out to be nearly all the rain we'd experience while walking during our trek. It rained in the afternoon and at night, but when we walked it almost never rained (other than a few sprinkles).
After climbing what seemed like thousands of steps, we made it to the town of Ulleri, where on a clear day, we were told, the snow-capped South Annapurna and Himchuli peaks are clearly visible. This day, though, there was nothing but clouds. We settled into our rooms in a tea house, where we were the only guests. I kept stealing glances down the gorge towards the Himalayas. Towards the end of the evening, we began to see, revealed through the mist, pieces of the mountain and its snowy summit lit by the sunset. We were so excited!
But even better was to come!
Based on the advice of some of our coworkers at the hospital, we decided to go on a four day trek into the Annapurna mountains (part of the Himalayas). It's a risky time of year to go, because it is monsoon season throughout the Indian sub-continent. We were told that it was likely that we wouldn't have views of the snow-capped Himalayas, that our trip might be dampened by rain, delayed by mudslides and hampered by leeches, but that the trip would be beautiful regardless. We decided to chance it. The saying is that God can't steer a parked car, and my heart told me that if a miracle was to happen, we needed to put ourselves in a position to experience it.
We met up with our guide, Mandan, in Pokhara and drove to Nayapul, our starting point. It was raining, but we had purchased head-to-toe rain gear, and brought plastic to cover our backpacks. After one hour the rain mostly stopped, and that turned out to be nearly all the rain we'd experience while walking during our trek. It rained in the afternoon and at night, but when we walked it almost never rained (other than a few sprinkles).
Philip and Bryan at our first rest stop, and the first foot bridge over a monsoon-swollen stream
After climbing what seemed like thousands of steps, we made it to the town of Ulleri, where on a clear day, we were told, the snow-capped South Annapurna and Himchuli peaks are clearly visible. This day, though, there was nothing but clouds. We settled into our rooms in a tea house, where we were the only guests. I kept stealing glances down the gorge towards the Himalayas. Towards the end of the evening, we began to see, revealed through the mist, pieces of the mountain and its snowy summit lit by the sunset. We were so excited!
But even better was to come!
Our first glimpses of the Himalayas (the peak is Annapurna South) through the evening mists, from Ulleri after our first day.
And He can move that mountain.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Bryan! -MCS
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