Happy trails

This is a happy story, and ends like most happy stories in Lamma island Hong Kong.  But before this happy interlude we were on... THE ROAD FROM HELL!!! Sorry kids but there is no other way to describe this frightneing place (but here goes).  This road eats jeeps, one lane, dirt, rock and road construction everywhere, switchbacks every 100 meters, oncoming traffic includes massive trucks, goats crossing, cows eating, children playing games, your stomach can't stand it (don't eat), drop over the edge is 3000 ft at it's lowest, no help no hospital, and all this for 6- 10 hours (less then 75 miles in that time ) depending upon your wallet.  We ponied up the extra 3 dollars US and got a jeep.                                                                                                      

Why??? Would anyone take this road?  Well we did avoid the bus once by walking in from Kathmandu (Nepal).  We took a taxi to the beginning of the Helambu circuit then hiked over the pass into the Langtang Region.  For the next 8-9 days we hiked through heaven and earth.  The trek is amazing with high mountain passes ( 4600 meters ), alpine lakes ( we saw the head of Shiva ), Tibetan culture (so so nice ), marble sized hail (doesn't hurt too bad), good food, and of course the views.  You can't image the emotional high you get when waking up in the Himalaya. Almost 6 months down in our travels, and 3 months of it in Nepal

Planting Rice

 

The woman who owns the teahouse (and the mother of the little girl) dressed me up in traditional Tibetin dress.  The belt represents long life, and the belt is very very long that it wrapped around me several times! (we ended up buying the dress and belt!)

Now skip to today.  We are eating fruit and veg. again for the first time in one month.  Hanging out with Tom Wilhelm and stairing out into the ocean.  We started planning our next trip to Nepal today. Tommorow, we meet up with members of Stageflight productions ( Leah's sister and brother in law ) and head out to sea for 14 days on an ocean cruise.  The cruise will put back on the lost Nepal weight and start us (finally) in China!!

Annapurna Base Camp

We can't seem to stay away from base camps. This time we were able to hike to two in 10 days. We first hiked to Machapuchare Base camp then up to Annapurna Base Camp. In comparison to the Everest base camp hike the mountains were much closer and lots more snow. We started our hike a bit before the high season and therefore we were able to choose any room we wished in the tea houses. The first several nights we had a HOT shower and felt like royalty. There is nothing better than to be clean and warm after a day of sweating. The showers did stop when we got up near the base camps but only 3 days without this luxury was not too much of a challenge. We also were able to enjoy many apple pies on this trek. Plus on the way down we had a rest day near a hot springs. Now that is the way to end a hike!

So... This is suppose to be a blog about beaches and SCUBA diving in Thailand. But as you know, we left the hot beaches, and journeyed instead to the mountains of Nepal. But first, a little face paint is in order.


The aftermath of walking down the street in Pokhara, Nepal on Feb 28th. This day is a Hindu Holiday celebrating the end of a battle. All day colored packets are sold on the streets and mobs of people yell "Happy Holi" before tossing the colored powder all over you. Soon after our attach we found refuge in a second floor restaurant and safely watched as unaware passerbyers were "colored"!

Time for a little flute playing. Almost to the top Rob and Aloka full the Annapurna Sanctuary with a lovely melody. ( we are way out of tune, I am playing G and god only knows what he is playing)

Enjoying the view of Annapurna Base Camp over 4,000 meters (13,100). ( I am pouting, because Leah is mad at me for keeping her is the cold of ABC, rather then the cold of MBC 500 meters lower burrrrrrr)

Jumping at MBC with crazy low O2 content, is not that easy, but sure looks cool.

This lovely contraptions made our night MUCH more comfortable. It is an open flame which is hard to see because of the flash, under our dinner table (watch your socks folks). The table then has blankets nailed to the edge to keep the precious warmth from escaping. There are even cloths lines under the table where we can dry our wet cloths (see next picture) and socks. This was amazing but it did cost an extra dollar (hey we are not working, so every dollar counts folks) !

Wet like a bad puppy, we are about 4 hours south of ABC and heading up. This is not just rain but hail. Rob is water proof but Leah decided that the tea house was so close that she didn't bother....

Out of the snow and getting ready to head to the hot springs. Yeah, that is right, Hot springs just south of the snowy peaks of Annapurna. Not only that but the best (and only) Lassana on the mountain.

Running, sliding, slipping and falling down the mountain. It snowed all afternoon the day before so the snow was so fluffy and perfect for a fast downward trek. It took us 2 hours up and 30 min. down. At one point Rob raced some porters down. We were both very sore the next day.

Nepal Himalaya

Yes, the title is right. After a overnight train, 4 hour flight, 7 hour bus ride we are only a day away from the start of a 20 day hike in Nepal! We made this quick decision only a week ago and boom we are here. We will be returning to Thailand in May to see the southern part and spend time on the islands. However, now is the second hiking season in Nepal and we couldn't resist. The mountains have called us back. This time we are trekking through the Annapurna region and up to the Annapurna Base Camp (or ABC trek). It is said to be shaped like an amphitheatre by huge Himalayan peaks! It can be done in 10 days but we are planning on taking our time and add on a few smaller hikes to the end. Now, the only trouble with our last minute decision is that we have beach cloths with us and not hiking Himalaya cloths (we look hot). So we have left a bag of swim suits, tank tops, snorkels, and sarongs in a Kathmandu hotel (now we are naked). Then we went shopping! We now have new down jackets, long underwear, gloves, hiking poles, hats, a "yak wool" blanket (made of cotten and plastic most likely), and rented boots. We are all geared up for $100 each (our boots, left in Hong Kong, cost $250 a pair). Not too bad, but we don't expect our cloths to make it much more that the 20 days since they are all made with the cheapest of materials.

Since we have already put our lab top away for the hike we have no pictures to share with you this time but be patient and in a month we will show you more of Nepal and her glorious peaks.

Biking through Northern Thailand

The last 5 days we rented a motor bike ($5 a day) and went off to explore northwestern Thailand. It was wonderful to have such independence. If we got thirsty we stopped and bought a coconut from a local food stall. I am really loving all the fresh food available here in this tropical region. We never bring any food with us because it is always available and clean. So far we haven't gotten sick since Nepal (knock on wood).





The road we took from Chaing Mai to Mae Hong Son has over 1000 bends (one way). I am glad we were on a motor bike and not a car. Lots of people complained of motion sickness (some turns were well over 180 degees). It was an incredible ride going up these mountains on switchbacks. Even at the beginning of the dry season it was still green and lush all over. Banana trees right on the edge of the road. Lots of little bamboo huts in the middle of rice patties. It looks so peaceful and simple.





Out of the 15 hours we were on the bike I drove 5 minutes (longest 5 minutes off my life). During this time I managed to bend the little front basket, break off part of the break lever, scratch the muffler, and crack the break light cover (I think she is trying to kill me). On my own accord I remained in the back seat for the remainder of the trip, and Rob didn't object (send help). Both of us were unscathed and the repairs only cost us $15.

Time for a little teeth cleaning. Two cavities, and two cleanings set us back 45 US dollars (Leah had both of the cavities, I had several inches of coffee/tea stains to be removed)

Tham Lot is one of the largest known caves in Thailand. In one of the chambers we saw a teak coffin. It looked like a hollowed out canoe and was about 6 feet long. I am not sure why they needed such a long coffin for a Thai person but they are dated back 1200-2200 years old. Maybe they were taller then! At dusk the bats leave the cave to hunt and millions of swifts enter to find a nice sleeping spot. It is amazing to watch hundreds of thousands, of birds circling around till they choose their time to enter the cave at a really fast speed! It sort of reminded me of a round-a-bout ( cover your head though, because they dump a lot of crud, looks sort of like rain in the water).


We took a day off from our motor bike and took a little walk in the beautiful Karst landscape. (We got lost, and got cut up by thorns, at one point we were climbing a hill side, pulling on vines)

Rob is so good at being a Buddha look alike. The other day a Thai woman asked if he was Buddha it took him off guard for a moment till he realised she was asking if he was Buddhist.(Aummmmmmm)

I couldn't resist this perfect round frame! This was taken in the same temple as Rob's meditating picture. We had just rented one speed bicycles and attempted to bike up this momentous hill. Part way up Rob discovered that his bike, apart from it being Thai size (Leah hardly fit on her bike) and way too small for him, the handle bars twisted every time he pulled them (going up hill this can be a problem). We felt pretty accomplished to get to this spot and we chained our bikes outside this temple hopped on a cab for the rest of the way up the mountain.

"Dr. Fish" is how these little bottom dwelling sucker fish are advertised (sorry we had to kill the video, it just wouldn't come out). They nibble away at your dead skin on your feet and leave your feet feeling clean and silky smooth. I guess they have a unique property of continuing to nibble even when they are full! The feeling of these tiny fish is like electricity all around your feet. Also when the tails get in between your toes the tickling is almost unbearable...almost. We think we might do it again... $3 for 20 minutes is hard to beat.

Chiang Mai Thailand

During our first week in Thailand we have ridden elephants, trekked through the hills, rafted, toured many of the handy craft factories, patted tigers, took a cooking class, and shopped in the street markets!! Wow, we are loving it. I think we have taken more pictures in one week than we normally do in a month. We have definitely been doing the tourist route so far and it is well paved. Our guest house which cost $6 a night has arranged all of these activities for us. We have met a lot of other travelers and it is fun to hear their stories about their travels. It makes me realize just how much of the world there is to see!

Today we plan to get a bit of exercise after all of our Thai eating and bike around the city. Maybe we will see more the Thai culture! We will have to be sure to wear pants and no tank tops to get into the temples which will be a bit hot in this weather but worth it to get a glimpse.

Getting ready to cook the soup. One of the seven courses we cooked. ( I think the apron makes my head look too big. Don't you??)

Rob getting his fitting for a custom made suit. It is really quite a cool experience to pick out exactly what you want. Tonight we will get the finished product! (Man I look good!)

Don't we look like a happy trio? This tiger is 17 months old and actually has his eyes open! (we didn't include the picture of Rob being mauled)
Getting ready to feed our elephant, getting some calories for our ride. Latter in the walk, our elephant and anouther would eat and entire bannana tree!

Chinese New Year was Feb 14th this year. It is the year of the tiger. We were on our way to breakfast and happened upon the parade! Good Luck

Up on top of an elephant. I was sitting on the neck during the video. Not as comfortable as the seat so I soon moved back to where Rob is sitting.

Getting Ready for Thailand!

What you have all been waiting for.... The mystery fruit is called a Marang, and the winner is Christian. He got it within 5 minutes of us posting the question!


The last look at Bolobog Beach, where all our pleasant and not so pleasant kite boarding adventures took place.

One of the many Trikes we took in the Philippines

Rob in front of our room. So far this is the longest time we have stayed in one room during our trip, it really felt like we were moving out. We had lots of breakfasts and book reading at this spot.

The kite boarding has reached an end for us or at least for now. We plan to continue our new sport in Bali but not till June. For now we have packed it away under the bed in Macau. Again the Wilhelms have taken us in during our travel transition and are keeping our stuff safe for us while we go off and explore Thailand. We have two more days here in Macau till we fly to Bangkok. Last night we saw the Cirque Du Soleil show, Zaia. The theatre is amazing with performers coming from all over the place. There was even a polar bear suspended! We really enjoyed the performance and then we walked through the Venetian which is also an experience on to itself.

Walking around in the Venetian after Zaia. We were lucky to get a rose before the performance started. The clown kissed Rob's hand and offered him a flower, which Rob gave to me.

Still drinking salt water in Boracay

You may be wondering what these kids are doing under our kite. To tell the truth I don't know, but look how cute they are.


Seconds later, she was flying over the board, toward the beach, and the waiting trees. (okay it didn't really happen, but with a board like "slingshot" you have to have a good story.

Leah all packed for our first solo trip away from Bolobog beach to Union beach, on Panay Island. This trip, poor Rob, struggled against wind all day (using the 12 meter kite for the first time). Leah, had a amazing time on the 9 meter, and was flying each time she touched the board.

A

And now for the million dollar mystery, Drum Roll please, what the heck is she eating??? It smells like pine, but tastes rich, buttery, sweet, and a bit rotten, but not rotten in a bad way. We just don't know what it is. But you, our faithfull friends might know (no cheating Christian or Butch). Email us the answer and we will post the winner's name and answer in all it's glory on our next post. (unless we forget)

It looks like I am spitting out the fruit but really it is just the seed! (thanks Mandy for pointing that out)

Mystery Fruit- MARANG (The Winner is Christian, and yes he is from Manila!)

What's a dollar worth?

Lets start with the police: As you know, we had our 9 meter kite stolen. Well the insurance will cover the loss, but we need a police report and a receipt (very simple). The kite school produced the receipt in less then 5 minutes (nice). We then walked to the police station and made our report.
We explained the incident to a very nice but quiet police officer. He made little outward sign that he understood our story very well so we kept simplifying our English and slow down our speech to help him write the report. Once he was done writing we read what he wrote and it was a beautiful concise statement, much better than the broken English we were using to explain the situation. Another good reality check. He said we could come back to pick up the report in a few hours.
So, 3 hours later we walk back to the station. The officer is holding the report BUT!!! We have to first pay 1 US dollar to get it. Unfortunately the dollar can only be paid on the other side of town, in an office with no sign, and oh yeah it is closed till tomorrow. No problem, tomorrow comes and we pay 1 US dollar to take a trike (taxi) to the office to pay the 1 US dollar (a bit confusing isn't it). The office is on lunch break BUT will open in 10 minutes. 10 minutes pass, BUT only an official representative of the mayor can take our 1 US dollar and give the receipt to get the form for the insurance, the official rep. is not to be found. So we take a seat to wait. During this time the four employees take turns talking, texting, smashing pistachio nuts, putting on make up, brushing hair, smoking, and walking in and out of the mayor office (were the official rep. is most likely sleeping under the desk and not to be disturbed for 1 US dollar). So we wait and wait, then the girl who has been brushing her hair for 40 minutes walks into the mayors office, takes our money, and gives us the receipt. We run from the office before the red tape should lengthen. We pay one more dollar to get back to the police station. The end!

Now to the beach!!! Our hard work is finally starting to pay off! If a picture is worth 1000 words, watch these videos of Leah. You may wonder why there are no videos of Rob... Well he is filming Leah for one thing, and for another, most of his time is spent underwater, not on top.

!

Have you seen my Kite?

It all started with 35 knot winds, the sand was leaving the safety of the beach and blowing inland to our eyes. Our instructor (bless him) said , "you guys aren't allowed out." We agreed that we would have no control of our kite in such strong wind. So, we decided to leave paradise and go over to the next island to explore on mopeds (think tiny, light, baby motorcycles ). First, we rented the mopeds on our island and then they had to be transported to the other island. Most cargo gets transported on little canoe like boats with outrigging to keep it stable but the waves from the wind tried its best to blow our little boat over. When we arrived on the big island 4 men picked the bike up so no salt water would get on the bike. Once we started on our exporeation we found out that the moped had no rear brakes (but more on that latter). Now there is a major festival happening only once a year on this island and we head toward it, but first we decided to head to a local waterfall. After 3-4 hours of riding and a few questions on directions we find the dirt road. Now on a dirt road, with a moped, in the hills, you might need rear brakes to slow down. So we almost lost it several times. Rob was wearing only flip flops poor choice driving. Another guy acutally did fall and scrape up his bike. It hadn't rained in sometime so the waterfalls were a little smaller than we had expectd (more like water drips). But we enjoyed swimming in fresh water for the first time in months, so fresh and clean! Back on the bike, for a few more hours with the wind straight at us at 35 mph, we are driving at 40-60 mph. Leah's arms getting tighter and tighter as the pathetic craft was buffeted by the storm winds all around us. No bathroom breaks, no lunch, four hours following the guide to someplace we hope has food. We arrive 3 hours late for lunch, but it tastes good. We are way late and have to skip the party since we thought the last ferry was at 6. The next day we found out that our guide went back over to go the the festival! Strange. We have found that communication can be a little tough sometimes.

We have decide that mopeds are not the best mode of transport. We did however discover how gas is sold in the small towns. They reuse old litter glass coke bottles and fill them will gas, then they put them out in front of their home/tiny shop. It looks like a funny colored coke and it took us a while before we were willing to put it down our gas tanks. It is a very handy thing as long as you only want one or two liters of gas!

Made it home alive and slept. A new day dawns, the wind is down, we go to set up our kite. IT IS GONE!!!! In 8 years of operation, no one, had ever lost a kite. We had only owned this kite through one session which for us was an hour of use. It was gone. They checked all the other kite stores, the entire beach, and made phone calls. To top it off, Leah stepped in dog poop without shoes on.

Our luck had changed. Cursing fate, and licking several days of wounds we actually considered ditching the other kite and heading to Thailand. Dinner, a hour running, and 30 minute swim later we buy another kite. Get back on the "horse" and today had the best day yet for both of us! Still swallowing way more than our alloted amount of salt water but we are getting it.

We are currently extending our visas for another 38 days in paradise. We are also keeping up with our meditation every morning and evening for an hour. We are also very excited about our new purchase of a water boiler. We can have tea and oatmeal whenever we want. Oh the small pleasures of life!

A sample of our moped touring

Boracay!

Leah upside down (as always) watching the sun set

Rob and a dead kite, but with a bit of hot air (I got lots), this kite will fly

Riding the streets of old town Manila, on a horse and cart

The amazing city of Manila at our backs, now onto the beach

Our life has now become centered around the wind! There can be no kite boarding without the wind. We have been on the small island of Boracay for a week now and are loving every minute of it. We have paid a month in advance for our lovely hotel room so we have the luxury of staying in one spot and forgetting about our packs for a while. We invested in some knifes and cutting boards to cut up all the fresh fruit we can handle and there is plenty around. Mangoes are amazing here and we are trying not to overload on this delicious fruit. We can buy 4 mangoes for a dollar here and little baby bananas they call senoritas for 60 cents a kilo. Yummy!! In our first week we have completed our beginner kite boarding class. Which means we are safe to practice by ourselves now. But I am not so sure we are all that safe. Yesterday was our first day out on our own and we managed to not tangle our kite with anyone yeah!! But we are doing very little in the way of actually riding our board. We spend most of our time just trying to keep the kite under control. The kite boarding community is really fun here. Everyone is very understanding and positive. They say in 2 weeks we will be able to board the whole bay! Not sure if we believe that yet. We will keep working and maybe someday soon we will have a video

to show you.

Pictures you might have missed

It is now time for pictures. The joys of having a lap top!


French kissing the guard dog out side a Hindu temple.

On our way back down from the top of the world

Scoundrel's viewpoint outside of Gokyo, Everest is the mountain with the cloud cover.

Rhino hunting in the trees. (Leah is getting bitten by lots of ants at this very moment and doesn't realise till she gets down) Harka our guide is above me.

Must be very patient and quiet when looking for Rhinos.

Elephants attach the city of Chitwan! Elephants are everywhere and we loved watching them bath.

The lovely bell that ruled our life for our 10 day meditation class.

After 2 days of hiking in the jungle, we get our rhino sighting! We had to climb several trees, follow foot prints, and rhino dung to get to this point. Very exciting.

I got to get my hands dirty! Potters square in Bakdipure, Nepal. It is a whole community that produces pottery. It is very rudimentary but the clay is actually very nice and compact. I was surprised that the clay felt so well wedged. To fire the pottery they just stack it up layers of pots then layers of hay.... then it is all covered with ash. Then they burn the hay for 3 days. No glazes just natural looking pots. It was a very fun atmosphere.

Hong Kong to the Philippines

We spent our New Years recovering on the lovely island of Lamma (Hong Kong). Kim and Tom took great care of us while we were getting over our last small illnesses from Nepal ( Took us to check luggage, took us to our hotel, translate and bargained for us, took us to a 6 course meal, then dropped us fat and happy in our new neighborhood for the night). We were also able to meet up with Paula (our San Fransisco saviour). She was in Hong Kong for a week, so it worked out wonderfully (Her boyfriend, Jack, is from Hong Kong so we could follow him on tour). We had a big splurge in Hong Kong and purchased a small lap top computer. So this is our first blog written on our new notebook. We should be able to now to put lots of pictures up.

Lucky for us that we were able to recover our tummies because the Philippines is full of great FOOD!!! We were very fortunate to have a friend, Christian, pick us up from the airport (we were over an hour late )! Rob worked with Christian when we lived in Yakima, WA (whenever Leah left me that summer Chris and I would head out on adventures to Seattle, and wine tastings ). Christian took us to a wonderful restaurant where you first go to the market and pick out what seafood you would like to eat . ( So FRESH, it makes you think of the Little Mermaid when you order crab. This time he didn't escape the chef) We had crab, tuna, prawns, some other fish, and seaweed (tasting like little pallups of freshness not fishy) then watermelon and mango for dessert ( you tell them how to cook it, they cook, and they clean ). So wonderful. After our large lunch we piled into the car and drove to a volcanic creator. It was in the middle of this large lake. Very cool looking and very majestic since it was a bit cloudy. On our way back to Manila from the creator we were in a big traffic jam. The cause we found out was just drivers not following rules (not as bad as Nepal, but here there were cops doing the same thing). The road had 2 lanes going each way. Well, some drivers decided to use a third lane, the oncoming traffics passing lane (hey they weren't using it). So we had 3 lanes and they had 1 lane. Later, as we inched along the oncoming traffic had 3 lanes and we had to scrunch into one lane (this is total Karma). The big yellow line means nothing. And yes there were police but they were just as bad and used whatever lane they pleased. So a few hours of stop go was created just by a crazy bottleneck, that the people created themselves (like shooting yourself in the foot and blaming the guy walking by). But we were able to use to the time to catch up with Christian (Poor guy has to go back to work in 2-3 days ). So all was good.

Our next plan is to get down to a small island south of here and start learning to kite board!! (Rob needs to work on his tan lest his beauty diminish)

The wreckage after our first Philippeno meal. Thanks Christian!
Meeting up with Paula and Jack in Hong Kong

Our wonderful going away lunch with Kim and Tom, Thank you! (we had Peking Duck!)

Merry Christmas!

We are about to leave this wonderful country of Nepal, back to Hong Kong and then to the Philippines.

But lets back up a bit since it has been a while. Our blogging has been stopped a number of times due to power outages and just technology problems (three times). But enough excuses we will be updated more in the future but with less pictures since that seems to be the real crux of this blog.

Since we last typed we have explored the Kathmandu valley. We visited the monkey temple with of course has adorable, monkeys running around (they have red butts). Then we headed to Chitwan National Park and took a jungle hike looking for Rhinos (we found three, one charged us and we had to climb a tree to keep from getting trampled to death!, While in the tree Leah got attacked by ants and the bites are just now going away)! During this hike we must have a guide in front and behind us to keep the poor helpless tourists from dying (bad for public relations).

After the forest we headed to the "monastery." Leah and I took a Vispasana course on meditation. This thing is hard core! 4-wake up, 4:30-6:30 meditate (wake your body up with some pain), 6:30-8 rest/eat, 8-9 meditate( easy one), 9-11 meditate (like running 10 miles without shoes) , 11-1 rest/eat, 1-2:30 meditate (you start shaking while you sit), 2:30-3:30 (easy because it is short) meditate, 3:30-5 meditate( OH GOD the pain !!!!, you want to run and hide but you can't even shift your weight, your butt begs you to stop), 5-6 tea (fruit and crisp rice, you do not get full), 6-7 meditate, 7-8:30 class on meditation, 8:30-9 meditate, 9-9:30 (talk to the teacher if you can stand to look at his comfortable painless face) 9:30 sleep like a dead man/woman, wake up and do it again... oh by the way, during all this, no eating meat, no talking to anyone, no looking at any one, no drinking, boy/girls segregated with no contact.

So now that you are all ready to take the course, it is FREE after all, the meals are all you can eat but only twice a day. You can not leave the course for ANY reason ( one guy had to due to visa problems, another person had to leave with massive stomach cramping and fever). But this is a life changing course, like running a marathon twice a day for a week with no training. Plus after obtaining full enlightenment you can start your own cult/sect and make good money writing books.

Christmas, we woke up and left the "monastery," Leah and I had not even talked for 10 days. It is hard to put into words the 10 days and returning the "the real world" of Nepal. But dinner was at a french restaurant, drinking Chilean wine, and wild boar, with fellow meditators, then heading home (the hotel) for our first group meditation session without teachers. Talk about a great Christmas gift!

Out of the Mountians

Everest is just past my back foot. We are up in Gokyo Ri.

Happy Thanksgiving, we celebrated by walking over Cho la a high pass connected Everest Base Camp with the Goyko region.

Base camp at last. (To see the image bigger you can always double click)

Our first view of the big mountains!

We have arrived safely back in Kathmandu after a wonderful, but hard 24 days of Himalayan hiking. I had totally underestimated the effects of altitude on my body. When we were up at Everest base camp we were getting 50% oxygen compared to sea level. Tiny inclines (well there really wasn't anything that tiny) would drop me to the ground sucking in gulps of air. Rob and I have been reading Gone with the Wind out loud during our resting times and occasionally we will have to stop reading just to catch our breath. It was actually really funny at times. Rob also noticed my breathing while I was sleeping was different. All of a sudden I would take many fast breaths before returning to normal sleeping rhythm. To say the least we are happy to be back a bit lower and breathing easy. However, it was all worth the effort to see such amazing peaks. The landscape has just been amazing and our pictures don't do it any justice. It is the feeling the mountains give you of being so small and insignificant. We always joke and tell each other to look "big" before we take the picture. Defiantly a great accomplishment for us both.

Here's Rob.

Awards:

Longest go without shower (Over 15 days, both of us)

Max height reached ( Kala Platter, around 5400 or so meters, Leah only, Rob slept)

Longest go with one pair of underwear ( 6-7 days, Rob)

Worst smelling shirt (Me again, yuck, sorry Leah)

Coldest night sleep (2 hours outside of base camp, over negative 25 below Celsius)

Biggest blister (Leah, right on the heel)

Worst food experience (Leah got food poisoning twice, it was like sleeping next to the exorcist girl)

Most often eaten food (rice, we are in Asia after all)

Biggest let down in food (Pasta with tomato sauce, WRONG, pasta covered in Katsup)

Cheapest night sleep (less then 10 cents)

Worst smelling socks ( Tie )

Dirtiest clothing (Tie again, except for underwear and you know who won that)

Total elevation gained ( over 10000 meters)

Most likely to get altitude sickness ( me by a ton, Leah has no problems )

People we miss ( our German buddy Thomas, and Matt, and Sophi "the aussies")