Itching to go

I am struggling with the jet lag and am awake most of the night, I am itching to get going as i feel i am just waiting and putting on weight which i am probably not as i walk miles each day and do not eat a huge amount
I met with the tour that came back to our hotel today, it was the team Mia was in so lots of tears when she walked in, They are a great bunch and i hope to have such a good team to be with,
I spent the morning walking around the town in the morning and went to swayambhu stupa commonly known as the monkey temple in the afternoon, The weather had improved and i awake to heavy mist which soon burned off to blue skies, It was hotter and more humid but nice,
The monkey temple is a 30-40 minute walk and then a couple of hundred steep steps to the top, All the way up the stairs are hawkers and they continue at the top along with some wonderful picture galleries and art shops, Time went fast and we had to quickly get back as everybody was meeting up in the evening for a farewell dinner, I was very fortunate enough to be invited along and we had great food and conversation, Two things come to mind when talking to people that have already done the trek is that it is extremely difficult with many feeling crap at some point and that the sherpas are awesome which i could tell over dinner,
At the end of the day i didnt get everything i wanted at the temple and will revisit tomorrow, Then back to pack ready for the off

You are never far from color and this was by the door of the hotel

 At the Monkey temple

 Probably more dogs than monkey's, They are everywhere

 Lots and lots of steps but well worth the effort

 Close to the top

 Old people carrying heavy loads is a humbling experience

 Storm clouds built up late afternoon, Great views over Kathmandu

 Safer than croosing the road, The monkey's use power cables

 Sifting through the crap for easy pickings

The internet continues to be a problem, When i fly into luckla i may be off line for some considerable time

Dave

Reality is here

After what seems like an age in preparation and talks about the trip i am finally on my way, I was up at 4am and after a quick cup of tea and some cereal i dropped the car off and joined the queue to board my Jet Blue flight to New York, Once i settled in the captain had a chat and it went something like this blah blah blah blah blah blah choppy blah blah, Yep i am not the best flier and i hate it when they say you may have a bumpy, choppy or turbulent flight before you have even taken off, As it turned out the flight was pretty good, Landing in NY i had less than an hour to get my connecting flight to Qatar, I asked what terminal and gate i needed to be at and was told 6, 4, 7 or 8, After some discussion they settled on 8, I had a long walk to the sky train and noticed it said that Qatar had evening flights from 8 and daytime flights from 7, I got off at 7 and then had to go back through checking in and security, I got to my gate with minutes to spare
I boarded the Qatar plane and wow what a difference, Firstly it seemed huge and was close to brand new, Even in cattle class there was leg room, The food was very good and you each had a large screen with USB and power outlets, I had 2 great guys next to me and we chatted most of the 13 hours it took to get there, We landed an hour early leaving me with 7 hours hanging around before my next flight, Qatar airport is like many large city airports, The usual shops but with a very low head count unlike Heathrow for example, Making it a relaxed if not expensive affair,
I am writing this drinking my 3rd $8 latte and somewhat bored, The total journey is around 29 hours and its now 2.15am my time but only 9.15am here, I have arranged to be picked up in Kathmandu by one of the guys from Ian Taylor Trekking who is the tour operator, I will finish this when i am in Kathmandu, Laters

The flight from Qatar to Kathmandu was much shorter than i thought at about 4 hours, I slept most of the way, 30 hours traveling will do that to you, I was met by 2 guides that work for Ian Taylor trekking and we went through the hustle and bustle of the city where they dropped me off at the Apsara boutique hotel, I settled in ans hit the sack
Up and out fairly early, I had some breakfast and met with Kaye who runs the office here for Ian, She introduced me to Mia, Mia was on the same trek as i am doing but suffered the effects of altitude sickness and was helicoptered off the mountain where she spent 2 days in hospital and now cannot fly for a few days until she goes home, You just do not know how your body will deal with the altitude and we are all different, It was very unfortunate as she was close to the end

I ended up spending the whole day with Kaye and Mia who showed me the city and some of the main places to go like Durbar square which was hit hard by the earthquake, We finished the day in a great restaurant with fantastic food and local beer, Kathmandu has grown on me in the last few hours i have to say

As the weather was not great for photography i.e pure white sky i decided to just take some street shots with my D800e and 24-70

Click on images to make bigger


Mia, Helicoptered off the mountain and now doing well

 Rickshaw

 Kaye (left) and Mia getting some retail theropy

 Stoupa

 Feral pigeon

 Helping themselves to rock salt

 Spaghetti junction

 Busy streets

 Prayer wheels

 At the clay pot market

 Durbar Square

 Sadhu

 Beautiful details and woodwork

 From a rooftop cafe

 Melting gold for ear rings

 Hand carving the ear rings

 Mia with school girl

Off to the Monkey temple tomorrow

Dave

Tough times behind, Tough times ahead

A few weeks ago i got news that my fathers health was on the decline, He was in his 90's and had severe dementia, A week or so passed and then the sad news that he passed, I took a few days off of work and my wife and i along with our dog Alfie made our way up to the Great Smoky Mountains for a few days so i could get my head together, Its never a good time but with the Base camp trip looming it was the worst possible time, My passport was away for its visa so i was not sure if i could make it back for the funeral, The funeral has now been postponed until the 29th and i will be in Nepal, In 2014 i walked the Camino De Santiago to honor my lost brothers and it seems fitting that i will walk to Base camp to Honor my father
We pitched camp at the base of Mount Mitchell, The tallest mountain east of the Mississippi, I looked massive as we drove towards it, I had decided that i would hike to the summit to prove my fitness, It stands at 6684 feet, Our camp was at 3000 feet, The trail extending from the camp to the summit was 5.6 miles long, The first day there we walked one of the lower trails for a distance of 6.4 miles, The area is remote and beautiful and the facilities are immaculate, The best campsite i have ever stayed at, In the afternoon we drove to the summit and eat in the restaurant and then walked to the peak which was very busy with people as the weather was nice, We left there and cruised the Blue ridge parkway, stopping and taking pictures along the way, The Mountain ash trees are numerous and full of bright red berries making for great foregrounds with the mountains in the distance, The 5 mile dirt track down to the campsite had a river running along one side and small waterfalls feeding it to the other, A few were a little on the dry side and would be work revisiting later in the year but a couple were very picturesque and i spend some time shooting them
I had some new kit i wanted to test, The Nikon 18-35 stayed on my D800e, I had the Kirk Enterprises L bracket attached to the camera and the peak design 'Clip' attached to the L bracket, Not pretty but it means i can leave the L bracket attached to the camera and still clip it to my backpack, It worked great, The lens is way lighter than my 24-70 and i never noticed it whilst hiking, Should be great for the base camp trek, I love the new Osprey water bladder, Very clever design means you can unclip the water pipe that you drink from leaving it in place whilst removing the bladder to fill, It simply just clips back on when you have the bladder refitted in the backpack
There were lots of cars at the trail base and we talked to a few people, I wanted to know how long i should expect to take getting to the top, General concencus was around 5-6 hours up and half that down, I left at 7.40am and after 2 tough hours went past the campsite on the only flat area on the hike, I was surprised at getting there so fast, I had only stopped twice for about 5 minutes each time, there was a sign saying 1.6 miles to the summit and to expect around 1 hr 40mins, I was at the summit an hour later with a total time of 3 hours, I could not believe it and double checked my time, I was amazed and pleased at the same time, I celebrated with a large hot chocolate from the kiosk at the top and sat around talking to others there about what a difference a day makes, The day before was sunshine and puffy clouds, This day was heavy fog and windy, the fog would burn off an hour later, I felt so good i decided to walk down giving me a total of 11.2 miles, my wife surprised me by walking up to meet me, I slept very well that night after a celebration glass of vino,

Click on the images to make them larger

Beauty around the Craggy Garden area of the Blue ridge

The woodland and trails around the campsite were beautiful

I wish i had a macro lens as there were many variety's of fungi

The restaurant at the top had a great views and peach cobbler with ice cream that was huge and delicious

Mountain weather can be very unpredictable with low clouds looming but the breeze quickly moving them on

What with the restaurant and the viewing platform at the top it may not look like a real mountain but the trek up is very real indeed

The trail, Steep and mainly roots, rocks and huge steps

The plant life and trees changed as you went up, Heavy mist greeted me at the top

One of the waterfalls as you head down to the campsite, Such as beautiful area

I think the Nikon 18-55 did a great job, All the images above were taken with it, The top image now printed out to 18x12 and looks great, Sharpness wise i would say it bests the 16-35 F4 VR, Doesnt have VR and has a variable aperture which is not a problem as it will probably be used at F8 just about everywhere, Great value for money
I will always remember my trek to the top of Mount Mitchell and it will always remind me of my Dad
9 days before i fly, I now have everything i need, The shopping list has been quite extensive and when you see it all laid out you wonder how it will all get up there

Dave