Happiness of the Himalayas

Trekking report in Annapurna Base Camp Nepal, November 2013.

I sincerely wish those who have been to the mountains at least once to end up in the Himalayas! Friends, you won't regret it! Once there on a hike, you will still remember my words! After all, this is the country that turns a lot of things around in our heads, and probably everyone has their own: you begin to look at life differently, overestimate it and love it even more for its abundance, beauty and uniqueness! And today the Himalayas beckon me again, I want to be in this AMAZING WORLD again someday, in the near or distant future!

NAMASTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all, I would like to start the report with how my dream became: a hiking trip to Nepal. Only one day, by chance, completely by chance, when I found myself on a Crimean hike for the first time, it became clear to me that this is the type of vacation from which I get great pleasure... And then, among my five hikes in the Crimea, I met an amazing girl, Tera. And after that we became hiking friends, met periodically and during one such meeting, and she had just returned from Nepal, I listened to her amazing, albeit short, story about the Himalayas, about what she saw. And it sounded so beautiful, exciting, and what a look she had when she recalled this trip to Nepal (this look still stands before my eyes), that I really wanted to look at the photographs, and subsequently read the report written from her lips. And then I told myself: I will definitely fly to the Himalayas, I don’t know when yet, maybe it will be soon, maybe in 10 years, but I will definitely realize my dream, I even told my family something like that!!!!

And only two years passed when all the circumstances in life worked out in favor of the fact that I still had to see this AMAZING WORLD and nature (I will repeat myself more than once, but it was AMAZING!!!!!) And even at the beginning of the summer of 2013 I told my family: I will fly to the Himalayas in the fall!!!! (and to be honest, I highly doubted it myself). And everything turned out so that already at the end of August I bought tickets for the Moscow-Nepal-Moscow plane on the website airarabia.com. And on November 9, in the morning, I completed my backpack, put it on my shoulders, and not yet realizing that I was leaving to realize my dream, I slowly, happily walked to the station on the Kirov-Moscow train. In Moscow I dropped by to visit my aunt, and from her house I went by metro, by Aeroexpress, to the airport. I took my time checking in, walked around the airport and, closer to boarding, met one of my travel companions, Seryozha, who came from St. Petersburg... And then I thought, it’s great that I won’t be getting to Kathmandu alone, and the upcoming night in the Emirates is full of unknowns (flight to Kathmandu with a transfer in the Emirates and an overnight stay at the airport).. Here we are. flew to the Emirates, and then my impressions grew and grew...

The airport was filled with Emiratis, Nepalese and many other nations, and among all this, in the crowd we saw our another fellow traveler, Katya. And then we tried to look for two fellow travelers from Ukraine, who were also supposed to fly from the Emirates to Nepal the next morning. But our attempts were unsuccessful. It’s already 11 at night, I really want to sleep after the train, the flight and in the midst of everything that’s happening - you don’t understand how you can sleep on the floor (many Emiratis slept like that in their white robes). And then a young man of Russian nationality suddenly sat down with us. As it turned out later, he knew where we were flying, and since we didn’t start a conversation with him, he turned over his backpack lying next to him, where there was a badge of the company through which we were flying!!! Hello, yours!!! Then we decided to start a conversation, got acquainted, it turned out that he was flying from the Everest route of Kirill’s company and was delighted with what he saw. And we just had to do everything!!! So he told us how experienced tourists sleep here. And already early in the morning from Sharjdi airport (a city located in the UAE) we moved to register the Sharjah-Kathmandu plane!!!

There was nothing left to do on the plane but sleep soundly, although now that’s what I wanted. And so I woke up just before we began to approach Kathmandu. I looked out the airplane window for a long time and saw the Himalayas. And then suddenly tears came to my mind, I sat in the airplane seat, looked out the window at the opening view of the Himalayas and cried, I smiled and tears ran. This is amazing. Now I ask myself a question: is it possible to cry from the beauty of nature? I will say: Yes, you can. And then I cried because I saw that beauty, beauty in life (not on TV or in photographs on the Internet), which covered all my emotions. I couldn’t control my tears, I couldn’t stop them, they were tears of happiness with a smile on my face and joy in my soul.

At the airport in Nepal, our Ukrainian travel companions (Marina and Max) quickly found us, after which we spent a very long time filling out forms and ended up last in line to receive a visa to Nepal (although Kirill sent out a newsletter to everyone on how to act quickly at the airport). Hmmm, we stood last in line, laughed, tried to outwit the foreigners with our Russian trick, just to get ahead of the queue (BUT it didn’t work, they have a different mindset), and so after more than an hour of registration, we hired a taxi and, already cheerful, drove through Kathmandu to the hotel, where the rest of the group and instructor Sasha were waiting for us!

And early in the morning we were already in a hurry to catch a city bus to go to Pokhara. The bus was filled with Nepalese. When we were traveling on the bus, sometimes I wanted to sleep, but the views that opened outside the window captured all my emotions. Of course, someone was sleeping, someone was trying to stay awake, but we were all moving towards the very goal for which we came here. Oh, a sudden breakdown of the bus, the wheel broke. Well, it’s a common thing for them to pump up the tire and replace the wheel. Of course, in order to experience all the delights of our adventure, our wheel needs to be changed... Changing the wheel took at least an hour, is that a lot???? I think not. The main thing is that we arrived in Pokhara. From where we moved at a leisurely pace to Lake Fewa, on which the island is located. Beauty, against the backdrop of the lake, the Himalaya mountains, those same snow-capped mountains, stand there, admiring...

And after spending the night in the city of Pokhara, early in the morning, with filled backpacks, we hurried by taxi to the mountains, where there were no longer any roads or cars, but only paths and endless steps. I almost forgot to say, but in the evening in Pokhara I bought three kilograms of sweet Himalayan tangerines, which I ate for the next two days...it’s unlikely that you can find such sweet tangerines in Russia. So, upon arrival in my city, I specifically decided to take these tangerines from a local store for comparison - not the same, not at all the same, sour...

And so our trip began... We move through a Nepalese village, where there are buses, motorcycles, tourist stalls, children on the edge of the roadside warming themselves by the fire and watching tourists passing by. And we go further and further... we pass wooden hanging bridges and find ourselves in the world of BEAUTY! Huge mountains open up before us, among which a stormy river flows, and somewhere in the distance on the mountains there are villages where people live and grow various cereals in the mountains! It’s surprising, but they cultivate the land in the mountains in order to subsequently grow and obtain cereals! What a contrast in the world! There are so many lands in Russia, sooo many lands that are empty, overgrown with forests and we do not use the fruits of nature! And these amazing people (I can’t think of any other words) somehow carve out the earth in the mountains, making stepped fields out of them and growing cereals! Throughout the entire trip I never ceased to be amazed by this.

And here they are, tangerine groves, banana trees all around, as if in a fairy tale.

And like in a fairy tale or some movie, caravans of donkeys suddenly begin to appear, carrying bags of cereals, food, and gas cylinders. Later on in the hike we will see many such caravans that will overtake us in every possible way and delight our eyes with their beauty and outfits..

And again, log crossings across rivers, porters with huge backpacks on their shoulders are walking towards or overtaking

Oh, here comes the monkey…..he treated her to his tangerine, which she ate with great pleasure

And all around there were trees blooming pink... We tried to figure out what it was, someone suggested that it was a peach blossom, someone said that it was sakura... Against the backdrop of the green nature, these huge trees look gorgeous. And sometimes you walk and realize that you are so tired (you are wearing a backpack, steps, steps, numerous or even endless steps up)

and you terribly want to relax, you sit on a stone, leaning your back on your backpack, and in front of you there is such a view that sometimes even from such beauty tears roll into your eyes, and a smile appears on your face in your eyes, you want to absorb and absorb this indescribable beauty with your eyes: like somewhere, on the opposite mountain, on a very high mountain, water is beating from some small gorge, which turns into a waterfall on the mountain. And this waterfall spreads across the entire mountain and all this is at such a height that you simply never cease to be amazed at the scale of what is happening. And suddenly this water hits some stone in the mountain and flowing streams of water emanate from it, which fall down, either into the gorge, or onto the mountain... And the bright sun shines on this entire waterfall... It’s a pity that not a single photograph, even the best camera and photographer, could convey this!!! But this beauty stands before my eyes, and which I remember forever and my fellow travelers too!!!

And so our hike, filled with emotions every day, every day was different, progressed at such a leisurely pace…. You can talk about the hike for a long time, a lot, with a lot of emotions......but it’s better to go through it yourself and feel and understand what is happening in the soul of a tourist who has been there!

So I’m sitting and writing a report, and before my eyes is a picture from the time I was in the Himalayas: I’m sitting somewhere on the edge of a mountain, holding a hot cup of tea in my hands, and steam is coming out of it like a stream, I’m drinking tea in leisurely sips, and there’s a pleasant smile of happiness on my face, and I’m looking at these great Himalayan mountains, and I understand that the moment of being in the Himalayas is great happiness!

After all, neither a city, nor a store, nor a thing, nor a cafe will make a person as happy as even a moment of being in the mountains! And if someone asked me what your brightest holiday was recently, I would answer like this: “A HOLIDAY is a time spent in the Himalayan mountains!”

And you never cease to amaze me with what happens to you after your return. After returning, I constantly smiled for a very long time, even at night (maybe someone won’t believe it, but I can’t sleep without a smile on my face), and now I tell everyone: Nepal is an amazing country with its good-natured mentality and such gorgeous nature!!! I sincerely wish those who have been to the mountains at least once to end up in the Himalayas! Friends, you won't regret it! You will then remember my words, who will be there on the hike! After all, this is also a country that turns a lot of things around in our heads, and probably everyone has their own: you begin to look at life differently, you overestimate life and love it even more for its abundance, beauty and uniqueness!!!

And today the Himalayas beckon me again, I want to be in this AMAZING WORLD again someday, in the near or distant future!

Thank you so much to everyone who was next to me on the hike, you are all amazing people!!!!! Special thanks to instructor Sasha, whom I already knew and wanted to go with, for his understanding, support and quality of organization of the track, Marina (the head of the radio station) for pleasant conversations, constant tea drinking somewhere far from everyone (this is only because we walked the quietest of all), I often remember you; Natasha - for her Yekaterinburg smile, you are beautiful; Vlad - for his kindness, sincerity and optimistic attitude in life; Maxim - for his endless funny stories, constant laughter; Seryozha - for his quality of photographs; Vanya, who, before leaving, with a huge smile and joy in his soul, said (as if he was preparing the whole speech on the hike, it was very memorable): “And it was a great hike, I liked everything......” (of course, a lot of other things were said from his lips, but it was so pleasant that I remember it forever); Katya - for her incredible qualities and yet you brought a HUGE ZEST to the campaign. Thank you all guys, you are all so cool, I can talk endlessly, I was doubly pleased to meet you and become friends so quickly!!!

And upon arrival, I brought a bunch of gifts for myself and my family (a big huge package), if I had time and space in my backpack, there would be more gifts!