Christmas Holiday!

12, January 2010

For my new year holiday I went to Nepal. It was so much fun and at the same time exhausting! We went hiking, but the first couple of days we spent in Kathmandu. We strolled around in the street's and bought a lot of cool stuff. Mostly my parents bought things. But I bought a necklace,shoes, and a shirt.

The best day was probably staying all night to celebrate New Year. Unfortunately we didn't achieve our goal. We were already exhausted from our hike. What we did to stay awake was, that we bought a lot of junk food, like chips, oreo's, biscuits, and for drinks my parents bought wine, and we bought coke,mountain dew. I know it's totally unhealthy food, but you have to try to stay awake, and my parents made an exception. Actually it was their idea!
We stayed up till about 11pm, my brother went first to bed, and then I did. I'm not sure what my parents did since they have a different hotel room. My brother and I stayed awake till 11:45 reading. Then we both fell asleep forgetting to turn of the light. The next morning we took a bike tour, and road around the city. We went to the Devi Fall's, it's an under ground water fall. I have to admit it was pretty school.

We were in Nepal, so for New Years they had a strike. A strike was when there were no cars, or motorbikes allowed to drive. Bicycles were allowed which I think is good. It's a good idea to have a strike, because there's so much traffic in Nepal so you wouldn't get anywhere. The hard thing is that if you want to visit relatives and they live far away it might be hard to visit them. At night they had filled the city with lights. It was magically beautiful! Nearly all the restaurants were crowded with people, and some of them even had a special New Years dinner! We ate Pizza, it was truly delicious! I'm guessing it was an Italian. Because no one makes such good pizza in Jakarta! I wish you all a Happy New Year, and have a great new start with a new decade! 2010 here we come!

Happy New year 2010!!!

Happy new year 2010!!! It's a new decade!!!

Today we went on a bike tour, we went to the Devi Falls. The Devi falls is an under ground water fall. Right now you'll probably think how we saw it, am I right??? We went into a cave which led to the water fall. So that's how we saw it! After that our parents went to a mountain museum. And we stayed in the hotel room reading/resting. After that we went to buy some shoes, because they were cheaper there. Happy new year everyone!!!

6th day of Hiking!

Today is the last day of hiking. It was easy, you only went down wards. But it was slippery, because the horses/donkeys went the same way as us, and pooed all over the place! When we arrived at our car we found out it was a 1 1/2 hour drive to our hotel! Finally we arrived and then went straight to dinner. We had the best pizza ever! After dinner we went to the store, and bought many UN-healthy things, because we were going to celebrate new year by staying up till 12 pm/am.

So...... We had to stay awake! Unfortunately our plan failed :( ! We were very exhausted, because of all our hikes!

5th day of Hiking!

This morning our parents woke up at 5 am to go to the poon hill, because there was an outstanding view of the mountains. Which was true! My brother and I woke up at 8 am. Just in time for breakfast! Our hike was 4 1/2 hours steep down wards. We ran into a bunch of families that had the same aged children as us! Today I just found out that our tour guide walked the same way as us when he was a porter at the age of 14. He is a great role model for children who don't go to school.

Our lodge was better than we'd imagined it. It had a toilet, and a hot, and cold shower in the room. After coffee my brother and I went out for a slow easy stroll. We found this piece of bamboo that tasted really sweet. At dinner there was a game (which they had won), so they offered (killed) a chicken and gave it to the lodge we stayed at.

4th day of Hiking!

Today we woke up very early, because there was a clear sight of the mountains. It was marvelous! The sky was blue, and clear!!! Over the night it had snowed! It was freezing cold. On my hands I had pre-frozed bite, which means it hurts whenever I touch something! We had a 6 1/2 hour walk up and down. I reached 3,000 meters of height! It had been the highest I have ever been. Everywhere we went there was a clear sight of the following mountains -

-Annapurna South
-Annapurna 1
-Fish tail
-Annapurna 3

When we arrived at our lodge we packed out a soccer ball, and started playing. Not after a while many Nepali teenagers joined us. But instead of playing soccer we played volley ball! In the end we gave them our ball since we have a lot of access to balls, which they don't.

3rd day of Hiking!

Today we woke up at 7:15 am. Our tour guide said that today was going to be a short, and easy track. We took 4 hours till we reached our lodge. I liked it, although the rooms were puny. During our walk we saaw many of the same type trees, but sadly didn't see any long tail monkeys. For lunch I had noodle soup and chapatti. I must say it was delicious!!!

For me it wasn't so cold, so my brother and I went out to go shopping. We bought presents for our parents. Which we think they'll like! After that we had dinner, and by the time we arrived the dinning room was filled with people! I got a head ache, because of the gas, which heated the room. Finally, BED TIME!!!

2nd day of Hiking!

Today we had to wake up extremely early, my least favorite thing to do! Our tour guide (Hari) said that today was going to be the hardest day of all! We climbed/walked 1,100 meters up, and 740 meters down! We took 8 hours in all to reach our next lodge, which was located behind a humongous mountain! Which meant we had to climb up the mountain! EXHAUSTING! It was 4:30 pm when we arrived. Our lodge was called "Trekkers Inn".

We had 2 porters who each carried 2 bags! The total weight of 2 bags were 30 kg! The porters carried the bags using their head, attached to a rope! Plus the porters went the same way as us, and were there before us! With all that weight! Hari said that our track tomorrow was going to be half the distance as today! I'm seriously exhausted, and can't move a singly muscle anymore! All I can think about is sleep, sleep,sleep!

Something you should know!

Our porters were 22,35 years old, and our tour guide started as a porter at the age of 14. He only went to school for 1 year, and speaks fluent English. He did this all on his own!!! He's a real role model!

1st day of Hiking!

Today was the first day of hiking! I was so excited! It was exhausting, because you only went steep upwards. We spent 5 hours hiking until we finally reached our lodge. I wasn't surprised on how bad our lodge was! I mean we were in Nepal, so you can't expect a 5 star hotel, right?We arrived at our lodge at 4 pm. I liked it! At the lodge we saw a wooden Ferris wheel! We could tell that it hadn't been used in while, and not very secure!

Here in Nepal the sun goes down at 5 pm. My brother and I gathered up thin wood to carve. I hadn't realized till then that my brother and I had a hobby for carving wood. For dinner I had potato curry and chapati. It was local Nepali food! The really traditional Nepali food is Dal Bhat. When we went to bed it was so cold my entire body was jittering! I have to admit it wasn't such a bad day.

Something you should know!

My mom,dad and brother have already been in Nepal. They actually lived there for 3 years! For me it was the first time. I was very excited, but I didn't expect that it was cold!