Everest Base Camp Trek March 2012 (Day 1 to Day 3) - By Thad Sheely
This is Thad Sheely's blog of his trek to the Everest Base Camp in March 2012 with us.
Everest Base Camp Trek March 2012 (Day 4 to Day 7) - By Thad Sheely
This is Thad Sheely's blog of his trek to the Everest Base Camp in March 2012 with us.
Everest Base Camp Trek March 2012 (Day 8 to Day 10) - By Thad Sheely
This is Thad Sheely's blog of his trek to the Everest Base Camp in March 2012 with us.
Didn't see that coming - Bhutan trip plans (part 1)
*Kate and Meg traveled with us to Nepal and Bhutan recently. This blog post is by Meg prior to their travel.
Last week Kate (almost 17) and I were hanging around the kitchen after school and work, in that easy going kind of time before getting started on dinner or homework. She was relaxing in a padded chair as I cruised the cabinets in the vain hunt for undiscovered baked goods or chocolate.
“Hey, Mom, have I mentioned that…” This was the phrase that was usually followed by something like, “I ran into Janey the other day. Haven’t seen her in 4 years,” or “ I’m going to a party tomorrow night,” or even “I didn’t get this assessment in on time.” So I was unprepared for “ I might go to Bhutan for my senior project.”
Didn't see that coming either - Bhutan trip plans (part 2)
*Kate and Meg traveled with us to Nepal and Bhutan recently. This blog post is by Meg prior to their travel.
Some of you may recall my surprise a few months ago when my 17 year old daughter casually mentioned that she was considering a little trip to Bhutan as part of her senior project addressing the question “What is Happiness” from scientific and philosophical standpoints. She was able to get in touch with the Minister of the GNH (Gross National Happiness, yes really), but it did not turn into a larger correspondence. When we learned that there is a significant daily tax (around three hundred dollars) to spend time there, it became clear that a stay of several weeks was out of the question.
Thus began her search for other places to study meditation. Places in California and England were not operating over the winter. When she made contact with her mentor for her project, a Buddhist nun, she learned about monasteries in Nepal and India that have a week to ten day programs for beginners that start in February. We did not take her seriously until the beginning of January when she announced her new plan to include a week in each place with about a week in between, complete with dates and a tentative itinerary.
Climbing Mt. Rainier to help Nepal's Children with 3 summits for Nepal
Every year a mixed group of novice and seasoned climbers attempt to climb Mt. Rainier. But, more importantly, they help raise funds for the underprivileged children of Nepal.
3 summits for Nepal was founded in 2006 by Grand Asian Journeys’ owner, Jwalant Gurung, while an MBA student at the University of Washington. Jwalant, a Nepal native, strongly believes that empowering the children of his country through education is the key to help Nepal progress as it comes out of a 10 year insurgency. Till today, 3 summits for Nepal has placed more than 50 climbers on the summit of Mt. Rainier and raised more than $100,000. This money has been used to build or re-build three schools in rural Nepal and has helped fund the operations of several orphanages. This tradition will continue in 2012. Two groups will attempt to climb Mt. Rainier – on each via the Disappointment Cleaver and the Emmons Glacier route on July 21-22.
Kanchenjunga, panda, snow-leopard and a school
Twice every year I journey into the Himalayas mainly to scout the area. But unlike other years, my visit this year to the Kanchenjunga region in Eastern Nepal was for a different purpose - to re-build a school that had been badly damaged during last year’s earthquake. The school would be funded by 3 Summits for Nepal. The seven Richter scale September 2011 earthquake with epicenter at the Nepal-Sikkim border had demolished many houses including the primary school at Yamphudin village. My sister, Jenny Gurung, who had set up the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project (a world wildlife fund initiative) regional office had started receiving a lot of requests for help to re-build the schools there. I jumped at the idea when she suggested that I build one of the schools there.
Fibers of Bhutan: Culture, Heritage, Art and Me
When I took my first knitting class last year, I knew good things would happen because I yearned to knit since I was a young child but nobody ever showed me. Between pre-kindergarten and second grade, I gathered scraps of fabric and yarn and morphed them into pillows and characters inside shoebox dioramas. I tried to make sweaters but there's only so much you can do with scotch tape, glue and scraps. Around the same time, I learned about the “Abombable Snowman.” I couldn't pronounce “abominable” and thought the term “yeti” sounded much more pleasing. It was an especially fun word to say fast, “YetiYetiYetiYETI!” My five or six year old self was stubbornly convinced the yeti could sing high pitched melodies; and anybody who thought them menacing or dangerous was suffering from pathetic misunderstanding. I cried on Disney's Matterhorn ride because I wanted to stop and talk (and sing with) the yeti inside that mountain.
Biking Nepal's Wild West: Upper Mustang
Unpsoiled Tibetan culture - many believe Mustang is the last TRUE vestige of Tibetan culture... Spectacular, and out of this world, landscape... And SUPER friendly people. This is Mustang for you. It is by pure co-incidence I had packed Seven Years in Tibet to read while on this trip. Our trip to Tibet had just recently been cancelled as China had stopped issuing permits as they were celebrating the "60th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet". So our two time client, Joelle Koster (she had previously done the Ultimate Everest Trek with us), and I decided to go to Upper Mustang as it was in the rain-shadow region and it was the best substitute for Tibet in Nepal.
The Land of Gross National Happiness
The first question most people ask when Bhutan is mentioned is “Is that in Africa?” or perhaps “Oh yeah, they measure happiness, right?” Well, no and yes, in that order. Bhutan is a small Himalayan kingdom sandwiched between China to the north, and India to the South. It’s about the size of Switzerland, with a population of just 700,000 people.