something else...

here is a look at something else... last year jan/feb i spent about a month in nepal. after starting out on the wrong foot by getting ripped off on my taxi ride from the airport into kathmandu, i found myself a guide to go on the everest base camp trek (ebc). at the time nepal was ruled by the king and in some places marshal law was in force, i read more about it on my flight out after my visit. this also explained the few tourist in the country at the time. the aussies had actually put out a travel advisory to not go there... wussies!
well, i got my flight early into lukla (2784m) - met up with some german students and trekked with them and my guide arjun! he really badly wanted to be called a sherpa... but he just did not have the look. good oke tho. namche bazaar (3555m) was the first rest day and the last hot shower. the last bit up to namche is on helluva climb. but like i was to find out, all well worth the effort!
at tengboche (3860m) the monastry is awesome, the monk's have got a nice spot up there and it's the highest (altitude) monastry in the world. i spent an extra day relaxing there as i think i was suffering a bit from ams (acute mountain sickness). i was a bit worried as i felt sick, already so low down, one german turned back...
we pushed on to dinboche (4360m) - here i spent another day, the weather was spectacular. we also heard that 3 other people had died from ams, 2 of them from just ascending too fast... i figured staying put was a nice idea.
the next day we got to our last overnight stop lobuche (4940m). i stayed at the inn of the present base camp to namche, everest marathon champion. this guy was a machine. arrogant as hell. made good food and his place was tidy.
the next morning we headed for gorak shep, got some breki and then headed for base camp. this was the only day where the clouds were covering everest slightly. the trek to base camp is quite a short distance but the ground is loose gravel, lots of up and down and the air is a bit thin. base camp is a heap of loose rocks. there is no sign that says: "this is everest base camp"(5364m). we basically walked in circles a bit until we found a spot and said ok, this is base camp. we parked off near the crashed chopper and had an awesome view of the khumbu ice fall. there is no sight of everest from here but the clouds were clearing so we decided to head over to kala patthar peak.
what a walk to get there... we were all knackered by the time we arrived at the top (5550m). the view from there was worth every step. breathing was a little shallow, but the trek down was a laugh, although the leg muscles had started cramping and twitching. we got back to lobuche just before night fell and after a well deserved beer and a shot of everest whiskey i sodded off in a heart beat. the next morning, desperate for a piss and slug of water, i snuck my arm out of the warmth of my sleeping bag and found my water bottle frozen closed. i put on my freezing cold boots and went to the long drop, where i slipped on the frozen bog water lurking around this dodgy smelling toilet. luckily i caught myself! mr everest marathon champion was already awake and whipped up a bit of breki with some warm yak milk - puke!
the trek back to lukla went fast... in namche we had a bit of a bender. the real party started back in kathmandu, first was a massive meal, pizza, burgers, fruit and then washed it back with a mix of nepal's finest barley, malt, hops and water.
i still did a 3 day side trip to chitwan national park. this involved the dodgiest bus ride ever and a ride on an indian elephant. well worth it.
all in all an awesome trip and highly recommended. i just wanna get on the bike and go... enough of the planning. pk, sort that bike out dude!!

this is who's going... revision

pk was not too happy with my picture selection on his profile. so i scanned my hard drive for some new material. this, my friend pk, is what i have come up with! enjoy...

this is who's going...

i've mentioned that 3 of us are going on the trip... well here's a little background and some extra info to each one...

PK - also known as Pascal Andreas Kilchenmann. he reckons that he's quite the macho guy. Many people know him as "John". PK has been riding bikes for the past 5 million years, so he knows the drill. he runs a successful business in paarden eiland manufacturing acoustic ceilings. he's joined at the hip with lee (he wouldn't admit it, but they're a bit like pea's in a pod), his long time girlfriend. she is naturally stoked that he is going on this trip for a couple of months - NOT. dex, a husky, is the recent addition to the household, he's a bundle of non-stop energy. PK is yet to get a bike capable of doing this trip but our money is still on him joining us as we have ordered the panniers and they might look a little funny taped to the side of his car...
PK has done a fair bit of travelling. i've had some memorable moments with him, one being in Beijing, China. we had just walked for kilometres in the wrong direction only to catch a cab back to tienanmen square. we were tucking in to some KFC sitting on a ledge at one end of the square when a soccer ball came rolling over from a nearby match. PK, gently laid down his burger, fixed his eye on the ball, ran towards it and toe-poked it back direction soccer players... the shot curled sharply to the left where an unassuming petite chinese girl was walking in high heels with her handbag tucked in tightly under her arm, the ball hit her square on the head, knocking her stride - she squelched, swore at PK, who flinched momentarily then joined the bursts of laughter coming from the nearby soccer match. he has since retired from the sport.
Pascal is 29 and will hit the big 3 zero in january '08... we'll be on the trip.

Lukas - Luke Philipe Farrenkothen. he's been itching to do a trip like this for years and in some ways has been the instigator. he was the first to buy his bike, the blue KTM 640 adventure. when luke's not scanning the peninsula for a "narly" surf, he runs Cape Life Student placement with his girlfriend Sandra. they place european students, a.k.a FI's, in south african companies for work experience. luke has seen a lot of the world and so has the world, or at least Cape Town, of luke. he streaked down long street behind a tourist bus and won tickets to the 2003 world cup in korea & japan... that was before he smashed up his beetle's fender to even get into the next round... not known for his liking of the german football team, luke will be visiting the vaterland (deutschland) in june 07 and is banking on getting much needed gear for the trip. luke got a taste of africa last december, when he and sandra took on malawi. obviously he's still got love for the continent, even after shitting through an eye of a needle for 3 days and loosing about 5 kilos... he got the e-coli jab at the doc last week with little persuasion...
Luke is 28 and will be a legend to have on the trip...

Mark - Mark Daniel Steinbach - host of this blog and the third on the list... i think this adventure bug bit me when i went to nepal in feb'06... sign up to keep updated on the blog...

a full circle...

today i spent another 870 bucks at the travel clinic... and finally we are done... so, all in all, 2780 bucks (ZA Rand) have been spent, and what do you get?? a sore arm and a white piece of paper with stamps in it and a doctors messy hand writing, i really dunno how anyone, especially those knowledgeable border guards are going to read it??
anyway, now we can drink cholera invested water, not bother about getting e-coli and let a dog or a flippin' hyena bite us and we should be good to go in the morning. (jeez I wanna read that part after we get back!!)
malaria is the last thing to still sort out... bascially we will take a self-test kit along, comes in a fiver pack (bonus!!) - feeling ill?? prick the finger, if you test positive take some helluva expensive tablets to get you right and head to the nearest doc... ugh!

i nearly forgot - got some gear on the weekend, thanks to nicole (my sister), she brought back an awesome KTM jacket, gloves, tankbag and kidney belt... gonna put it to the test soon...

dune run...

the last two saturdays we spent riding the dunes in atlantis... the first time out was messy, spent most of the time in first gear struggling to get anywhere. we met up with some boere okes, they where flying around on their quads, popping wheelies and ramping off dunes... we joined them for a "knaetzie" (klipdrift and coke) - its was around 11am, but it helped the confidence a bit and the ride back to the road was a little easier.

yesterday we went off again, this time screwed off the mirrors and we went at it harder! what a jol! laid the bike down a few times but started to get it right... hit second gear, standing up on the pegs, knees hugging the tank and arms out like chicken wings, we just gave it horns. i took fall trying to corner a bit too sharply, its such a mission picking the bike up out of the sand! luke chose on of the biggest dunes (about a 30m drop) around and as he got over instead of gasing it, tapped the brakes half way down, the front wheel dug in and so he ate sand through his helmet!

definately getting the hang of it more, but need some gear to have more protection and a knobbly back tired would'nt hurt... what a rush... will put up some pics soon!

medical stuff...

my arm hurts. got some more vaccinations today. this was round 2. round 1 happened a week ago and today was the follow-up. so far we got jabs for Rabies, Polio, Typhoid and Hepatitis A&B. today were the follow up shot for those (except Polio) and we got the cholera drink. it was a bit nasty, pascal sipped it until there was a little left, swirled it around in the glass and enjoyed the last gulp.
besides my arm hurting, this has set me back 1900.00 bucks - and we still gotta go back in 2 weeks time... hopefully my arm and the bank account will recover a bit by then... its time to stay within the budget...