Gap Entry - Life Changing Stories

The travel company Gap Adventures contacted me a couple of days ago to inquire if I could submit a story about my trip that they can consider for a book that they are developing over the next year to celebrate their 20th anniversary. How cool would that be!!! I figured that I should post my submission anyhow on my Blog... Let me know what you think.

Changing Lives Stories submission (Gap Adventures)

My trip to Tibet changed my life even before I left home. I retired my car for a “greener” lifestyle and started setting aside the money saved. Nine months into my mission, I had saved up enough money to tag along on my aunt’s trip to Tibet. While reluctant to leave behind my two children and husband at home, I decided that it would be a great way to celebrate my upcoming 30^th birthday by stepping out of my comfort zone and reconnecting with myself through a new adventure.

Before leaving, I did very little research regarding my destination. I wanted an authentic, truthful experience without pre-established judgments or expectations. My goal was to venture out with an open mind and enjoy every good and bad minute of the trip. Words can’t even begin to define my experience in Tibet. This beautifully barren landscape, the strong sense of culture in the people, and the universal sound of “Om” that travels through the monasteries to the top of the mountain passes as it is lifted with the wind and the prayer flags, left an impression on me that will never fade.

Given the remote location, it was a challenging trip on many levels. But, I would not change any part of my experience for the world. I am now empowered to continue with my greener lifestyle in exchange for a different life experience every now and then.

Back to the reality of life here in Canada, I often find myself walking around my city with a sense of peace, I am happy to be here, and I remember the distinct sound of “Om” and I strive to apply it to my busy everyday life.

To view the gap adventures site: www.gapadventures.com

Good bye Nepal, Hello Hong Kong

After successfully shoving three women and their six body bags (joce's is still monkless) into a trunkless mini-cab smaller than my tercel (with a roof rack though...), we bid a group of laughing Nepalese hotel attendants and tour travel companions goodbye. We zipped through the traffic lawless streets of Katmandu to catch our red eye flight to Hong Kong for 11:30 pm. Apparently the airport in Katmandu takes after their free-for-all street system, so we knew that we would have to pay our way to the front of the line. Luckily we were early enough to be first in line at the check-in counter as it opened. It still did take a good hour to get things sorted out - good thing we went early...

Arriving into Hong Kong was a visual shock to the system. Everything is so large scale that it actually looks miniature. Looking into the port, all of the truck cabs stacked in their neat rows as far as you can see looked like legos. We were ecstatic to check-in early into our beautiful 5 star hotel room overlooking the harbor (Thanks again for the treat Joce). After the most glorious shower of my life, in a very shi shi granite and glass bathroom - and yes, with western toilet, we headed down to the cafe to gorge ourselves on the most fabulous lunch buffet I have ever seen, complete with Sushi, french cheeses, oysters and nice pinot grigio. It was almost as though we had not eaten in three weeks. (wait a minute...)

We then walked around the city, checked out a couple of stores (Vitton, Bulgari, Hermes) that I could not even afford to buy a plastic shopping bag from and settled to spend the remainder of the afternoon in our roof top hot tub - and there were 3 of them making it very private, so the 3 of us had our own private hot tub overlooking the city. Life felt good after three weeks of "roughing it". What a nice treat.

But like all great things, it had to end. We are now sitting in the Vancouver airport waiting for our final flights to Winnipeg and Edmonton. I am looking forward to getting home to my family.

Thanks for following us on this life altering trip - I hope you enjoyed reading our messages. xoxo - Mel, Joce and Mone

Enroute to Kathmandu

written by Joce

Ahhh Immigration. So much fun. We were dropped off in Tibet and had to drag our luggage and baggage one flippin' mile to the border crossing of Tibet(China)/Nepal due to road construction and the change in Guides (Chinese to Nepalese). People were looking at me (Joce) a little funny as I was accused of dragging what my "gapper" team called my body bag. ( I needed it that big as I had every intention to bag me a monk - still looking). Monk-less so far I still have hopes for Nepal. Here we are all lined up like cattle at the Chinese immigration, going through individual bag searches, but we have to say, we were searched by very kind folks. We then had to walk over bridge with a big red line across it marking the distinction between China and Nepal. And what a distinction it was. Smiles, and warm faces greeted us through a very congested little main street. Here, we meet our new guide, hop on the bus and moved 3 feet in 45 minutes. Not to mention the humidity and heat. Remember we're still adapting to the altitude change and freezing temps to now +35. We finally get out of the border town, now driving on the right hand side of the road and on a road that is as wide as Austin Mini. I'll tell you, with all the winding and up and down, we're not sure if it was the gravol that worked or if it was due to the breathtaking sights of the ravine so far down and the of water falls, that made this journey so enjoyable. After a 3 hours, we stopped for lunch in a open air restaurant by the rushing river which kayakers by the way challenged their way through the fast rushing river. We stuffed our faces with Nepalese food, teaching us to replace our now well used chop sticks for our fingers. Back on the bus. The drive into Kathmandu was an eye opener. Women of all ages carried water cans and propane tanks on the back by strapping them to a particular head band to help them balance the weight. There has been no rain of late, and the dust was overwhelming. It is a very big city, and poverty stricken. The most difficult for all of us was about the children. Nothing more than rubbish to play with and puddles to wash from, and them running along our bus for food and money. Always with a smile, we would like to add. Once into Kathmandu, due to the heights of the power lines, our bus had to drop us off and here we go again, dragging our damned body bags across town. Now, you can just imagine the excitement from the locals, seeing 14 tourists dragging their goods across town. The word spread like wildfire and before we knew it we were surrounded by merchants selling everything from fiddles to singing bowls. Like, we were in the mood for singing. Typical Canadians we are, we're apologizing for not having any money, not having any kids, not having any religion - where the Blokes would tell them to "bugga off". We finally get to our Fuji hotel where Monique and Joce tipped their bell hops for bringing up the body bags 6 flights up and later finding out that they tipped them 5 cents. Oh well, we never did well in math.

After a realllllly good shower, and all of us smelling an hell of a lot better, we were entertained by our Guide's friends who own the Yellow Restaurant and Guest House. He is Swiss and she is Nepalese. A haven of fabulous foods, BBQ'd, Nepal food, (and to Melanie's ecstatic yelp - cheese - real cheese) blues music, candles, under a canopy of Nepalese textiles and fruit trees. We celebrated our last night, toasting to our extended family and sharing our trip's highlights and taking lots of pics. We all decided to head out to Rumdoodles where all the Everest climbers and Sherpas meet to tell their mountain tales. Thanks to our Guide having too many "Everests" he lost us. So there was Monique and Joce wondering the streets of Kathmandu, which by the way are not lit as the city turns off the power generators for a few hours in the night. Dogs running around in packs, and whistles coming from dark corners were our greetings while trying to find our way back. Ok, so at this point its eat or be eaten and we marched our way through the dark, miraculously finding our way back to the Restaurant. A wonderful worker there escorted us back, telling us all the way back to our hotel that its not good to walk in the night. No kidding ! What was the second wonder of the night was that upon our escorted walk back to the hotel, we meet up with Melanie and a few others were also were lost and just came out of the Tranies of the Night district. Damn, Mone and I missed that corner some how. We just got whistles and hungry dogs (the 4 legged one's). After downing copious amounts of booze to calm our nerves, we went to bed. The next morning, we said goodbye to some and we joined our German newly weds and went off to "Pumperknickles" a german bakery. Hey, we had to make up for all the rice ! And then - the shopping frenzy began. Good GOD, did we shop. We have enough to open our own store, let alone have gifts for the next 5 Christmas's and birthdays and Bar Midtzas. We had to stop and buy NorthFace mountaineering duffle bags to store all our treasures. But do you think we could find a Monk to carry - Noooo. And after stopping at the ATM 5 times, the crowds were gathering again. In particular, the Fiddler. This guy had an extremely annoying fiddle kind of a contraption that made you want to string him up every time he tried to play it. He had some affinity with Melanie and Mone ! Followed us for blocks and blocks and just when we thought we lost him, zing zing zing... he was back. This went for two days and Joce's extremely enormous capacity for patience (not) gave him the "look" and needless to say the song from his fiddle sounded much better as it was strategically placed to hum a little better when he walked - away. All kidding aside, these people depend on sales for their food. This trip has opened our eyes to the luxuries we have, the senseless complaints we stress, while these people depend on the tourism for their lively hood and their deep sense of Spirituality is their foundation of hope and prosperity which they wish upon to all of those they meet and greet.

As they have passed along to us, we pass along to you their gift of greeting, Namaste and to live a long and properous life.

Rombuk to Zhangmu

written by Joce:

On the road again, 8 hours of bounce and the pucker factor due to the windiness and height on a road as wide as a back lane in London. We left Shigatse very early a.m. and during our bouncey ride, we lost some body part (bus too) which forced our bus to take a major break... or should I say, brake. So, as travel surprises go, we sat on top of some Himalayan mountain overlooking a valley from 4,800 meters on high. Once our 2.5 hour wait was done, including listening to Bob Marley and rock picking we grabbed all our luggage, hopped on a local Everest bus (specially made with no shocks) and held on for dear life, including tightening the bras and reciting our Hail Mary's.

What awaited us was a guest house a la Tibet with window panes especially made for the wind to blow through, as well as being bunked 6 at a time. The food was good, but at this stage of the game, if we see another goddam bowl of rice, we're going to start using it as art on the walls. They made a mean crepe and of course, lots of beer available. The greatest thing about this particular leg of our adventure is that we've now made friends with the other nomads from other tours. Danish, German, Russians, some on buses, others on motorcycles, including some cyclists (Ya, I know, we think they're not well in the head either). And then there are the Tibetans, Sherpas (guides for climbers). The most remarkable thing that knows no language barrier, is a smile. One of so many that we have come across throughout our trip. A Tibetan smile stays with you - and I suspect forever.

After a very "white night" for Melanie and I, Monique slept like a baby (if you're going on Survivor Island - you'll lose - she'll win! We would have died long ago without Mone on this trip! She is my hero !) Let me just say that 5,800 meters wreaks havoc on your system. Its easy to get panic attacks as you can't catch your breath - and thats just lifting your damned beer glass. And then, I had a bit of a challenge with my sleeping bag shell as its like a cocoon. You know, where you the more you roll around the tighter it gets around you. Not good for a clausterphobic menopausal altitude- affected Joce. It hit Melanie quite hard and sadly, she had to bow out from our ride to Everest Base 1 Camp the following morning. So off Mone and I went, with our portable oxygen inhalers. We sucked back those suckers like there was no tomorrow and climbed up to the top of the "hill" where the prayer flags were and overlooking the "plateau" that housed all the climbers and guides, placed right at the base of Everest. 142 climbers summited the day before and they lost one member of their team. The day we were there a 13 year old boy summited setting a record. The weather we have to say, was remarkable, blue sky, no wind and -15/20 and no snow due to the intensity of the sun. (We're all beach blonds now). Its difficult to describe the scene here. You're the highest you can ever be, standing in front of the highest mountain in the world, surrounded by prayer flags and smiling, grateful people from all over the world. It wasn't a long stay, as again, the altitude does quite a number on your breathing and there is a maximum length of time you can stay or you begin to become quite ill. So off we went back to pick up Melanie, wrap her up, give her major oxygen, gravol (remember that bumpy ride) and embrace another 7 hour ride. What a trooper she was.

After holding our guide hostage in having a good break to fluff our pillows so-to-speak, and put our teeth back in place, including re-adjusting our underwear, we were off again, but this time the remaining 3 hours on a gorgeous highway laid out on the "plateau" which was something like going through the Sahara with the Himalayan mountains separating Tibet from Nepal. Just breathtaking. By then we descended to 5000 (yes, 5000m) passing through another "prayer pass". Approaching the mountains we then descended towards Zhangmu which is placed in a valley of ravines and very lush land. From desert to rain forest. Another "guest house" awaited us but this time the window panes didn't shake and offered a breathtaking view. I am also excited to report that Melanie changed from a very white color, to green, to now, a nicer shade of green and we were all breathing a lot easier - and stress "all". Needless to say by now I'm having "western toilet" envy as its been 2 days since I've seen one of those white seatie type toilets with a lid and you know, a lever that flushes water down the bowl. We won't even go there. As we unwind in Zhangmu, with roadways that were designed by cows - width included - I've never seen so much backing up, honking, moving 3 feet, backing up, honking, unbelievable - we're on our way for supper, thank God by foot. Many of our meals (safe those guest houses) are tibetan ( lots of carcass as I like to call it - in particular Yak), including Nepalese foods which are divine. No weight loss on this trip! The food was very good and then back to our guest house to pack up for tomorrow's adventure through Chinese immigration and Nepalese border crossing.

As we prepare ourselves in saying goodbye to Tibet, one mention of Tibetans are that they are such a gentle, warm people. When they greet you, they look right into your eyes - into your Soul. Three very old Souls in particular during my trip touched me deeply. Some in the markets, some in the sacred monasteries. I have no idea what they told me, but I will never forget their gift of "sight". The look in their eyes while they held my hand in theirs, hands that have worked very hard for so many years, hands that have also held their Buddhist spirituality through their prayer beads - there are just no words to describe a gift like that. No matter the distance, no matter the beliefs, no matter the culture, we all love, we all smile and all wish health, prosperity and protection. From Everest, this is what we offer to you through our passages.

Namaste

(Greeting meaning "The Light in me honors the Light in you")

Mount Everest (Rombuk)

Well I really do feel like I am "roughing it" here... We drove on more insane roads (if you can call them roads) up in the mountains to reach Rombuk (which is about 10 min drive or two hour walk to Base Camp) About two hours from Rombuk, our bus lost it's camshaft, so we were stranded for about three hours until a public bus from Base Camp came to rescue us. I was scared that we would have to hike back down the mountain, but everything went well and we should have a new bus waiting for us in the morning. Gravol has officially become my best friend with these roads. We are staying at a very basic guest house here - I honestly don't know how people live up here. I can't sleep (I think it is because of the altitude) so I decided to do a little recap of the day. The wind is just howling outside, I am curled up with about five blankets, my sleeping bag, full clothing and a winter coat and I am still freezing my butt off. A few people in our group are leaving at 5:30 in the morning to hike to Base Camp to see Everest in it's glory at sunrise. At first, I thought of joining them but I feel out of breath here just standing up, so I opted to watch the sunrise from here with a hot coffee and breakfast and then taking the bus up to Base Camp. I am looking forward to going down to +45 weather in Kathmandu...

Bussing through Tibet

We are slowly heading through the vast rural Tibet landscape stopping in towns with monasteries. The roads are beyond scary for a prairie loving winnipeg girl. I have been coping by knocking myself out with Gravol. After Lhasa, we drove for roughly six hours to a small town named Gyangtsie. This used to be the third largest town in Tibet, we stop here because apparently the Chinese have had little to no influence here. Upon arrival we did a strenuous hike (training for Everest Base Camp) up a hill to see the Gyangtsie Castle. Built in the 900s, it was the stronghold for the region. I just figured that by the time anybody climbed up there, they would be to tired to fight anyone. The view was amazing. Gyangtsie was actually a very dirty and littered town. We passed a river that was pretty much a garbage river, it made me wonder why I was clutching to my empty water bottle in hope of finding a clearly marked recycling bin (which I never did find.) After having the best sleep of my trip, we went to a monastery in the morning where I had the pleasure of watching monks create beautiful sand mandalas. If I was a monk, there is no doubt in my mind that I would spend my days doing those.

In the afternoon, we headed to another town nearby named Shygantse. I spent the afternoon strolling around the market in search of authentic Tibetan monk boots. I did finally find these boots in the most unusual spot, back at the hotel while having a beer with the crew. Our server's mom's friend makes them, so he offered to go pick a few pairs for us to try on. I found that one pair fit like a glove and although I know I paid too much for them, it was the one thing that I really wanted to bring back from Tibet and with no middle man, the money did go directly to the maker of the traditional boots.

I did find an internet connection here, but was having a hard time accessing the blog site - yet again. Please note, blogs are really not the best way to go in China as they are off limits.

I am off to have a good sleep because apparently our next two spots will be pretty basic... but the sights should be good.

Everest base camp in two days....

I Love Lhasa

So the 48 hour train ride was a tad long... I will not miss the smelly toilet, cigarette smoke and cramped living quarters with no privacy. The scenery however, was spectacular, every Yak was inspiring. Every two hours, the landscape changed as we made our way over the mountains and onto the Tibetan plateau. Since we got off in Lhasa, it was like stepping off into a dream... After China, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. Our beautiful Tibetan guide (Germa) met us at the station, dressed in her traditional clothes, presented each of us with a white shawl.
Our first day , we visited the Jokhang Temple (a sacred pilgrimage destination for Tibetans) it was such a powerful experience for me. It was hard to stay grounded in that one. In the afternoon, we shopped in the bazaar where Joce went a little crazy and came back to the hotel head to toe in gorgeous jewelry. I bought a couple of things for the girls. I love Tibetan food. It is a little more indian influenced with great coleslaw and yogurt... I do not miss the chicken feet. Here, there is a lot of Yak (it makes me think of bison meat).
This morning we went to Potala Palace. It is hard to get into and they only give you one hour to visit, so by the time we raced up all of those steps (which is really challenging in this altitude - I am doubting I will be able to do the 7km hike to the Everest Base camp), we really had to rush through the Dalai Lama explanation as our guide was anxious about getting us through in the time allowed (otherwise you have to pay a fine). Again, it was totally amazing, I felt so peaceful there. This afternoon, we are headed to the Sera Monastery, stay posted...