A beautiful dawn approaches….
A blessed new year to everyone! Cheers to more travel adventures this 2011!
*Photos taken at Mt. Pulag Grassland Summit on the early hours of 28 December 2010. Mt. Pulag is the second highest mountain in the Philippines at 2, 922 meters above sea level. For more details on how to climb Mt. Pulag, visit this website.
With the unbearable summer heat upon us, most of the boys are getting lazy to get up to a sweltering morning (at 5am at that!) to ride under the even more unbearable sun. But we’re not about to retire for the season just yet. The solution? Ride at night what else?
I’ve done quite a few night rides already but mostly because it just so happens that we reach nightfall due to a rather long ride. And some 12hr or 24 hour races. But this is the first where instead of meeting up at 6am to ride, we actually met up at around 6pm.
La Mesa was the perfect venue for a night ride, primarily for several reasons –
For night rides, La Mesa requires a minimum number of riders. You need at least 30 bike addicts paying 200 each (or 20 paying 400 each, 10 at 600 . . .).
Ride starts with the usual gear check, with the additional work to prepare our night lights. For a night ride, you’d want at least 100 lumens shining the way. I was hoping to rely on my Princeton Tec Headlamp (at 70 lumens) which we had bought for our Nepal trip. Just to be sure I had borrowed another lamp (150 lumens) which I just duct taped to my helmet. LED lamps offer a broader coverage, but at a shorter range. This becomes pretty glaring when you lift your head up a bit, and the LED light just seems to dissolve in the darkness. Tilt a little bit down again and a couple of meters infront of your bike shines brightly again. LED doesn’t eat up a lot of power also, so you run less risk of losing your light in the middle of a 4-5 hour night ride.
I figure I also want other decorative lights on my next night ride (like blinking lights on my wheels, or those other stuff you see at rave parties . . . hey it’s a Saturday night anyway!)
I’ve ridden La Mesa several times already, but the rush was so much different at night. Riders usually look for that ‘Flow’ – that feeling that all conscious actions dissolve and you ride on pure instinct,one with the bike, one with the trail. Maybe it’s the tunnel vision of seeing just a couple of meters ahead, maybe it’s the encompassing darkness, maybe it’s the fear of being left all alone in the pitch darkness … but that Flow was definitely there.
Somehow I just kept my momentum all across from sudden drops to sudden ascents . . . it felt great, it felt fast . . . until the rational mind kicked and said, ‘stop, your body is tired!’
At the middle of the ride, someone took a nasty spill. No major injuries fortunately, but she was quite shaken up, with a sore shoulder. Good thing the park rangers had a pick-up waiting at one of the rest stops. We loaded her and her bike on the pick-up to recover back at home base while the rest of us pushed on (reminiscent of those scenes from The Pacific).
Onward we went to the final stretch of single track going down to the lake. I didn’t want to miss this as I knew I could get a good shot down there. Nice and smooth ride down until a couple of loose branches caught my handlebar and my I face planted down on the ground, cursing in the darkness (not so much because of the pain, though it was painful, but because of my bruised ego – no I shouldn’t have crashed, I was a veteran rider). But crash I did and I think my helmet hit the ground pretty hard. Some scratches on my cheek, knees, shoulders, but otherwise I was fortunate that the ground was quite soft.
After a couple of pagmumuni-muni moments, we rode on back to homebase. We opted to ride mostly ride roads this time, since we’re all pretty tired. The line was pretty stretched this time, as all of us were simply thinking of getting back as fast as possible so we can finally rest easy. No more pitstops this time folks, just a final dash for home . . .
Where boxes of Shakeys Pizza was waiting for us! Yes, made sure to call Shakeys before our ride so that they’d deliver our pizza just in time. Was a bit of a challenge explaining to them where the La Mesa Nature Reserve was (not the Eco Park mind you), but hey, they got there! Kudos to Shakes customer service! Talagang kahit saan makaka-deliver. In since we had the Shakeys Pizzamatic card, that’s buy 1 take 1 folks! 8 boxes! And a couple of liters of Coke and Poweraide from our kind friend Toots.
Lots of the riders were wondering why we didn’t do night rides more often! Well, we got part 2 planned, and I’ve already bought some equipment to help me next time:
Now I just need to look for those neon whatever rave party accessories and we’re good to party again, La Mesa Coke Zero style!
There is something clearly special and enchanting about the Himalayas and we consider ourselves fortunate for experiencing it first-hand!
The crisp fresh air, clouds embracing the mountains, Tibetan flags flapping in the ruthless winds, frozen lakes of Khumbu – the whole place and the locals noticeably radiates sacredness – you can almost touch it! Here’s a list of the blog entry that chronicles our divine trek to Gokyo Ri for the year 2010 :
Day 1: Kathmandu (1,327m) to Lukla (2,840m)
Day 2: Phakding (2,910m) to Namche Bazar (3,440m)
Day 3: Namche Bazar (3,440m) to Khumjung (3,790m)
Day 4: Namche Bazar (3,440m) to Tengboche (3,860m)
Day 5: Tengboche (3,860m) to Phortse (3,810m)
Day 6: Phortse (3,810m) to Machhermo (4,410m)
Day 7: Machhermo (4,410m) to Gokyo Valley (4,790m)
Day 8: Gokyo Valley (4,790m) to Gokyo Ri (5,350m)
Day 9-11: Descending the Himalayas
Day 12: En route to Kathmandu
Go out and explore the great Himalayas! It’s Nepal Tourism Year this 2011!
We knew, even before we embarked on this journey, that our trip to the Himalayas would be AWESOME! But at what price? We have been asked by various acquaintances and friends to detail the cost of our trip so here goes!
Clothing and Gears
Months before we left Manila for Nepal, we have been following a strict training plan to prepare us with the physical demands of trekking in the Himalayas. For this, we made good use of our mountain bikes (I even had the bitter experience of crashing in one ride!) and at least, that is not costly! What proved to be VERY expensive were all the clothes and gears we had to buy for the trip between January and March, namely:
For Mr. Rono
For Mrs. Rono
Gears
More or less, our clothes and gears for the Himalayas racked up to a total of Php 70,000++ for what’s lacking in our current sportswear. Early on, we already decided we did not want go cheap on shoes (it’s a lot of trekking!) and good pair of lens (to avoid snow-blindness!). Plus, we knew we needed to have some reliable winter clothes with us. We opted to go for Columbia mainly because of their 6-month zero interest installment promo for regular-priced items Php3,000 and up.
In Nepal, we also spent about $200 more for some original UV-resistant Buff headwear (this is sadly not available in Manila!) and some cheap knock-offs of several The North Face products (mostly goose-down outfits) that we felt we needed for more insulation in the freezing, but enchanting, Himalayas.
Travel Expenses
Roundtrip airfare from Manila to Nepal via Thai Airways amounted to PHp 40,000.00 (we bought the ticket in February 2010) with a 12-hour transit in Bangkok.
The Bangkok Airport hotel was way too expensive at $197 for an 8-hour stay in a double room. Coming back from Nepal, we opted to make other hotel arrangements and found a sweet deal in the internet to stay at The Floral Shire, a hotel 10 minutes away from the airport, for just 1,000 THB/room/night.
Of course, the usual Php 750.00 NAIA terminal fee was in our budget. Plus, the airport tax in Bangkok (because it wasn’t included in our ticket somehow) amounting to THB700/person.
Visa fees in Nepal was $40/person.
We also secured travel insurance from Blue Cross amounting to $55/person. Better safe than sorry! At least, we will have this kind of insurance in case we needed to be rescued during the trek!
Tour Expenses
We availed of the package tour with the International Adventure Treks and Expedition for a price of USD1,200 per person which includes :
And excludes:
To sum it all up, we spent about Php 120,000++/person to make this trip of our lifetime possible. But we have to admit, the experience and the memories are certainly priceless!
We spent our last night in Lukla with a big celebration! Passang Sherpa, the elderly innkeeper of the lodge near the Lukla airport, spent some time chatting with us over dinner and then brought out drinks on the house to toast to our successful climb. Not just any beer – he brought out pitchers of Chang, a local brew in this part of the Himalayas (think lambanog!) for our small party of trekkers, porters and guides.
Thankfully, the serious drinking spree the night before did not stop us from waking up early the next day. Simply because, early morning in Lukla sounded like a scene straight out of a World War 2 film with the buzz of all these tiny otter planes flying in and out of the Tenzing-Hillary Airport. This airport sure was buzzing with activities!
We took our breakfast of pancake and noodle soup while chatting with trekkers who just arrived in Lukla, then bid good-bye to the people we met – both locals and foreigners – as we made our way to the airport for the usual check-in procedure. As a parting gift, we gave a goodie bag of used gloves, scarf, wool sacks and shoes to our porters. We figured we would not be using those winter gears as much and it would be more useful for them living in the freezing Himalayas. They, of course, gratefully accepted. We will never forget these kind people who accompanied us throughout the trek!
The rest of Day 12 in the Himalayas was basically spent waiting in the Tenzing-Hillary airport. The general mood was chaotic but at least we have Ang Dawa Rai to sort out everything for us – from luggage check-in to securing our boarding pass. We witnessed at least 5 successful take-offs and landings in the short elevated runway and would always be amazed at how those pilots managed to take-off in this extremely short runway at a high altitude as Lukla.
Ang Dawa Rai would give us updates every now and then on our flight status – airport in Kathmandu is crowded and our plane could not take off just yet, a plane that successfully took off from Kathmandu had to turn around becuase of low visibility, no planes can take off from Lukla because of the cloudy weather. By the time we were about to board our plane, we were even told to disembark again hence –
Frankly speaking, we didn’t mind the wait. It’s just amusing how the passengers (us) were left right on the tarmac while the pilots wait for clearance to take off. At least, they are concerned about safety! We’ve seen enough take off and landing on this airport to conclude that it is not an easy feat. One small miscalculation might be fatal such as this crash incidence in Lukla airport –
If you don’t see the video, click here!
This plane crash landing in Lukla happened a few years back. They said the pilot must have thought they already reached the tip of the runway but missed it a couple of meters because it was too damn foggy. A local said there was only one survivor on that flight – the co-pilot – who was able to eject himself from his seat right before the crash and landed on the runway. So, we really did not mind the delay. When we did take off eventually after a few hours, I heard the pilot say (because I was seated so close to the cockpit!) that we had to fly 15,000 feet instead of the usual 10,000 feet just to get a clearer visibility.
It was a turbulent ride, I was really scared for our lives and prayed that this tin can of a plane would bring us safely back to Kathmandu. And thankfully God heard our prayers! After 1 hour and 5 minutes (instead of 35 minutes) of dizzying plane ride, we were being picked up by Harkaraj Pariyar in the Tribuvhan Airport. We arrived in Kathmandu in one piece! It was certainly an exciting way to cap off our Himalayan adventure 
The trekking team in the Himalayas pose for a group photo during a pit stop in Lukla
This post is a tribute to the wonderful people that made our trek in the Himalayas wonderful and oh so comfortable. First off, we would like to say thank you to Harkaraj Pariyar, whom we fondly call Kuya Henry or sometimes Jestoni Alarcon 
Kuya Henry is a Nepali married to a Filipina (Emma Pariyar) and they own and operate a tour agency for adventure travels in Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet based in Kathmandu.
This photo above was taken in his office in Kathmandu while we were given a briefing of our adventure and was also introduced to our guide (Sherpa). Kuya Henry patiently worked with us as we exchanged countless emails to revise and finalize our itinerary depending on our needs, capacity and budget.
If you want to get hold of Kuya Henry for any tour inquiries, contact –
International Adventures Treks & Expeditions
Mobile: 977 98510 27381
E-mail: treks@iate.wlink.com.np
Website: www.himalaya-trekking.com
We also acknowledge the wonderful support given to us by Ang Dawa Rai who did a fantastic job in guiding us all throughout the 12-day trek in the Himalayas. We were the third group of Filipinos he was able to accompany in the Himalayas – first was with the ABS-CBN crew led by Abner Mercado and the second was with a group of 3 Filipina tourists. We are very amused to see him sport a cap with the flag of the Philippines on it (he said it was given during the Everest Expedition of the Philippine team). He would patiently wait for us as we trudged slowly up the mountains, gently push us to our limits and encourage us when spirits are down. We are truly grateful for having such a pleasant guide to show us the way around the Himalayas!
Of course, we would not forget these two porters who came with us to unburden us with the load on our backs – literally. Our backpacks were carried by these two guys, who always have a generous smile on their face, all throughout the trek. They would also act as an advance team to our lodge, ably booking the best room available (e.g., closest to the common toilet room) so it is ready when we arrive. We will also never forget their sweet gesture of bringing tea when we need it in Gokyo Valley and Gokyo Ri.
And, last but certainly not least, we extend our warm thanks to our friend Chin who tirelessly researched for tour options in the Himalayas and sought tour packages we can avail that would fit our schedule, budget and capacity (we’re not exactly mountaineering people!). And for bringing the Diamox pills which certainly enabled us to cope with the altitude and ultimately finish the trek
It was such a pleasure to have had this wonderful experience of the trek with you all! ‘Til the next great adventure!
After our triumphant ascent to Gokyo Ri (5,360m) and drinking in the beauty of the majestic Himalayan mountain range as far as our eyes can see for a day, we are now faced with the task of climbing down for the remaining 4 days of the trek. Remember, our journey started from Lukla 8 days ago and as this is a 12-day trekking itinerary, our stint in the Himalayas is fast coming to an end.
It was an easier trek downwards as we retraced our steps back to Lukla. Here are some of the pictures in the last leg of our trek :
Roaming Ronos and friends in the Himalayas
Our experience in the Himalayas may be short but it is surely one adventure of our lifetime that will not be easy to forget
After 3 hours of trekking uphill that started at 5am in the morning, we finally made it to the top of Gokyo Ri! Our immediate reaction was disbelief that WE, untrained mountaineers that we are, actually made it all the way! We survived the 7 days of non-stop trekking up and down the Himalayan mountain range and successfully reached the 5,360 meters summit of Gokyo Ri! This is pretty much the same altitude Everest Base Camp but with a more breath-taking panoramic view of the Himalayas’ 8,000 meter peaks
If you don’t see the video, click here!
We were truly buzzing with our ‘achievement’! This is the closest to heavens we have ever reached with our feet planted firmly on earth The view was indeed amazing as promised, we were literally surrounded by all 14 of the highest mountains of the world! On one side, there’s Tibet and on the other side there lies the majestic 8000-meter peaks including Mt. Everest (8,848m), Lhotse (8,414m), Mt. Makalu (8,485m) and Cho Oyu (8,153m).
If you don’t see the video, click here!
We may have missed the Easter mass celebrations but Mr. Rono and I were able to whisper our most meaningful prayers literally closer to the heavens above this Holy Week. We were so happy with ourselves we could be singing with choirs of angels while overlooking majestic Himalayas on this extraordinary Easter Sunday morning!
Trek the Himalayas Day #8: Gokyo Valley, Gokyo Ri
Elevation: 5,360 m
Relative Oxygen Rate: 50% (assuming sea level at 100%)
Price of Mineral Water Bottle: 350 rupees/USD 5
There was a soft knock on our door and a gentle voice saying, ‘wake up, it’s time!’ I checked my watch and couldn’t believe it’s already five o’clock in the morning! The voice that jolted us up to the freezing reality of the Himalayas was of course, Ang Dawa Rai, and he was making sure we got up for the early ascent up Gokyo Ri. He briefed us the night before that the best way to summit Gokyo Ri was to start at day break while the cold wind is not yet picking up. We agreed that was logical but did not realize how hard it was to wake up early in the morning!
Especially at this temperature! Even our water bottle freezes overnight
Mr. Rono was bargaining to extend time inside the sleeping bag, he didn’t want to get up until the sun is already out. On any typical Easter morning, we would have probably been woken up at 5am too. But instead of a salubong ritual between Mother Mary and her resurrected son and attending the pre-dawn mass, we get to celebrate Easter Sunday this year on top of Gokyo Ri – 5,360 meters above sea level – in the mountain ranges of the Himalayas.
But that feat is not entirely a walk in the park. Chin decided to stay in the lodge because of her colds (it was getting harder for her to breathe!) while Mr. Rono and I geared up for the trek. We didn’t even get to have any breakfast anymore – we just brought whatever trail food we have left (mostly GU gels and Nature Valley trail mix bars).
The frozen Gokyo Lake – considered sacred in the Khumbu Region and the highest freshwater lake in the world – looked colder than ever this morning. I looked up and saw the moon still shining down from the clear blue, star-less heavens as sunlight slowly creeps in from the tip of Mt. Makalu. The scenery was beautiful even from the Gokyo Lake vantage point but we wanted to see more.
About 45 minutes into our gruelling uphill climb, Team Canada suddenly came up from behind us. They must have stayed in a different lodge. Boy, they were fast! After 15 minutes or so, the Funny Frenchman also came up from behind with his monk guide singing what seems to me like prayer chants. We gladly gave way to them and their Sherpa as we continue to slowly (but steadily) climb up.
Ang Dawa Rai has estimated that we will reach Gokyo Ri summit in about 3 hours. We are well into the 2nd hour of our uphill trek and we still have a long, long way to go! Everytime I look up, I see a ridge and hope that it’s the summit. Only to be disappointed again to find out there are several more ridges to go. After a while, we met Team Canada again but this time they were already headed down from the summit! What the…?
A group of Germans with their Nepali friends we met at Namche Bazar were trekking as well but we let them pass us. We decided to give ourselves a break and have some of our morning tea. One of our porters was actually carrying a thermos of black tea with him plus some cookies for our breakfast. We were just happy to take a respite from our long uphill trek and enjoy our tea. Especially with all these other trekkers kicking our ass in the climb!
We got back to the uphill climb after our tea break and in a few minutes, we came across the Funny Frenchman again as he heads down a different trail path. Across the distance he shouts- ‘the view was wonderful!’ to which I replied, ‘we still have a few meters to go!’ And he says in his signature French accent, ‘yes you must go! Bistare, bistare (slowly, slowly) you will reach.’ This really is the beauty of trekking in the Himalayas – everyone you meet is a friend who encourages you to just do it! As the Brazilian-American lady we met in Tengboche said, ‘all of us here are survivors!’
On our way to the summit, we heard a helicopter that seems to be on the way to Gokyo Valley. But we were so high up we barely see the helicopter flying below us at all. As you can see in the photos above, the lodges in Gokyo Valley have now virtually become a dot in the horizon. We assumed it was a rescue helicopter and was a bit jealous that somebody is being flown back to lower grounds. Mr. Rono was already toying with the idea to seek for a rescue after we come down from Gokyo Ri. After all, we were covered with our travel insurance. We were surprised that another helicopter came up again after 30 minutes. Two ‘survivors’ did not make it, I guess. We got the low-down from Chin when we came back and found out that they came from the big expedition group. Two members of the expedition group probably couldn’t make it all the way up the summit (Mt. Everest perhaps?) anymore and decided to bail out from Gokyo Valley. Chin was able to capture this video too –
If you don’t see the video, click here!
Trek the Himalayas Day #7: Machhermo, Gokyo Valley
Pit Stop: Gokyo Valley
Elevation: 4,790 m
Relative Oxygen Rate: 53% (assuming sea level at 100%)
Price of Mineral Water Bottle: 350 rupees/USD 5
Our stay in Machhermo overnight has been very challenging. We were coughing and sneezing all the time we’ve rubbed our nose raw because of our colds. Plus, we not only had to deal with the extremely cold temperature that dipped to negative degrees during the night but also the fact that we had to pee all the time. Now, you might think that we are getting overly dramatic at this point but really, peeing during the night is a challenge especially IF YOU HAVE TO GO OUT IN THE FREEZING COLD TO USE THE BATHROOM You have to understand that peeing frequently during high-altitude climb is a good sign – it means your body is coping with the altitude.
But all the lodges at this level have very limited facilities and all the toilets are normally shared with other guests. It would take Herculean effort for us to even go out of our sleeping bags, let alone walk out of the room and out of the lodge, expose our butt to the cold and then finally pee! But we had to do it. What makes our bathroom trips much, much more memorable in Machhermo is the fact that steam (yes steam) actually rises up from the floor-level toilet as soon as the warm pee touches the cold toilet! Ewwww. Then, you would have to deal with flushing the toilet using ice-cold water from the reserves which usually freezes up as well during the night.
The good news is, we’re trekking a short distance today from Machhermo to Gokyo Valley. The bad news? We were extremely exhausted from the day-long climb (Phortse-Dole-Machhermo) the day before. Remember, we went up an altitude of 700 meters in one day! Maybe that’s why our body systems have gone haywire with colds, coughs and frequent peeing (and farting! :p) overnight. I was very tired in the morning, I didn’t felt like I got some rest during the night at all. Plus, I can barely eat my breakfast of pancake because it tasted weird to me so I stuck to eating just egg drop soup. Bad idea! I should have known that despite the short distance from Machhermo to Gokyo, we were in for a long, long trek today after all…
This route would have taken a regular trekker 3 hours to complete (2 hours for locals), but we took more than 5 hours and we are simply exhausted! It’s not really just about being physically fit, it’s dealing with the altitude and ‘oxygen deprivation.’ Five short steps at this level made us feel like we’ve sprinted 100 meters. After hours of trekking in barren lands, we welcomed the sight of bodies of water – it’s the sacred lakes of Khumbu Region! We are finally near Gokyo Valley!
Gokyo and its associated lakes has been declared as a Ramsar site in 2007. This World Heritage Site is also considered the world’s highest freshwater lake system and is sacred for both Hindu and Buddhist. Which is just as well, because while the Holy Rosary helped me survive the gruelling trek yesterday, my mantra for today’s trek was Ohm Namah Shivaya when I felt I needed to draw in energy from meditation (just like we do in yoga) tapping into my inner strength. This journey has suddenly become spiritual for me as well.
It has taken us an extremely long time to reach our lodge that one of the porters (who usually goes ahead of us to reserve our rooms) was on the lookout from the 2nd lake. We gladly gave him our daypacks to bring to our lodge in the hopes that we can maybe trek faster now that we did not have to carry anything. He went ahead of us, carrying all our daypacks, to bring to the lodge. It still amazes me how strong and well-adapted these locals are. A few meters from the lodge, the other porter met us carrying a thermos of black tea and biscuits. It’s already past noon and they must have been worried we’ll just pass out due to hunger and exhaustion. Ang Dawa Rai, our Sherpa, is coordinating the ‘rescue’ efforts today quite well.
We finally reached our lodge and rewarded ourselves with some treats of Pringles and Coke (for a whopping 500 rupees each!) before eating our lunch of vegetable roll and mushroom pizza. Luckily, we were the only ones in the lodge so we were given undivided attention by the owners. Our demands are very simple anyway – rest and warmth. We just stayed in the dining area the rest of the day, the lodge owner even lent us some blankets to use while in the dining hall. We also entertained ourselves with the beauty of the Gokyo Lake overlooking the lodge and observe trekkers from a big expedition group below.
By 530pm, we were glad to see them bringing in yak shit for the heater – at least we have this to look forward to during our evenings
