(dramatic music)
- Armchair conquistadors, let me take you on a journey
to a land shrouded in history, a land of extremes,
the highest mountains and the other opposite of that,
the birthplace of Buddha, and your next most gramable pic,
Nepal,
with me, Monet Izabeth. (laughs)
Okay, that was hard to be that cheesy. (laughs)
That's me, Monet.
As a white woman who likes to travel, I'm incredibly unique.
And after traveling solo to almost 50 countries,
I'm ready to show you how it's done.
So join me on my trips, Who Knows Where.
I first came to Nepal in 2012 and something just clicked.
Nepal is the farthest away where I feel the most at home.
This is my fifth time in the country,
and I've never been trekking.
So on this trip, we will be doing a nine-day trek
up to Annapurna Base Camp.
Nepal is a relatively tiny country
sandwiched between two giants, India and China.
When we hear about Nepal in the Western media,
it probably means there's been an avalanche
or an earthquake, which partly explains
why when I told people I would be traveling there alone,
some of them were very concerned.
But Nepal is a great place to visit as a solo traveler,
which is a bit ironic as the country
didn't even allow foreigners until the 1950s.
And even then, getting a visa
meant a personal invitation from the King of Nepal.
Nepal is probably best known as being home to Everest,
the tallest mountain in the world.
- [Crowd] Hooray!
- But it's also home to seven more of the tallest mountains,
including Annapurna whose base camp
me and my team of three crew members will be trekking to.
We're starting our trip of in Patan,
which is its own city but is so close to the capital,
Kathmandu, that it's almost like a suburb of it.
Tomorrow is an election in Nepal, meaning that all stores
and government offices will be closed.
So we have just today to get everything that we need
in order to leave tomorrow.
So the fastest way to get around Kathmandu is on motorbike.
But if you have more than two people or a camera crew,
not that feasible.
So instead, you take a taxi,
but the streets are super narrow.
As you can see, the walls are very close.
Our first errand is to get trekking permits.
For this trip, we need two per person,
one for general trekking
and the other to enter the Annapurna Conservation Area.
Get to the Tourism Board when it opens at 10 a.m.
and it should be pretty simple.
We got it!
Let's go.
Now we're heading back to Patan to meet up
with a Nepali trekking guide to get some last minute advice
before we set off for the mountains.
And here we have Sareena with us.
You do some pretty cool stuff.
Sareena Rai is the first Nepali woman
to be a certified ropes access technician.
She's a leader in the Kathmandu punk rock scene,
and she's a single mom.
Basically, she's a badass.
So can you like talk about the punk scene
and what it's like here?
- It's pretty male dominated, I would say.
But still, me being probably the oldest punk in town,
(laughs) it's quite funny I guess
that I happen to be a woman.
- Okay, so do you have any advice for us?
We're about to set off the Annapurna Sanctuary trek.
- Enjoy yourself.
Of course, there's gonna be moments where you're gonna be
pushing yourself to the limit, but take it slow.
Don't listen to your obsessive egos too much
and listen to what's safe first.
- Awesome.
Check your ego at the door. (laughs)
with Sareena's sage words in my mind,
I wake up the next morning excited to set off.
Now that we've gotten everything that we need in Kathmandu,
I'm ready to go find myself on a Himalayan mountainside.
So we were supposed to be taking one of these buses
to Pokhara, which is where we will start the trek.
But because of the election,
the roads have been shut to traffic for the day.
So the only way to make sure
that we can get to the trailhead on time
is to rent a private car and drive through the night.
We are in the car heading to Pokhara.
The streets have been closed for most of the day.
They seem to be open now, but we're stuck in some traffic.
Ooh, we just started moving.
There's a lot of dust and a beautiful sunset,
and we'll see how long it takes us to get there.
It took a long ass time.
Because the roads had been closed,
everyone else who couldn't drive during the day
was also driving through the night,
meaning most of the ride looked a lot like this.
But we made it with me looking only a little worse for wear.
And from Pokhara, it was just one Celine Dion singalong away
to the trailhead at (mumbles).
Okay, we just arrived at the trailhead.
And we are heading up to ABC, Annapurna Base Camp,
and we should get there in about six days.
The trek up to ABC will take us
to 13,350 feet above sea level.
The path is relatively well marked,
so a guide isn't necessary
though their expertise can add a lot to the experience.
We decided to go it alone,
carrying our own bags and planning our course
from recommendations we found online.
On day one, we hiked through terraced farmland
for four hours until we reached the village of Pothana
where we'll be spending the night.
We're doing teahouse trekking in Nepal,
which is where you trek from village to village
staying at teahouses along the route
where you can get a hot shower, food, a bed.
Tomorrow, we have an eight-hour day to get to Jhinu Danda
where there are hot springs.
Cha-ching!
Whoa, the fog is really coming in right now.
So we'll give you a little tour of our teahouse room.
It's pretty cozy, and it might get pretty chilly tonight.
Good thing we brought sleeping bags.
Got it.
Welcome to paradise.
Okay, this is our room.
Pretty basic, two beds and a light bulb.
And then we'll show you our nighttime security.
We close this.
Ta-da! (chuckles)
And then coming out here, we have a nice little bench
to look out at our forest.
And then there's a shared bathroom on the floor.
Pretty decent.
Once you stop moving, you get cold pretty quickly.
And since there's little to no heating available,
you're gonna wanna pack plenty of layers
and probably wear them all to dinner,
which is what I was doing when it happened.
Do you have a tampon?
- [Woman] No, I don't.
- Oh, fuck.
Has Aunt Flo ever showed up in inconvenient locations?
Join Monet in this next segment as she tries to find tampons
in remote areas of the world.
We have found pads, people.
I repeat, we have found pads.
Tampon (speaks in foreign language)?
Tampon China?
Pad (speaks in foreign language)?
No, that's not Nepali.
No, China.
One Snickers. (speaks in foreign language)
Who needs tampons when you can have chocolate?
Thank god I got my period panties.
When women are menstruating, they have several options,
including tampons, pads, or period panties.
Yes, like a diaper but for blood.
♪ Hallelujah ♪
But not everyone has access to or can afford
these necessary items, meaning that for many women
all over the world, getting your period can hold you back
from thriving at school, work, and in the community.
Okay, back to Nepal.
Me and my blood diaper
were making our way through the Himalayas.
One of the awesome things about the ABC trek is that
it takes you through a lot of different landscapes.
So on day two, the path leads through dense forest greenery
with these huge waterfalls
that feed into the Modi Khola River.
The bridges range from epic metal suspensions
to little more than rock and wood latched together.
And the whole time, we're walking up and down
these narrow stone steps on the side of a mountain,
sharing the path with all kinds of traffic.
Those donkeys, a, pushed us off the path,
which is very rude,
and then farted all the way down as they passed us.
In the wake of this odiferous flatulence, we arrived
in Jhinu Danda and immediately go to sleep
or try to.
(group singing) We've got some
Nepali fire whisky induced rocking out
happening right outside our door right now.
I actually like this one.
Jhinu is best known for its hot springs.
I used the 20-minute walk downhill to thank the period gods
for blessing me with a light enough flow that morning
to enjoy a moment of steamy zen.
Okay, this is pretty nice. (laughs)
Do not come at the end of your trek at night
because this place was filled
with probably 20 people in each tub.
So it is just after 7:15 in the morning.
It is just us.
No one's here, and the water's much warmer.
You can see the steam rising off of the water
with the rapids of the Modi Khola behind us.
Blister city.
You can also see my hairy leg.
Oh, it's gross looking.
Bring some soap and make a shower out of it
because if you're anything like me,
this will be the only one you take on the trek.
Come early in the morning, skip out the crowds,
and it's so nice.
After toweling off and loading up,
I hit the trail refreshed but trepidatious.
Today is the day that all ABC trekkers fear,
the day of the Chhomrong steps.
I'm taking a break on the longest flight of stairs
I've ever climbed.
That mountain is Machhapuchhre,
which is considered sacred by Nepalis,
so no hikers, no trekkers are allowed to summit it.
Mount Machhapuchhre means fishtail
because it kinda looks like a fishtail.
Okay, I should go.
Everyone's gonna worry that I fell off the mountain.
On the third day of trekking, your body is tired.
Things hurt.
My calves are talking, a lot.
And now, you have to hike almost 2,000 stairs
to reach the village of Chhomrong.
- [Man] Namaste.
- Namaste.
We were worried about these steps,
but like nothing compares to actually going up them.
I made it, barely.
It was so painful.
These fucking Chhomrong stairs, they never end.
I like almost wanna cry.
That was so hard.
But at the end of this excruciating day,
there is something so special
waiting for you at Chhomrong Cottage.
In 2010, an undercover reporter for Time magazine
ate this didi's chocolate cake and voted it Asia's best.
And the fact that it takes over two days to get to
hasn't stopped thousands of people
from traveling to Chhomrong just to taste it.
- Didi has invited us into her kitchen
to see how she makes her amazing famous chocolate cake.
Let's go.
No, no, no, no.
Your English is better than my Nepali.
(speaks in foreign language)
(didi speaks in foreign language)
I have to say, my thinking was very much the same. (laughs)
- Oh, really?
- You like the mountains.
You've been to ABC four times!
With didi's kitchen being situated
on the side of a Himalayan mountain, she's had to get
pretty resourceful, using non-perishable ingredients
like powdered milk, custard powder,
and even lemonade mix for that perfect hint of citrus.
So we made this chocolate cake late last night.
So I fell asleep before it finished baking.
But what's better than cake for breakfast?
It was pretty freaking good,
especially after a day of hiking when all you want
is like the sugariest, most delicious food ever.
Fueled by chocolate cake, I set off from Chhomrong.
Day four takes us through dense forest of bamboo
and Rhododendron, which you can catch in bloom
if you go during springtime.
Up we go.
(bell rings)
Namaste.
- [Man] Namaste.
- Six hours later, we arrive at the village of Himalaya
where almost everything goes wrong at once.
So we've run into a little bit of a snag.
We just found out that there is a group of 200 people,
that's 120 Malaysian hikers, plus 60 porters?
Plus 60 porters who are trying to set
a Guinness world record for the most people
to reach Annapurna Base Camp, and they are booking up
all of the teahouses up until base camp.
There are two base camps.
You reach Machapuchare Base Camp and then head up
to Annapurna Base Camp, and they've booked up both of them.
There might not be space for us.
We also ran out of money.
And I'm sure whoever's watching this right now
is shaking their head to how we did that.
So on top of this, my producer here,
who's also been working as my camerawoman,
has hurt her knee pretty badly,
and we aren't sure she'll make it up to base camp.
Faced with these obstacles,
I take some time to think about our options.
- [Woman] What are you doing?
- My uterus.
It hurts so much.
Oh, nope, that's just me with cramps.
Erin, who we just met on the trail,
also bandaged my blister because she is a wilderness angel.
After hugging my producer goodbye, I set off
as quickly as possible, trying to reach MBC before the group
of Malaysians so we might have a chance of getting a room.
Of course, at 10,000 feet with thin air
and frigid temperatures, no one is going anywhere fast,
and it wasn't long before we ran into our competition
who were so nice and excited about trying to break
a world record since that's really fucking cool.
And spoiler, they did it.
We have made it to MBC.
We've dropped our packs, and we are heading up
to Annapurna Base Camp, that beauty up behind me.
We are all feeling the altitude, just taking it slow.
And now we just have an hour to two hours
until we hit ABC where we'll get some tea
and then head back down to MBC to spend the night.
Also, this seems a good a time as any to talk about the fact
that I haven't pooped in four days.
I really expected to be doing this segment
on travel diarrhea, and we might have to do one
that's kind of about the opposite.
This is the final push.
We are now hiking in the Annapurna Sanctuary,
which is a glacial basin surrounded by a ring of mountains,
most of them over 23,000 feet.
We've been trekking for five days,
going pretty hard every single day.
My calves kind of feel like they have knives in them
that sorta get like twisted a little
in every step we have to go up,
and there are a whole lot of steps on this trek.
Literally just one step in front of the other at this point.
We had to push hard today to make it to ABC,
gaining over 3,000 feet in one day,
which puts us at risk for things to go wrong.
Okay, we lost one team member
to what seems to be symptoms of altitude sickness.
So best for her to just go down back to MBC,
make sure that she's feeling healthy for tomorrow.
Which means that from four, we've been knocked down to two.
Every breath feels like its own battle by this point,
and I'm doing what I can to keep my mind alert
as my body just puts one foot in front of the other.
Fucking calves.
It really sounds like there's a helicopter in my head,
like the hoo (breathes out).
But it's just blood.
Whoo!
Almost there.
Actually, almost there.
Okay, these are literally the last steps
until the top behind me, which is really good news.
I made it!
Okay, I'd like to take all this shit off.
We are up here at Annapurna Base Camp,
drinking some hot masala tea, which is sweet and spicy
and really hitting the spot with this insane,
(gasps) oh, my gosh, look.
There's like an avalanche.
Look at that.
Okay, take two on that.
I'm like pretty surprised at how the altitude affected me.
I was moving very slowly.
I'm gonna have some veg noodle soup
and just enjoy the view for a bit.
This is amazing.
And so we made it, 13,350 feet
at the base of the Annapurna range.
I eat my noodle soup and watch the fog roll in.
And now, all we have to do is go all the way back down.
Luckily, it's easier to lose altitude than gain,
but I am not gonna lie.
This is gonna hurt.
I only packed one outfit
because I wanted to save room for camera equipment.
So I am not on day six of wearing the same clothes.
I smell pretty bad, yeah.
We are all very happy to use our injured producer
as an excuse to get to a shower as soon as possible.
Okay, we have booked it down the mountain.
We're gonna hop in a jeep now and go back to Pokhara,
and we will have done a nine-day trek in seven days.
Whoo!
Everything hurts.
And there you have it,
from chocolate cake to mountain peaks and back again.
There's a lot of good stuff to see in our world,
so get out there.
But before you leave, we've got fan mail.
Yay!
Over the past 10 minutes, we have been inundated
with fan mail asking us your most pressing questions,
some of which were frankly inappropriate.
My producer just handed me three questions picked at random,
written down on a plane ticket.
Kenny from Alabama wants to know,
"How many freakin' Snickers did you eat on this trip?"
I have been finding Snickers wrappers
in very unusual places.
Let me just put it that way.
Sally from London says, "You go, girl!"
Thanks, Sally.
Judy and Jeremy from South Africa wanna know,
"Where are you going in the next episode?"
Great question, Judy and Jeremy.
Subscribe to find out!
If you would like your question to be answered on our show,
email us at werestillworkingonthetitleforthistravelseries
featuringafemalehost@aol.com.
It's been a pleasure spending time with you.
See you next time, Who Knows Where.
♪ Do you wanna watch the sunrise with me ♪
♪ Let's go out and see what we can see ♪
♪ We can go out and get lose in the city ♪
♪ Or try to find our way home ♪
♪ Do you wanna watch the sunrise together ♪
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét