Abrupt Transitions: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 1
I arrived in Kathmandu after 27 hours of travel from NYC to Nepal…My body and mind felt like mush, on top of it I had cramps. I was excited to be in a new country again – yet a bit intimidated to be doing this all by myself. When I left on my around the world travel 2 years ago, I left with a group of friends who I could talk to and in some way that could comfort me and ease me into the solo adventure. Read More

Landslides & Local Buses: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 2
Today was the day the surrender happened; surrendering to my new environment. I believe this to be the first surrender, I think there will be many more. I met my ‘guide’ Khadgo in the morning in Kathmandu and we set out to go catch a ‘minibus’ to the village of Puma an approximate 6 hr journey. Khadgo was not really my guide, but more of the delivery man. Read More

Learning How to Remove Leeches: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 3
Today I arrived at the village of Puma where I will be staying for 2 weeks. It’s pretty much what I thought it would be in my ‘prepare for the worst’ expectations. Yet I don’t know that one can ever be prepared to pull big leaches off their body. Read More

Powers of Observation: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 4
It rained last night like I’ve never experienced before in my life. I now understand the meaning of Monsoon season. Sure, maybe it was amplified in my mind as it sounds worse when you are sleeping under a tin roof; it echoed through my little barn room as if someone was dumping gravel from above. At one point I did actually consider that the whole mountain might float away. It was better to think of that rather than the huge spider that I saw above my bed before I fell asleep. Read More

Saved by Youth: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 5
I hit a low today. I think it was due to many different things; but what affects me the most is not being able to have any type of conversation with anyone. I’m not simply sitting here silent – I am trying to form together a few words whenever I can, but it is very hard to get a question out or a sentence out when you really just know the words for rain, good, small, big, eat, house, leach, you, my, tomorrow, mother, sister, father, I and water. Read More

At Last: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 6
I think it’s happening – I’m settling into my travel life a bit more. I’m not fighting all of the change as much, and starting to accept. However, the key to all of this was to have some people to talk to. Read More

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Barbot or Bust: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 7
What the F have I done? Just when I was starting to settle in – I agreed to turn my little village world upside down again. I think the Dhal Bhat is making me crazy. I’m traveling through some of the worst conditions for the past 8 hours. Maybe it is more mental than anything physical, but after the 6th hour of sweating profusely, feeling disgusting, and now trekking in the complete darkness up a trail that I cannot see – I started to cry. Read More

School Days: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 8
The whole reason I came to Nepal was to volunteer and teach. In some way I was trying to recapture my rewarding experience that I had in Delhi last year I suppose. When I arrived however, I quickly realized that the teaching was a bit secondary to my culture shock that I was experiencing. Considering my new living environment in Puma, teaching was really the least of my concerns. Read More

Do You Meat?: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 9
During a break at school one afternoon, I noticed a big crowd in the village. I asked the children what was going on and they said “buffalo kill”. The village was slaughtering a buffalo and from my vantage point it looked like a lot of work as they were hacking away at various parts with an ax and knives. Read More

Flower Children: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 10
Time is very powerful. In fact, I think it’s the most powerful thing in this universe. Time heals feelings, it causes us to forget, and with time; everything gets better. My time in Puma felt like it moved slowly, especially at first. I agonized about how I would ever survive the two weeks living in conditions that were completely foreign to my mindset. Then time arrived. Read More

I Prefer Window: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 11
I thought I would be more excited about leaving Puma considering my living conditions for the last two weeks, but surprisingly, I wasn’t. In fact, it was a bittersweet. I was excited to get to some sort of civilization (yet I had started to question if civilization actually existed anywhere in Nepal), but I was sad to leave my new friends in Puma. They took excellent care of me in the best way they could. Read More

Kathmandu – Second Time’s a Charm: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 12
After a refreshing, civilized stay in Pokhara for two nights, I arrived back in Kathmandu with a new outlook; it was no longer scary. I was reminded again of just how powerful time is. As I’ve noted before, I think time is one of the most important resources in the world. Forget pining away for youth…I just want more time. I’m a time whore. It makes everything better. Read More

Hands for Help – Final Thoughts: Dhal Bhat Days – Volume 13
While in Nepal I heard from my old students in India; they wished me a happy teacher day via email; it took me completely off guard, and shook me up a bit . It had been a year ago that I was there living in Delhi teaching my wonderful group of young adults that I become so attached to. Read More

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I just finished my trek through the Annapurna Circuit of Nepal and it was an incredible three-week experience.  It seems like it lasted a lifetime, yet also went by so fast.  This is one of the most beautiful countries and the quiet and peacefulness of being in the middle of nowhere at this time was a welcome opportunity.  I loved the fact that for the past three weeks we were cut off from everything.  The only things we needed to know each day was what time wake up call was and how long we should expect to walk.

Our trek led us through so many diverse settings — rice paddies, rain forests, waterfalls, rivers, dry-desert like villages, and of course the absolute beauty of the Annapurna Range, which consists of 8 of the 14 largest mountains in the world.  Words and photos would never do this place justice. We shared the trails and campsites with donkeys, goats, sheep, water buffalo, yaks, and chickens as we climbed to nearly 18,000 feet and trekked for almost 120 miles.  And as we passed through the small villages, we were always greeted by excited children and beautiful smiles.  The Nepalese people are so beautiful and friendly and just their presence made us all feel at peace.

Our group consisted of 14 people, mostly Brits, a couple of Canadians, an Aussie and 3 of us Americans.  Considering the number of people and the extreme conditions, we managed to all get along fabulously and shared lots of laughs every day.  They are all very special people and we were so fortunate to be able to share this experience with them.  And the trekking staff (porters, sherpas, and kitchen boys) were all so sweet, and we shared many laughs, singing, and dancing with them as well.  It is sad when it has to all end, but the memories will definitely last a lifetime.

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