Hopeful Home

If your coming to Nepal and looking for a great volunteering opportunity you should check out the Hopeful Home orphanage. We spent about a week there having fun with the children and helping out. Even though we ate Dahl Bhat  for every meal the food was still tasty. All the kids there were super nice and always trying to be helpful. They loved to play soccer and every evening we would run out and find a dried up rice patty to play in. We were even able to spend the festival there. Tihar, the festival of lights is one of the most dazzling of all Hindu festivals. In this festival they worship Goddess Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth. You will find out all about it in the pictures. The houses are decorated much like our houses are at Christmas. A part of of this festival involves going from house to house singing and dancing until money and food is given, sort of like our Halloween and Christmas mixed together, though different. This is done for 3 nights until very late (sometimes until 4 in the morning).

You think your house is small ,this house is the home for 35 kids.

This is me with the special Bhai Tikka. We don't know why there are seven colors.

This was mine and my brothers "sister" putting my tikka on.

These great bamboo swings are hand made by families specially for the festival. All the kids loved playing on the swings.

This is us in our whole Bhai Tikka festival regalia.

HAPPY BHAI TIKKA!!!!!!  This is all the kids at hopeful home except for 3 girls who went to a different spot to give Tikkas to their brothers.

An important part of the festival is decorating the house. Everyone gets involved.

The age of the kids vary and so does their dancing. The styles vary from traditional Nepali to Hip Hop. It makes for an interesting evening.

This is the fruit of their labor (we helped a bit) .  A tray with rice, money and food that is presented with candles and nicely decorated.  Sometimes the home owners drove a hard bargain, we had to sign, clap and dance for almost an hour. This is Goma, one of the wonderful women who run the orphanage.

We were walking around in the street when my mom was like "hey look at that dog" she then continued by saying " I know why  its all dressed up its the day that the Nepalese honor the dog".

Thanks to all of our friends in Hinton who donated money for a charity of our choice.  Many of the above pictures show children who will benefit from about half of that money.  This orphanage is well run.  The children are well fed, clean, HAPPY, respectful, and they are all supportive of each other.  They also follow a pretty structured schedule which include a couple of daily homework slots.  The expectation from the adults that work there is that school is first and achievement is important.  We knew the money would not go through different hands when we donated.  We gave it to Gopini (the boss) and she runs a tight ship.  If you'd like to check out where your cash went please visit: www.hopefulhome.org 


Again, thanks from all of the kids.

Lumbini,Birth place of Lord Buddha

Being to the birth place of Buddha was great. There were so many tourists, pilgrims and religious people. We spent the night in the Korean monastery. It was still being built but it was pretty impressive. We also went to the peace pagoda which was also super impressive.

Buddhist monks doing what Buddhist monks do...

The Peace Flame.  This is in the centre plaza where all of the different monasteries are.

This was our room at the Korean monastery.

That's the super impressive peace pagoda.

And the super impressive Korean monastery.

Royal Bardia National Park - It's a jungle out there!!

We spent three days in Royal Bardia National Park. On the first day we went rafting, not for a adrenaline rush but to see animals. The next day we went for a jungle walk and walked the whole day. The third day we took a jeep ride for 2 or 3 hours and then in the late afternoon we went on a one hour elephant back safari. But sadly during that whole time all we saw was deer,monkeys, gangetic freshwater dolphins and a crocodile. Some people saw wild elephants, tigers and rhinos. 
 Day 3
Sorry we had to put day three at the top because of a technical problem.



Jungle sunset.  Ooooh, Aaaaaah.



One of guides preparing our yummy lunch by the river.



This was the closest we got to seeing a wild rhino.




Since there are no pictures of us we put one of our friends.


Day 1



This was our raft.
Day 2





That foot print was made by a wild elephant.



This monkey was one of the more exciting things we saw.



These termites are amazing. Our guide broke a part of the termite hill and the next day it was fully fixed.



 

That's our jeep driver fixing the jeep in the middle of the jungle with leopard growling noises nearby.  (By the way the leopard growling noises were real.)



Trekking at the top of the world (Part 2 - Part 1 is posted earlier)

Due to the size of this trip we had to split the posting in two parts.  This is the latter part of the trek. (from Throng-La pass onwards).

Even hiking on the road has it's rewards.  Yes there is now a road (kind of) on the west side of the Annapurna circuit.  Fortunately for us the monsoon wiped most of it out so we saw very few vehicles and got to walk the complete circuit.  Many people hop on a vehicle for this part.

The Corbeil's (Degerstedt) with Nima and Lakpa at Throng-La pass. (5416m- 17770ft)

Dhaulagiri.  Seventh biggest mountain in the world. 8 167m.

ROAD BLOCK. These sheep blocked off the entire trail so that they could wait for the newborn lamb to be able to walk.

Sunrise at Poon Hill.  To get there in good time you must leave your guest house at 5:00am and hike up for 45 min. Once there you are joined by about 200 others (very intimate).  This part of the trail is accessible in 2 days of trekking from the city of Pokhara, that's why it's so crowded.  The view is worth it. The following picture is of Annapurna 1 (8 091m).

Now that's a valley...Heading up to Annapurna Base Camp.

Getting to ABC (Annapurna Base Camp), in the fog. We know the mountains are here somewhere...  The following pictures are from ABC the following morning.

We traveled with a hacki sack.  A great way to meet new people from everywhere around the world.  Here, we're playing at ABC waiting for the fog to go away.

My parents like this picture.  This is a guide we met regularly on the ABC portion of the trek.  We called him Mr. Himalaya.

Our last morning on the Annapurna.  We're here with our new friends from Australia.  They were great to hike with.  Wow!  What a trip.

Trekking at the top of the world. (Part 1)

28 days spent trekking the Annapurna circuit and the Annapurna Base Camp. WOW!!

First we had to get there.  Look closely, that's a wee bit of a traffic jam ahead of us and behind us...We got there eventually (13 hours later).

See those two guys.  They're carrying all of our stuff (almost...).  We like that.  Our guide Nima to the right and our porter Lakpa to the left.  They're great.



Hiking out of the lowlands.



This gentleman is using an all natural/organic toothbrush.  You should see his teeth! Beat that Oral-B!

Waterfalls...We were fascinated by their endless shapes and sizes.  Being monsoon season we were exposed to many waterfalls...or anything to do with water falling.

That's a typical nepali mountain village where we would rest for the night.



This is a typical nepali mountain toilet where we...........Never mind.





These two pictures show what's to come for the Anaapurna cicuit.  A road is being built on the east portion of the trail. The Chineese are funding this "development" and no one we spoke with is quite sure of the reason why. In 10 years you will be able to drive 75% of the trek.  Hurry now before it's too late!!





These porters can carry loads up to 100 kg, the bulk of the pressure is on their necks.





We hiked for two hours (up 700m) to receive a blessing from the 100th Lama.  A.K.A. the 100 rupi Lama (the cost of being blessed by him).  He lives in a cave and seldom comes down to the town of Manang; it's a long walk for a 94 year old man. 



The view from the 100th Lama's home.  The town of Manang below.



The kids in Nepal will play with what they have and where they can.The're playing cricket with clothes wrapped in a ball and in an old rice paddy.



Yakati Yak don't talk back!  These cool animals can only survive above 4000m, and they look really cool from far.  When they charge they don't look so cool from close. (My dad can tell you about that...)



Finally!!! After 11 days of trekking, there are mountains behind these monsoon clouds.  We think you're looking at Annapurna 3    (7 886m)



Meet Nima Sherpa.  The best guide in the world (according to Nima...) and future minister of tourism (he hopes).  Seriously, he's a great guide and he truly enhanced our trekking experience.




Some days we had the feeling of hiking through the British Columbia interior.




Up tp High Pass.  Our last stop before the pass.



At the top of the...hill.  A short hike up from high camp to get acclimatised for the coming day. It's important to do this in order to prepare to go up higher the next day.

Our first view of the prayer flags at the top of Throng-La pass.  Yahoo!!

Getting close; air is getting thinner.