From Boots to Fuzzy Slippers: Makalu

“Forget all the reasons why it won’t work and believe the one reason why it will.”

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We started out on our trek completely unsure of what we would encounter. Though I had tried to do some research online, the only information out there is from expensive tour companies who want to provide you with porters, cooks, and guides while charging thousands (for a trek we will do for less than a hundred). We had heard that the first few days passed through small villages, Sherpa villages, where we could occasionally buy food, but that for most of the trek, we were passing through high altitude uninhabited ground. There was suppose to be a small tea house every six or seven hours walking where we could get a meal we were pretty sure that the last few days had absolutely nothing. Plus, food up there was bound to be outrageously expensive as it had to be carried in. To prepare for this we packed a fair amount of food, enough to last us for lunch everyday and at least five breakfasts and dinners (as well as twenty packets of biscuits and a few other snacks). Our packs ended up being stuffed to the brim, and unfortunately, very heavy.

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India As A Solo Female

“The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.”

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Solo travel through India.

It’s scary and intense but worth the struggle to discover the colorful world of complex culture, harmful ignorance, and immense kindness that is waiting to be discovered. It’s a life changing experience to say the least, one that will leave you as a solo female feeling empowered yet disheartened, grateful yet afraid.

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Dear Giardiasis

“How to Overthrow the System: brew your own beer; kick in your TV; kill your own beef; build your own cabin and piss off the front porch whenever you bloody well feel like it.”

Dear Giardiasis,

You dreadful Protozoa you, I had really hoped to avoid encountering you first hand, but I guess you had other plans. I have heard you cause traveler diarrhea for many, and have affected over 30 percent of the world at some point or another. You nasty microscopic inconvenience you, you are even the most common water-borne illness in the USA. I had always hoped you would just remain a distant statistic in my mind, but I guess, my time to dance with you has come at last.

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Khadbari

“Belief? What do I believe in? I believe in sun. In rock. In the dogma of the sun and the doctrine of the rock. I believe in blood, fire, woman, rivers, eagles, storm, drums, flutes, banjos, and broom-tailed horses…”

After arriving in Khadbari, the small town we are starting our trek from, I was finally able to breath a sigh of relief. The air was clean, the water unpolluted, and best of all, people actually smile here! Something I have realized again and again throughout this adventure is that people who live in the mountains (or even foothills) seem to lead much happier lives. Maybe it is because they are closer to nature, or maybe it is because their lives are harder and therefor, they are more grateful, but whatever it is, it is always a relief to get out of the flats and back into a world of laughing and friendly people.

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My Lovely Hank

“We’re all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness—and call it love.”

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“Lizzy, you had better be taking care of Hank up there,” I said looking up at the roof during our extremely bumpy bus ride.

“Shirine, the bikes can’t hear you,” Kevin scolded me teasingly.

With an exaggerated sad face I turned to him and said quite seriously, “Kevin, those bikes can understand us, please don’t hurt their feelings.”

“No, no,” he emended, “I meant they can’t hear you over the noise of the road.”

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Oh The Things You See: 5,900km

“The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day, to have a new and different sun.”

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Though I have not enjoyed the humid, hot, and mosquito ridden terai (lowlands) of Nepal, is does make for some interesting cycling as you constantly find yourself cycling amongst goats, bulls, and even chickens packed on motorcycles.

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Running Into Life

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”

I often meet travelers who are running away from life. From their boring stagnant jobs, from a divorce or bad breakup, or from a family they can’t stand to be around. Don’t get me wrong, I think that travel is quite a healthy way to run away from the real world for a while, from the stress of daily life as you figure out your next move. It teaches you to look inside of yourself and see what you truly want. It makes rethink how you should live your life and what makes you happy. It opens you up to new ideas, and creates opporutnies you never would have believed existsed. Yes, I believe travel is indeed a healthy form of real life avoidance, it just doesn’t happen to be the reason I travel.

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A Somewhat Miserable Ride: 5,800km

“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
”

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We started out early to beat the heat, but had to stop within half a kilometer as my gear cable had broken. Though Kevin fixed it easily, it took a bit of our somewhat cool morning which meant that we would be cycling more throughout the heat of the day.

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On The Un-Road: 5,650km

“Your bike is discovery; your bike is freedom. It doesn’t matter where you are, when you’re on the saddle, you’re taken away.”

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“All my troubles disappear once I pedal my bike.” Kevin turned to me on our second day of riding and announced that he would love to create a bumper sticker that said just that and attach it to the back of his bike. Though we had both been suffering from stomach problems (which I am quick to blame on the deathly spicy chowmein we consumed), the beautiful landscape we found ourselves cycling through was enough to dispel our stomach troubles. After a magnificent downhill through the small farming villages doted along the hillside, we arrived at the valley were we found ourselves following a river. Kevin, being an avid fisherman, proposed we stop early for the day in order to spend the afternoon exploring the river. I readily agreed, and spent a peaceful afternoon bathing, wandering, and watching life slowly pass by me.

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On The Road Again: 5,500km

“…How do you catch a cloud and pin it down.”

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Leaving Kathmandu was hell. It was busy, complicated, and represented everything I have grown to hate about cities. About an hour in Kevin turned around and grinned at me as he exclaimed, “this is the coolest thing I have ever done.” Though I was becoming increasingly frustrated with the maze we were trying to extract ourselves from, I had to stop for a moment and remember that this really is the coolest thing I have ever done. That even if I am momentarily annoyed at the cars, dust, and people, there is still no where else I would rather be. The day steadily improved as Kevin and I soon found ourselves cycling up and down through the foothills of the Himalayas, surrounded by more farms and goats than cars. It was our first day cycling together, and though he was faster than me on the up hills, I could usually catch up on the downhills and flats. Overall our riding seemed very compatible.

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