Kalilandia

Manang - Yak Kharka - Thorong Phedi - Thorong La pass - Muktinath - Jomsom Final battles with cold and height  Day 9, 4050m, Yak Kharka & Day 10, 4450m, Thorong Phedi. I am deadly exhausted from the height and the cold. Unlike the days before, 4 hours of walking those days leave me completely smashed. Another endless day sitting in the cold dining hall of the lodge. Paradoxically, these are some of my most enjoyable days. Everyone is in the same boat and I meet friends in every lodge now - at some point one starts coming across the same trekkers in every village. My path crosses with new friends above 4000m, too  - Magnus and Mischa from Germany (and some Himalayan dogs), who would also be around after the end of the circuit in Pokhara and Kathmandu, as there is nothing like sharing a moment with someone who has gone through the same craziness you have. It is so liberating to have nothing to do, you are free to give your full attention to the people around yo...

Chame - Upper Pisang - Manang New notions of Cold It is above 3500m. I have been on the trek for a few days, but it feels an eternity. There is no salvation from the cold. Cold has a new meaning for me, a new power, too. I hear myself using indecent words more frequently as I successfully build my lifestyle in the cold. I see my breath while falling asleep in the room, my phone cannot stay turned on outside of my sleeping bag, I have become intimate with my water bottle, which I fill in with hot water to put inside the sleeping bag every evening. I have overpassed all personal records for speedy teeth brushing, figuring out how to take a shower with some different heating solution in every lodge, and running outside to my room wet after a shower in 5-10 degrees below zero. If one surrenders to the unusual conditions, where one is entirely dependent on the nature, the basic sanitation and the lack of distraction, they end up connecting with part of their primal nature. So do I - ...

The excitement of hitting the road to an unknown destination is hardly comparable to the fascination itself when I am deep into the journey, especially if the journey brings me across Myanmar. I have tried to prepare with some readings, mainly books, blogs and articles as resources aren't too vast, but nothing could prepare me for what I will have experienced in this land. Anyway, any preparation is practically useless as few things appear in reality as they appear on booking.com or on the map. When preparation is unnecessary, there comes the luxury of randomness  My hostel in Yangon is literally undiscoverable. I very quickly realize that addresses in Myanmar simply do not work, and I just need to rely on people I meet on street. The taxi drops me somewhere "very close" and I start wandering around streets full of people chilling on the street with no name, and no sign of a hostel. An old guy, frying something like donuts on the pavement, sees my lost ...

What Julia Roberts does not convey in the movie is that one actually does not need to pass by Italy and India, but can get a complete package and "eat, pray and love" all in Bali. Well I did not encounter Javier Bardem (not even anyone nearly as charming, cute and attractive as him) but I did find many things to love there (including Macaques, Geckos and other living beings). So here I am in Ubud, just arrived from my cute little Canggu village and I am in complete culture shock. The central streets are overcrowded with tourists, scooters, taxi scooters and taxi drivers literally pulling me to get on their taxi scooter (at some point I even get offered a coffee, just to get on the scooter - sweet people...) - I am a little intimidated and the crowd is stressing me out. But it does have its charm, people are pushy but not too much, it is busy but not too much, it is chaotic but not too much. Everything is just at my good level of tolerance. Anyway, I am eager to get away ...