This is the fifth post of a three-week series. Please visit the “Adventure Journal” page of our website and start with “Why Nepal?” to read in order! As always, I have added perspectives from the kids (as they allow me to).

Cover Photo: The top of the Swambunath Temple stupa in Kathmandu, Nepal.

*Please note that to see Cover Photo on email notification, you will need to click “Read On” at the bottom of the email.

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Day 4: Jaghat (1,500m) - Chisopani (1,689m)

June 1, 2019

Stats:

Walked: 4hrs 12mins
Distance: 6 miles
Ascent: 1,564 ft
Descent: 553 ft
Elevation Gain: 1,011 ft
Counted 216 mules passing by on our trail

The first time I learned about Nepal was watching “Everest” at my first IMAX movie experience at the San Jose Tech Museum with my second mom. I remember the image of tea light candles around Swambunath Temple and watching the climbers turn the Tibetan prayer wheels before they began the ascent. Mount Everest itself was beautiful, but the scenes of Nepal (on the larger than life dome screen) were inspiring. As the movie ended, I whispered to my second mom, “someday I’ll go there.” Three years later, I applied for the study abroad program with UCSF and the dream came true.

Of course, given that Swambunath Temple is in Kathmandu, it is not quiet and quaint like it was depicted in the film, but rather busy with people, dust, vendors, and trash. In all contiguous countries, the closer you get to one border the more the language and culture of that country bleeds over the political boundary and in that respect, Nepal is no different. The added intrigue for Nepal, however, had to do with Nepal’s unique global geography. Because Nepal is sandwiched between India to the south and Tibet in the north, with the massive Himalayan mountain range creating a natural boundary towards the northern part of the country, Nepali culture varies with elevation. Nepalis at lower elevations are much more apt to speak Hindi, look Indian, and even practice Hinduism, whereas the people of higher elevation that are closer to Tibet, speak a different language, often have more Asian features, and practice Tibetan Buddhism. I imagine, with continued globalization and influence from the Chinese, the differences will become less and less over time. So for now, at the low elevation of Swambunath, while there is still something mystical about the trays of twinkling candles, ringing of prayer wheels, and chanting of monks, I am hoping this trek will introduce the kids to Tibetan Buddhist culture in a way that is largely inaccessible to them in Kathmandu, let alone the USA.

Pos-trekking visit to Swambunath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Today was a shorter and cooler day as we are starting to gain elevation and the rains of the impending Monsoon season are starting to playfully emerge. After a goodnight’s rest, Ibuprofen, and some good old fashioned Vaseline (in all the right places) the kids were as good as new.

My highlight was watching Kenza and Zayan talk for the entire day of trekking. The three kids each have strong and unique relationships with the others. Within the trio, various duos have common interests unique to them—Kenza and Kaysee share a love of art, jumping on the trampoline, playing with stuffies, and generally have a lot of common experiences (same school, acquaintances, friends, after school activities, etc.); Kaysee and Zayan love all things DC and Marvel, share an interest in food, anime, sports, chess, and video games; and Zayan and Kenza listen to the same music, share pop-cultural contexts, generally giggle about Kaysee, and “get” jokes and shows in pre-teen/tweener ways. That said, as Kenza and Zayan have gotten older, I see them spending less time together as a duo and only really interacting as a full trio. Today was different. They were in a world of their own for four hours…and frankly, I can’t remember the last time they shared this much uninterrupted, distraction-free time together.

Kenza and Zayan “choosing their own adventure” through storytelling for the entire 4-hour hike.

Kaysee talked the entire hike as well…only he traded off between me and Kapil, in talking/telling stories and LOVING the 1:1 time. The kids’ strategies of talking through the walk, kept their energy and spirits up, right to camp!

During the hike, we met a Nepali trekker, Santos, who was a supervisor for the high-elevation health posts. A few times a year, he is helicoptered onto a mid-level elevation Helipad and then he teahouse treks for days to his destination and back, before he is heli-transported to Kathmandu. He was trying to get a visit in to meet with his staff, the community, and inspect the facility before the Monsoon rains hit. In talking with Santos, we learned that the Nepali government cares very much about trekking tourism and has learned its lessons from the road creation over the Annapurna Circuit. He told us that the plan is to ensure that there is a separate trekking trail on the Manaslu Circuit, but open the road for vehicles as the people are fighting for (mostly for better access to education and healthcare).

Talking to Santos was helpful to sort through my internal conflicts with two issues I care about very much—social welfare/justice and the environment. My college degree was a BS in Environmental Studies (minors in Writing and Music), but my post-law degree career has been exclusively dedicated to social justice and the empowerment of system-involved people (justice, education, homeless/supportive housing, foster care, drug health, and mental health). How do I reconcile wanting to improve conditions for people living in poverty with the fact that our planet is overpopulated and underloved? This is a question that has reared itself throughout my life as I lived in worked in both worlds.

Like the Nepali man who gently highlighted the hypocrisy of the Western ideas of environmental preservation at the expense of Nepali advancement (see “Why Nepal? “ post), I was put in my place years ago in Ventura, California. I was protesting the use of Methyl Bromide on strawberry farms and was asked to speak out in favor of prohibition at a council hearing. As usual, I started talking to folks to understand people’s perspectives. I will never forget the knot in my stomach as I talked to a laborer in Spanish who begged me not to testify. I was sharing with him the research around lung disease for laborers and the impact such chemicals had on the ecosystem (in broken Spanish), and he looked at me and said, “we know the risks we take and the consumer has alternatives (they can buy organic strawberries) so who are you to tell us we can no longer use a spray that is working for us to sell more strawberries and put a roof over our children.”

These lessons have helped me realize that the solutions for meaningful environmental preservation, must come exist in harmony with human health/wellbeing. In my thinking, societal health should be measured not only by our technological advancement, but by the conditions of the most vulnerable among us. We cannot be an advanced people unless we are ALL healthy and are ALL able to access an opportunity to be our best selves. The question then shifts to how we define our humankind “best selves.” Since we do not live on planet Utopia, the definition of progress must coexist with capitalism—it must equate preservation with a higher economic value. When it comes to strawberries, it means a greater margin (and demand) for organic produce (perhaps a tougher sell…and it means villainizing chemicals). When it comes to travel, there is an “AND” between road development and the environment, and perhaps that solution is simply “ecotourism.” Countries (like Costa Rica) whose greatest GDP is ecotourism, are more motivated to preserve their natural resources and control their development.

A walking bridge around the mountain (like the one pictured here) makes transportation of goods (through mules) much easier, but still preserves the surrounding area. The bridge also helps when the river floods during the Monsoon season.

There is only a value, however, if (ideally, responsible) tourists visit the location and continue to “demand” undeveloped or natural lands. The two pressing issues of the future center around the overwhelming invasion of trash and the lack of water. The more that we expose our children to the power of natural beauty, the more vigorously they can defend it. If we can create ambassadors and teach our future generations the value of clean, natural beauty, the larger the chance of preservation, even if through private/public partnerships (e.g. Patagonia).

I have no doubt that tourists can (and will) mess areas up (even unintentionally) and can slowly degrade the very beauty that attracted them in the first place, but without monetizing our planet’s natural beauty and mitigating the human impact, I am not sure how anything will last in the long-term.

Concepts of preservation, minimalism, and environmental preservation are topics that we regularly discuss as a family, and not always in complete agreement. At times the kids take a different view of a situation, in favor of development and more basic comforts, but in the end, it is always the inevitable human nature of greed that gets in the way of any long-term certainty of balance. Perhaps this next generation can find a way to monetize a minimalist lifestyle—a way to capitalize on non-consumption—seems impossible. I guess this next generation will really have to “choose” their own adventure and hopefully, it yields a happy ending.

Wow—that was some cathartic writing…and it is now raining! We have taken shelter in a dining room near camp. The team has just killed a chicken and the kids are watching them prepare a feast. It’s a great day to catch-up on some homeschool :)

Our Day 4 family picture shows us starting to enter more Tibetan-style villages, with chortans and entry gates.

Village near Chisopani. Most of the flat lands are used for agriculture, which makes “wild camping” more difficult, hence the campsites on teahouse property, as referenced in the journal entries.

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Excerpt from Zayan’s Journal (12 years):

Today was a pretty easy day. Not only was it a half day, it was also pretty flat. The walk was, in general, cleaner and closer to how I envisioned this experience. This is because all sorts of Western NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) are pumping money into this place to keep it as clean and as natural as possible. The people are also nicer. Though I don’t speak Nepali, I felt the warmth and compassion, without any words.

The whole way I was talking to Kenza. I was telling her a “choose your own adventure” story that she really loved. Creating my own world made the hours seem like minutes and before I knew it, we had arrived.

We arrived to a dining room where we ate lunch, just about a five-minute walk to our tents . Then the Heavens opened up and it started pouring. The rain drops fell with the sound of hail and we decided to stay in the dining room. I am currently still in the dining room.

Excerpt from Kenza’s Journal (9 years):

Today was a half day and we saw exactly 216 mules. Zayan told me a really good “choose your own adventure” story. I am kind of scared for tomorrow because it will be a long hike. It was really pretty to see the river rushing by. Come tomorrow, I’ll be ready!

Look closely to see us all on the bridge above the “rushing river” :)

Excerpt from Kaysan’s Journal (7 years):

Today I checked my socks and there was no spider in my sock this time!! And my took was much better.

Even though the seenery was beautiful, I was a bit tired today. As a result I wasn’t in to walking. Tupy [Kaysee’s nickname for Kapil] piggy backt me at the end of the hike for 10 minutes.

When we ate lunch it started to rain hard.

We stayed inside and played 3 rounds of UNO. I also did some coloring and school.