Winds of the Himalaya – Part 26 – Coffee, Tea, and Reverie

Kathmandu to Jomsom

Monday, July 9, 2001, started early. The US team of sixteen representing five Alaskan churches, plus Robby and Leona and their Nepali team, and Pastor CB and his wife IB departed Kathmandu by bus at 7:00 am bound northwest for Pokhara. Daniel G and his Bible Institute students would join us along the way. Pastor CB who leads an amazingly prolific work in North India, was good friends with Robbie and had come to join us. Pastor CB has a great sense of humor and would keep us very entertained throughout the entire journey. Robby introduced him to us by telling the story that in the 70s he sported a beard with bells woven into it. I think the story is true but he was quite clean-cut at the time we met.

After a good (uneventful) trip the bus arrived in Pokhara at 3:00 pm. Pokhara, at an elevation of 2700 ft. (822 m) was hot. VERY HOT! We checked into Shikar Hotel and then went to pray at the Bible Training Institute (first visited in WotH – Part 10) where we saw that their renovation work was going well. Next on our agenda was a beautiful and refreshing treat, a boat ride at Phewa Lake. Dinner was at Boomerang restaurant. And there I broke my 3-day fast at 48-hours because there was steak!, imported from India, on the menu. Back at Shikar Hotel we settled into our rooms for the night. According to my little keychain thermometer at 9:30 pm our room temperature was 95 F. Quite a jolt for those of us coming from Kathmandu (4600 ft, 1400 m) and Alaska!

My feet immediately hit the floor at the sound of my 4:30 am alarm. I reached up to pull my drying laundry from the curtain rod and passed out, hitting the concrete floor hard. My hip and thigh would be bruised for the rest of the trip. I recovered quickly but was mentally shaken, not knowing what was wrong. As soon as we were dressed we headed to the airport for the Jomsom flight. The flight, however, was delayed due to mechanical issues so only half of us were able to fly on Tuesday; because of the high winds through the Kali Gandaki Valley no flights are allowed to land after 10:00 am. I felt blessed and relieved to be on that first flight. In my journal I recorded, “Don’t think I could have faced being left (except with God’s help) after the morning (also heat, etc.).” As we waited to board I sat on my backpack mentally shaken (I kept remembering the horse that had fallen into the gorge with the last team.), confused because I didn’t know what was wrong with me, fuzzy-headed, and suffering terrible vertigo. I had taken a shower at bedtime and two after passing out. But nothing helped. As I sat on my pack, frightened with images of me dizzily stumbling into the gorge racing through my mind (How the enemy loves to taunt!) Bala prayed for me. While he prayed God showed Ms. Emma that the problem was the ginkgo biloba (an herb to stimulate blood circulation and thus oxygen delivery to cells) that I had taken last night to prepare for the high altitude trek ahead. After passing out I had taken two more tablets. So Emma prayed that God would flush the herb out of my system. And in about an hour my head began to clear.

One of the men helping us board onto the plane was huge, very tall, far taller than any Nepalese person I had ever seen. When we commented he laughed and said that now we had see the famous yeti. The twenty minute flight was exciting and breathtakingly gorgeous as we flew between two of the highest peaks in the world. Landing was even more breathtaking. In a far different way. After passing the last mountain before the runway the plane turned onto its side, did a u-turn and then immediately touched down. It was like a nightmare carnival ride, centrifugal force and all! Some of the girls were crying. I was laughing hysterically..from fear. We would stay in Jomsom (8900 ft, 2700 m, and much cooler!) for the night to wait for the rest of the group to arrive in the morning. Three of our girls were experiencing mild effects from the altitude by our 2:30 lunch.

After lunch those who felt well enough visited a museum where there was a meditation room fashioned after the rooms in monasteries where monks sit and chant. We went in to “meditate” and sat on low benches before long tables which hold the monks’ mantra books (think hymn books). I don’t remember how long we were there but as we prayed and sang praises to The Most High God we felt a wonderfully heavy sense of His Presence there with us.

We then walked along a trickling stream and through an orange grove to Shang, a primitive village nearby. While praying through the village an elderly Buddhist monk invited us into his home which was decorated like a small monastery. He told us that he had much pain in his stomach and some problem with his eyes and then allowed us to pray for him. After we prayed Robbie told him where we were staying and invited him to join us for breakfast in the morning. All of this was spoken in Nepali and I was quite exhilarated to have understood the bulk of the conversation! After such a tough start, what a great day it was!

The hotel was gorgeous, trimmed with varnished wood and beautiful wood floors. In its restaurant we would feast on homemade bread, fresh yak butter, and the wild honey harvested from cliffs by Nepal’s famed Honey Hunters who risk their lives for the luscious nectar. (https://youtu.be/l7fTCZ_52iI?si=oa3j4zg5SnVkUBkf) To top it off, the hotel restaurant window revealed a tremendous view of the Nilgiri and Tilicho mountains. I remember wondering if I could live there. On the morrow we would walk.