Lessons from Dal Bhat Land

- I saw Everest on both flights to and fro, just like my Bhutan trip in Dec 2013. I am a lucky boy.

- The mountains were imposing, awesome and majestic. It was very, very humbling. Looking at them makes you want to keep on going.

- I learnt to respect the mountains and mother nature even more now.

- "Slowly slowly", my guide always says that with a big smile. I like that. Maybe that is why I like long distance races too. Due to the slow pace, I could pick out more details around me, immersed in my surroundings and also took a lot of photos.

- I stared quietly at the many mountains while having a cup of hot ginger lemon honey. They stared back at me. Some moments my mind was filled with many thoughts. Messy and fleeting ones. More often than not, it was just blank.

- I was powered by dal bhat. Motivated by chicken curry. "Dont worry, chick curry", they always say.

- I learnt that just having electricity in your room at night was a blessing. A hot shower was total luxury, although towards the end having showered or not did not really matter already.

- Now I understand the 意境 of what my friends told me about "吃饱饭就爬楼梯". From Sinuwa going back to Chomrong, it was .. wah lau eh!!! From Tikhedhungga up to Ulleri, worse.

- I was schooled by my porter. Again, it is not the shoe.

- I have grown to love my Nikkor 20mm f2.8. I still prefer prime lenses. My camera and lenses went through a hard round this time. Cold, snow, dust and knocks.

- There was a statue of Buddha carved out on the steep, vertical cliffs above Deurali (3230m) by weather over time. The magical wonders of mother nature.

- Watching the sunrise was not looking East waiting for the round egg yolk to emerge from the horizon, but looking at the mountains slowly being showered with golden yellow rays and observing how the shadows transformed on the faces of the mountains. I learnt to put down my camera and just admire the scene.

- I had wished to see snow during the trip. We were caught in the beginning of a very heavy snow. Luckily we escaped quickly. My poles helped me dearly. I certainly got much more snow than I asked for.

- While playing in the snow at ABC, I heard an avalanche. Visibility was poor due to the snowing so I only heard where it was coming from. It sounded really scary, especially when you did not know where it was heading! Time like paused for a while, waiting for everything to quieten down. .. And I continued playing. :p

- I rolled my first snowman. It was real tiring (farking shag!) and I realised snowman are only perfectly round in comics.

- I saw the Great Dipper, and used it to determine where was North. And yes, the Milky Way could be seen just by the naked eye.

- Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. :)




I will definitely return to trek. I already have a destination in mind.