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My Himalayan Adventure

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AriaStarSong

PostPosted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 10:56 pm


I just got back from a month long trip to India, the highlight of which(at least for me) was an 11 day trek in the Himalayas. I have never been so striken by complete natural beauty. Watching the sun set against the snow fields after we crossed Hamta pass, or watching a section of the Greater Himalayan Range suddenly bloom into view as we crested a ridge before heading down to our camp at Chandra Tal. I'll put up pictures tomorrow when I get them on my computer. The only bad part of the trip was that I've managed to contract some nasty parasite-type-thing, but I'm working on getting rid of that smile

The Himalayas were an amazing opportunity to see completley untouched, unaltered natural beauty. Unfortunately, most of India isn't quite that pristine, and although Delhi has started taking a few steps to clean up, Westernization has not been good for the environmnet of this country. The introduction of plastics has been incredibly detrimental, because the culture has always emphasized just tossing things out. Which is fine when your bowls are made of banana leaves, the cows that roam wild around the city will eat them. But that doesn't work so well when you introduce plastics. Auto-Rickshaws have almost completely replaced the traditional pedal-rickshaw in many cities. Fortunately, in New Delhi, the auto-rickshaws and most of the taxis are now running on natural gas rather than deisel, so that has improved the pollution a lot.
PostPosted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 9:05 am


That sounds wonderful!(well not the parasite) Can't wait to see the pictures.

Bloogonis


Screaming Wombat

PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:42 am


Heh, well I guess you could think of the parasite as the not-so-enjoyable souvenir from the trip xd . Well, could be worse, I hate to imagine what it'd be like to have a Candiru swim up your insides while on a trip to the Amazon.

Other than the parasite, sounds like the rest of the trip was a real blast, I can't wait for the pics

You weren't there when the monsoon rains turned ugly, were you? I'd hate to get caught up in that mess, the death toll has already exceeded Katrina's.
PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 10:36 pm


No, we were supposed to be in Delhi after the monsoons started, but they were really late this year. I've been out of touch since I've been back, so I don't know what's been going on. But there was very little rain while I was there, which resulted in temperatures exceed 105 F.

And I swear, pics will come soon! I've been working on moving back to school.

AriaStarSong


rikuHEART
Captain

PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:23 pm


Sounds really exciting! I've always wanted to go to India and visit the Himalayas too. heart Can't wait for pics~!
PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 10:32 am


Heh, so slacker me has finally gotten pics uploaded. These are by no means all of them, because I think I took about half of my pictures for the entire trip while we were in the mountains. But this will give an idea of what we saw.

User Image The first few mornings we would wake up in the clouds. Sometimes they would burn off during the day, but we spent quite a bit of time in the mist. You can see our string of horses that carried our gear out in the field behind where our tents were pitched.

User Image The valley we were hiking up for a few days. We crossed that river a few times, some of it on the backs of our guides!

User Image Our guide, Dorje, sitting next to the waterfall that we just went under while we're waiting for the rest of the group to catch up.

User Image The view from our campsite the morning after we crossed Hamta Pass. It was cloudy and rainy when we were up at Hamta, so I didn't get any good pictures from there, but the next morning it was spectacular. The night before the clouds had cleared just at sunset, so we were able to watch the sunset again the snow fields of these mountains. I couldn't rip myself away from the view long enough to go get my camera.

User Image We spent a few days hiking roads, which was miserable going, but the views were phenomenal

User Image Chandra Tal, the lake we spent two days at. Approximately 14,500 ft. above sea level. We could see a portion of the greater Himalayan range over the little hills that surrounded the lake. When we crested the first ridge to get to the lake, I just sat down and stared for a while. It took my breath away.

User Image Sunset at Chandra Tal

User Image View from Kunzum La, nearly 17,000 ft. above Sea Level, and the highest point to which we climbed.

AriaStarSong


rikuHEART
Captain

PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 10:06 am


OH MY FREAKING GOD, ARIA!!! *___________________*

It's so purdy!!!!! heart heart heart whee
PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:44 am


Wow, it's incredible!
We always talk like having the skyscrapers and the technology gives us the better life, but it could never give us something like that.

Screaming Wombat


Bloogonis

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 6:01 am


The Badlands are cooler, but that must have been great fun. I wish I had been there.
PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 5:59 pm


Wow, those are beautiful!
Hopefully someday everyone can have the chance to see such beauty themselves and realize how beautiful our natural earth is!

Nostalgie


Liarliarlittleliar

PostPosted: Wed May 21, 2008 2:18 pm


Man, now I really really want to go hiking. These pictures are phenomenal! Thank you so much for sharing.
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treeSHADOWS//guild of the environmentally conscious

 
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