Annapurna Treks - Part 7 (Final)

Click here to view Album 7 containing 126 photos for trekking on Day 11 and 12.

Itinerary

Day 11 Free day for shopping and sight-seeing, farewell dinner O/N hotel.

Day 12 After breakfast proceed to last-minute shopping at Thamel then departure to Kathmandu airport..Yours truly (KC)

Stunning Stupa - Swayambhunath is the most famous of the Buddhist stupas in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. In a country where Hindus and Buddhists have traditionally commingled, pictures of the ‘face of Swayambhu’ adorn brochures as often as Boudhanath, Pashupatinath or Everest... texts extracted from internet.
. Lili just bought a gold Buddha statue there

Unique and beautiful singing bowl

Weng is walking at the upper level of the temple

Boudhanath Stupa - Bouddhanath Stupa lies about 6 km east of downtown Kathmandu and is the largest stupa in the Valley and one of the largest in the world. It looms 36 meters high and presents one of the most fascinating specimens of stupa design with hundreds of prayer wheels and 108 small images of Buddha all around. Just like the Swayambhunath, the stupa here is too has four sides with the watchful eyes of Lord Buddha. All the Buddhist throng to this stupa to take part in the sacred rituals during the Buddhist festivals.
.Pashupatinath Cultural Heritage is a Hindu temple located on the shore of the Bagmati river on the eastern part of Kathmandu. It is regarded as the most sacred temple of Shiva (Pashupati) in Nepal. "Shivaratri" or night of lord Shiva is the most important festival celebrated in this temple. Along the shores of the Bagmati river near the temple lies "Arya Ghat", the most widely used place of cremation for the deceased in Nepal, especially in and around the Kathmandu valley.
.Cremation pyre on the banks of the Bagmati. It is believe that to die and be cremated on the Bagmati River is to be released from the cycles of rebirth. On the other side of the temple, three wedding ceremonies were taking place at that moment when we visited the temple.
. In the evening... Presentation of Nepalese hats by Cheban to the men team members... Tai, Dr. Hamdan and LimKH

Presentation of shawls to the ladies team members ... recipient is Cynthia

Presentation of certificate of achievement by Cheban to each member... recipient is Lok

Lili - the certificate is complete with photo

One final group photo before we complete this successful and fun trekking trip to Annapurna Base Camp

Goodbye! Bon voyage!

Do CLICK HERE for Part 1 ... CLICK HERE for Part 6.

Posted by KC

Annapurna Treks - Part 6

Click here to view Album 6 containing 168 photos for trekking on Day 8,9,10. On Day08, we descend from Annapurna Base Camp (ABC).

Photos by KC and Weng.
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Itinerary

Day 08 (reproduce from programme list)

After breakfast trek back to Sinuwa for 7 hours O/N lodge. It is easy who enjoy to walk down hill and little up at the end can be seen only Fishtail and the places are surrendered by hills and little forest. Put up a night in Bambu.

Day 09 (reproduce from programme list)

After breakfast trek back to Sauli Bazar for 6 hours O/N lodge. We will try to take the lunch in Jhinu Danda (hot spring) a natural hot spring in the Modi Khola (river bank) 20 to 25 minute walking distance from the main way. Interested trekkers can go to take a bath and will be guided until the lunch be ready. Many ups and downs and not a real hard day. Put up a night in Kimche.

Day 10 (reproduce from programme list)

After breakfast trek back to Nayapul 3.30 hours followed the Modi Khola. It is easy walk and take a bus drive to Pokhara, have lunch there and fly back to Kathamndu O/N hotel..

In jubilation - at Annapurna Base Camp
Lili
Yours truly (KC) Kumar (2nd Mountain Guide), Ram (Main Mountain Guide), Chiew Hong and Cheban
Descent from Annapurna Base Camp

Lunch at Dovan.. Hmm... look at the yummy and sizzling chicken. BTW, we have not been eating meat for many days... :-)

Putting up a night at Bambu on Day08 (2310 m). The hot water for bath is powered by solar energy

Cheers! Tai (2nd from left) opens his bottle of wisky to celebrate the successul ascent to ABC

Night of Celebration - Cheers! Cheban sponsored Rum + Coca Cola while Cynthia sponsored two chickens (At Kimche on Day 9 evening). Actually, Cheban sent Kumar and another porter up the hill (at 4pm after heavy rain) to purchase a goat for the feast but they could not find one.

Cynthia and LimKH celebrate their 25th Wedding Anniversary.

Day 10 morning at Kinche - final day of trekking. L-R: Dr. Hamdan, Yee Choi, Cynthia, Tai, Lok and yours truly.

Do CLICK HERE for Part 7 - the final posting for this trekking trip.

Posted by KC

Car Theft

Written by Geraldine in highlighting to other runners of the recent spate of car thefts.

The racing season is here and it is filching season as well, judging from the number of car thefts that had happened during these races. The record probably went to the latest New Balance 15k run on Sunday 18 May where I heard that 12 cars were broken in! These cars were parked along the roadside near the starting line. You can imagine the absolute solitude after gun-off – a perfect opportunity to break in with help of a look-out. There must be a 'syndicate' which is targeting cars of runners as they know the ins and outs of race behaviour.

This car belongs to one of the Pacesetters runners. Both the side glass panels are smashed by the burglar

Since Bomba Run which I had witnessed a man talking to the toilet janitor about his mobile being stolen in his car which was parked right behind Royal Selangor Club (and right in front of the public toilet!), there were more to come after that Sunday. I am unsure if any police reports were lodged; then again, does this course of action help car owners?

What can we do about it? Naturally, take what is minimally required, like driver's license and RM 100. If handphone can be done without, until you get home, then it's one less headache to deal with in case of loss.

Perhaps, soon enough, event organizers may have to look into this. Do take care of your personal belongings and choose your spot prudently.

Happy Running!

By Geraldine

Photos by Jason Lee, taken during Merdeka Run on 31/08/2007

Note by KC: Leave those credit cards at home and ignore the tagline “Don’t leave home without it!” Unless you plan to do serious shopping immediately after the run. With RM 100, you can buy many rounds of teh tarik, even to other runners. I am not too sure about whether the burglar can detect electrical gadget, for example, handphone in the car. You may want to turn the handset off.

Never put your traveling bag (containing your towel, clothing, etc) in the cabin of the car. The bag attracts burglar. The burglar will break the glass to retrieve the bag, causing damage to the car.

Annapurna Treks - Part 5

Icons at the left sidebar of KC&SR weblog:
(1) a new icon for Cheban, introducing his Trek and Tour agent website in Nepal
(2) updated "Trekking in Nepal 2008" icon to include postings for the Annapurna Base Camp trekking trip... Yes! Do click them!

Click here to view Album 5 containing 218 photos for trekking on Day 06 and 07. On Day07, we finally arrived at Annapurna Base Camp. The coldest temperature is 2 degrees Celsius.

Photos by KC and Weng.

Itinerary

Day 06 (reproduce from programme list)

After breakfast trek to Deurali (2310 m) for 6 hours. Overnight lodge. Adventure follow the Modi Khola river bank and slope walk uphill can be seen only Fishtail and the places are surrendered by hills and little forest. It is little hard day.

Day 07 (reproduce from programme list)

After breakfast trek to Annapurna Base Camp (4095 m) for 7 hours. Overnight lodge. It is real adventure day of the trip; slope walk uphill to Annapurna Base camp. We can see the Mountain views of Fishtail, Mardi Himal, Annapurna 3rd, Tharpu Chuli, Annapurna 1st, Annapurna South mountains and there a big glacier as well.. After the heavy rain at Sinuwa, my trekking shoes are completely wet. Notice the plastic bag.

The journey continues ...

A little stretching exercise at Dovan... Yoga head-stand performed by Cheban assisted by Lili

Drying of 'international flags'. For collaboration effort (tie a rope between two trekkers), more underclothes can be hung... :-) L-R: Chooi Lin, Tai, Lili and PK Chan

No, they are not sitting there dreaming (as in the signboard). Chiew Hong, Weng, Lok and Yee Choi are testing their warm clothings at Deurali. Minimum temperature there: 10 degrees Celsius

Lili and Cheban crossing one of the streams
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The magnificent mountain

The route is lined with thousands of this purple flowers. When wind blows, they sway from side to side as if waving their hands to welcome us.

Slowly but surely, we are reaching our destination - Annapurna Base Camp

Arriving at Annapurna Base Camp... Lili, Tai, PK Chan and Cheban
It is showering snowflakes ... Cheban

Yeah! We Did It... Chooi Lin, Yee Choi, Chiew Hong and Weng.

Do CLICK HERE for Part 6.

Posted by KC

Annapurna Treks - Part 4

The journey to Annapurna Base Camp continues ... scroll down the postings to read/view Part 1, 2 and 3.
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Click here to view Album 4 (153 photos) for Day 05 trekking on 2 May 2008.

Photos by KC and Weng.

Itinerary

Day 05 (reproduce from programme list)

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After breakfast trek to Sinuwa (2,400 m) 6.30 hours Overnight lodge. This day also we have to walk many times down hills and up hills and cross the small river. We walk through the some villages as well. We can see mountain views of Fishtail, Hunchuli and Lamjung himal Dhaulagiri. It is not so hard day.

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This is the usual orders for breakfast for a few persons: noodle, toasted bread, Tibetan bread, porridge

Breakfast at Tiffany's (No, it is at Tadapani ... with ice-capped mountain in the background)

Dr. Hamdan is leading the pack

Highlights of Day 5:
Distributing stationery at a school.
In the afternoon, trekked in heavy rain and at times, with shower of hailstones.
We started the journey at 7:30 a.m. We trekked downhill and arrived at a lodge with a field in front overlooking the valley. It reminded me of Maxwell Hill in Taiping, Perak, Malaysia that there is one bungalow with a similar field in front also. It was a long time ago when I studied in Form Two and Bee Gee’s song, Melody Fair, was number one hit song then in Malaysia.

Who is the girl with the crying face looking at millions of signs? She knows that life is a running race, Her face shouldn’t show any line….

The Team took a group photo arranged in a straight line. Later, we crossed a river and then go up the hill again to see a school in front of us.
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Parade of the Dirty Dozen Trekkers (actually, not that dirty lah as we also take bath even when the weather is of extreme cold).
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Weng and Lili were busy distributing the stationery to the school children while the rest looked on. It was quite a touching moment seeing them accepting the simple gift with gratitude. BRAVO to Weng, Jonathan (Outlet Manager, New Balance at Mid-Valley City) and a few team members that sponsored the stationery. Thanks to the porters who carried them there with the extra load.

Lili - distributing the stationery
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We stopped for lunch at one lodge in Chhomrong at 12:30 p.m. - after a 5-hour trekking. While having lunch, we could see that the weather changed and the rain clouds were forming rapidly. Not knowing when it would start to rain, we started our journey again at 2pm. Fifteen minutes later, it started to rain.

The sky was dark; the rain, gaining in momentum and continued to pour. In this stretch, it was going uphill all the way. In that adverse condition, we just have lots of power to walk up the hill. At one time, it showered with hailstones. And when they hit our heads, it was quite painful.

So is Weng

After two hours (at 4pm) of trekking in heavy rain, finally, the lodges in Sinuva were within sight. The trekking shoes were all wet. At that moment, it was blowing with strong wind and the weather was very cold.

We have a unique way of drying our shoes and clothing: all were put under the dining table. Underneath the dining table, there was a gasoline burner that provided the heat. As you can see, that evening, all were sitting closely by the dining table.
.Lili and Chooi Lin - Cheerful mood at Chomrong for a much needed lunch.

Dr. Hamdan taught us a method to continue wearing the wet shoes the next day: after wearing socks, cover with a plastic bag and then insert the feet into the shoes. So I asked the lodge owner’s daughter whether they sold any plastic bags. The answer was No. So I joked that we should buy and eat more bread in order to use the plastic bag for the bread.

Do CLICK HERE FOR Part 5.

Written by KC

NB15k 2008 - Part 4

Please click here to view photos by courtesy of Jason Lee. Album 1 of 4 contains 191 photos for the New Balance Pacesetters 15km 2008.

Stay tuned for more photos taken by Hon You/Jason Lee from another camera.

Yee - Yeah! Yeah!
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Carmen - The Ironman (Langkawi)

Geraldine - Looking cool and composed

Posted by KC

NB15k 2008 - Part3

Event: New Balance Pacesetters 15km 2008
Date: Sunday 18 May 2008
Venue: Padang Merbuk, Kuala Lumpur

Please click here to view photos by courtesy of Jason Lee. Album 2 of 4 contains 194 photos.

Jason Lee
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Stay tuned for Album 1 where the fast runners are.

Staying focus - Yee Hua
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Nice pose
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Well-composed photo by the photographer

A well-prepared runner for the NB15k Run

Posted by KC