The London Marathon

Hello,

It must be about two months now since I last posted a blog entry. Allow me to update you on the latest happenings.

Since returning home from Turkey, I've been keeping myself busy with work. The variety of projects has made it rather interesting and I've enjoyed the flexibility and challenges of the jobs. I've also had the opportunity to visit a few places recently. Jenna, a fellow volunteer in the Philippines, from Atlanta came to visit Hazel and I for a week and we all took a weekend trip to Norwich to stay with Victoria, who was also with us in the Philippines. A couple weeks later, Hazel and I went to Edinburgh for a couple nights to catch up with her friends and old work colleagues. Edinburgh is definitely my kind of city. It's busy and lively while still maintaining a tranquil and friendly vibe with lots of history and culture existing.

Not long after, Hazel and I took another weekend break. This time to Pula, Croatia. We had found ridiculously cheap Ryanair flights and decided to take full advantage. We rented an apartment for the two nights in an ideal location, next door to an ancient Roman amphitheatre. Pula is on the west side of Croatia across the Adriatic sea from Italy and so much of its culture is heavily influenced by the Roman Empire. It seemed to be rather quaint and historic, with little modern influence, which made it perfect for a quiet weekend away. We arrived in the morning and spent the day wondering around the city, enjoying the sun and indulging in the local cuisine comprising of gnocchi, pizza and gelato. We visited many of the local monuments, before relaxing back at our apartment on the balcony overlooking the impressive Colosseum.

The following day we continued to look around the city centre and even found a local parade: Brass band and folk dancers included. We then ventured outside of Pula in search of a nearby beach. We spent the rest of the day chilling by the sea and enjoying the nice weather. That evening, we went out for dinner at one of the restaurants that we had previously enjoyed eating at and were treated to some free drinks. So that was the last of our trips away and now I look forward to America again. I fly out in two weeks to begin working for NJY camps.

Of course, the biggest piece of news that I have to share is regarding the London Marathon, which took place on sunday. After 3 months of serious training, I was ready for the big day. I had been and registered at the expo and spent the week prior, focusing on my nutrition and carbohydrate loading. I had my race number pinned to my vest provided by Jewish Care and my timing tag attached to one of my running shoes. I woke up early on the 17th and made my way to Greenwich to deposit my bags and find my starting zone.

The race began at 9:45am and I started at a steady pace. The atmosphere was incredible, with 37,000 other runners and masses of spectators along the entire course. It was such an exciting occasion and I was buzzing. The sun was out but I felt so good. I didn't even realise just how fast I was pacing myself. I felt as though I was taking it easy, while ensuring to take on fluid at every opportunity. I got to 13.1 miles in just over 1:50. At this point I was slightly concerned, as when I had previously ran a half marathon, I had clocked 1:49 and here I was not much slower than that, but with an entire half marathon left to complete. I continued strong, seeing Hazel and my parents at 15 miles. Then things became tough. The heat of the sun started to have an impact, while my energy stores became depleted and my muscles began to seize up. I saw Hazel and my parents again at 18 miles but felt much less at ease by now.

By 20 miles my calfs, hamstrings, hip flexors and quads were all very tight and I just couldn't keep up the work rate. I found myself forced to slow down a lot and just continue pushing through as best as possible, desperately anticipating each mile marker when they came about. I continued to pass casualty after casualty of people who had passed out from dehydration and were being looked after by paramedics. At this point the crowd and my ipod were keeping me going. Over the course of the race my thought process had gone from 'I'm feeling good' to 'ooh this is tough' to 'why am I doing this!?' to 'how can I cheat and skip a little bit?' However at no stage did I contemplate the idea of giving up. I knew all along that I simply had to endure a few hours of torture in order to enjoy weeks of satisfaction. Giving up would have meant a few minutes of satisfaction, for months of torture and regret!

Eventually, I was at mile 25 unable to do anything other than ignore all the pain and exhaustion and get to the finish line. Then came the '1 mile left' which before I knew it, was followed by '800 metres remaining' and then a gradual count down until we turned the corner to see the finish line in sight. I crossed the line, completely fatigued but delighted to be at the end. My end time was 4:30:55. I was a little disappointed at not being able to break 4 hours, as originally hoped but regardless, I was extremely proud of my achievement. I received my medal, complementary bag of food and other goodies and had my finishing photo taken. I then met my family and friends and went for a celebratory beer. It was easily one of the hardest things I've ever done and I'm so glad it's over but at the same time very proud of what I managed. At present I have raised almost £1,700 for the Martin B. Cohen Centre for Wellbeing, which I'm delighted with. It's not too late to donate however, and if you wish to sponsor me now that I've completed the Marathon, you can visit www.justgiving.com/samaboudara

I awoke the next day in complete agony. Every part of my body was sore and all major muscle groups below my waist were entirely immobilised. Unfortunately, I had to get myself out of bed to head-up a football camp for 53 primary aged children. Now, 3 days on my body is finally beginning to feel free of pain. It's all been worth it though!

That's it for now. Next stop, America!

Sam

Istanbul

Hello!

It's been about 3 weeks or so since I last submitted a post but I felt it would be worth waiting for something worth hearing about - such as my trip to Turkey and Istanbul.

Since we last met, I've arrived home in London and began sorting myself out. I had a number of interviews for various freelance positions which all went very well. With my current work set-up, I've had to register as self-employed since I'm working for a number of different organisations. I must say, I'm really enjoying being able to schedule my own work and structure my days and weeks. Over the next few months, I have a lot of different jobs and projects to keep me busy and the mixture and range of work makes it quite pleasing. It will see me doing everything from after school sports coaching, day-camp football coaching, sexual health seminars, healthy living workshops, interfaith education workshops and leadership training seminars. I sold my car before I went travelling, so since being home I have bought a scooter to get around on. At first I wasn't so keen on the idea but I'm getting quite into it now - I named it Chav!

The other thing that has been keeping me busy is marathon training. I've been sticking to a training programme that was put together for me and currently I'm up to 12 miles and feeling pretty good (or as good as you would expect for this sort of thing!). The flexible working hours have definitely helped with facilitating marathon training. Other than work and running, I've been catching up on everything I missed for 7 months: Visiting family, tv shows, karate training and seeing friends. Hazel is also back in the UK now and living in Basilden which isn't too far from me, so it's been nice being able to spend time with her while introducing her to my world.

This week, my Dad and I went away to Turkey. Aside from it being an opportunity for my Dad and I to spend time together, our main aim was to try and uncover some of the unknown Aboudara family history. My dad spent a period of weeks getting in contact with various people and doing a bit of leg-work for the trip. Unfortunately, it was hard to find much since none of the Jewish records in Turkey date back before 1910, but alas we gave it our best shot while being in Istanbul.

We arrived on Sunday 6th in the afternoon. After a horrendously long taxi journey, we settled into our hotel, which is glorious, and went for a wander around the local area. We're staying in Sultanahmet, the historical quarter of Istanbul, a stone throw away from the Blue Mosque. So much so, that the 6am call to prayer has woken me up every morning without fail. After having dinner that first night, we returned to the hotel to get some well needed rest.

The next day, we began our search. We took a long walk through The Bazaar quarter, full of busy market people in order to cross a bridge over the river and head towards the Galata Tower. We decided to follow a self-guided tour which took us through a whole load of historical monuments. We then visited the Neve Salom synagogue, which reminded me of any united synagogue in London. It was truly beautiful. One thing we began to realise was that any Jewish building in Istanbul is heavily secured and often you will require an appointment and passport identification in order to get in. The synagogue had no records to help us. From there we went onto visit the Jewish Museum, which provided a really interesting insight into how Jews came to live in Turkey. It turns out that following the Spanish inquisition and the Jews being thrown out in 1492, there were a number of countries that the Jews dispersed to, some more welcoming than others. Turkey was in fact very hospitable towards the Jewish people and continues to be today. Despite a 99% muslim population, there is almost no hostility felt here. The Turks in fact played a big role in protecting the Jewish people during the holocaust. In return, Turkish Jews have truly embraced the indigenous culture, incorporating Turkish emblems into sacred ornaments such as the bells on Sefer Torah scrolls. This visit told me nothing about my family, but it did provide the context for how the Aboudara's came to live in Istanbul. One thing my father and I did know from my grandfather was that his parents never spoke Turkish. It seems that while they were Turkish citizens, they continued to speak Ladino (as they would have done in Spain). Perhaps this would explain why they chose to move to Paris at the turn of the century.

The next day, we took a ferry over to the Asian side of Istanbul. Istanbul is quite a unique city in that it lies right on the border of Europe and Asia (or as much as such a border might exist!). Just being 15 minutes across the river, there was certainly a different feel in the Asian parts. It was quieter and a little more desolate. There was little English spoken and it felt less culturally diverse (perhaps because where we were staying was more touristy). We visited the Kuzguncuk synagogue which was a true marvel. It was so archaic with a really pure sefardi feel to it. The entrance had a plaque dedicated to Robert Abudara, a previous president who had passed away in 2010. This was obviously quite exciting to see. I'm sure you've noted the difference in spelling of Aboudara, but one thing my Dad and I were prepared for was that there would be multiple different spellings for our last name. The first time Aboudara would have been spelt in English text was when my great grandparents moved to Paris and this would have purely been based on one person's interpretation of how the Hebrew spelling should be converted into English characters. We had even been aware that because Aboudara in the Hebrew spelling had a 'heh' as the final letter, there were people with a surname of Aboudaram due to confusing the 'heh' for a 'mem'! Kuzguncuk has a cemetery with 650 years worth of history, so we felt it would be worth a visit. Our goal was to find the gravestone of David Aboudara (my great great grandfather), who would have died in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) between 1890 and 1910. We found a few newer gravestones of recently deceased Aboudara's (with different spellings) but unfortunately could not locate David's. It's hard to describe it without having seen it but the cemetery is in part, a mess. Any stones before 1940 are either illegible to read or somehow scattered across the mountainous terrain as though an earthquake has hit the place! With no records dating before 1910, we didn't really stand a chance.

The next day we decided to visit some of the cultural spots of Istanbul. We went to Hagia Sofia, an ancient church, turned into a mosque and The Blue Mosque. Both incredible pieces of architecture and beautiful to look around. That night, we had dinner at a restaurant that we had found the previous day, owned by a fellar who had lived in North London for a number of years. While we dined, we were treated to a performance of the Whirling Dervishes, a traditional Turkish dance and ritual. Look it up on youtube - It's worth seeing for yourself!

The next day, we began on the trail again, this time visiting another region of Istanbul. We went to check out the Haskoy cemetery. Having phoned the Chief Rabbi's office, we were told that they had no older records but we felt it might be worth visiting anyway. Unfortunately, Haskoy was in an even worse state than Kuzguncuk. It appeared as though the cemetery had dug up the older gravestones and cleared them to one side, to make room for more plots. The pictures I took are rather astonishing but after looking around for an hour, we knew there was no way of being able to locate David Aboudara's grave, even if it existed somewhere in this mess. This was the last lead we had, which made it rather disappointing for my Dad and I to not be able to find anything. I still feel that going to the effort was well worth it. If for nothing else, we managed to learn first hand how the Jews (and therefore my ancestors) came to live in Turkey and we saw evidence of Aboudara's (who will be somewhat distantly linked to us) having lived and still living in Istanbul. We also managed to establish that there are certain bits of family history which we may never be able to find information on, which is knowledge in itself.

Today we have decided to take it easy and enjoy the scenery. Tomorrow, we plan to visit the Topkapi Palace, which was the residence of the Ottoman Sultans for 400 years. We'll also look around the various bazaars to try and find some interesting gifts worth bringing home. The following day, we fly back to London.

So although it's slightly disappointing to have not found out more about where we came from, It's been a wonderful experience doing the search and at least breathing the city that my ancestors grew up in!

Much love!

Sam

How do you measure an experience like this!?

Hello!

So it seems my 7 months of travelling have come to an end. In many ways, It’s quite saddening but I’ve been preparing myself for this point all along. Every place I’ve visited, I’ve reminded myself that this moment is likely to pass in a flash and the best I can do is make the most of my experiences and live this life to its fullest.

Along my travels, many of the people I met have asked me the standard question. ‘What made you decide to travel?’ At first I gave a response which I thought to be true – ‘I wanted to do a number of things in a number of different places and felt I deserved a gap year!’ At some stage I questioned this...and the real reason revealed itself. I decided to travel because I was in search of something and when people asked ‘what?’ – I told them ‘I’m not sure.’ I’m still not certain as to what I’ve been searching for but I’ve found a lot and much of it has been in myself.

I feel more fulfilled than I ever thought possible and I don’t think I’d feel this way without having visited each of the places I went to and having met each of the people I had the pleasure of coming into contact with. I found adventure in learning what my body and mind are capable of withstanding. I found power in knowledge of other cultures and human nature. I found purpose in influencing the lives of others. I found friendship in the form of people that I would never have otherwise come into contact with. I found love in it’s purest form. I found clarity in myself and my character.

I now return home with all the inevitabilities that I always knew: Many of which I’m quite excited about. I get to see my family after being away for the longest time ever. I begin my real training programme for the 2011 London Marathon. I will begin looking for work, having already set up a couple of interviews for freelance facilitation and sports coaching jobs. However, I also return home with a whole set of new prospects that I hadn’t banked on. I have a set of new friends from around the world to keep in contact with. I have a girlfriend who makes me very happy. I have the prospect of returning to America to work for 4 months this summer. I have an idea of what I hope to look for on a professional level from September onwards. Finally, I have self assurance of the person I hope to be from 2011 onwards.

I’ve found writing a blog to be really fulfilling. Not necessarily knowing that anyone was even reading it but having an outlet to articulate my thoughts and emotions through. I think this is something I’ll continue updating. Perhaps not as often as I have over the last 7-months but I plan on continuing to live a life that excites and challenges me and the hope is that it will continue to make for good reading. Coming up I have a trip with my father to Turkey, where we hope to uncover some of the Aboudara family history. Not long after, I have the London Marathon. Soon after that, I’ll be leaving for America again. I’m sure there will be plenty else that will crop over the next few months and I’ll look forward to writing about it at as and when it comes about.

Much love always!

Sam

Trekking Down and Celebrating my 23rd Birthday!

Day 10 came around and we were all quite looking forward to trekking back down from Gorakshep. We were all in desperate need of some warmth, more oxygen and loss of altitude sickness symptoms. That day we trekked for around 7-hours and went down almost a kilometre in altitude. We stayed the night in Dingboche.

Day 11 we continued to trek down a further 600 metres. By now I was kind of bored of it. I’d already achieved my goal of reaching Base Camp. That was the hard bit. Trekking down was no challenge, it was just tedious! But, today was a little bit special for me since it was my 23^rd Birthday. I’d say it was quite special to spend my birthday in the Himalayas. It was the first time that I’d had a birthday without my friends or family present (of course the other trekkers in my group have become my friends but you know what I mean). It was also the first birthday I’d experienced without technology. No phone calls, no facebook messages. In a way, it was quite liberating to turn 23 in this way and I spent the day absorbing the scenery and enjoying my surroundings. That night at Kengjuma, I celebrated my birthday in Nepalese style. We crowded around a wood fire and I was treated to a big apple pie and a traditional Nepali neck scarf to mark the occasion.

Day 12 saw us continue our trek down with a further 8-hours of trekking, descending another 800 metres to reach Monjo. That day was a bit of a panic for me. We had lunch in Namche Bazaar where I found an internet cafe for 30-minutes, hoping to read my birthday messages. Instead, I found out that my flight to India had been postponed, meaning that I would miss my connecting flight to London. All of a sudden, I needed to book onto another flight, and make sure that I wouldn’t get in trouble for not having an Indian visa. All of this with no phone or regular internet access. I managed to forward the email to my Father in the hope that he will sort it for me. I think he has, but I’m still not certain!

Day 13, was our final day of trekking. We were told it would be a 5-hour trek back to Lukla. After 2-hours, Hayden and I decided we were going to race ahead and get to Lukla early. We managed the final three hours in half the expected time.

It’s now 3:30pm on day 13 and I’m going to attempt to get internet in Lukla to find out whether I have a flight on Sunday. Hopefully I’ll be home in two days time!

Much Love!

Sam

Reaching Everest Base Camp!

Namaste

Sleeping in Lobuche was horrendous! I regularly woke up gasping for air. It’s as though your body doesn’t realise that the Oxygen in the air is only at 60% of what it usually is at. Therefore, your lungs continue to ventilate at their usual rate until suddenly your body realises it’s deprived of oxygen and suddenly you’re hyperventilating to make up the oxygen that your body has been lacking. Still, it wasn’t worth focusing on too much, since it was only going to get worse!

Day 9 saw us wake really early, with 10 hours of trekking ahead of us. Firstly we stopped at Gorakshep for a late breakfast. Gorakshep is where we would be spending the next night at an altitude of 5180 metres (Officially, we were now at extreme high altitude). We all finished our food rather quickly in excitement for our next stop: Everest Base Camp!

The trek to Base Camp was pretty exciting. We were walking along the Khumbu glacier with some marvellous views of Mount Pumori, Lhotse and Nuptse. By now, everything around was snow capped and the true winter wonderland that I had originally envisioned when arriving in Nepal. At one stage we reached a peak height of 5550 metres above sea level, before arriving at Base Camp (5364 metres) completely exhausted. To be truthful, Base Camp itself was kind of underwhelming. There was one rock where someone had written ‘Everest Base Camp 5364m.’ I guess we’d all expected to see tents and radio towers and excitement like you get in the movies and documentaries. But we had to accept that it was January and no one in their right mind climbs Everest this time of year. The weather conditions are far too hostile. Most climbers wait until April or May. Despite this anticlimax, the feeling of reaching base camp was everything but underwhelming and we all rejoiced together over our achievement and took many photos.

That afternoon, we trekked back to Gorakshep where we spent the night, definitely the worst night’s sleep of my life!

More soon!

Much love!

Sam

Battling On!

Namaste

Day 5 saw us continue trekking from Namche Bazaar to Tengboche, climbing over 500 metres to reach an altitude of 3980 metres. It was another long day involving 8-hours of trekking with a short lunch break in the middle. It’s worth me mentioning at this time that although I am trekking to Everest Base Camp, it’s not as straightforward as starting at the bottom of Mount Everest and climbing until we reach Base Camp. Instead, the Himalayas is the biggest mountain range in the world and Everest is actually rather inaccessible. In order to reach Base Camp, you need to trek along the Himalayas through a number of other mountains first. This is what makes it different to say, trekking up Mount Kilimanjaro (a single mountain peak), which by the way, I have already decided I will be climbing that one day too!

We arrived in Tengboche late in the afternoon with some spectacular views of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Amadablam peaks. Tengboche contains the oldest Buddhist monastery in Nepal and we were given the opportunity to visit it. It was a true marvel to see and certainly the most beautiful building I’ve experienced in Nepal. I learnt that while the country is mostly Hindu (approximately 65%), in the mountains, the majority of people are Buddhist. The most memorable thing about staying in Tengboche is that the tea lodge we slept in is owned by the family of Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa who first reached the summit of Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary. It’s still argued today whether Norgay reached it before Hillary but that’s a whole different story. The lodge had an old scrap book with various photos of Tenzing and letters he had received from the Queen of England amongst others. The book was fascinating to look through and certainly something that most museums would pay a good price to get their hands on. However, I have no doubt the family of Tenzing Norgay will not part with this scrap book easily.

Day 6 was another early rise to start our trip to Dingboche, where we would reach an altitude of 4340 metres. It was another 8-hour trekking day with some incredible views of Mount Amadablam and Pumori. By now, the low oxygen levels in the air were becoming more noticeable. This was most apparent by us passing the final trees that we would see on our trek. From now on we would only be seeing rocks and ice. Many of the members of the group were now starting to suffer from the high altitude and low oxygen content. People started picking up mild headaches and finding it difficult to catch their breath even during the most unchallenging of tasks such as walking from one side of the room to the other. However we kept our spirits high by playing games and laughing in the evenings around a Yak poo fire.

Day 7 was another acclimatisation day. We followed the protocol of our previous acclimatisation day by once again training high and sleeping low, just as endurance runners do. We found a steep hill to climb up in the morning, reaching a height of 4750 metres above sea level before returning to Dingboche. The rest of that day was spent relaxing and recovering.

Day 8 saw us trekking 8-hours to Lobuche, reaching an altitude of 4980 metres above sea level. I was now at a greater height than when I skydived in New Zealand! However it’s hard to appreciate this when you’re in the Himalayas since while you continue to climb higher and higher the bottom of the valleys also increase in altitude so you never at anytime look down and think ‘Wow, I’m 5000 metres above the sea!’ This was by far the toughest day yet. Everyone in the group was ill by now with either a cold, headache, stomach ache or a combination of the three. I had even managed to pick up a slight headache from the high altitude and of course, I didn’t have any altitude medication so I just had to tough it out. That day, we passed through a memorial of climbers who had died while expediting to the summit of Everest. Amongst these I found a Jewish guy from Texas as well as the famous Babu Chiri Sherpa. Babu is an everest legend who holds the record for the fastest summit from Base Camp, as well as the longest time spent at the summit without any additional oxygen (21 hours!), which is pretty mental considering oxygen content is at 30% at Everest summit. He died on his 11^th Everest expedition, falling through a 200 metre deep crevasse.

Just as we left the memorial we saw the clouds begin to descend upon us. It was incredible to be so high up that we were right in the middle of the clouds. Unfortunately, it did make the rest of the trek rather cold to bare. We arrived in Lobuche later on to have dinner in our tea lodge, which was rather basic indeed. The higher up you get, the more basic the tea houses become, which is even worse when it’s also getting colder and more oxygen deprived as well. On top of this, the food becomes more and more expensive since it has to be transported further.

Anyway, I’ll look forward to telling you more soon!

Much Love

Sam

Beginning the Trek

Namaste

Day 2 was an early rise in order to leave the hotel at 6am to catch a flight to Lukla. The flight was an experience in itself! We were in a 20-seater plane which meant that we felt every single bump and bit of turbulence. The views of the Himalayas were spectacular and we even caught a glimpse of Everest along the way. After flying to Lukla, I have huge amounts of respect for the pilots on these planes and the skilled way in which they manoeuvre around the mountains. Lukla is a very small airport and the runway is only 200 metres long, with one end 60 metres higher than the other! I have no idea how our pilot managed to land this thing but he did and so very smoothly as well.

We got off the plane and pretty much began trekking! After maybe half an hour or so, we stopped for lunch and then headed to Phak Ding, where we would be spending our first night. At first, I found the pace ridiculously slow, but I soon found out that this was for our benefit, both to help us acclimatise and ensure that we don’t burn ourselves out. After 4 hours of trekking we arrived into Phak Ding and the tea lodge that we would be staying at. We were already at an altitude of 2,600m and many individuals could feel the effects. The trek had certainly tired me out but all in all, I felt good.

It was in Phak Ding that Maski spoke to us about eating and drinking throughout the trek. It was firstly advised to always ask for things to be well cooked and to avoid heavy spices and anything that might upset our stomachs. It was suggested that we should avoid eating meat. In the mountains, the only foods grown are spinach and potatoes so everything else has to be transported from Kathmandu by plane to Lukla and then on foot by porters. This firstly explains why things tend to cost more the higher up you climb, but it also demonstrated why steering clear of meat may not be a bad idea, since its freshness would be questionable. We were told that we should be drinking 3-4 litres of water per day to reduce the likelihood of altitude sickness as well as dehydration. Since we’re Westerners and our bodies are not adapted to the local water we had three options: Buying bottles of mineral water, buying boiled tap water, or using regular tap water and adding water purification tablets. I made a decision to simply drink the tap water just like the locals do. In the Philippines, we were told that the local tap water might upset your stomach but after drinking it for a few days, your body adapts to it. I hadn’t encountered any problems with the water, so I decided to do the same here and 2 days later, I’m happy to report that I have had no issues!

The first night was pretty chilly and I was very thankful for the sleeping bag I had decided to rent. Day 3 was a pretty early wake-up again. After eating breakfast, we began our 8-hour trek to Namche Bazaar, the next night stop. The trek provided some beautiful views of the Himalayan Mountains and along the way I was able to speak to the local guides and learn a bit more about the people who live on the mountains. I was curious to know why people chose to live up here if receiving food and resources was so difficult. I was told that many years ago there was a wide spread of malaria in the lower parts of Nepal, which led to people settling in the mountains, since the mosquitoes were not found in these areas. Malaria is no longer an issue in Nepal and as a result many people are moving away from the mountains, however, the mountain folk live a surprisingly luxurious lifestyle. During the summer they collect herbal plants and sell these lower down in the winter. From what I was told, they’re able to make quite a bit of money from this and live well. With the increase of tourism in the Himalayas, the local people have also managed to make quite a bit of money off running tea lodgings, restaurants and stores.

Half way through our trek, we stopped for lunch, where I decided to order the same dish that I had eaten the previous night, a traditional Nepalese dish called Dal Bhat. It consists of rice, fried spinach leaves in herbs and spices, vegetable curry, pickle (sort of like salsa) and boiled lentil soup. You basically mix it all together and enjoy this delicious feast. It’s healthy and rice is a great source of carbohydrate, which gives you energy to continue trekking. However, what I love the most about this dish is that the waiters will continue to serve you until you’re completely full, making it the best value for money, all you can eat buffet that I’ve ever experienced. So far it’s yet to cost me more than 350 rupees (£3 approx).

We arrived at Namche Bazaar by 5:30pm and were all pretty tired. We were now at 3,440 metres above sea level, which meant that we had climbed 800 metres that day. We spent the evening enjoying dinner, playing cards and getting an early night’s sleep (I think this will be a running theme for the trek).

Day 4 was an acclimatisation day in Namche Bazaar having climbed a fair amount in the previous day. Already, some of the group were starting to feel a little bit sick, unable to stomach food and suffering from headaches. Thankfully, I still felt good and was pretty pleased with my trekking ability during the days. Compared to the rest of the group I have very little mountain trekking experience, but I seemed to be one of the fittest, which surprised me. However, now that I think about it, I spent a month in New Zealand hiking almost every day, I did a lot of walking in Australia, I spent two months in the Philippines during which, I visited the gym 4-times a week for conditioning and I then completed three weeks of intense karate training in Japan, so really I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m coping well.

Though it was an acclimatisation day, we had the option of completing a 4-hour hike, firstly to Syangboche, the second highest airplane runway in the world and then to a further lookout point which provided a panoramic view of many Himalayan peaks including Everest’s. That hike saw us ascending 440 metres to reach an altitude of 3880 metres. The height is an exciting element for me because prior to coming to Nepal, I don’t think I’d ever been more than 2,000 metres above sea level. It’s pretty exhilarating to know that with each day that passes I’m reaching altitudes higher and higher than I’ve ever experienced before. The lookout point was magnificent. It was so peacefully quiet and the peaks were so clear to view. I realise that I’m going to spend the next 10 days in constant view of the Himalayas and their beautiful snow-capped peaks and winding valleys but I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of admiring the sheer vastness and natural magnificence of it all.

It’s now 6pm which means I should have a big helping of spaghetti waiting for me! Tomorrow, we continue our trek of course and I will look forward to filling you in on it all soon.

Much love!

Sam

Hello Kathmandu!

Namaste!

I arrived into Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal at around 1pm on 2^nd January 2011. A number of things confused me at first. To start with, I was rather sleep deprived (I had not got much sleep on new years eve and the following night was spent in Singapore airport having landed at 1am!). Then I found out I was required to put my watch back 2 hours and 15 minutes. 15 minutes?!? – Since when did countries decide to have a time difference of a quarter of an hour? Anyway, I came out of the terminal to find several men trying to sell me things and carry my bag. Yes – here I was back in the developing world! Finally, due to the Himalayas, I expected Kathmandu to be some winter wonderland, especially this time of year. Turns out that it’s pretty warm with no snow to be seen.

I soon found Maski, a Nepalese man holding a GAP Adventures sign. I then learnt that Maski would be my tour guide for the entire trek and in the car ride from the airport he told me more of what to expect and what the plans were for the remainder of the day.

Driving through Kathmandu reminded me a lot of the Philippines. No traffic laws, litter all over the streets and homeless people begging. At a set of traffic lights I had to sit in the back of the car and watch two young children tap on the windows of vehicles asking for money. I experienced this for two months in Tacloban but I don’t think it’s every something I’ll grow used to. We finally arrived at the hotel, to find to my surprise that it was actually very nice. It even had free wifi, which is the last time I’d use the internet until returning to Kathmandu.

Later that evening, we had our introduction meeting with Maski. This is where I got to meet the other trekkers who turned out to all be much better equipped than me! I had not even thought of getting a sleeping bag, altitude sickness medication or water purification tablets but don’t worry, as you read on, you’ll soon see that it all worked out! The group consisted of 10 of us and I was the only solo traveller. Maria and Kanut are a young Norwegian couple who live in the mountains and regularly go hiking, however they’ve never done something of this magnitude. Dallas is a 50 year old Australian who trekked to Everest Base Camp 25 years ago. After seeing his 15-year old son Hayden become really interested in mountain trekking, he decided to take him on a trip to Nepal to revisit Everest. Lee, Dallas’ sister, also decided to come. Then there is Sandy and Mandy (no joke!) who are Australian medical students who regularly hike and trek and have climbed a number of mountains including Kilimanjaro. Finally, there is Kerri and Katie, two British theatre performers, who like me, fancied the idea of this crazy challenge.

It soon dawned on me that I didn’t have half of the stuff that was recommended by GAP. At first, I thought all the items on the recommended list were just for precaution and to me it sounded a little bit over kill but hearing that every single other trekker had stuck to the list meticulously worried me a little. I decided that with a lot of things I would have to improvise simply because I wasn’t prepared to splash out ridiculous sums of money. Meanwhile, the things that I felt were essential, I went out and got from a local store. I hired a four season sleeping bag and I managed to purchase a top quality The North Face down jacket for just over £30. I’m no mountain gear expert but from what I’ve heard, this type of jacket would usually cost 5-10 times more in the UK!

After picking up these essentials and getting a well needed meal in my belly, I headed to bed in preparation for a 5:30am start!

Below is the list of the recommended items provided by Gap Adventures and next to each one I have indicated what I have instead!

Binoculars - Didn’t bother with these

Aspirin, Band Aids, Imodium – Yes to all of these!

Protein bars, chocolate, dried fruits etc - Erm..no. But I can buy snacks along the way!

Travel documents - Of course!

Money: travellers cheques/cash/credit card - Goes without saying

Swiss army knife - No

Sleeping Bag (Four Season) – Rented in Kathmandu

Light weight Towel - It’s light weight enough I suppose

Toiletries - Yes

Day pack – It’s no fancy mountain trekking bag but it does the trick

Alarm clock – I have a watch

Torch/flashlight - Yes

Lighter for burning toilet paper - No

Insect repellent – No, my body odour will repel them enough

Water purification tablets – No, I have a robust stomach.

Sunscreen and lip balm – No.

Refillable water bottle – No but Ill buy a big bottle of water and fill it along the way

Beanie with ear flaps or balaclava - Yes

Sunglasses - Yes – but not the kind you’d usually climb mountains with!

Gloves: Wool or fleeced - Both!

Scarf or Sarong: a multitude of uses - Yes

Bag Liners to waterproof your bags - No

Wind and waterproof Jacket & Pants - Yes

Comfortable and sturdy walking shoes - Oh Yes!

Socks: thick wool blend and thin cotton to be worn in combination - Yes

Running shoes or sandals for evening - Nope

Wool jumper / sweater / fleece - I have three hoodies which should do the trick!

Down jackets in winter - Hell Yes!

T Shirts 2 or 3 - Yes

Shirt – Long Sleeved - Yes

Pants - lightweight long trousered - Yes – Bought these in Tokyo

Extra warm clothing during winter: Thermals. Bought these in Tokyo too!

Christmas and New Year's in Tokyo!

Hello!

It's the 1st January 2011 and I'm currently sat in Narita International airport, Tokyo. This is honestly the first opportunity I've had to sit at my computer for more than 5 minutes since I last blogged over a week ago.

Let me start with Christmas in Tokyo. The guesthouse was pretty empty over Christmas, since I suppose most travellers aim to be home for Christmas in order to be able to spend it with their families and loved ones. Having never celebrated Christmas, I wasn't sure how to occupy my time. Fortunately, the guesthouse organised a party on Christmas day. In Japan they tend to celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve in an opposite fashion to the Western World. Christmas is spent with friends, while New Year's Eve is more of a family occasion involving visiting a temple.

The party was really enjoyable. We made our own takoyaki (a traditional Japanese celebratory food) and I turned out to be quite an apt takoyaki chef. The Japanese guests present even suggested I should open my own store in London! We toasted the holiday with some saki and spent the evening chatting and joking.

The next day was the eagerly awaited arrival of Hazel from the Philippines. Up to now, I'd not done a huge amount of site seeing. I'd visited Kyoto and seen the Tokyo Imperial Palace grounds on the Emperor's birthday, but other than that most of my time was occupied by karate training. It made sense to wait until Hazel came to do all the tourist excursions so the next few days were completely jam packed.

On our first morning we headed to Harajuku to check out the almost cult-like teen fashion scene. Harajuku is basically a big funky town and felt like a slightly more eccentric version of Camden Town. We next headed to Meiji Shrine, a famous Shinto shrine located in the middle of a small forest. We performed the ceremonial cleansing procedure before visiting the temple itself. The next stop was Omotesando, a huge boulevard filled with high class fashion stores. We ended the day by seeing Shibuya at night fall, Tokyo's answer to Times Square - lots of bright lights and video screens and a huge traffic intersection!

The next day we began at Tsukiji, visiting the largest open fish market in the world. We were unable to see the famous tuna auctions that take place early in the mornings, but we did mull around and try out a few free samples at various stalls. We then headed to Ginza, a large commercial shopping district with a famous clock tower from the Second World War. Here, we ventured around the Sony Centre: 8 floors containing all the latest Sony technology. Our next stop was Akihabara, Tokyo's geek paradise! Akihabara has a whole host of gadget shops with technology that the rest of the world won't see for another 1-2 years. It also has a large number of retro gaming stores with all the great consoles and games from the 80's and 90's. We ended our day in Shinjuku where we visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, which has a free observatory on the 50-something floor. Since it was now dark outside, it provided a wondrous panoramic view of the Tokyo night sky. We ended that evening with dinner at a restaurant in Shinjuku.

The next day, we took a trip to Iidabashi, where Hazel got to see the JKA Honbu where I spent my days practising karate. We had planned on visiting a tea garden nearby, however, it was closed over the new year period. We then visited the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Otemachi briefly before heading to Ueno. Ueno park is beautiful and so peaceful to wander around. It hosts a number of museums and galleries as well as many shrines and temples so we spent a bit of time checking these out. We ended our day by visiting Asakusa and Sensoji temple, probably the most famous Buddhist temple in Tokyo. Next to the temple is a five story pagoda which at night time is lit up and incredible to view. That evening we cooked dinner at the guesthouse and made friends with a rather remarkable Polish man named Daniel. We spent the entire evening talking to him and I couldn't even begin to explain to you now just how insightful he was!

The next day we visited Roppongi, the fancy rich district of Tokyo. We spent some time in Mori Tower looking around an arts store before heading to Okura Hotel to participate in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. The tea ceremony was something I always wanted to experience after the first time I saw it referenced on TV or in a movie. It's grace and precision for me sums up everything I love about Japanese culture. We sat and learned about the origins of the tea ceremony and its symbolic elements. We then watched our host perform the ceremony meticulously, after which we were able to enjoy the matcha green tea itself.

Our final full day in Tokyo was New Year's Eve. We spent the day in Nakano buying gifts as well as some mountain gear for my Everest trek. That evening, we headed to Shibuya and found a Japanese restaurant to have dinner in. We then walked around the busy city centre before choosing a bar to see in the New Year. Of course it was an Irish pub! At midnight, the streets of Shibuya became crazy with pedestrians dancing the streets and rejoicing over the New Year. It was a perfect way to close 2010 and welcome 2011.

Today, I saw Hazel off at the airport and am now waiting for my flight to Singapore, where I will spend the night. Tomorrow, I fly to Kathmandu, Nepal to embark on my trek to Mount Everest Base Camp - I'm very excited!

I'd like to wish all my family and friends a very happy and healthy new year. May you succeed at everything you set out to achieve in 2011! On a separate note, let me wish Hazel a very happy birthday for the 3rd January as well as an equally happy birthday to my niece Talia who will turn 3 on the 4th January. Lots of love from Uncle Sam, I look forward to some cuddles soon!

Much love!

Sam