Thanks everyone again for reading Kristin’s blog. It is great that there is so much reader support and we hope that 2022 brings you satisfaction.
Kathmandu 2011
Matt Church looked at the black coat and scowled, “more like Himalayan chicken feathers”.
I needed a down coat, chicken feathers or not, so I bought it. $40 dollars.
We stepped back into the busy street, climbing gear flowering from the storefronts. Walking past parks and shrines we headed toward the permit offices.
“What’s the biggest difference between the East and the West?” I shouted over the whine of passing scooters.
“What?”
“The biggest difference between our Western ways and the East, here, Nepal?”
“Personal space” Matt Church announced, looking at a mass of bodies moving through ancient streets, where at night roaming dog packs ruled.
“I can’t last more than 30 days in any Asian country” I replied. “Personal space is a good answer. How much do we pay for the permits?”
Matt Church didn’t answer me. After the permit office we had to book bus tickets to Besisahar. From there we started our ten day walk to the pass. Matt Church was thinking about these things.
Thorong Phedi High Camp 2011
“Late afternoon, graupel event! Late afternoon, graupel event!”, chanted Matt Church swishing by on skis and singing guitar solos in between his chants.
The afternoon storm broke and the sun shone down the slope. High altitude skiing exerted much pressure on our bodies and I concentrated on breathing as I descended toward the stone lodge.
“There’s room to move out here!” I gasped, coming to a sliding stop.
“What?” Matt Church grinned.
“Room. To. Move!” I smiled back.
“Late afternoon graupel events have crushed it!” Matt Church decreed.
We stared into the eastern peaks in silence, the highest place in the world.
Matt Church continued, “Tomorrow we shall cross the pass to Muktinath. I shall make a gift of my skis to the owner of the tea house at the pass”.
“Nice gesture”. I wondered what I would do with my skis. “Let’s get some food”.
Thorong Phedi High Camp 2011…dining hall.
“Good evening” the monk politely said.
“Oh hey, yeah” Matt Church beamed at the monk, “we met you in Chame, in the shadow of Annapurna 2. You’re traveling from the monastery in Kathmandu to your elder companion’s hometown”.
“Yes. The first time he has returned since he was a boy”.
“Why has he not returned sooner?” I asked.
“He was chosen by the monks from Kathmandu as a young boy, he has spent fifty years away” the monk replied. He asked, smiling “have you made the ski?”
Matt Church cried “Oh yeah! We skied here at High Camp for eight days and spent four days at the lower camp. Sleeping at this altitude has been difficult though. But the skiing here is very good!”
“Excellent” the monk replied, sitting down at our table. “Where do you come from?”
“The United States” I said. “A place in the desert called Nevada”.
“Yes I have heard, Las Vegas” the monk smiled.
“Close to Vegas”, Matt Church corrected the monk, “Further north, a city called Reno”.
“And you ski in the desert? With all of that sand and heat?” The monk asked.
“It snows, and there are many mountains to ski”.
Like many others he looked surprised, “I never thought they would have snowy mountains near Las Vegas”.
We shared some of our tea with the monk.
“I have a question for you”, Matt Church broke in. “In your opinion, how does the East differ from the West?”
The monk paused and set his tea down. “In the West you have physical comfort. In the East we have mental comfort”.
Marpha 2011
“I’ll be back after I get us some tea”, I said leaving his hotel room. I stood for a while, looking out the stairwell window at firewood stacked around the roof edges of stone dwellings that were built around animal pens, hard-working people.
“Hello” one of the monks from High Camp greeted me, climbing the stairs.
“Nice to see you again. How was the walk over Thorong La pass?” I asked him.
“Very pleasant, with good weather. Will you continue to ski?”
“No, we do not have our skis anymore, much lighter to walk without them. We gave them away. The owner of the teahouse at Thorong La pass. We watched him gallop around on the rental ponies the Israeli trekkers used, he was a good rider, so we gave him a set of skis, and the other pair we left at the gates of Muktinath”.
“Very good!” the monk laughed. “Where is your friend?”
“Oh, he is sick, food poisoning, very grumpy”.
The monk reached into his robes and handed me a small, colorful cardboard box with Chinese printed characters. “Tell him to take two of these tonight and tomorrow morning. Keep the rest in case. These are cheap pills from China, they will help”.
I glanced at the box, “thank you”.
“Good luck with your trek” the monk said. “Goodbye”, he smiled again.
Marpha 2011
“The same three monks from the night before last?”
I said, “Yeah, they’re staying here as well. It was the younger guy, the one with hair, not the one we talked to at dinner the other night”.
Matt Church scrutinized the small package of pills, suspicious but desperate for comfort.
“Are you going to take them or not?” I asked.
“Well…I mean, what does this even say on the box? Did you ask him what they were?”
“No, I just said ‘thanks’”.
Matt Church scowled, unconvincingly.
“Look” I said, “these guys are monks, they’re trying to help, the pills will help, take two tonight, and two tomorrow morning. I’m going to walk around the town, see you at breakfast”.
Alaska 2022
“The pills worked. Matt Church was fine, just fine. We left in good spirits the following day. We stopped at some great hotsprings on the way to Pokhara, then we…”
Kristin cut me off. “Yeah, yeah, your one claim to fame”.
“What? It’s a great story”.
“I guess” she shot back, “Got anything more recent?”
“Well, it’s like the monk said, in the West we have all these physical comforts, beds, couches, T.V.’s, heaters, you know, whatever we desire to make our bodies feel good. But in the East, they don’t, I mean they do, some people have the same western comforts, but many do not, but they have mental comfort, so they don’t need the physical supplements to make them happy”.
Kristin asked, “why don’t you just write that. Why tell the story about the pills and skiing?”
“Leo liked the story,” I replied.
“Leo is a captive audience”.
I tried one more time. “Matt Church is like you and me, we feel really good after we exercise our bodies. Skiing, running, yoga with Ashly Galvin, you know, a healthy body is a healthy mind. In reality, we neglect our mental health, ignoring anxiety, fear, and other signs of pain our mind is sending us. As soon as Matt got sick, his spirit crashed. Like when we get injured and can’t exercise, we get depressed”.
“What happened to the box of pills?” Kristin asked.
I sighed, “I think that we used them during the rest of our time there”.
Kristin scoffed. “You mean you forgot. What’d you say, ‘High Camp’? Yeah I’m sure it was a high camp. Did the three monks even exist?”
“I don’t like where this conversation is going,” I said. “You can ask Matt Church yourself”.
“You mean the guy who started a hemp farm? You two are just like everyone else, you love your creature comforts”.
“Exactly! That’s my point!” I cried excitedly.
Kristin dismissed my excitement by turning back to her book. ‘“Ok, whatever, I’m just going to write an extra blog”.
I need to meet Ashley Galvin. She sounds like a legend.