daviko
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PLEASE HELP US TO PREPARE FOR OUR TRIP TO NEPAL
We are asking for your help and advice for when we travel to Nepal for four to five weeks in September. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated and includes such things as the type of clothing required, where to stay in Kathmandu, what not to eat, can you drink the water etc. Gill and I are fairly fit for our age but do we need to prepare before we go?
We have only been walking in Greece and Cyprus before so we are used to walking in the heat and these were fairly tough climbs but advice on acclimatisation would be useful.
Our intention is to back track from Chhukung trying to trace Gareth’s route through checking on handwriting in all the local tea houses etc. Some advice on local customs would also be good to know before we go.
So in general we need your help in planning our trip so please let us have you help, advice and experiences of Nepal.
David & Gill Koch
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18/7/04, 18:39
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mieke
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Vaccinations and Visa (re: Please help us to prepare for our trip to Nepal)
Hello Gill and David,
I'm glad to read your plans are still on.
It's the 18th of July now. In view of your questions, the first answer I can think of is to contact your physician or medical advisor in order to start the series of vaccinations, and contact them sóón!
Second comes booking your flight in time. And re. the application for the visa: you can either do that in advance in London, or upon arrival in Nepal (bringing 2 small photographs both of you) at Kathmandu airport).
I take it that of course you will not be entering and crossing the Sagarmatha Parc just the two of you. You will either arrange for a party to join you on this very uncommon and difficult journey, or you will at least take one or two very experienced guides with you. Not only to help and show you the way, but to be of extra help as well as eyes and ears to you during your search.
And no, I don't think you can drink the water! Only drink bottled water, from bottles that have not been tampered with!
I will also mail you some URLs to information on webforums you are already familiar with, where you will find answers to several of the questions you have asked here. F.e. the HRDSN website has information about acclimatisation, and luckily there are many other sources for that kind of information.
Do you agree I should also advise you to post this announcement of your travel to Nepal plus your questions, on the several webforums where people have continually tried to be of advice and help to you already in the past months? Because this board is still very new and you are aware of course that not everyone has found it yet, and registered.
kind regards,
mieke
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18/7/04, 19:53
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Robert Ulph
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Re: PLEASE HELP US TO PREPARE FOR OUR TRIP TO NEPAL
From what I understand, your son was last seen in Chukhung at 9a.m. I also understand that he may have said that he was going to Dingboche that day and that he was due in Lukla a few days later, so would have been descending from the Everest area.
It would seem strange for Gareth to have identified Dingboche as a destination for the day he was last seen as it is only an hour's walk away from Chukhung. It would also seem strange that someone would disappear while descending anywhere on the main trail down to Lukla as it is well used and it is not terribly dangerous - there are not that many places where you could fall and not be seen if you slipped. So I wonder if instead of heading straight for Dingboche, what Gareth might have done was to turn right below Chukhung towards the Kongma La, perhaps even to cross the Kongma La and go back down the other side to Dingboche at the end of the day? The approach to the Kongma La is a far less frequented area of the National Park than the descent from Dinboche, with less distinct paths, and somewhere where one might conceivably not be found if one got into difficulties. You may have already explored this possibility, I don't know, but what I would do if I were you is, when you get to Dingboche (not Chukhung - there are too few people there) is try to persuade (or pay) a few trekkers to spend a day doing a circular walk over the Kongma La starting and ending in Dingboche to see if any sign of Gareth can be found. Probably you have already had someone look there, but, if not, this just might yield some useful clues.
Anyway, I wish you luck in making some progress on your visit.
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26/7/04, 18:52
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daviko
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Re: PLEASE HELP US TO PREPARE FOR OUR TRIP TO NEPAL
Robert,
Thank you for the suggestion regarding the Kongma La trail in relation to where Gareth might have gone after leaving Chhukung. This was supposedly checked by the tracker we hired in April.
We do intend to go to Nepal ourselves in September and with the aid of local guides we will probably cover this area again.
Thank you again for your helpful suggestion in relation to our visit in September.
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27/7/04, 16:36
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Robert Ulph
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Re: PLEASE HELP US TO PREPARE FOR OUR TRIP TO NEPAL
Yes, I note that your tracker didn't have any binoculars with him. The valley leading up to the Kongma La is quite wide, so I would query whether the tracker was able to look over the area very thoroughly.
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27/7/04, 19:57
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