Great Himalayan Fairy Tale (REDUX)

 (Advisory: The following is a critical and hopefully realistic assessment--don't mind--with the intention of holding aid entrepreneurs' feet to the fires while they meddle in foreign lands with large sums of money and leverage, little oversight and few to no language and culture skills--unfortunately, a lethal recipe that leads to suffering for the common people while the interlopers enjoy a lifestyle in the top echelons of society) 

Photo by Alonzo Lyons

I am certainly not the only one who sees the Great Himalayan Trail Trick(?) to be a well-funded, Himalayan snow job. Although, I might be one of the few Himalayaphiles willing to call it out publicly (many others have shared their disbelief with me in private), especially in the face of a moneyed industry that has grown up around the fictional line on a map. A corps of well-paid and articulate people have worked feverishly to will the very concept into being with exuberant energy and talent despite Himalayan obstacles and Himalayan chasms and a lack of a any semblance of a contiguous trail.

Even the talented gentleman who wrote the eponymous guidebook makes a striking confession. In his Acknowledgements he mentions the three Sherpa guides who made it possible by joining him 'every step of the way'. 

Three Sherpa?!
Ever step of the way?!

This is a skilled, veteran trekker with many seasons of experience in the highlands of Nepal. If he needed three Sherpa guides every step of a cross-country journey to find the way, negotiate logistics and technical sections, in other words, survival, then what hope is there for the average trekker to pick up a guidebook and go?

In fact, an elite, world-class trail runner tried just that and was dangerously off course within days, losing personal items and forced to return to Kathmandu by vehicle, perhaps lucky something worse did not happen.
Again, if an elite, battle-hardened trail runner was immediately lost, then what hope is there for the average trekker?

Photo by Alonzo Lyons

"One Trail to Rule Them All" was a slogan put forth with a grandiose, kingly name at a time when Nepal had just ousted a 239 year-old tyrannical crown--perhaps a more appropriate motto during that dynamic time might have been One Trail to Unite Nepal or even The Trail to Unite Them All. After all, the country was just out of a ten-year civil war and working to come together as a newly born democratic republic. Yet, even my above alternate names would miss the mark considerably until there actually is a trail. 

There is no one such trail or even a contiguous series of trails to venture cross-country in any sort of efficient way. If a person is lucky and with adept guides and tremendous logistical and technical gear and support (arranged with a great amount of funds), then they might be able to trek across the country from the eastern to western border, but certainly not on any singular trail, or even one contiguous route linking trails. There simply are not trails linking other trails in a number of remote areas even as maps might hazardously make it seem unless some very lengthy detours and wild zig-zags are undertaken to connect sections (such detours are not indicated on any of these maps).

Photo by Alonzo Lyons

Moreover, the seasonal window for crossing secluded, technical, mountain passes on a cross-country high traverse is relatively short and through isolated, rugged, uninhabited highland areas along the ramparts of the Himalaya. Spending time in this no-man's land at altitude including traversing technical passes requires not only the aforementioned expert guides with technical skills but a good deal of supporting gear and food as well as staff to help with both and not just route-finding. Certainly, such an expedition-style journey is outside the ken and budget of casual trekkers and most veteran trekkers for that matter.

Additionally, there is no Lower GHT. It is simply a conceptual line on a map, and I personally know the two guys who casually placed that line on a map. They did it from an office in inner-city Kathmandu far away from any remote trails. One of them never trekked in his life, the other manages a company that specializes in taking foreigners to Annapurna, Langtang and Everest and did no recce whatsoever in the majority of the country. 

Please don't get me wrong. People have hiked cross-country, and of course that is totally possible. Some people did near cross-country walks decades before the 'launching' of this posh project, but no one has hiked the so-called Lower GHT route because it  simply does not exist (the highly sponsored and talented group who hiked border-to-border followed a myriad of trails and not an advertised route). 

To the credit of SNV (the Dutch INGO that funds along with help from DFID, the aid wing of the United Kingdom, the heavy promotion and dazzling salaries of a multitude of people both foreign and domestic working on promoting the GHT fantasy), they have retreated from 'One Trail to Rule Them All' realizing at least that the initial slogan was a total fiction, although it is astonishing that the motto was vetted in the first place with the many paid experts that were on board.

Photo by Alonzo Lyons

Further retreats have been made, yet whatever the amorphous conception has been molded into at this point, with all due respect, the cash-infused notions of the GHT and Lower-GHT are nothing like the names suggest. I humbly request that people affiliated with the swanky campaign might reconsider associating their good names with it no matter what the financial rewards might be.

At this point, with all due respect, great Himalayan truth needs to surpass all else now more than ever as Nepal re-builds post-quake and I/NGOs and government agencies, agents, and accomplices might do well to consider a new, more transparent paradigm. If nothing else, then do it for the safety of trekkers who might be fooled into attempting a long-haul hike on a non-existent route.

Follies like this prompted a Nepali journalist to cry out, "Does Nepal need DFID or does DFID need Nepal?!" It is a fair enough question, especially for a citizen of a country burdened by indefinite 'aid'. Nepali journalists should turn the heat up on interlopers by continuing to ask valid, hard-hitting questions of these outsiders meddling in their homeland and demand credible, evidence-based answers to their operations as well as a time frame for withdrawal.

Notwthstanding humanitarian quake relief, Nepalis might do very best with the opportunity to choose their own programs and own targets without outside intervention that often enables dysfunctional elements of the status quo and therefore, empowers and embeds the wrong people while dis-empowering and disenfranchising the citizenry through mis-governance and paralyzing entitlements. 

Removing the deadweight, malignant establishment players and entities will be the best anyone could possibly imagine for development in Nepal. It would allow the Nepali people the chance to follow their own dreams with their own capabilities and efforts unencumbered by donors, diplomats, politicians and an entitled gang.

Many cheers for your patience and consideration regarding my comments above. Please keep on trekking, sightseeing and adventuring in Nepal, an outdoors paradise offering endless cultural and natural treasures along with a legendary hospitality that will charm visitors to this enchanting Himalayan Nirvana. And to the misguided of the aid workers, donors and I/NGO staff who've traveled overseas to change a society, please give renewed consideration to the trekker's maxim, "The Himalaya might change you, please don't change the Himalaya."

Photo by Alonzo Lyons

#DonorDarlings, #globaldev, #deadaid, #myGHTbs, #AidBully #Nepal #trekNepal #Himalaya

Nirvana Nepal

Aum Mani Padme Hum -- a renowned Tibetan mantra for 'the jewel is in the lotus'  -- varying interpretations of the meaning include enlightenment (the jewel) is right here on earth (the lotus). 

The trekking parody version of this mantra is, "Oh, Mommy Take Me Home." It is time to come home to Nepal's Nirvana, home to the Himalaya, home to hospitality, cultural and natural treasures and heaps of adventure, exploration and genuine smiles.... 

Come find a bountiful slice of Nirvana in Himalayan paradise.  

Neo Horizon is here to guide you on the trekking adventure of a lifetime; we are sure that you will be satisified with the experience and our services as you rediscover your smile and rejuvenate your spirit.  Aum Mani Padme Hum...Oh, Mommy Take Me Home, home to Nirvana Nepal.

See more at http://www.neohorizontravels.com/blog/nepal-nirvana.html

#trekking #Nirvana

Great Himalayan Fiction

(Advisory: Scathing, yet, hopefully realistic assessment--don't mind.) 

I am certainly not the only one who sees the Great Himalayan Trail (Trick?) to be a well-funded (Himalayan) snow job. Although, I might be one of the few Himalayaphiles willing to call it out publicly (many others have shared their disbelief with me in private), especially in the face of a moneyed industry that has grown up around the fictional line on a map. A corps of well-paid and articulate people have worked feverishly to will the concept into being with exuberant energy and talent despite Himalayan obstacles and Himalayan chasms and lack of a any semblance of a contiguous trail.

Even the talented gentleman who wrote the eponymous guidebook makes a striking confession. In his Acknowledgements he mentions the three Sherpa guides who made it possible by joining him 'every step of the way'. 

Three Sherpa?

Ever step of the way?

This is a skilled, veteran trekker with many seasons of experience in Nepal. If he needed three Sherpa guides every step of a cross-country journey to find the way, negotiate logistics,  technical sections and survival, then what hope is there for the average trekker to pick up a guidebook and go?

In fact, an elite, world-class trail runner tried that and was dangerously off course within days, losing personal items and forced to return to Kathmandu by vehicle, perhaps lucky something worse did not happen.

Again, if a elite, seasoned trail runner was immediately lost, then what hope is there for an average trekker?

"One Trail to Rule Them All" was put forth with a grandiose, kingly name at a time when Nepal had just ousted a 239 year-old tyrannical crown--perhaps a more appropriate motto during that dynamic time might have been One Trail to Unite Nepal or even The Trail to Unite Them All. After all, the country was just out of a ten-year civil war and working to come together as a newly born democratic republic. Yet, even my above alternate names would miss the mark considerably until there actually is a trail. 

There is no one such trail or even a contiguous series of trails. If a person is lucky and with adept guides and tremendous logistical and technical gear and support (arranged with a great amount of funds), then they might be able to trek across the country from the eastern to western border, but certainly not on any singular trail, or even one contiguous route linking trails. There simply are not trails linking other trails in a number of remote areas even as maps might hazardously make it seem unless some very lengthy detours and wild zig-zags are undertaken to connect sections (such detours are not indicated on any of these maps).

Moreover, the seasonal window for crossing secluded, technical, mountain passes on a cross-country high traverse is relatively short and through isolated, rugged, uninhabited highland areas along the ramparts of the Himalaya. Spending time in this no-man's land at altitude including traversing technical passes requires not only the aforementioned expert guides with technical skills but a good deal of supporting gear and food and staff to help with both and not just route-finding. Certainly, such an expedition-style journey is outside the ken and budget of casual trekkers and even elite trekkers for that matter.

Additionally, there is no Lower GHT. It is simply a conceptual line on a map, and I personally know the two guys who casually placed that line on a map. They did it from an office in inner-city Kathmandu far away from any remote trails. One of them never trekked in his life, the other manages a company that specializes in taking foreigners to Annapurna, Langtang and Everest and did no recce whatsoever in the majority of the country. 

Please don't get me wrong. People have hiked cross-country, and of course that is totally possible. Some people did near cross-country walks decades before the 'launching' of this posh project, but no one has hiked the so-called Lower GHT route, because it  simply does not exist (the highly sponsored and talented group who hiked border-to-border followed a myriad of trails and not an advertised route). 

To the credit of SNV (the Dutch INGO that funds along with help from DFID, the aid wing of the UK, the heavy promotion and dazzling salaries of a multitude of people both foreign and domestic working on promoting the GHT fantasy), they have retreated from 'One Trail to Rule Them All' realizing at least that the initial title was total fiction, although not sure how it was vetted in the first place with the many paid experts that were on board.

Further retreats have been made, yet whatever the amorphous conception has been molded into at this point, with all due respect, the cash-infused notions of the GHT and Lower-GHT are nothing like the names suggest. I humbly request that people affiliated with the swanky campaign might reconsider associating their good names with it no matter what the financial rewards might be.

At this point, with all due respect, great Himalayan truth needs to trump all else now more than ever as Nepal re-builds post-quake and I/NGOs and government agencies, agents, and accomplices might do well to consider a new, more transparent paradigm. If nothing else, then do it for the safety of trekkers who might be fooled into attempting a long-haul hike on a non-existent route.

Follies like this prompted a Nepali journalist to cry out, "Does Nepal need DFID or does DFID need Nepal?!" It is a fair enough question, especially for a citizen of a country burdened by indefinite 'aid'. Nepali journalists should turn the heat up by continuing to ask valid, hard-hitting questions of these outsiders operating in their homeland and demand credible, evidence-based answers.

Outside of humanitarian quake relief, Nepalis might do very best with the opportunity to choose their own programs and own targets without outside intervention that often enables dysfunctional elements of the status quo and therefore, empowers and embeds the wrong people while disempowering and disenfranchising the citizenry through mis-governance and paralyzing entitlements. 

Removing the deadweight, malignant establishment players and entities will be the best anyone could possibly imagine for development. It would allow the Nepali people the freedom to follow their own dreams with their own capabilities and efforts unencumbered by donors, diplomats, politicians and an entitled gang.

Many cheers for your patience and consideration regarding my comments above and please keep on trekking, sightseeing and adventuring. Nepal offers endless cultural and natural treasures along with a legendary hospitality that will charm visitors in an enchanting Himalayan land. And to the misguided of the aid workers, donors and I/NGO staff who've traveled overseas to effect change in Nepal, please give renewed consideration to the trekker's maxim, "The Himalaya might change you, please don't change the Himalaya."

#FreeNepal #DonorDarlings #myGHTbs

A trek by any other name is still a trek :)

The following is my personal response to a post by Rich Ball regarding the so-called West Dhaulagiri Trek:

Great site for rugged runners. Keep up the nice work Mr. Ball!

One bone of contention…. There is no Lower GHT (and no  upper one for that matter), just a line on a map, and I personally know the two guys who randomly placed that line on a map far away from any trails in an office in central Kathmandu. One of them has never trekked in his life, the other runs a company that specializes in taking foreigners to Annapurna, Langtang and Everest and did no recce whatsoever...unless you know someone who has hiked this so-called route (and not the group who simply hiked border-to-border following a myriad of trails and not the 'advertised' route), then with all due respect, please reconsider referring to it as anything but a fictitious trail.

Additionally, just so you know, Map House (aka, Crap House – their maps fall apart in a day or less) appropriated my information from my Guerrilla Trek map for the Dhorpatan map that you mention and they did so without acknowledgement and without payment. They did not ask for permission and therefore, I humbly request that this site does not promote that map and company until they make good on due acknowledgement and payment.

My apologies for raising these issues on this public forum, but in my humble opinion, the truth needs to trump all else now more than ever as Nepal re-builds and organizations like SNV and Map House might do well to consider a new, more transparent paradigm. Cheers for your patience and consideration regarding my comment and requests and please do keep up the great work that you are doing promoting trail running and trail runners in Nepal.

______________________________________________________________________
Will be pleasantly surprised if Rich Ball allows the above on his otherwise great site (therefore here it is for the record on my traffic-less blog, haha)

Update: Credit to Rich Ball for allowing my comments on his site despite snug ties to SNV and Crap House whom I implicate above for deception and transparency issues -- the type that has dis-empowered Nepal for centuries and continues to bully and incapacitate the good people of Nepal robbed of opportunity.

Your Swahili is better than their Nepali

I am completely astonished at Nepal guidebook writers who scarcely pronounce a lick of Nepali (at least understandably) yet are still somehow producing guidebooks to the country (offhand, I know four such toungeless authors, one of whom doesn't have a handle on English, too). Yes, they are writing in-depth information about a land where they do not speak or understand even marketplace lingua franca or better.

Your Swahili is probably better than their Nepali. And we all know about your dreadful Swahili ;)

It is a valid question...how do they do it? How to possibly manage the field research without language skills? I mean, they don't have to be perfect by any means, but can they truly discover and write detailed information without minimal language ability? It is mystifying...

How to gather information in English, especially in out of the way places including rural, off-the-beaten-path, upland areas? Maybe they totally rely on guides/translators along whole routes and recces, and if so, it might then be doubtful that unbiased, accurate information can be compiled in English based on second-hand information...hoina?

Otherwise, seems it would take enormous, audacious talents to research it all in angreji (English), ho-la.

Ke Garne?

#FreeNepal  #Trekking #Himalaya #Swahili

'Volunterrorism' in aid-ridden Nepal

For the people traveling overseas to effect change in a faraway country, may the Himalayan trekker’s adage light the way, ‘The Himalaya might change you, please do not change them.’

My apologies if the message is harsh, especially to the rare aid worker making a true diffeence...however, the effects of foreign intervention on a country I love has been deathly harsh. Therefore, I feel the need to speak out now more than ever as Nepal re-builds.

If anything, work to free people of oppressive governments, that is the best that we can do for those of us who cannot resists getting involved one way or another. Then the freed people will be free to pursue their own dreams and life with their own skills and talents.

#Corruption #FreeNepal #NepalQuake