Travel. Adventure. Trekking. Journey. Nepal.
The Journey to Nepal — Hattiban and the Long Night
Part four of my two and half months on the roof of the world
As we made our way through the dust filled and packed streets of Kathmandu, I couldn’t help but wonder “What will Hattiban look like?”. As the paved road slowly turned into a mix between gravel and dirt, the streets became less congested and buildings more spread apart with the mountains, or as the Nepalis call them “Foothills” of Kathmandu beginning to get closer and closer. What I was told about Hattiban was that it was a beautifully forested area with a local temple, The Champa Devi, and ample trails for running. So, my western mind, having never been to Nepal before, somehow dreamed up a lush green flat oasis of an area with a massive, colorful, monastery centrally situated with monks mediating and trails winding around and through the local forests. I think I can begin by stating that my vision was the opposite of the reality of what was to be, but certainly not in a bad way.
As our bus began to drive towards the base of one of the foothills, surely towards my flat vision of Hattiban, we suddenly veered off the main road and up what I thought to be a walking trail! “This can’t actually be a road?!” I said to myself in astonishment as we kept going up this tiny, blasted path made up of nothing but potholes and boulders. However, the calm confidence I saw in our driver made me feel slightly at ease as the bus bounced up and down as we zig-zagged up and up the side of this foothill. Eventually the bus came to a halt in-font of a large iron gate with small, fenced area enclosing a tan field inside, all under the shade of the towering Nepali Pine Trees. We had arrived at Hattiban.
This would be the first time I would be camping in my life. So, I can tell you that I was excited…but also with that excitement came the fear of if I’d properly adjust to this new lifestyle. It took only minutes before our lead instructor began guiding us through the process of setting up camp since the sun was slowly starting to go down. Cool, confident, and collected, our lead instructor, Amrit Ale, gave off an aura of peace and wisdom that put us all to ease as we began building our home base. It wasn’t soon after we arrived that our tents were all up and what used to be a small empty field on a foothill became a home.
While Amrit certainly had me at ease in building our tents, that night would prove to be the hardest and mentally longest of my time in Nepal. Having hardly slept the night before and gone for a long run in the morning, I was exhausted after the travel day and called it a night around 8:30PM. Bear in mind that when camping, your primary source of light is the sun and when it sets, the primary source of light shifts to a headlamp strapped to your head. So, by 8:30PM it had been dark for over an hour, and I was done for the day and felt very prepared and confident to sleep through the night.
The preparedness and confidence were merely mental illusions. I was not prepared.
I awoke around 11:30 p.m. with the need to visit one of our two latrine tents. Oh, you were wondering how we used the bathroom out here? Ah, it’s far simpler than you think. It’s a tall, small, single person wide tent housing a 3-foot deep hole in the ground . Also in the tent is a bag of sawdust which you spread on whatever you end up leaving behind to keep the flies to a minimum. These tents would be with us for about 25 of our 75 days in Nepal, 14 of them being in Hattiban.
Additionally, on arrival to Hattiban. Amrit had initially instructed that, before entering the “shit tent,” as we’d call it, that we secure wiping material, such as large smooth leaves. Amrit’s instruction was not without reason as he also enlightened us of the Nepali custom of primarily using your right hand for everything, as the left is known as unclean. So, I’ll leave it to your deductive reasoning as to why you don’t shake hands with your left hand…
However, after some polite protest, we were given a single roll of toilet paper to use and ration for the next 14 days, no extras.
Now, where were we?
Trying my best not to wake my tent mate, Sean, or anyone else, I slipped out of my sleeping bag to do the deed.
I came back, slipped into my sleeping bag, and, well, just couldn’t sleep. I’d never camped before and simply couldn’t get comfortable. Furthermore, our campsite was on a slant. So, I was anxious not to roll my face into the tent wall and asphyxiate myself. That little fear was the pebble that began an avalanche of fear that swept my mind into such anxiety that I wondered later if I had actually had a small panic attack. The idea that I may shift off the full year Outdoor Instructor Program (OIP) had started to gain some traction in my mind, but with that came so much unknown. If I veered off the OIP now, instead of trying to sort my life after it’s ideal completion in January 2022, I’d need to start sorting it once I got back form Nepal in about 80 days.
There just was so much on my mind. Every scenario ran on repeat as I tried to find any form of comfort in my sleeping bag, a comfort I just couldn’t find.
I wondered that if I couldn’t fall asleep, would I ever be able to fall asleep in a camping setting? If I couldn’t then I may need to start beginning to sort my life out immediately. If I couldn’t sleep, how on Earth would I complete the rest of the program which relied primarily on sleeping in a tent? Honestly, I even started playing out the scenario of packing my bags and heading to the airport the next day. If I couldn’t pass this test, then all was lost. All hope that I had put into this dream dashed not by lack of strength on the wall or endurance in the mountains, but by the unlikely foe of my subconscious. The fear was soul crushing.
As I struggled to fall asleep, nearly in tears, a quote I read a while back came to me from the deepest recesses of my mind, as if sent from an ancestor to help bring me peace…
“F-E-A-R has two meanings: ‘Forget Everything And Run’ or ‘Face Everything And Rise.’ The choice is yours.” ― Zig Ziglar
At that moment, I made a choice, made the quote my mantra, and began repeating it, interminably, in my head until, at last, my eyes closed until the dawn.
My journal entry recounting that night pulls at my heart even to today.
I’ve mentioned before how the start of this program was my most challenging time and my first night in Hattiban was rock bottom. The good news was all I had to do after this long night was “rise”.
This was to be two weeks of learning all things Advanced Wilderness First Aid as well as an introduction to Outdoor Climbing. Let me begin by also stating I had zero knowledge of Wilderness First Aid and my climbing experience was limited to the past few months of self-training at a local indoor climbing gym. You may be wondering why I did this in the first place. I never camped or did any of this before…what was I thinking?
Well, I just knew that if I wanted my time in Nepal to be truly meaningful and transformative, I couldn’t go at it from a position of safety and knowing. I needed to be thrown into the abys of the unknown and be broken down to build back anew. I needed to confront my fears.
The Hike To Champa Devi Temple
Before we dove into Wilderness First Aid, we began with a half day hike to the Champa Devi Temple. Again, I will remind you of my vision of this being a large beautiful multicolored monastery on a flat open space. Seeing as our campsite was situated on an incline atop of a foothill, the flat open space was definitely out the window, for starters. The Champa Devi Temple, temple to the divine feminine energy, was located westward, straight up the next foothill.
On our way up, there were points where the tall pines would clear, and the rolling emerald foothills of The Himalaya would appear in such a mystical majesty that I couldn’t help but just stare straight into them as if under some spell. These vistas were but a taste of what I longed to witness in coming to Nepal.
As we climbed, the trail turned from a dirt path to a staircase. We climbed what seemed like an endless number of stairs until we came to it, the temple. Far from my grandiose vision, Champa Devi was a small quaint little space with a few bells, offerings and the trident of Lord Shiva.. Next to the temple there was a canopied seating area where we all took our rests. I went up to the temple, rang the bell, bowed my head, said a prayer, and did my clockwise walk around in what I believed to be the best way I could respect this type of holy site which I had hardly ever encountered in The West.
After only a few moments catching our breath from the strenuous hike up, the clouds darkened, and white flashes of lightning began. We knew we’d need to make it back down to camp immediately to avid being stuck up here for the night. The slip and slide down that ensued was certainly one for the books and I couldn’t remember the last time being as drenched as when I arrived at camp that evening. Everything was utterly soaked. The good news was that I went to sleep that night utterly exhausted and managed to stay asleep for most of the evening, success.
Advanced Wilderness First Aid and CPR Training
Alongside our lead instructor, Amrit, was a man whom we would come to see as not only Amrit’s uncle, but also our own, Chandra Ale. With some 30 years of experience in the outdoors ranging from all forms of wilderness rescue to a mastery of rock climbing and the outdoors, Chandra would be one of our greatest resources in building our confidence as Adventure Guide Trainees. In addition to his skills, Chandra’s boundless desire to help educate us, no matter if it were at dawn or after dusk was a tremendous gift that we’d never be able to repay him for for.
This Advanced Wilderness First Aid and CPR training, by far, was quite daunting to me as I had zero background in any form of medicine. However, through a great balance of classroom learning and mock scenarios I soon began to feel more confident. Chandra took the lead in our education, and we were certainly privileged to have him share his 30 years of wilderness first-aid experience in educating us. It’s one thing to discuss what to do if there is a hypothetical emergency while in high altitude and it’s another thing to have Chandra discuss what it was really like and how he used the skills he was teaching us in helping to save another’s life.
The mock scenarios were my favorite pieces of the education as it allowed me to really put the classroom skills to the test. My confidence slowly began to grow as I practiced such things as: using traction-in-line to treat a broken femur, creating a secure sling for a broken arm, helping a victim of a lightning strike, or treating a hand laceration. One of the best parts was Amrit and Chandra’s openness to questions and afterhours learning. Many of us would sit with Chandra after the days learning and he would give us all the time to ask questions and help us hone the skills we were learning. We were certainly beyond lucky to have Chandra as our instructor.
As the program began to unfold, I slowly began to acclimate to my new life. The team built a small space next to camp with tarp protecting it to be our bucket shower area. I found I had most success taking a cold bucket shower in the morning as the sun would be piercing below the tree canopy allowing a quicker and warmer dry versus in the evening when the colder temperatures began to set.
We had a cook team on board for this first week before we would take over cooking for ourselves. Our head chef, Krishna was a man of few words who, based on my interactions, would have mastery of the English language that was dependent on the question asked of him. Generally, you were left trying to scramble together the few words he’d mutter in response to your inquiry. That aside, Krishna and his sous chef, Jit (pronounced Jeet), would provide us with bountiful meals that would never leave any of us hungry.
Before beginning our introduction to outdoor rock climbing, we first took our examinations for certification in Advanced Wilderness First-Aid and CPR. Needless to say, we all passed the examinations. While it all seemed light and fun to learn this, unbeknownst to me, there would be many trials ahead where these skills would be put to the real test.
Next up, The Wall.
This is the continuation of my series covering my 75 day Adventure Guide Program in Nepal with Pure Exploration. To learn more, reach out directly.
Part 1: The Journey to Nepal — Ad Astra
Part 2: The Journey to Nepal — Arrival
Part 3: The Journey to Nepal — Quarantine
You can see more of my journey on Instagram here
