Which means in Nepali, “How are you?”

It took me about a week to learn that one.

Other phrases I learned on my two week Annapurna Circuit Trek:

• Big potato
• There is a waterfall
• Small river
• See you again when I return
• I am in pain
• Water please
• I am full thank you

You could pretty much call me fluent.

The hike was absolutely spectacular; beautiful views, new friendships, awkward moments, severe soreness at times. At last minute I decided to take my friend Ramu who is a trekking guide.

Ramu spoke pretty good English, but spending two weeks straight with any person, even if you’re already friends, can be harsh. He only knew three songs-Bob Marley’s ‘Buffalo Soldier’, The Venga Boys ‘I’m blue da da da’ song, and some really popular Nepali song that went something like, ‘Resim Phirry, Resim Phirry, I am a donkey, you are a monkey’. Whenever I tried to hum a new song, he would just start singing one of these songs really loud over me. And for some reason, his nails on his hands were extremely long. Wolverine-esque I would say.

Very strange.

The hike is supposed to take 16-21 days but being the speed demon hiker that I had no idea I was, we finished in 14. Here’s me very happy to reach the pass.

The day we went over the Thorong La pass, (5416m; 17,something ft), was my brother’s 30th birthday. After waking up at 5am to hike over the pass, we spend an additional 6 hours hiking to a town with a phone so I could try to call him. I didn’t get through, and the next morning my feet were swollen and covered in blisters from the long hike before. I’ll spare you the photo.

I wobbled around town trying to find a doctor for some bandages. The only doctor I could find was a traditional Tibetan medicine doctor. I was a bit skeptical, considering his office was inside a place called the Dancing Yak Lodge and Restaurant.

You can’t make this stuff up people.

The office was like nothing I’d ever seen. The walls were lined with small glass jars with all sorts of powder, dried ‘things’, seeds, and who knows what else, all with Tibetan written labels. The doctor walked in, dressed in a down jacket and with a long ponytail. He spoke good English, which took me by surprise. After taking a look at my feet, he drained some blisters, and then picked two jars off the wall and gave me two kinds of medicine to take. The first looked like cornstarch, and I was supposed to soak my feet in water with the powder every day. When I saw the second, the first thing that came into my mind was mice turds. I was supposed to take three ‘turd looking things’ in the morning and night. I didn’t ask what the medicine actually was; I really didn’t want to know.

At this point I think he must’ve seen the shock on my face; there’s no way I could hide it.

He began to tell me that he teaches traditional Tibetan medicine at Virginia Tech. He pulls out a folder with Virginia Tech written on it, and a copy of the Roanoke Times, which had a long article on him. A painter from Virginia had made a 10ft by 10ft mural of his life story. Here’s the medicine he gave me and a photo of the mural.

I was blown away. Dr. Tsampa Nawang is his name. Giving out mice turd medicine is his game. (I kid, I kid.)

My feet slowly got better and I started hiking with these guys for the last few days-Mel and Guy, an Australian couple, and Joe, one hairy man from New York. Here we are on the last day of the hike at sunrise.

All in all it was a great time, but it would’ve been better without Wolverine and with Eli my boyfriend. Lesson learned.

Now I leave Kathmandu and head to Pokhara to do some paragliding, which I am very excited about. I’m not sure where I’m heading to next-let me know which place you think I should go from here.