In Cairo

(from an email to Emma and Michael)

It's good to be here.... adjusting to a totally new environment, but we're liking it.

Last night we met one of my contacts... we went to this very "hip" place by the Nile river, under this huge sort-of Bedouin tent, wind blowing through, lights of Cairo around us, near full moon rising, lots of people smoking "hubble & bubble" pipes.... and some of the best food we've had in weeks.

Salim is coming back today, which is like Sunday here, and we're going into old Cairo with him to look around. Tomorrow we're meeting more people, Sunday probably to see the Pyramids of Giza, and then out to Sekem on Monday, probably Tuesday as well.

There'll be more meetings, including giving a talk to senior school students, and later on Sekem staff, on Monday.

In Cario

The tavellers have arrived safely in Cairo.

a brief outline of travel plans

WEDNESDAY 02 MAY 2007
Depart from Kathmandu on Thai Airways
Arrival time Bangkok
THURSDAY 03 MAY 2007
Depart from Bangkok on Thai Airways
0600 Arrival time Cairo
Own arrangements in Cairo until 14 May
MONDAY 14 MAY 2007
Depart from Cairo on Lufthansa
1850 Arrival time Frankfurt
2055 Depart from Frankfurt on Lufthansa
2205 Arrival time Milan
FRIDAY 18 MAY 2007
1230 Depart from Milan
1335 Arrival time Rome
SATURDAY 23 JUNE 2007
Depart from Paris
1115 Arrival time London Heathrow
Own arrangements in London until 07 July
SATURDAY 07 JULY 2007
Depart from London Heathrow
1257 Arrival time San Francisco
Transfer to your connecting flight
Depart from San Francisco on Air New Zealand
MONDAY 09 JULY 2007
0530 Arrival time Auckland
0925 Depart from Auckland on Air New Zealand
1025 Arrival time Napier Hastings

Lena - The Trek

Before we left New Zealand, we were interviewed by the Hawkes Bay Today. The lady who talked to us asked me what I was most looking forward to on the trip and I said: seeing the Pyramids in Egypt. Well I'm still looking forward to that, we'll be in Egypt on Thursday, but the highlight for me so far has definitely been trekking around the Annapurna circuit for three weeks.

Before we left home we did a three day walk to try out all our gear and I was so unfit and got really worried about how I'd handle walking for three whole weeks.

I never imagined that it would be such a struggle and we'd go through so much, but it wouldn't have been the same without all the hardships. The worst for me was having all these people pass us on the third day walking, but we caught up in the end. I had been fighting the food poisoning that we got in Kathmandu the day before we left and it caught up on me big time; I could barely walk, let alone carry a bag, or walk up the hills! I was so grateful that I had Dad and Ali there to support me, as well as our guide, Karma, and the two porters who carried our packs, I couldn't have done it without them all.

At times it was like walking through a fairytale landscape from stories, it was so beautiful and magical, the photos we took honestly don't do justice to it. It wasn't just the landscape, but all the weird and wonderful people we met along the way. You know who you are. Mwahaha, just kidding....hehe

Anyway back to the story. First I walked slow because I was sick, and then once I was better I was still walking slow because we were getting into higher altitudes. It felt so surreal when Dad said we were at the same height as Ruapehu and walking along flat at that height. I even ran a bit just to say that I'd run at that altitude.

All the walking was leading up to going over Thorong La pass and once we were over, it was kind of like, Ok, now what? Sweet, we'll just have to keep on walking out the other side then.

The first side was way more special to me than the second side, not to say that we didn't have really awesome experiences there too, but once we left the mountains behind, nothing compared to having been amongst such magnificent presence.

The road was definitely a mood killer and we all were really angry and upset by it, but just focus on the good things right? I'm just glad we were able to do it before it was completed. All in all this is one thing I'll never forget for the rest of my life and wouldn't change it for the world.

Tomorrow we leave Nepal after being here for just over a month. Yesterday I gave a presentation to the core climate change group in Kathmandu, with representatives from the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), WWF Nepal, IUCN, Winrock International and Practical Action.

The bulk of our time here has been spent walking the Annapurna circuit and doing what we could to interview local people along with dealing with illness and other challenges. Before we left I shared some information on the Annapurna Conservation Area Programme (ACAP). I think up to about 10 years ago this was a very strong programme for protection and enhancement of the Annapurna region.

The disruption with the Maoists and the assassination of the royal family has created greater instability and a weakening of efforts by ACAP and others. Because of associations with the royal family the ACAP presence has been significantly affected, for example the Maoists destroyed the ACAP offices in Ghandruk village three years ago. This political instability along with political pressure from China and India are some of the main reasons why the road is happening in the Annapurna region. My main message to the climate change group yesterday was the need to focus efforts on supporting wise, local leadership in developing and implementing future visions.

As I've already said here, we found good local people who simply need more support to encourage reafforestation programmes. In villages like Marpha and Ghandruk there are strong local communities at present, but they are facing challenges. Now is the time to act. We're not going to solve the major issues of our time sitting around tables. We truly need to get beyond the talk and focus our collective efforts on positive, proactive change. Ecological restoration is a fundamental necessity, everywhere. As Michung Gurung from Thorong Phedi said to me, if we could channel things away from guns and wars into planting trees we might actually make some serious progress towards a truly sustainable future. As simple as it seems I believe it truly is this simple ... if only we can get enough people to be more aware and focused on small, simple, practical actions.

Tomorrow we leave for Cairo, via Bangkok. After some days of anxiety I have finally heard from my contact in Egypt. I have been communicating with people from Sekem (see www.sekem.com) a very strong and positive initiative in Egypt that I am very interested to learn more about and share. Egypt will be very interesting and another dimension to the story, after 11 weeks in Asia. So far we've travelled from the south coast of Thailand, to hill tribes in the north, by the Mekong, to the lowlands, then on to Viet Nam from north to south and the Mekong Delta, and to Nepal walking high into the Himilayas. Now to an arid, desert region and the Nile basin. We only have 10 days there, enough to develop some impressions and meet some good people.

The Trek by Alice

The first day trekking was very hard. As everyone knows we had all got food poisoning in Kathmandu and that was not cool. So anyway the first day was the worst for me!!

As the days went by I got used to the environment and where I was and it helped me feel better as well to think that I was following in my teachers footsteps. As the landscape changed and we got to higher altitude, we experienced swelling on all our fingers and Dad's were the worst. We began to see snowy mountains and beautiful clear blue sky.

Along the way we saw lots of donkeys with heavy loads. Going over Thorong La was totally awesome and I just remember thinking, just keep on walking, one step in front of the other and slowly but surely we reached the top. I have to say, I felt like being sick, but I didn't. Then I place a stone on the pile at the top and Dad took a photo of me and Lena placing it on there.

Then we slowly made our way down the other side. For the rest of the journey I kept at a good pace. In Jomsom we met up with Mum and it was cool to see her again. From all the time we have been trekking we met some really cool people.

Trekking in the end was definitely my highlight of this journey and there's going to be way more stuff that is going to be really cool, but trekking was definitely the first for me. Now I know I can do anything and I believe in myself more for that.

Nepal and The Trek

Putting together the story of the past three weeks has been a little patchy at this end. For this I apologise. If you go to the Nepal link on the right you can follow the story - apologies that the time line is a little haphazard - I will rectify this and add photos as I am able over the next couple of days.

Michael