Callan 的个人资料Shadows and Crystals照片日志列表更多  |  工具 帮助 |
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3月26日 Namche BazaarI'm sitting in an internet cafe at 3480m, in a small town called Namche Bazar, and have suffered my first set of altitude symptoms in the form of a 24hr headache that is now dissipating. Namche Bazar is small and winding, set on a set of terraces on the edge of a mountain cliff. The streets are lined with people selling mountain equipment, both real and fake, and pretty much nothing else. The paths around here are busy, filled with trains of yaks (the local carriage animal) carrying bags and kit, as well as porters carrying loads almost as large as themselves on their backs (sort of up to about 60kg!)
We flew from Kathmandu airport to Lukla in a small 16-seater twin-prop plane, with some fantastic views of the surrounding peaks as we entered the Himalayan range proper. The flight actually turned out to e something of an adrenaline rush, what with the landing runway being about 200m long, heading straight for a rock wall. I tell you now, the landing is extremely tight for the space available, and heading for a rock wall at 80mph is pretty alarming and makes for a thrilling start to a day. Once landed, it became apparent that the only reason that planes can take off and land here is because the runway slopes at about 20 degrees from horizontal for additional braking. I'm looking forward to the return flight, where you zoom down the runway and drop off the cliff at the end to reach takeoff velocity =)
We sent our bags ahead by yak, and trekked (in the blistering heat and sunshine) about 2.5 hours to a place called Phakding where we had lunch, and then a little further on to a tiny lodge in a village called Monju. Unfortunately some of the bags didn't make it to the lodge, and needless to say one of those was mine. The night was cold, and my sleeping bag was on a yak somewhere along with any extra clothing, my down jacket, some of my chocolate supply and more clothing.
In the end you just had to laugh, but we'll gloss over the various night incidents involving various people running to th bathroom for various urgent reasons.
On that note, a further 3-4 people have fallen ill over the past couple of days (I got the bug in Kathmandu, fortunately, so I am thus far untroubled on the trek by any GI infections). It's miserably unpleasant though for all that its short lived, and it may end up making the testing timetable here at Namche a little tight on staff.
The second day of trekking was Namche hill, which was a killer. The scenery is stunning, pine forests and snow peaks in a warm sunshine, but the hill is abou 600 vertical metres and believe me when I tell you that you can feel the air is thinner here. It took me about 2 hours to climb the hill and I was something like the 7th person up out of 30-odd. It was really interesting to see our oxygen saturations, which at sea level were almost exclusively 98-100% during exercise, and here are more like 84-90%.
I know I sound like I'm complaining, but I'm not. Its really fantastic here, the mountains are stunning and the yaks are tempramental at best =) This could well be my last blog for a while - I don't know if I'll have internet access any higher up the mountain. Thanks to all those who have sent e-mails, and I trust all is well. Tomorrow testing starts, and then after 4 days of that we move on up the valley towards Everest via Pheriche, which is the third (and final) lab pre-EBC. We test ourselves in both places, and then we begin testing the 200-odd trekkers who'll start rolling in at the start of April. I'm sure whe I get back I will not want to eat noodles or rice (or yak) for a goodly while =D.
Take care everyone. 3月23日 KathmanduJust a quick update while I am about and have some rudimentary internet access. I am currently still in Kathmandu, leaving tomorrow. I passed through my little travellers illness yesterday - at home you'd just lie about and at the end of the day you feel better. In a team of doctors you get given hydration salts, 1000mg cipro and bucastem and have your blood glucose measured, after which you are told to lie about and at the end of the day you should feel better. A bit like when Andre fainted during his muscle biopsy and they dashed in with the crash trolley...
Off up to Lukla tomorrow, and the trek begins proper then. The summit hotel in which we are staying atm is brilliant, very nice relaxing place, and not conducive to wanting to spend 2 months in a tent at base camp. Kathmandu is very entertaining, what with traffic laws being vague guidelines and the roads being filled not only with ancient taxis. minibuses, motorbikes and cars but also with pedestrians, dense traffic fumes, animals and rickshaws. The traffic density remains about the same whether you are on a 3 lane road or a narrow, dirt track with trenches dug in it and gigantic piles of rubbish or rocks. There are 48 temples within 20 minutes walk of Temel, which is the main touristy shopping district of Kathmandu, for a bizarre mix of Buddhism and Hinduism, complete with the occasional sacrifical day when various animals are relieved of their heads citywide, which is rather charming. Worship is integrated into everything, with bells and prayer wheels about in little shrines citywide, and people worship just as they go about their daily business, which is quite nice to witness. SOme unusual gods as well, the god of smoke (and fertility) and by smoke, of course, the offering dish was filled with marijuana. There was a god of alcohol, and the living goddess, a person selected by priests at birth to be a goddess. There is also a distinct amount of background unrest, with a fair number of protest marches, Maoist and anti-Maoist being the two general parties I've picked up on. Although in Temel the rallies were peaceful, 27 people were killed in clashes in other districts of Kathmandu, and there was one day of the week we have been here where the hotel closed and locked it's gates, and we were strongly advised not to go into Kathmandu unless absolutely necessary. Tomorrow morning we hit the slopes and the snow. The holiday vibe part of the trek will then be over, and the research will begin in earnest. I have been assigned to CPX at base camp, meaning that I'll be working pretty long days potentially, and someone had the good decision making skills to say that we shouldn't swap over jobs at all over the 3 month period, meaning no doubt that by the end of the trip we'll all have gone insane. Ah well, these things happen. I hope that everything back in good ol' England is ok. 3月15日 Beautiful DayI don't normally take much advantage of beautiful days, but today has been an exception - I had some blood taken in the morning at 8:00, which is always a good start to a day, and then just bought some snacky things and a bottle of Copella in Waitrose and walked the 6 or so miles home at a leisurely pace, stopping whenever I fancied a break and eating some grapes or whatever. I also in that time manged to spend about an hour and a half contact juggling on the central reservation of a dual carriageway, which was just one of those weird experiences that are really enjoyable because they are so unusual.  3月14日 Everest FarewellsFirstly,
I'd like to state that this won't necessarily be my final blog entry
before I leave, just one to say all I need to say before I do. Well, I leave on Saturday evening, from which point on I will be either difficult or impossible to reach for then next three months. By all means e-mail me - I'll be happy to hear from you - but when I hear from you is subject to extreme random timing depending on the rare occasions I'll have internet access. I'll do my best to keep you all updated - when I get the chance I'll at least update this blog with some news so that you all know I'm still alive and kicking  . If I don't, there will be regular blogs written by the Xtreme Team on www.xtreme-everest.co.uk so there will be news there for interested parties.I guess I just want to say thank you to all those who arranged my surprise party, and everyone who has wished me well on my trip, and especially all those who have written (or even 'written') in my trip leaving book (if there is anyone who hasn't and would like to, write something and get it to me by saturday noon and I will put it in). Make sure you all have a fantastic time while I am away, try not to do anything TOO foolish, and I'll see you all when I get back. Yep, all of you. Even if I have to throw the biggest summer BBQ party ever, or drag myself a hundred miles or so. Oh, and try not to miss me desperately - I know you all will  .Oh, and when you lie warm in your beds at night, think of me in a -15 degree tent, and grin in a smug satisfied manner at the foolishness of others .
Enjoy the ride, enjoy your three months, and don't be shy to send me
e-mails! all the company I get when I can get it will be nice. Also, to
all those taking exams - good luck.And good evening. 3月12日 A Tale of Two OffersSo I have two offers, and have been thinking a good deal over the past few days (well, mainly today) about which to accept, should this exact circumstance arise. A whole raft of stuff to consider, ranging from distance from home (and whether a long distance is better or worse) to accommodation to league tables to living costs to gut feeling to hunch to what students at said universities said. Oh, and don't forget the importance of the local hospitals. And after all that, it was still pretty even, but I was still leaning towards Southampton University. Very much a case of torn between two good things - I think I'd enjoy being in either Southampton or Birmingham pretty much equally. It's also really good to know that I CAN actually get a place at a uni that interviews, and hence am not a complete interview failure. *sigh* I hate making big decisions, because I always dwell too much on what I might be missing out on instead of the doors I am opening for myself. I always want the best of both. Think free. I did say I needed to move fast once I had my offers confirmed. *deep breath* Southampton it is. Click. Still waiting11:02 - Still waiting to hear from Birmingham. 13:33 - All quiet on the UCAS front 14:25 -  beginning to suspect I may have to rant down the phone, politely and calmly, tomorrow...15:36 - Suspicions becoming increasingly concrete. 17:28 - Offer confirmed. 3月11日 Feeling goodJust spun a lot of fire for the first time in a long time, and it feels fantastic! Last spin pre-everest...the clock is ticking and there is still mountains of stuff to be done. All my packing, some blood tests for the Hep B vaccine, accommodation for uni once I've recieved all my options and chosen them, still some more kit to buy...the list seems to grow as fast as it whittles down. But soon I leave the country, and it'll no longer matter  3月9日 Cats3月7日 BirminghamToday was my interview, and I think it went ok - there were a few things I didnt know about what happens after graduating in medicine, which they seemed to be incredibly interested in somehow - struck me as a bit odd all what with them doing the uni thing and everything. As for the uni, it all seems good, which means I am put in a bit of a quandry if bham decide to give me an offer. As for New Street Station, why does such a very large station still have a row of bored looking people manually checking the tickets of absolutely everyone going through?? I ring them in two days, to find out what they will do. 3月4日 Surprised?Before I start this blog entry, I'd just like to state that I have already driven to Heathrow and back this morning because my parents brought the wrong passport to the airport
Now I've got that out of the way, I'd just like to say a big THANK YOU to all those who arranged and turned up to my surprise party last night, and also to all those who wrote something for the book. I will drag it all the way up to base camp and all the way back again personally. Thinking back, there were some tiny hints that something was in the pipeline, but definately nothing that would've given the game away by any means.
Everest will be great, I know this, but I will miss you guys. Make sure you all have a great time in England while I am gone, ace your degrees and A-levels and all variety of other ace-able things. Enjoy yourselves, and I'll make sure to throw a party when I get back so I can catch up, and eat lots of cake, put some weight back on...who knows there might even be a pool, a BBQ and some tents involved!
Take advantage of me being out of the country to get truly smashed without any disapproving looks
and I'll see you when you get back.Thanks again all. It meant a lot (and saved me organising one myself, of course!). Have a good one. 3月2日 14 daysI rang Bham today, and they rescheduled my interview to the 7th of March, or next wednesday. There was a little confusion in the last entry about having already decided etc; this is how it all works and worked, and why I am still pursuing a decision from Bham:
So I have all the required forms, I will fill them all in and leave them ready to sign. I will get my decision, and then get everything sent off and done before the 17th. Tight, but feasible. When I leave I want everything to be in order behind me. Wish me luck... PoetryHe Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams. --W.B. Yeats
There is very little poetry which I have read that really has a point, that is actually fulfilling the spirit of poetry in conveying feeling and ideas. If you had asked me "What is your favourite piece of poetry?" I'd not have thought of one. It struck me a moment ago that this is the answer to that question. The thought of GCSE anthology poetry almost seems to taint this, it's a different genre. This, to my mind, is the real poetry. 3月1日 That's all!The last box of kit has been put on a lorry today and drove off this morning towards the airport, and towards Katmandhu. The sea level work is now well and truly over, 26 tonnes of kit in barrels and boxes sent off. The logisitics team fly out on Saturday. From then, we have exactly two weeks before we disappear. My muscles ache from the box-wielding antics of the previous few days, and when I wasn't wielding boxes, the jiu-jitsu mass-people-thrashing-and-being-thrashed antics of the evening in between.
The departure is so soon now. Just drives home how close. Ah...Well, I got a reply from Birmingham. They have invited me to interview on the 14th of March. On one side of things I am happy that they have decided to a) get back to me and b) invite me to interview. On the other side I am annoyed that a) they decided to invite me to interview and b) that it is this late that they did so.
I need to do some SERIOUS research into deadlines and possibilities and I need to get on it right now. There are deadlines for accommodation, confirming firm/insurance places, medical forms and student loan PN1 forms: are there any more that I have forgotten? All ye who have been through the process last year?
So be it. Let the games begin.
I have now had some time to think about this. What I will do is the following: I will ring B'ham and explain my situation, and ask them if I can have an earlier interview date. If this works out then I will go up to visit and have the interview etc, but due to the restrictions in place on me at the moment, if they cannot I will reject them by contacting UCAS and register with Soton as my firm choice.
This seems to me like a fair and balanced decision. Is that a fair and balanced assessment? |
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