Tuesday 25 March 2008

I awoke in the night about 1am and couldn’t get back to sleep. I am making progress reading the autobiography of Mahatma Ghandi – it’s a surprisingly unremarkable life to the point I’m at.



Went to breakfast at Hot Bread at 7am – got a pair of pants for 600rps because the pair I brought was ripped – then went to Tribhuvan University to try to find Dr. Shreeham Upadhaya. The Professor has written some scholarly books about the economic history of Nepal, and must certainly be one of the most distinguished professors up there, and yet as I arrive no one really knew him or even which department he may be in. I finally found someone who had his mobile number and spoke with him later in the day – we decided to meet when I returned from trekking.

He wrote in one of his books about the Treaty of Segauli of 1816 between The East India Company and Nepal which I believe may have the recognition by Britain of Nepali Territorial Integrity and Sovereignty which would mean that England’s subsequent naming of a mountain within Nepal would represent an abrogation/violation of the Treaty.



For the rest of the day I collect the rest of the things I need for my trek which will start on Thursday.



I visited with Wong Chu Sherpa at Peak Promotion(he was sirdar to the Imax Everest team with David Breshears). He wanted to supply me with a guide and porter or a guide/porter. I told him I had always had a problem with his people because anytime I was with them in the Khumbu and I’d want to climb up somewhere they’d always have some lame reason they wouldn’t want to do it. He said that wouldn’t happen.

I told him I wanted , among other places to go to the Khumbu Icefall and he said “Well, that really wouldn’t be possible” and gave some reason, and I said to him, “See, I’m not even out of the office and you’ve already told me it’s not possible to do something I really want to do, it’s a bad attitude, even you can’t be positive enough to say, if it works that’s OK, if the soldiers or the laison officers don’t permit it then it can’t happen” He could tell I didn’t want to book with him but offered to call ahead and have one of his people in Lukla find me a good independent guide/porter.

I asked him if he thought that the name Everest was right for Nepal or perhaps the Nepalese should be more forceful with the name Sagarmatha. I told him that my thinking on this subject had been influenced by his exhortation to adopt ‘Right thinking” while climbing or approaching the mountain, and I believed this to be an example of right thinking. He said he would be diplomatic about the issue and give no response.

I bought two small cans of Primus gas for my stove at $5.50 each before leaving his office.