(In March 1986) We had been trekking about 50 miles through the Helambu region of the Himalayas in Nepal. We had visited our Sherpa guide's family members and stayed with them in Tarky Gyan and Shermontang. We had just hiked down about 5000 feet in elevation and my wife gave me a muscle relaxant because I took everyone's excess pack weight that they couldn't manage because I'm 6 foot 5 inches tall and have very strong legs. My wife was getting tired and the kids 10,12,and 14 were getting tired after trekking 50 miles over the last week on foot where there were no roads only trails through this area. We had crossed by then somewhere between 10 and 20 foot path suspension bridges from 1 foot wide to 5 feet wide across canyons and streams. Literally everything including aluminum roofing was carried in on foot by Nepali porters, a very hardy group who work very hard but tend to have a short life by our standards and were often married by 15 and who are gone often by 40 to 50 years of age from overwork, danger and weather in the Himalayas. However, they were very proud and happy in their lives and thought westerners were generally weak compared to them. They were all tough as nails to live this life.
Anyway, the next morning after I took muscle relaxant as I went to sleep so I wouldn't cramp up so bad I couldn't walk the next day with a pack on, my wife started crying because she was so exhausted that she couldn't control her bladder anymore. I thought we were in for it until I saw in the distance at the same time and unbelievable sight. A taxi was driving up a trail within 1 block of us and two wealthy Nepali businessmen got out of it. My two boys and I, 10, and 14 ran over to the taxi to bargain a ride back into Boudanath where we were staying at the Snow Lion Lodge then, with our guide's Tensin's family. We were in luck, he had been paid so handsomely by the two Nepali businessmen that he charged us very little to carry us and our backpacks back into the Katmandu area and to Boudanath where we were staying after our week trip through the Himalayas.
What were the chances of this happening? About zero. This taxi from heaven saved us two days hiking back to where we could catch a bus on a dirt road. We were back to our room and a warm bath in about 2 hours instead of 2 or three days. It was a miracle!
I had been recommended to take this Trek by a man from England about my age that I met in Karmandu. He was a very interesting fellow who was studying Tibetan Buddhism and had lived in Katmandu for several years at that point studying with local Tibetan Lamas.
Some of the things that were amazing to me while we trekked were bananas growing up in the Himalayas in protected well watered canyons up to 9000 feet in elevation and Rododendrons growing and blooming at 10,000 feet while a patch of snow was nearby that we ate for water at that altitude. I guess since the equator was relatively near to where we were the tree line is much higher in the Himalayas than anywhere I had ever been before on earth.
While we were on this trek I found a meditation cave where I remembered meditating in a previous lifetime. It was an eerie experience to find a place I had lived and meditated before in another lifetime. However, about 15 years later I had another experience like this while visiting Scotland in Aviemore and while driving through the Swiss Alps in a rented motorhome. So, as you travel the world don't be surprised in what you find there.
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