The secrets of a simple life: Hiking in Nepal

Shreeya lights a candle after sunset

 

To those who know the value of the essential things in life

Preparing the rucksack

When I decided to go hiking in Nepal a few months ago I was so excited about the experience that awaited me but I was also worried about my physical condition. I wondered if I would be able to finish the trip without problems. When I first met Khamri I felt I could trust him, he would be my guide. He looked at me with a wide smile and started asking me several questions regarding my aims and what I would be expecting of this trip. I told him that I wanted to discover and take pictures of people from the villages of Nepal and its beautiful landscapes. He smiled at me again and said: “That is good because if you know what your goals are, you will be close to getting them. There are a lot of people traveling in this life just looking for nothing”

Khamri told me that one of the most important things if you want to enjoy your trip is to decide how many things you are going to take with you. Things can make life easy but they need to be borne. The list of indispensable belongings became very long. Suddenly everything seemed to me to be essential for the trip or for any contingency. In the end I decided to drastically reduce the list and assume certain risks. If the rucksack is very heavy the way is not enjoyable and it is even possible that you won´t reach your destination. Maybe when we make unnecessary things essential we make slaves of the things that we possess limiting our freedom and our movement. From the country where Buda was born we can remember his words: “The origin of suffering is attachment to transient things and the ignorance thereof.”

The value of essential things

If you want to take pictures in your trip you will need at least one camera. On this trip I had one of the best that anyone can have but bearing the lenses and batteries as well made it heavy.  I had no margin to take other things so I took the planning very seriously. Initially, owing to my bad physical condition and the lack of exercise the route became very hard. There were a few moments when I thought that I would not be capable of finishing the excursion. The only thing that we were doing was to climb and climb. Finally my body got used to the weight of the rucksack and adjusted to my camera as a natural extension of my hand and I started to enjoy the trip. When we came to our first destination it finally hit me what essential things are. Shreeya's house was a simple, clean house, but with little furniture, tables and chairs in what we might call the sitting room. At sunset she lighted a candle, there electricity is still a rare luxury. We ate chicken and rice and we drank a couple of glasses of whiskey. Everything in that house was boiled down  to the essential things, there was neither television nor any other entertainment than to chat to the family. In my room there were a couple of beds and a small-attached room that was used as a bathroom. An hour must have passed since Shreeya had ignited the candle when we went to sleep, it couldn´t have been later than 7 pm but in that place people usually follow the sun as a natural clock. What seemed to me to be incredible was that in spite of the few things that they had, they all seemed to be relatively happy. The next day I got up early. This was one of the simplest hotels at which I had stayed in my entire life.

The most beautiful landscape

The cold was intense in that season of the year. I had taken several pictures during my hike in Nepal, a lot of facial expressions, children, old people and animals, but the most beautiful landscape that came out in the photographs was the mountain range of the Himalayas at 5 a.m. from the rooftop of Shreeya’s house. Thanks to everything that I had given up taking with me, thanks to adapting to this peculiar hotel, thanks to the sky that had cleared itself of clouds for me, I could achieve one of my aims; to take one of the nicest photos that I could take of one of the most emblematic places of the planet. Nevertheless this trip left me with much more than a good handful of photos, I learned the value of essential things, discovered the beauty there is in the big things as well as in the small ones, that the important things are the simplest and that if you do not get up early, dawn is not going to wait for you. Now, whenever I make a decision not only do I wonder about my aims, I also wonder: what are the essential things that are going to be needed?