The People of the Himalayas
The top of Chola Pass
Hello reader,
Welcome back! After we visited South Africa, we needed to get to Vienna for my Dad’s job. However, my mom and I were not on the same strict schedule as him. Since we had no commitments besides school, we found a way to sneak in another country while my Dad went to Austria. Although, we did need to make it there eventually, we had some wiggle room. As we were booking our flights from Johannesburg, we found a catch. We were flying on Qatar airways, and had to have a layover in Doha. Luckily for us, we have good friends who live there. Instead of a few hour layover, we were able to get a 7 day one. This was really exciting, because we had never been to Qatar before, but more importantly, we got to visit friends. We had a great time, that felt too short. While we were there, we slid down sand dunes, visited the National Museum, went to the souq, visited the port and more. If you want the full story, make sure to go and listen to my podcast with Roán, as we talk about the World Cup, his involvement in it, and what we’ve done. It can be found on my podcast page, so make sure you listen to it after this. We also have four other podcasts that you should listen to as well.
I can imagine some of you have no idea who I’m talking about, and feel lost. Well, don’t fret, because I’ll fill you in. Last year, while we were in Nepal we met a mom and son trekking to Everest base camp like us, Carlyn and Roán. We met them in a tea house lodge, and we really hit it off. They’re from the Netherlands but are living in Qatar. Since we had the same schedule, we went the rest of the way together. Including going over Chola Pass, and summiting Gokyo Ri. When we got back to Kathmandu we made plans to visit each other again. We had a joint vacation in Oman, and got to meet the rest of their family, including Roán’s sister, brother, and dad. We had so much fun and we knew we wanted to see each other again, but weren't sure if it would happen. That’s where the past becomes the present, so consider yourself caught up. Hopefully that cleared things up for those of you who were lost before.
Now that I’ve explained who we’re visiting, I can address the other confusion. “Why is this blog called The People of the Himalayas?. “I thought you did that last year,” you may be wondering. I’ll say you’re not wrong, but let me explain first. While I’m not “in” school, I still have to do school work. Part of my work is English, and I have a weekly meeting with my teacher. While I was in Qatar, we were doing a poetry unit. Some of my homework for that week was to write a pantoum poem inspired by my travels. Here, is a short explanation of a pantoum, and here is one my teacher had us read, you’ll see it’s very fitting. However, to put it simply, every line gets repeated, so you have to put lots of thought into each line and its meaning(s). I thought it would be fun for me and Roán to reminisce about our adventures in Nepal, while writing a poem together. Although frustrating at times, it was a lot of fun and we’re pretty proud of it. After many lessons in poetry, I think there’s some major improvement since my poems from Oman. I know a lot more on the subject and the craft now. I really hope you enjoy our poem, titled…
The People of the Himalayas
By: Roán Ibrahim, and Channing Miller
We made it to the summit of Gokyo Ri, at last!
Summit School made it to the summit of Gokyo Ri, where I point to Mt. Everest, (Sagarmatha)
The people of the Himalayas, enduring harsh conditions with gentle smiles
The unforgiving cold that bites through your coat
Surrounded by eight-thousand meter high granite kukris*
Mountains you crane your neck to see, how Everest’s gloom shifts to happiness as the sun sets
The unforgiving cold that bites through your coat
Your body aches, holding you back with each step you take
Mountains you crane your neck to see, how Everest’s gloom shifts to happiness as the sun sets
You squint to see the pinnacle, looming far away
Your body aches, holding you back with each step you take
As you shuffle in rhythm, sensing the nothingness below
You squint to see the pinnacle, looming far away
Joy living on your shoulder: struggling your way up towards the edge of doom
As you shuffle in rhythm, sensing the nothingness below,
You watch the faces passing you, weathered from permanent work
Joy living on your shoulder: struggling your way up towards the edge of doom
A porter carrying a load much larger than yours passes, a human ant
You watch the faces passing you, weathered from permanent work
Nothing comes easy, a fight for boiling water
A porter carrying a load much larger than yours passes, a human ant
Laboring for others, never catching break
Nothing comes easy, a fight for boiling water
Surrounded by eight-thousand meter high granite kukris*
Laboring for others, never catching a break
The people of the Himalayas, enduring harsh conditions with gentle smiles
kukri* a type of short sword with a curve in its blade. The knife originated in Nepal and is used as a weapon, as well as a cutting tool.
*For the full story and more pictures, make sure to visit my blog post, and picture pages: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, and Kathmandu
Victory Snickers, of course!
I made it! Unfortunately we hadn’t met Roán yet so no picture together
The unspoken struggle: Leaving Lukla airport (Spoiler: We didn’t leave this day)
The summit of a acclimation hike
