Trekking in Nepal (and Scuba Diving the Maldives), March 1999

In February and March of 1999, Dana and I traveled to the island republic of Maldives and the mountain kingdom of Nepal on our honeymoon.  We spent about ten days in the Maldives lounging, eating and scuba diving, and we spent about a month in Nepal sightseeing and trekking among the world's highest peaks.

First Stop -- Island Paradise:

The Republic of Maldives is an island paradise: 1190 islands spread across the Indian Ocean and circled into 26 natural atolls. How perfect are the islands? The word "atoll" is the only word in the English language that Oxford extracted from the Maldivian language, which should give you a clue. The Maldives boast rich cultural traditions, a history of kings and queens, pageants, feasts and festivals, their own language and script. The Maldives has gained a reputation as one of the best diving destinations in the world. We visited incredible dive sites with perfect conditions and virtually limitless visibility. This was the post-wedding "de-stress and decompress" destination. 

Next Stop -- Himalayas:

The mountain kingdom of Nepal is an incredible place of contrasts: low river plains, congested cities, steep terraced foothills and the highest mountains on Earth.  In traveling to Nepal, we moved from the country with the lowest average elevation (the Maldives) to the country with the highest (Nepal).  In fact, eight of the world's "8000'ers"--peaks over 8000 meters in elevation--can be found in Nepal, and a ninth (Shisha Pangma) lies just over the northern border in Tibet (the others are all in Pakistan).  We saw all nine of these mountains, either up close or from airplane windows.  Our trip to Nepal was broken roughly into three pieces:  Sightseeing in the Kathmandu Valley, trekking in the Annapurna Region, and trekking in the Solu-Khumu Region, home of Mt. Everest.

Click on the link below to see the photos and trip journal.

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