. . ... . Page 12-Saturday, April 15, 1978-The Michigan Daily Travel Supplement The Michigan Daily Travel Supplement--Saturday, Apri A dventurers trek to Him alayan kingdom And leave the driving to them of Nepal A On April 28, grad students Will and Joan Weber will lead a group of ten local adventurers on a journey to the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, land of Mt. Everest. Nepal, Will Weber says, "boasts some of the most beautiful scenery in the world." At right, towering A ma Dablam soars above the Sherpa village of Pangboche, a last outpost of settle- ment on the trek to Mt. Everest. By Chester Maleski By Mike Taylor T SPENT LAST summer leading the "good life" in Tucson, Arizona: sipping margueritas and soaking up the sun at poolside by day, impersonating a "native" waiter in a Mexican restaurant by night. But all too quickly it was August and time to start ap- praising the various ways to get home while trying to incorporate a visit to Los' Angeles, a short stay with mom and dad in New York, and end up in Ann Arbor by the end of the month-all at a minimal cost, of course. My friend Wendy was heading back, too, so together we pondered our choices. Our first option was driving, but having no car we quickly ruled that one out. We could have flown, but having no wings we checked into air fares and found them beyond our meager budget. There was good old Amtrak, but we were told we would have to get to Los Angeles or New Orleans first and it would wind up costing more than flying. Thus we wound up buying bus tickets. At the time, you could leave the driving to Greyhound and go anywhere in the country for $75, as long as you travelled in roughly a straight line. (The same fare now costs just $59, but Greyhound changed its fares all the time.) We had to forsake our plans of seeing L.A., but we were pleased with ourselves for finding a way to get to New York at half the cost of flying. There was a catch, of course. Travelling cross-country by bus is anything but luxurious. It was quite a come-down from the cushy, lazy days I had spent all summer. T'S A THREE-DAY, 66-hour ordeal from Tucson to New York, but somehow, in a perverse way, it's a likeable trip. We left Tucson on a Monday morning at 10 a.m. Boarding the "coach," as Greyhound euphemistically calls its -buses, we claimed two seats together and braced ourselves for the long trip. Armed with a bottle of iced tea, books, crossword puzzles and a camera, we couldn't help but notice the sagging eyes and pale faces of the folks who had been on the bus since California. We wondered if we, too, would soon be like that. The bus was air-conditioned and rode surprisingly smoothly, so the trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico seemed much shorter than the six hours it took. An in- dependent line runs Greyhound's passengers through New Mexico, so we had to transfer to a new bus. At the station, we were rudely told we had to check our packs, which contained spare clothing and all our various amusemen- ts. We madly tried to cram everything into a smaller pack, then settled in for the trip to Amarillo, Texas. The only good thing about trans- ferring buses was that it gave us a chance to sit in different areas on each bus. They weren't just seats for us; the vinyl confines had become our home, if only for a few hours. AFTER A WHILE, the journey began to seem like a collection of smaller trips. Breakfast, lunch and dinner stops became our milestones, our way of keeping touch with reality. Since we were running behind schedule, our driver, who talked en- dlessly like a proud son about his com- pany, decided to forgo the dinner stop. But before long he gave in to his hunger pangs and pulled into a truck stop late in the night. The great thing about truck stops in the Southwest is that many of them serve fantastic Mexican food along with the usual greasy ham- burger-and-fries fare. The little place was quite an improyement over the bland Post House, a chain of fast-food cafeterias owned by Greyhound, where we were forced to eat during most of the trip. At three in the morning, we awoke to find ourselves in Amarillo. Once again, t was time to transfer buses. We had started out in shorts and t-shirts, but the bus had become rather cold in the middle of the night, so we changed into long pants and heavier shirts. As the trip went on, we alternately found our- selves too warm or too cold, so we were always changing our clothes. By lunchtime we were in Oklahoma City. That afternoon we made our first friends, a woman and her daughter heading home to Florida after a vacation out West. Soon our driver cheerfully announced we would be dining at the "famous Glass House," the first restaurant ever to be built high above the highway like a bridge. Best of all, it was a Howard Johnson's. We had a big dinner of fired clams and ice cream (what else?), then set out for St, Louis. O UR 1 A.M. ARRIVAL was eerie. The whole city seemed to be sleeping. It was like entering a twen- tieth century ghost town. Our third day of travelling was less interesting than the first two, perhaps because we were getting tired, or possibly because Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania seemed less exotic than Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri. By the time we r was dinner time sfer-again. Ourr there was garbal restroom looked cleaned in days. We spent the ev( dreary little Pen now, the end of oi sight and we wer At one point, a be self from a clump to roll around. swearing and yell( it, but we were a stupor to do anythi Shortly after mi Philadelphia, whe as authorities fin bus. Then we clirr would-at last-b( trip. It was a quie did a lot of sleepir driver proudly pro City." W E WALKED only to find t had not made it w ably be on the bus an official assured tendant who made way back in New N\ to wait. Fortuna came in the pack w of our fellow tra lucky. Three days had I we lost contact wi A long bus trip resi disorientation tha seems like a minor Wherever you I you might want tc bus. Generally, it' to travel long dis chhiking, but it's a though it can at table, it can also thing is for certair a thoroughly unpre W ILL WEBER'S love affair with Nepal began when he visited the Himalayan nation as a Peace Corps volunteer. He later taught at a village. school, then took a job as a conser- vation official for the Nepal National Parks and Conservation Office. On April 28, he's going back there - along with his wife, Joan, and a group of ten local adventurers. "This is definitely not a hotel trip," said Weber, a graduate student. "We will be staying in the homes of local people. We will sleep in yak herders' huts and one night, in an elephant camp. Some nights we'll stay over in monasteries. "You can't get a village experience through a travel agent," he insisted. T HE WEBERS AND their group will fly commercial airlines from New York to New Delhi, India, where trey will transfer planes to exotic Kathman- du. After a short brether, they will fly to the city of Lukla in eastern Nepal. At Lukla, the party will cut its umbilical cord with Western civilization. The party will traverse ancient trade routes through the rural foothills of the Himalayas to Mt. Everest. They will be assisted by Sherpa guides and porters, world renowned for accompanying Sir Edmund Hillary on his assault of Everest. The group will trek to the 18,400-foot mark, bypassing the Everest expedition base camp on their own minor assault. The trek itself is a photographer's dream. "Nepal boosts some of the most beautiful scenery in the world," Weber said. "All the spring flowers will be out. In Nepal, rhododendron trees grow to heights of 60 feet in all different colors." The Himalayas themselves? "Incredible," was the only description he could manage. The Webers promise their group a culturally-oriented experience. "The monasteries cater to tourists," Will Weber said. "The insides are decorated with colorful paintings and ornamental masks. You can find some really good buys in native art along the way. Often, you can trade American items for jewelry and pieces of turquoise." I N ADDITION TO bargains, the trek is sure to offer much excitement. The group will get a chance to search out the Yeti, the Abominable Snow Monster of the Himalayas. "The local people all believe in Yetis," Weber ex- plained. "There is no doubt in their minds that they exist. Nepali parents worry about leaving their children alone tending animals for fear that the Yeti might carry them off." As for Weber himself, he thinks there is "a strong possibility that animals exist in some of these remote valleys that have never been seen before. "Hillary himself photographed some very strange footprints on one of his ex- peditions in the area," Weber said. "I, Photo by WILL WEBER flight home for the exhausted team. Departing June 5 from a land of rhinos, tigers and Yeti, the expedition back to exotic Ann Arbor will pale in com- parison. Stine Ball will be one of three studen- ts on the tour. "This is the kind of thing I've been saving money waitressing to do," she said. "I love to travel. I've been to Europe a lot, but I've never been any place like this. I want to learn 'This is definitely not a hotel trip. We will be staying in the homes of local people. We will sleep in yak herders' huts and, one night, in an elephant camp. Some nights we'll stay in mflonasteries.' -Will Weber r Budget Fares " Stand By Fares Round Trip Detroit-London 296 00* Scheduled Pan Am-British Air SEE US FOR DETAILS 2504 PACKARD " GEORGETOWN MALL - PHONE 973-9200 Iow season, slight increase after May 1, subject to Govt. approval myself, have found these same foot- prints around the Arun Valley, one of the unexplored regions we will visit." The 23-day trek will take the group back to its original base in Kathmandu. From there, tour members will have the option of continuing on with the Webers to the Pokhara region in southern Nepal and the Chitwan National Park. T HE CHITWAN IS one of the few pockets of natural jungle left in Asia. The group will ride elephant-back on a trip through the park in search of rhinoceros, tigers, deer, bears, and wild boar. "The elephants search out game much as a hunting dog would," Weber said. "We will definitely see rhinos, though the tigers are much har- der to find." From the Chitwan it will be a short trip back to Kathmandu, then along about the country, the people and the art." Peter Ostling, 25, a baker, is sim- plistic about his motives. "I've got the time and I've got the money, so why not go?" he said. "I have an unlimited time agreement with the group. There's nothing I have to get back for, so I'll be staying on. I figure I have enough money for a year or so. For the Webers, the trip will offer the perfect chance to renew old friendships in Nepal. Between the two, they have amassed five years living experience within the local cultures. Both speak fluent Nepali and have had extensive experience trekking in the Himalayas. Even though they haven't departed for Nepal yet, the Webers already have visions of their next journey, perhaps to some other exotic Asian country, next winter term or next summer. "Based on this experience," Will Weber said, .we coulddoisoethingblder", Photo by MIKE TAYLOR THE GREYHOUND TERMINAL in Dayton, Ohio is much like hundreds of similar facilities across the country-rows of benches filled with tired people waitinig trtheir bus.