The Himalayan Milk Baba

In 2005 Mrs J and I were lucky enough to go on an expedition to the Himalayas as part of a group, and during this expedition our group had an encounter with the Himalayan Milk Baba in Kathmandu. The Himalayan Milk Baba is a Hindu from Nepal, who is primarily known for some of the penances that he has undertaken during his religious life. He was born in 1933 in a small village near Kathmandu, and at the age of 18 he left Nepal to join a Hindu religious order in central India. Since becoming a Hindu, the Milk Baba is reported to have undertaken a number of penances to show his devotion to his faith. These have included: a twelve year pilgrimage penance to sites across India, Nepal and Tibet; a twelve year solitary meditation and observation of religious rituals at an isolated Shiva temple in India; a three year penance of covering his body with ashes; an on-going penance of growing dreadlocks; and finally a penance of subsisting solely on two litres of milk a day for twenty five years. It is this final penance for which he is best known, and has led to the name of the Milk Baba.

Milk is considered by Hindus to be a pure food (as no life is sacrificed to obtain it) and the Baba’s twenty five year diet of milk is rumored to have granted him the power of prophecy (I wonder if he saw us coming)!

Milk Baba poster.

The Milk Baba.

A note on credit for the photos - I am certain that I did not take these pictures during our trip to Kathmandu, and following the trip all 25 members of the party shared all the photos that were taken. As such, I cannot be sure who to credit for the above two snaps, but thank you whoever you are!

Pictures, Kathmandu (November 2005).

Yeti Encounters

In November 2005 me and Mrs J visited Nepal and spent some time trekking through the Himalayas, the home of the Yeti. During our trip we kept a wary eye open for any signs of the Yeti as we trekked through the stunning mountain scenery, but alas the Yeti remained elusive (even though our guide seemed convinced that they did in fact exist). We were not totally disheartened however, as we did have numerous encounters with the use of the Yeti in Nepalese day-to-day life (probably adopted to appeal to tourists such as us). Our encounters are pictured below.

On leaving Kathmandu we flew on “Yeti Airlines”, which took us into the mountain airport of Lukla.

On our travels we also discovered the “Yak & Yeti” Guest House.

And finally while visiting a Buddhist monastery in the mountain village of Pangboche, we were able to view a Yeti "scalp" (after parting with a little coin). The general consensus seems to be that the scalp is not really from a Yeti. Crypto-zoologist Richard Freeman’s take on the scalp can be found over at Andrew May’s Forteana blog.

For those people I know, whose primary love is aviation I have to mention Lukla airstrip. Some people say that Lukla is the most dangerous airstrip in the world, and it is not hard to see why they may think this. The single runway is 1,500 ft long and only 65 ft wide, and it has a 12% gradient, which means on landing you are headed up hill. The airstrip lies at an elevation of 9,100 ft and as such, often experiences bad weather conditions. This situation is not helped by the airstrip not having any landing aids.

As a passenger into Lukla in a small fixed wing aircraft, the most striking features of the airstrip are a steep cliff face at one end of the runway and a sheer drop off at the other end, it would seem that on landing and take-off, Lukla offers no second chances!

Pictures, Nepal (November 2005)