Phakding (2,640 m) to Namche Bazaar (3,450 m)
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| October 7, 2006: Phakding (2,640 m) to Namche Bazaar (3,450 m) |
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| Slept well until 1 am when my jetlag kicked in. I tossed around a lot during the night, but woke up pretty refreshed. Got up around 6:45 am. Had breakfast. Toast and omelet. Packed up and started the long walk to Namche Bazaar around 8:30 am. Crossed the bridge over the Dudh Kosi at the northern end of Phakding and sure enough, there were the Maoists again. A huge crowd had gathered there. We had to wait quite a while until it was my turn to make my "donation". Typical communist bullshit!! At least I got a receipt which says: "Thank you for your donation". Lots of trekkers were quite pissed at the delay this caused. I actually enjoyed most of it, especially an Italian guy who was the leader of a trekking group which I saw already on the plane from Bangkok. He argued in his colorful Italian accent with the Maoists who barely understood English. He told them that the receipts look like lottery tickets from a tombola. As I said, I enjoyed this "Maoist encounter" immensely. Later a little more on this Italian tour leader. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| After about 2 hours of leisurely walk we reached Monjo and soon thereafter, we were at the entrance to the Sagarmatha National Park. Bharat was quite surprised as apparantly the National Park building is brand new. He paid our National Park Fees and we descended to the bridge over the Dudh Kosi passing lots of Mani stones and inscripts. Shortly thereafter we arrived in Jorsale. It was our last stop before the climb up to Namche Bazaar and we had lunch. Fried noodles with veggies and garlic soup. Delicious. Also, the group with the charismatic Italian leader arrived soon thereafter and sat on the table next to us. I gathered from talking to this group which comprised of Italians and Germans that their guide apparantly is a famous mountaineer who had attempted K2 and other 8,000 meter peaks. I did not catch his name at the time. The group was very nice and we ran into them several times over the course of the next few days, including back in Thamel after our trip was over. (A few weeks later back at home, I read a mountaineering book by Hans Kammerlander, another famous climber and mountaineer. While reading the book, I came upon a picture of this Italian guide. His name is Angelo Giovanetti. Small world). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| After lunch, we began our hike up to Namche. First we crossed the Dudh Kosi a few more times and then it was up, up, up. The worst part were the last 500 meters or so, after you could see Namche in front of you, but still ways away. It took us about 3 hours from Jorsale to Namche. Namche Bazaar is quite big, with lots of lodges and shops. We stayed at the Ama Dablam Lodge. I got a single room, a little smaller than the room I had the night before, and a shared bathroom with a western style toilet. Spend the rest of the afternoon/evening in the dining room, except for a few minutes when I went to an internet cafe to check e-mails. A large group of Brazilians was in the lodge (about 10-12). They were very nice and I ran into them several times in the days ahead. Dinner was chicken soup and then a yak steak with potatoes and, of course, applie pie for desert. And the last beer for a while!! Went to bed shortly after 8 pm, listened to my ipod for a while and fell asleep. Woke up again around 2 am. This waking up in the middle of the night sure gets old! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Click here to view more pictures from that day | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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