Nepal Day 8 - Deboche - Shomare

 4.4 miles, 1448’ climbing 

Hilltop Lodge, Shomare, 13,360’ elevation

It was still snowing when we rose for breakfast with a couple of inches accumulated on the ground. We felt somewhat better but not completely recovered as we headed up the trail wearing waterproof pants and jackets, gloves, and overmits.  We passed thru rhododendrons with clumps of snow on every branch. We saw a few locals walking down the trail with no jacket or gloves; it looked very cold.

At one point, our guide spotted a group of tahr on the hillside above the trail, nearly 20 animals. We looked at them and they looked at us.

After a couple of miles, we took the high trail to the village of Pangboche where we stopped for a cup of tea in a tiny trailside restaurants. We then walked one circuit around the monastery next to it, spinning all the prayer wheels. Then we entered the monastery after removing our shoes. It is older than the monastery in Tengboche and considered very important. The monk in attendance showed us around the interior, telling us about paintings, books, hangings. There was a statue of a lama at the front from the 1600s (?). He befriended a yeti, and the yeti helped him find food and water, but the yeti was killed in an avalanche. The monk then opened a wooden box and showed us a skeletonized yeti hand impressively large, and a yeti scalp, presumably from the yeti of the avalanche. The whole interior was covered with old paintings, very beautiful. The monk said there were 20 monks at the monastery, ranging from young to old, and that they go back to live with their families when not at the monastery. 

We continued up the trail to a lunch stop at a family run lodge in Shomare. We decided to stop for the night since we aren’t feeling our best still. The proprietors of the lodge, our guide and and porter, pulled up chairs around the fire and we joined them, listening to their lively conversation. A few neighbors stopped by. The trekking group from our lodge in Deboche stopped by for lunch. It was a lively afternoon, an enjoyable way to take a rest.

https://youtu.be/dgFXdzvFVPU?si=tTxupNT85P21q_1t

Some video from the past couple days.

Nepal Day 07 - Deboche

 0 miles - rest and recovery

Last night we both felt sick to our stomachs, and we felt unprepared to head out. Thus today was a test day. We took some medicine, rehydrated, and spent an easy day at the lodge.

Yesterday Bire told us more about his Everest trek in 2015 where he was at camp II when the earthquake struck. Before the earthquake, he had been back and forth thru the notorious Khumbu ice fall multiple times. On one passage, he was crossing a ladder that was designated as one person at a time, and he fell 25 meters into the crevasse spanned by the ladder. He was clipped in, not on belay. A climber behind him, a large man, didn’t see it happen, thought the ladder was clear, and started across. He had the rope tucked under his arm and felt Bire’s weight on the line. Once Bire extracted himself, fortunately unhurt, he was still in the middle of the icefall, and had to walk out across more crevasses on ladders.

After the earthquake, there was no communication outside of camp II until a satellite phone was located and messages relayed to families. Bire didn’t know how his family was either, and he had to stay at base camp for a month to clean up after the expedition. His family asked him not to go on more mountaineering expeditions, and he became a trekking guide instead.

Nepal Day 06 - Namche Bazaar to Deboche

 8.25 miles, 2837’ climbing

Paradise Lodge, Deboche, 12,208’

High point: Tengboche Monastery, 12,681’

After breakfast, we headed uphill out of Namche again, this time turning northeast on a relatively easy path that contoured around the hillside. We looked for tahr but didn’t spot any. The skies were even clearer than the day before. We were intermittently passing thru pines and rhododendrons with views down to the Dudh Kosi below, the same river we’ve been following since Lukla. Rounding a corner, we had amazing views of Everest, Ama Dablam, Lotse, and a few others. As we contoured around the mountainside, they came in and out of view. Lots of other trekkers crowded the trail in places. We saw our first pure yaks, larger and shaggier than their hybrid cousins. Some porters were carrying huge loads (one said 70kg). There were also horses, dzopkyos, carrying loads up hill or returning downhill without them. Lots of helicopters passed overhead with loads too.

Eventually we started a steep descent. When we had descended all the way to the river, we stopped at a small restaurant for lunch (veg fried rice with egg). Then we crossed a suspension bridge and headed up the long, steep hill to Tengboche Monastery, the 2nd oldest one in the region and very important to Tibetan Buddhism.

Bire led us into the monastery (no photos allowed inside). A two day event was in progress with about 25 monks sitting on benches, wrapped in red blankets, butter lamps burning, and chanting prayers out loud, each reading from old Tibetan texts. We walked to the side and settled cross legged on thin cushions on the floor,not easy on the knees, but we didn’t want to point our feet at anyone. After we listened a while, we got to our feet and walked clockwise around the monastery, looking at the paintings, statues, and other items. You can circle an odd number of times, so we walked around 3 times. Then we circled the grounds, always clockwise, and left.

Clouds had rolled in and it was cold. The trail down to Deboche was muddy in places, but we arrived before too long and had hot lemon tea. A trekking party from the UK turned up who were also at the Bodhi Lodge in Namche last night. We were tired after the long uphill climb. The lodge owner lit a fire, and the common room became pretty lively with the other trekkers. 

Nepal Day 05 - Namche Exploration Day

5.75 miles, 3015’ climbing

Our room was fairly chilly overnight. We got up around 6am and prepared for our acclimitization hike, then we went down to breakfast in the warm, busy dining room. Some groups are headed up the valleys towards different destinations like Gokyo or Everest Base Camp. Others, like us, are taking a hike to acclimatize. There were a lot of people on the steep stone staircase that is the road out of town. Near the top of Namche where the trail forked, we had a great view back to Namche. Many people headed towards Tengboche, the direction of treks to Everest base camp. For those of us on a day hike, narrow steps continued up the steep hill.

Finally we arrived at the Syangboche plateau and the airport where we watched a helicopter drop off a large load that was dangling by a rope beneath it. A person on the ground released the load, and the helicopter flew off down valley without ever landing. These are most likely expedition supplies for mountaineering trips that are gearing up at this time of year.

We continued up hill to eventually reach a view point where we could see Mount Everest, Ama Dablam, and a few of the other big peaks. Clouds were already blowing in as we continued past the helicopters that take clients to the Everest View luxury hotel. We sat on the terrace and had a cup of tea. The Tengboche monastery was visible on a distant ridge.

After the downhill walk to upper Namche, we stopped for lunch in a guesthouse, dining with great views of village below us. Then we visited a small museum which had a section on Sherpa history that included a lot of artifacts that are becoming uncommon as life modernizes here. They had lots of photos, some dating back to the early 1900s, of the Sherpa people and culture. The pictures of Namche Bazaar went as far back as the 1960s. Sarah could see the changes since her prior visit in 2007. The other section was dedicated to Sherpa mountaineering history with lots of profiles of mountaineers and old equipment.  The Sherpa display was made more interesting as we were going through the museum with our guide Bire who worked on Everest in support of an expedition in 2015.  He had stories of the Khumbu icefall, crossing crevasses on ladders stretched over them and even falling 25 feet into one.  He spent two weeks at Basecamp 2 and was there for the big earthquake in 2015 that took many lives and destroyed buildings and infrastructure far from the mountain.

We walked around to the monastery, but it was closed, so we took the opportunity to get showers back at the hotel. There was only one shower with hot water and a prior occupant had used it all up, but at least it was not frigid.

Nepal Day 04 - Phakding to Namche Bazaar

7.5 miles, 3964’ climbing

After a cozy night, we woke early, well ahead of our alarms. Before light we heard some distant bells, perhaps from the monastery. Birds were singing as it became light and we packed up, putting our duffel bags outside before heading in to breakfast (toast, scrambled eggs, coffee, and potatoes with onions). The food has been  good so far.

For a few hours we hiked uphill along the river. The trails were more crowded today with all the trekkers headed to Namche Bazaar. The trails were also steep and dusty with lots of passing mules and dzopkyas. We passed in and out of villages filled with lodges, restaurants and small stores — we even saw Red Bull for sale amongst sundries! There were a few more blooming rhododendron and magnolia trees along with blossoming peach and apple trees. The trail and buildings were adjacent to huge boulders painted and engraved with Tibetan script.

We stopped for lunch in a small, busy restaurant. After lunch, there were no more houses or lodges until we reached Namche Bazaar a few hours later. A lot of the trail was made of steep stone staircases. We crossed a few suspension bridges, including an exciting one where we jogged across the last third because a string of mules had started across towards us, not waiting for us to make it across. Most were unpacked, so we were less likely to get slammed by a sack of rice or gas canister, but we had to wave and push a few away on the narrow bridge before we were across.

As we reached Namche, our guide, Bire, held back so we could round the corner and see the full village by ourselves. Namche Bazaar is large and beautiful with a deep valley at the low end and a bowl opposite. Lodges and houses and stores and restaurants line the roads up the sides of the bowl, painted colorfully. As we entered town through a gate, there was a plaza with a stupa on one side with the characteristic eyes painted near the top. On the other side was a stream-fed fountain. Where the stream came down, a series of large, water driven prayer wheels were spinning.

We are staying at the large and charming Bodhi lodge. We had some lemon tea and relaxed before walking around some of the lower streets in town. There are some very nice outdoor stores here, nicer than in Tucson. Definitely you could outfit yourself for an expedition here. There are smaller shops and stalls as well. We will be here for two nights to acclimate before trekking higher. Our current elevation is 11,197’.

 

Nepal Day 03 - Lukla to Phakding

 7.6 miles, 1722’ climbing

We woke to our alarms at 4am to prepare for our 4:45 airport pickup. We met Bire in the hotel lobby, and took a taxi to the airport where we were scheduled for the first flight of the day on Tara Air. Our hotel had packed us a light breakfast. 

It was still dark as we took a bus out to our plane, a twin otter that seated about 18 people. When the propellers started and the engine revved, the plane felt small and a little old. Our flight to Lukla took only about half an hour, starting directly into the rising sun. We had views of some snow packed mountains on the left, and forested hills dotted with houses on the right. We came over one pass quite low, then quickly landed on the short, uphill runway at Lukla. There was only parking for 4 small planes, and we disembarked quickly. Passengers flying back to Kathmandu were already loading as we gathered our bags, and we saw our airplane take off a few minutes later. We met our porter, Deepak.

After a tea break, we headed out of Lukla on the rocky path. Clouds looked like rain, but it never materialized. The cold morning grew warm in the sun. We passed prayer wheels, mani walls, and many local homes and lodges. Bire told us that the mani stones which are carved with Tibetan script are hundreds of years old. We stopped to spin a large prayer wheel in a small building. Bire told us we should spin it 1, 3, or five times for good luck. Our route followed the whitish blue Dudh Khosi River, fed by glaciers.

Bire told us that he lives in a village below Lukla. It is a Sherpa village and his wife is Sherpa though he is Tamang, so he speaks the Sherpa language very well in addition to Tamang, Nepali, Tibetan, English, and many more. 

After a lunch of egg fried rice, we continued our walk to Phakding. When mules or dzokos (cow-yak hybrids) passed, we stood aside on the uphill side of the pass. We crossed a couple of suspension bridges and reached our lodge, Hotel Star Lodge. Our room is comfortable and even has an attached bathroom. We chuckled about the bathroom having a window open to the bedroom, potentially useful for passing through snacks or extra toilet paper. We had a break to settle in, then took a short hike to the Pema Chholing monastery. It wasn’t far, but it was steep and a dusty rough path due to so many mules passing along it. The interior paintings were vibrant and large figures maybe made of paper mache were as well.  We spent a while looking around and Bire told some about the figures in the paintings before returning to our lodge for tea and a rest before dinner.

We played cards and had tea in the common / dining room after dinner. A wood burning stove made it a little warmer than outside, but we can still see our breath.  It will be a lot colder at higher elevations. There were a lot of lodges and fewer trekkers than we expected. Mountaineering expeditions are ramping up at this time of year. We saw helicopters with loads dangling beneath them in addition to all the mules and dzokos (yak-cow hybrids) carrying loads up to expedition base camps.

Best lodge name we saw today: Hotel Beer Garden Lodge. We also saw a Holiday Inn, clearly not affiliated with the North American chain.

Nepal Day 2 - Kathmandu

 It was an effort to stay in bed until morning, but we did our best to conquer jet lag. 

It was another day of UNESCO world heritage sites. After another good hotel breakfast, we took a taxi to Pashupatinath, a significant Hindu site on the Bagmati River dedicated to Shiva. Besides many stupas and temples, there are sites for Hindu cremations along the river banks. A number of cremations were in progress, and many visitors were in the temple (not open to foreigners). Some cattle, dogs, and monkeys wandered about.  People were picnicking on one side of the river near a number of astrologers waiting for customers. A number of sadhus in bright red and yellow clothes, dreadlocks, and makeup, called out to us as we went past.

After exploring the temples, we decided to walk to Boudhanath, the most important Tibetan Buddhist site in Nepal. We made a navigational mistake which added a couple miles to our walk, partly through small streets and partly along busy roads. We were glad to find a couple of pedestrian overpasses over the busiest roads.

After arriving to the Boudhanath stupa, we had lunch on the 3rd floor terrace of the Roadhouse cafe with a view of the stupa with its many flapping prayer flags. The square was full of Buddhist devotees. After lunch we explored the area, then took a taxi back to our hotel as a rain shower started. There was noticeably more traffic than we had experienced on our earlier taxi ride.

After some down time, we went out to buy some clean tshirts to wear (also a souvenir), and we found a shop, Juju, with local designs we liked. We took a break to rehydrate, then returned to our hotel for a trek briefing and to meet our trekking guide, Bire, and office trek coordinator, Raj. Both seemed great. Our porter will meet us in Lukla. Raj said that a lot of Europeans are cancelling their treks because their flights were through the Middle East, and the recent war meant their flights are cancelled. Sad. We head to the airport at 4:45am tomorrow, scheduled for the first flight of the day at 6am. We hope for clear skies!

After our briefing, we had veggie pasta at Forest & Plate, a 3rd floor restaurant. An odd looking cat took a shine to Ed and sat by him. We returned to our hotel to separate carry-on luggage from that which goes in our checked bag, weighing everything with a scale borrowed from the front desk. A few items and some laundry will be left behind. We are excited to start our trek.