After we arrived in Lukla we enjoyed the warmth of the Paradise Lodge and instantly felt the price increase that comes with the higher altitudes. EVERY single item that is produced for sale or arrives/appears in Lukla has been brought up by either aircraft (seldom) or has been painstakingly brought in from JIRI, the last stop on the 'highway' or rather 'death mountain pass'. When I say 'brought in' I mean stacked ontop of someones back and carried up the trail for around 7, maybe 8 days. It's crazy the amount the local folk manage to carry on their backs. We were told they often carry loads of 120 KG's !!!! Yes, we felt bad complaining about the 15 kg's strapped to our vertebrae.....
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| Typical load - this is one of the smaller loads locals carry |
Items seen to be carried include: 2 couches; washing machine + tumble drier set (one man's back); Building log's/wood and the list continues. All sorts of shite. And damn it looked heavy.
When a family member say's to another, 'I'm off for tea at Penelope's house', he/she means 'see ya in 3 or 4 day's - i'll be back after my 80 kilometer 'lil walk around the mountain!'
Brings a whole new meaning to: 'Mommy can I play at Guadalope's house?'
Off the story there..... Sorry, sidetracked..... We stayed in Lukla the following day and it was then we almost threw in the towel. We were used to the 'purpose of the day', ie getting up in order to trek the 7 or 8 hours onto the next destination, but today was meant to be a chill day. Man we hated every moment. We froze and longed for the beaches of Thailand. You'd have thought it'd be welcomed but no, we spent the rest of the day shivering and spending unnecessary amounts of money on stuff we didn't need. We visited the Irish Pub (every town in the world has an Irish pub, even at 2840 meters above sea level!), Starbucks (yes, that too - closed unfortunately) and drank copious amounts of EVEREST BEER which was great. We even spoilt ourselves to some Chilean red wine (R200 a bottle) - we were longing for the red poison and it tasted oh so good in the mouth! The rest day finally came to an end with some dodgy weather that started to set in and we were off to bed at the usual 7pm.
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| Cacey arriving in Lukla - FINALLY! |
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| Jimmy and Chitre arriving in Lukla sporting sexy pant |
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| Starbucks chain store worms it's way into Lukla of all places |
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| Night in Namche with familiar faces |
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| Infamous Fukding |
Trek day 8 comprised of our routing from Lukla to Namche Bazar at 3440 meters. This trekking day is usually done in a two day period with an overnight stop in Phakding (great name for a town and yes it is pronounced Fuk-ding) but as we had already turned ourselves into trekking machines the past 6 day's and felt the need to go go go we decided to do it all in a day. Man, what alotta up! We negotiated our way through check posts, military checkpoints, black ice, snow, high suspension bridges, yak trains, donkeys etc. All in a days work. 7 long hours later we arrived in Namche Bazar and walked straight into Kachima and Cecile, our foreign mates who we had said goodbye to the day before. Awesome. We had some 'Rakshi" (local wine spirit or something or other) and talked about our routes we were due to take the following day. Most folk acclimatize in Namche as is the recommendation in the Lonely Planet guide as well as in other trekking manuals, we on the other hand decided not to after our horrible day drinking in Lukla. It was all systems go the next morning as we set out alongside Kachima and Cecile. Today's trek would take us to the town of 'Tengboche'. We wandered together along a well established trail, passing monestaries and Gompa's (Budda prayer things stationed way up in the mountains) and took many photo's. It was also our first sighting of the mighty Mt Everest that dominated the skyline. Shortly after saying our goodbyes to Kachima and Cecile (they were off on an other route to a base camp called 'Goyko', our initial planned route), the weather quickly deteriorated. At 3500 meters plus, the effects of altitude could now be felt. Cacey experienced many breathing problems due to a combination of asthma and high altitude and had to stop on a regular occasion. I was too plodding along at a greatly reduced pace. The weather continued to reduce visibility and we were again back in the same blizzard conditions we had experienced a few day's prior. We finally reached the top of the climb to Tengboche and wandered off in the wrong direction, looking for an open tea house to settle into. A couple of minutes later we walked into a monk (the only guy outdoors) and he instructed we follow him, hopefully to a warmer place with open doors and a fireplace. the monk just so happened to be off for a prayer session and we were in luck. He led us to the only open tea house in the village. We burst through the doors and thawed our frozen feet against the fire. Man it was great to feel the toes again. We dumped our bags and tried in vain to dry our soaked gear. It was so cold even the toilet water had frozen over so taking a 'boytch' proved difficult - haha! Later that afternoon we chuckled as we watched the younger monks ski down the slope with homemade ski's. Hardcore bunch - X-games watch out, the Monks be coming......
Inside the tea house we continued to sip on the local tea and we noticed Cacey's condition slowly deteriorating. By deteriorating I mean she was feeling light headed, stumbling, mumbling a few words, feeling very very tired etc. This was to be the first signs of AMS (Altitude Medical Sickness). That night we tried to sleep aware that we should possibly be descending in order to alleviate these symptoms of AMS. The next day Cacey's condition had gotten worse. Tying a shoelace proved difficult but we said we'd try a little 'hike' round the block to assist with the acclimatisation process. The hike proved unsuccessful and after every 10 or so steps Cacey had to sit and gasp at the thin air available to her. She was almost delirious. Moving was now troublesome. She definitely had a case of AMS and the next day it was decided to descend at first light. AMS claims an average of 3 lives per year in the Himalaya's and we couldn't take any chances. After an afternoon nap we (slowly) decided to visit the Tengboche Monastery - the largest Monastery in the Himalaya's.
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| First view of Everest |
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| Prayer wheels |
The ceremony firstly involved no exertion, ie. Case could join in on the festivities. The monks near the monastery were all draped in red cloth and wore red sandals or shoes, some even wore red Crocs (highly UNfashionable!) They started proceedings with the blowing of huge sea shell horns from the highest window of the building. This served as a prayer call to ALL the other monks in the village (population i'm guessing at max 50). After a few minutes the other monks walked in through the large decorative entrance and we followed suit, removing our shoes before entering as a sign of respect. Inside the walls showed intense detail and colour and the monks all took their places on small stools in the centre of the room. These stools faced a few candles and insense sticks all infront of a large figure (their god). The room smelt of tea and shortbread. The watch registered a temperature of 2 deg C! It was freezing inside! Glad I brought my plakkies.... FAIL!
The monks covered themselves with red blanket and began to chant off in unison. Jargled words came out of their mouths as they mumbled off prayer and they seemed to be in a higher state of meditation. They were then each poured a cuppa tea and the prayer/meditation stopped whilst they sipped on their brew. This process occurred - pray, tea, pray, tea, meditate - for about 45 min's and then suddenly they were finished. They stood up and walked out the room as we were now allowed to take photo's and wander about the monastery. An awesome, albeit cold, experience.
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Monk prayer stations
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What you would typically find in a monastery - note all the intricate detail
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The next day Cacey's condition had further deteriorated and she now needed assistance with even the small things like walking to the toilet. Time to descend. NOW! We went back the route we came and at a town called 'Phunki Tenga', considered leaving Cacey there to recover as I continued to Everest Base Camp (EBC) alone. We were a mere 3 days from reaching EBC. Phunki Tenga had only the one tea house which sported not a long drop but a hole in the floor of each 'room'. It sure was no PH-UNKI town. I could not leave her there and we both decided that this trip was about us and the journey and that EBC would always be there. THE JOURNEY WAS THE DESTINATION and what a journey we had had! 12 day's in the awe inspiring Nepalese Himalaya's - WOW! EBC could wait........
