" Following in the footsteps of early explorers on the old expidtin route to Everest , passing through dense forrests and Buddhist hill villages far from the madding crowds. This is a great acclimatisation trek to paradise for Everest base Camp"
This was the inspiring quote we set off with in the early hours of the morning en route to the local bus station with 15 kilo backpacks on our back ready to take on the mountains. After a 30 minute walk though the pitch dark streets of Kathmandu (regular power cuts make Eskom look like the worlds number one producer of power and light), we arrvied in an absolute sweaty carnage, how we left on time we will never know but we had a 10 year old boy screaming "jiri jiri jiri" every 5 mintues and at 6am sharp we set off on a bus ride of a lifetime. There does not seem to be a speed limit that anyone sticks to around here, nor does anyone remain on their side of the road, before we knew it we were hurtling around mountain passes at a million miles an hour, picture a local Congolese bus going full power with no suspension around the Peruvian mountain passes and you will get an idea of what the next 10 hours of our life entailed. We honestly thought we would never come out of that bus alive, especially considering that we saw quite a few overturned buses along the way. Ten hours later with whip lash and no sleep we arrived in "Jiri Jiri Jiri" (I will never be able to just say Jiri once ever again) we walked around to see what our tea house options were and eventually settled for Mera Peak Guest House which just so happened to have the only other tourist in town staying there. Little did we know that we would be spending the next 7 days with Charlie, a very interesting American who was in Nepal to climb Everest for the second time, but we will delve more into his adventures in the upcoming posts. After an early dinner we went to bed nervous, anxious and excited about the trekking adventures ahead!
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| Typical Tea House "Superior Suite" |
