Oct 17 - Back to Kathmandu!

Oct 16 - Lukla

Oct 15 - KhumJung, Kunde, Syangboche, Namche, Chumoa

Oct 14th - Kyangjuma

Oct 13 - Kala Pattar(5550m) & Pheriche

Oct 12th - Gorek Shep(5140m) & Everest Base Camp(5364m)

Oct 11th - Thokla(4830m) & Loboche(4910m)

Oct 10th - Dingboche(4410m)

Oct 9th - Shomare(4010m) & Dingboche(4410m)

Oct 8th - Tengboche(3860m)

We set out early in the morning for Tengboche. It was instantly uphill - really like a few flights of stairs but add on the altitude, and I was struggling. We did some Pringles price checks (230npr) - the cheapest! Jerrold had bought some 'fake' Pringles at the airport for 350npr, i think...

We had quite a steep down to go after. You have to imagine that the trail is rocky and I was always watching each step I make. There were 2 times I didn't watch where i was going and it was a 'fatal' mistake. First time, I was looking at a pic of a Red Panda and i stepped in Yak dung - nice moist sticky yak poo... So anyway, rocky downhill - Was SOOO glad I had my new knee brace on! AND i was thankful that Andy gave me his moleskin... I'd bought some in Toronto BUT totally forgot to pack it! It was probably sitting beside my Vancouver 2010 Buff that Danielle sent me!

I couldn't quite keep up with Bibek on the way down - i'd rather go up(yes harder, but easier on my knees!). I had almost asked Andy to borrow his poles but our downhill finally evened out. We had lunch in _______. The washroom there was off the side of a cliff with ripped fabric for walls. I waited til I really had to go before venturing in. Was more scared the whole structure would fall off the cliff than someone peeking in thru the fabric! Lunch wasn't that great - mushy veg chow mein. Can't complain, though! The Nepalese eat Dal Bhat for lunch and dinner everyday. Can't wait to go back to Canada and eat KFC, McDonald's and even Taco Bell. I can never be a vegetarian...

The little 'village' consisted of 2 tealodges and few little structures that contained water prayer wheels. I was excited to check them out but none of them worked. I'll have to check my map to see what the place was called.

We started the steep ascent to Tengboche after lunch. Dawa(tour leader) had already warned us that it was all up. I had complained earlier to Bibek that I'm better at the ups than the downs and he said I will be very happy after lunch! Words couldn't describe this long stretch of neverending thigh burning torture. Bibek stopped at some point - everything was hazy and blurry as I tried to separate the pain in my butt and thighs, coupled with the difficult to catch my breath from the prescence --> GOSH, it was like going thru labour again! i took a few sips of water, saw Jerrold walk past us to continue... Andy also started going... jess... or was i first? i don't remember. All I knew was if i stopped too long, i'll cool off and won't be able to start again. I decided to keep trekking. By then, a light drizzle had started. I was a bit glad for the cooling effect...

There was no conversation, just heeing and hawing! I was breathing very loudly. I don't know how much time had passed and how far we've gone, but we started seeing other trekkers coming down from Tengboche. They encouraged us and told us we were really close to the the top. Even then, we had to stop for quick water break... Alas, we saw the sign "Welcome to Tengboche"... Jerrold was noone in sight... Andy, Jess & I took turns taking photos in front of the sign... It was still raining and we decided to look for shelter. We couldn't see much because it was so foggy.

Oct 7th - Namche(3443m)

ALRIGHT, did i say the trek seemed easy on the first day!? I was not even close! Well, the day did begin considerably flat (NEPALI Flat = really up and down, up and down)... We had a LONG break just before the steep climb to another suspension... (photo: Jerrold & I with bridge just before the STEEP LONG TREK to Namche). I slipped on a rock trying to find a good spot to do #1 and grabbed the closest thing to me, which turned out to be a thorny branch. Had to put polysporin on all the little cuts... the spot also turned out to be a popular spot for others(judging from all the #2's around me!!! eww)

The rest stop turned out to be a long one and Jerrold decided to move on so he could hike ahead of the jhokkes(yak train carrying our stuff). The large group started shortly afterwards... it was a slow and strenuous hike. You can't really go fast anyway... I went ahead of Bibek(our guide) at some point, because I couldn't bear to go so slow!). I hiked with Alex(22yr old fresh out of Uni bloke from Brighten, UK) for a bit. I lost him at some point... I was felt like the Engine that could... I kept saying "I think I can... I think I can" over and over. I stopped lifting my head to greet "Namaste" to others. Although I was going at snail pace, I was very out of breath. I tried to breathe long inhales and long exhales, which came out huffffff and puffffff... WHEN WAS I GOING TO GET TO NAMCHE?! WHEN WILL THE SWITCHBACKS STOP? WHEN WILL IT BE FLAT AGAIN? i finally had to ask someone coming from Namche if I was close to NAMCHE and she said "I still had quite a bit to go"... Deflated, i kept going... left foot in front, right foot in front... i started saying left... right... left... right... realizing after a period of time that i had my right in front while i said left... but it took too much energy to switch... I met up with Alex again at a rest stop. A few sips of water and we started off together. A few steps later, i told him to go ahead because my pace was just too slow. He seemed reluctant... haha(he was just as tired, he admitted later).

Before I left Toronto, Kristy & I did a bit of crash training - we hiked up and down a toboggan hill near my high school(silver springs)... i had thought 20 mins of that would prep me for this. BOY, was I dreaming!!! Going up to Namche was 100x harder... and I guess the high altitude did not help. It wasn't until I was passing this girl on her way down from Namche, all dressed in red ski parka, red hat, red pants who said to me "You don't have too far to go..." did I feel alive... was she an angel? am I really close!? all of a sudden, the trail did seem to flatten a bit (A BIT!), it was still a steep uphill... I saw Alex and shouted to him... we hiked for about 5-10 mins before we saw a building!!!

NAMCHE BAZAR!

We had to stick around and wait for Bibek to come and get our tims cards stamped at the park entrance gate before we could go on. The uphill didn't stop there. We still had to hike up a bit to our teahouse. There was still quite a bit of ups to the Hotel Base de Camp. Our veg chowmein was so good at lunch was soooo good that we ordered it again for dinner again. Jerrold & I enjoyed a nice, hot steamy shower. It was as good as it gets. This was Jerrold's first and would be his last shower for the rest of the trek.

Oct. 6 - Lukla(2860m), Pakding(2610m), Chumoa(2743m)

The short flight from Phaplu to Lukla was another frightful experience! Once again, Qin & I clung to each other, while I prayed 'Our Father' over and over in my head. Thanks to my prayers(i think), we landed safely and shortly after, we started our hike. We passed by a StarBucks on our way out of Lukla and I was SURE it would be a pitstop on our way back (if we made the it...)

The trek wasn't too bad at all - not a lot of ups, nor downs... I thought this would be an OKAY trip afterall! Living in Canada has definitely made me realize that we were living in a very priviledged part of the world. I could not even begin to imagine that there were people living in such primitive conditions. These mountain people lived with the bare minimum and seemed so satisified with their lives. I thought of my kids back home, watching television, playing on the computer... then i thought of all the north american kids without their DS and PSP's... that'll never happen!

Anyway, back to our trek... (yes, i was always lost in my own thoughts during the trek... what else could I do? It was hard to talk while hiking at such high altitudes!) We had lunch in Phakding - veggie noodle soup turned out to be instant ramen w/ bits of carrots... hmm.

After lunch, trekked on to Chumoa... we had the cozy teahouse all to ourselves. It was windy and wet outside, but it didn't stop Jerrold from exploring our surroundings, while the rest of us stayed in the warm lodge.(photo: Kenny & I on 1 of many suspension bridges)

Oct 5th - Phaplu(2469m)

We had a late start because we were stuck at kathmandu airport for 1/2 a day before we could get anywhere - and it turned out to be Phaplu(you can see the dirt runway which dips in the middle), not Lukla, so we couldn't even start the trek. The short flight was loud and frightening!! Qin and I clung to each other as we caught our first glimpse of mountains!

Phaplu is a small mtn village - the teahouse wasn't that great, but ah well... a bed and food. can't ask for more. these village ppl live with much less than us so i feel so fortunate already! Little did we know that teahouses were generally just a room with a wooden bed and foam mattress. If you had a light and an extra quilt, that was a bonus! We all ordered our Dal Bhat and walked around the village while dinner cooked. The kids were friendly. I decided to kick a ball with a little one. mistake? after a few kicks, i was really out of breath! Some donkeys had decided to escape their pen and a group of nepali teens were shouting and herding them back in. I didn't see any kid with DS nor PSP in their hands... what a beautiful, uncomplicated life!

Oct 4th - Kathmandu(1300m)

We woke up early on Sunday morning, bought a Nepalese Milk Tea for 25NPR near our guesthouse, and then walked the streets for an hour. Surprisely, Thamel is quiet at 9 in the morning. The markets also seem to have better prices - stall owners eager to get that first sale of the day? Checked out of ACME and checked in at Hotel Manang, then a quick 20 min walk to 1905, where we met Bryan, an acquaintance we met at Matt & Charmaine's wedding. We had a nice chitchat and Bryan recommended a few must see sights in Kathmandu. After that, we walked about 3-4 km to the Swayambhunath(aka Monkey Shrine). NB to self: never make eye contact with the monkeys, or it will jump on you! OK, I had to climb MANY MANY stairs to get to the stupa! It was quite exhausting and I had to stop several times - which worried Jerrold. If I can't even handle these stairs, how will I be able to trek 5-9 hrs a day to Everest Base Camp?!

Oct 3rd - Kathmandu

WOW! Kathmandu definitely looks like a war-torn city! Cars and motorcycles driving all over the unlaned roads. There doesn't seem to be any traffic lights anywhere either! We found our guy from ACME guesthouse without too much trouble, despite the mobs of people advertising for accommodations and taxis. The taxi ride to the GuestHouse was worse than any rollercoaster ride ever - lots of honking and weaving around people, cyclists, rickshaws and other cars. ACME GuestHouse was clean and quiet - just like it advertised and being only a stone's throw from the heart of Thamel, I was quite happy that we didn't have to hear the loud music playing from the bars on the main strip. The only thing I wasn't sure about was paying the extra $2USD for the garden view room. Hmm... it did seem nice, but was it really necessary? Jerrold & I ate at the Yak Restaurant - Rice with Buff and glass noodles(Buff Phing) and some steamed buffalo dumplings(Buff MoMos in Tibetan) & of course - Everest Beer! Dinner was unbelievably cheap! only 440NPR($6usd?). After dinner, we went for a long walk around Thamel - saw some things we wouldn't see in Toronto - lots of garbage on the streets, cows in the middle of the lanes, people spitting from 2nd storey windows onto the streets.

We're not in kathmandu yet, but Everest is certainly closer - ONLY 1 more flight to go. So far so good Neither Jerrold, nor I have gotten drunk yet! We vowed not to drink too much before the trek.

I have a feeling we may have packed too much! Both our backpacks and daypacks are full. We kind of went crazy in the 7 Elevens in HK and bought 6 bags of chips!

HK & Nepal

The packing is about 90% done and we have 45 mins before my parents come to take us to the airport. Am I ready? My backpack is stuffed to the max and I still have little knickknacks lying around.

I'm excited to be heading to Hong Kong again because it's such a beautiful and lively city. I am even more excited(excuse my lack of vocabulary - it is 5:26am after all and i've been awake for almost 24 hrs) to see the renowned Everest Base Camp! Jerrold and I have said seeing the giant Himalayas wil be 1 of our top 10 trips... and now, our dreams are going to come true, thanks to a few friends who were planning to go this year. We just decided to tag along. la di dah.

God has definitely had a hand from day 1. We thank Him for financially making this journey possible, and for giving us awesome parents who are willing to take the kids for 3 weeks!