Showing posts with label Lukla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lukla. Show all posts
Monday, April 21, 2008
Our Trek - Day 15
19th April, 2008 - A day in Lukla...........well we thought that staying in Lukla would be a good idea as there seemed that there would be a few things to explore - WRONG! Our Sherpa Guide, Dawa managed to get himself onto a flight back to Kathmandu that morning but we were to hang around until tomorrow. The Porter, Kaljar stayed with us in order to help us get ourselves to the airport in the morning. Soooooooo our day was spent sun-tanning in the court yard of the hotel reading our books and watching the planes come in and out of Lukla. We did see a few sights though - the amount of children around the 35kg weight, carrying goods from the airport into town (weights of approximately 50kg) on their backs. Training to be Porters maybe!!!!!! Very hard work. We also met up with a few people whom we had met somewhere along the trail and had a few drinks with them. The next day we were to fly out to Kathmandu at 8.00am - I think we were both now ready for that....a hot shower, a warm double bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Our Trek Days 11,12,13
April 16, 2008 - Six hours of trekking today dodging Yak poo and crowds of people going up. It was hard work but feeling heaps better helped I can tell you. It was so nice to be back in Namche. This place is a little oasis nestled in a valley surrounded by mountain ranges capped with snow. We shared lunch with a couple of oxen who were just hanging about our tables - it really is a funny, but normal sight to be seen along the trail. Retired early to bed hoping for a good sleep and the sound of barking dogs kept us awake for most of the night grrrrrr.
April 17, 2008 - Dog Hunting!!!!!!!!! When we finally got over our lack of sleep we took in every bit of Namche whilst sipping on coffee, chatting and eating the best pastries. We were watching the Prayer Flags blowing in the breeze, the smell of incense burning, the frequent stream of hikers trekking through the streets of Namche, the enchanting sounds of Tibetan music playing in the background, the Nepalise people doing their washing in the streams and hanging clothes over rocks to dry, the children playing simple games in the streets and finding so much pleasure from those games. In the evening as we sat in the warm tea house talking about our journey we met a guy who was trekking with his neice 18 and nephew 15. My thoughts immediately diverted to thinking about bringing my boys trekking. What a culture shock it was for this 15 year old.....but he was enjoying every minute of it and it certainly was getting him away from the "computer".
April 18, 2008 - We awoke to the Nepalise stone masons chipping away at rocks to help form part of a new building. This was a daily occurrence in Namche. The chipping started at about 6.00am and continued on through the day until night fall. The other sound which had become very common was the sound of rescue choppers. I would say that we would hear this sound at least 4 times a day. People just push so hard to get up those mountains and get so sick they can't get down without the aid of a helicopter. Just imagine the costs involved in evacuation - It doesn't bear thinking about............We worked hard to get to Phakding with plenty of time to spare, so we decided to push on to Lukla which was another 2 hours down the track. Did I say down????? I certainly didn't mean down. We had so many steep hills to climb before finally getting into Lukla it wasn't funny. I think I had lulled myself into a false sense of security thinking that it was Down. We stopped at a stream on the way to refill our water bottles as there was a sign attached to the pipe coming out of the wall written by the Monks that said "safe holy water for drinking". No way was that holy water - it had so many floaties in it, even our guides wouldn't touch it. Anyway we made it to Lukla eventually, but were pretty tired, so we didn't do much that night....just practically had dinner and were in bed by 7pm.
April 17, 2008 - Dog Hunting!!!!!!!!! When we finally got over our lack of sleep we took in every bit of Namche whilst sipping on coffee, chatting and eating the best pastries. We were watching the Prayer Flags blowing in the breeze, the smell of incense burning, the frequent stream of hikers trekking through the streets of Namche, the enchanting sounds of Tibetan music playing in the background, the Nepalise people doing their washing in the streams and hanging clothes over rocks to dry, the children playing simple games in the streets and finding so much pleasure from those games. In the evening as we sat in the warm tea house talking about our journey we met a guy who was trekking with his neice 18 and nephew 15. My thoughts immediately diverted to thinking about bringing my boys trekking. What a culture shock it was for this 15 year old.....but he was enjoying every minute of it and it certainly was getting him away from the "computer".
April 18, 2008 - We awoke to the Nepalise stone masons chipping away at rocks to help form part of a new building. This was a daily occurrence in Namche. The chipping started at about 6.00am and continued on through the day until night fall. The other sound which had become very common was the sound of rescue choppers. I would say that we would hear this sound at least 4 times a day. People just push so hard to get up those mountains and get so sick they can't get down without the aid of a helicopter. Just imagine the costs involved in evacuation - It doesn't bear thinking about............We worked hard to get to Phakding with plenty of time to spare, so we decided to push on to Lukla which was another 2 hours down the track. Did I say down????? I certainly didn't mean down. We had so many steep hills to climb before finally getting into Lukla it wasn't funny. I think I had lulled myself into a false sense of security thinking that it was Down. We stopped at a stream on the way to refill our water bottles as there was a sign attached to the pipe coming out of the wall written by the Monks that said "safe holy water for drinking". No way was that holy water - it had so many floaties in it, even our guides wouldn't touch it. Anyway we made it to Lukla eventually, but were pretty tired, so we didn't do much that night....just practically had dinner and were in bed by 7pm.
Our Trek - Days 5,6 & 7
10 April, 2008 - The morning was beautiful and warm as we set off for Khumjung. Our first stop was at a small tea house for some soup and then onto our ascent up to Everest View Hotel where the best views of Everest are to be had. A lot of wealthy tourists actually fly in and just stay at this hotel to experience Everest instead of climbing (are they mad...or is it us who are mad). We crossed the airstrip and began our ascent. Thank god we weren't coming in on that airstrip..........no bitumen and plenty of pot holes!! We got to the hotel and sat down to enjoy the view and catch our breath. The waiter came over and gave us menu's, but we were not hungry especially when we saw the prices, nor did we want a cup of tea. He very sarcastically said to Brad, "Sir this is not a museum you must order something from the menu". We turned to our guide, Dawa, and questioned this. Dawa said, "lets leave, there are plenty of vantage points to view Everest - we don't need to be forced to buy!" Obviously we moved on and after a 20 minute descent we were in Khumjung at 3763m which was our stop for the day. After resting and having a cuppa, Brad and I strolled around the village. We met up with some local children playing in the square. They were facinated by Brad's eyebrow ring and they all wanted to touch it. Brad had them in fits of laughter as they all took turns in touching it and running off....some of them pulled on it a little too hard, but Brad patient as ever, just laughed it off. Brad's knee started playing up (tendon) so we managed to scout out a brace for the rest of the journey from a local shop. On returning to the lodge for the evening I managed to find some Australian Red Wine, so I had a glass of that and Brad shared some Chang (local rice/millett beer) with Dawa and Kaljang, forming closer bonds with them both.
11 April, 2008 - Our trek from Khumjung to Tangbuche started at 8.00am and was supposed to take approx 5-6 hours, but we arrived after only 3.5 hours.......mmmmm I do believe the fitness has kicked in ....... hehehehe. We had Garlic Soup for lunch (yes we have been eating a lot of garlic soup up here as its supposed to keep the colds away - every second person you meet has a cough or a cold). After our soup we wandered around and looked at the famous Monastry which was re-built 20 years ago. The original Monastry dated back to the 1600's, but was sadly burnt down 20 odd years ago. After our tour of the Monastry, we decided to press on to a tiny town called Debouche for our evening's rest, as we were told it was warmer than Tangbuche and slightly lower altitude. On our arrival we met an Irish girl who had a chest infection and had attempted climbing Mt Kalipattar. After only 1 hour in, her guide insisted that she return to lower altitude with a porter as she was very sick. We spent our evening exchanging stories with her.....I hope we managed to brighten her day as she was pretty miserable about not making the summit.
12th April, 2008 - We took off at about 8.15am for our long trek to Dingbuche, stopping again for some more garlic soup (I can't understand why no one wants to come to close to us!!!!!). About 1.5 hours after our first stop with the garlic soup, I started to get a really bad headache and was feeling a bit dizzy, so we stopped again, this time having some lunch. I sat quietly and ate my lunch, then had some panadol. The headache seemed to have lifted, so we continued on our journey. This part of the trek was now becoming very cold and tougher by the minute but we eventually got there at 4343m and my head was pounding yet again. We went straight to the dining room at the tea house and had a couple of cups of tea and I had more panadol. We met a New Zealand couple in the dining room and they were deciding whether or not they would be going on, as the woman had a very bad headache and her husband could not keep any food down since arriving in Lukla which would have been approximately 7 days ago. We were to learn later that they did start their decent back down the next morning as he was too sick to continue. Altitude sickness is more serious than I had originally thought and the higher we got, the more of it we were seeing! I had drank 3 litres of water that day in the quest to keep well hydrated and keep the symptoms of AMS at bay. My bladder was not very happy...lol! From this wonderful location of Dingbuche we were spoilt for views of the very imposing Mt Ama Dablang. Its virtually staring you in the face the minute you walk out of the tea house. Apparently Ama Dablang is a far more technical mountain to climb than both Everest and Kalipattar. Our guide, Dawa, is off to Ama Dablang with an expedition group in October. Dinner tonight was Yak Steak and Chips - Yum, then off to bed. Tomorrow is a rest/acclimatization day.
11 April, 2008 - Our trek from Khumjung to Tangbuche started at 8.00am and was supposed to take approx 5-6 hours, but we arrived after only 3.5 hours.......mmmmm I do believe the fitness has kicked in ....... hehehehe. We had Garlic Soup for lunch (yes we have been eating a lot of garlic soup up here as its supposed to keep the colds away - every second person you meet has a cough or a cold). After our soup we wandered around and looked at the famous Monastry which was re-built 20 years ago. The original Monastry dated back to the 1600's, but was sadly burnt down 20 odd years ago. After our tour of the Monastry, we decided to press on to a tiny town called Debouche for our evening's rest, as we were told it was warmer than Tangbuche and slightly lower altitude. On our arrival we met an Irish girl who had a chest infection and had attempted climbing Mt Kalipattar. After only 1 hour in, her guide insisted that she return to lower altitude with a porter as she was very sick. We spent our evening exchanging stories with her.....I hope we managed to brighten her day as she was pretty miserable about not making the summit.
12th April, 2008 - We took off at about 8.15am for our long trek to Dingbuche, stopping again for some more garlic soup (I can't understand why no one wants to come to close to us!!!!!). About 1.5 hours after our first stop with the garlic soup, I started to get a really bad headache and was feeling a bit dizzy, so we stopped again, this time having some lunch. I sat quietly and ate my lunch, then had some panadol. The headache seemed to have lifted, so we continued on our journey. This part of the trek was now becoming very cold and tougher by the minute but we eventually got there at 4343m and my head was pounding yet again. We went straight to the dining room at the tea house and had a couple of cups of tea and I had more panadol. We met a New Zealand couple in the dining room and they were deciding whether or not they would be going on, as the woman had a very bad headache and her husband could not keep any food down since arriving in Lukla which would have been approximately 7 days ago. We were to learn later that they did start their decent back down the next morning as he was too sick to continue. Altitude sickness is more serious than I had originally thought and the higher we got, the more of it we were seeing! I had drank 3 litres of water that day in the quest to keep well hydrated and keep the symptoms of AMS at bay. My bladder was not very happy...lol! From this wonderful location of Dingbuche we were spoilt for views of the very imposing Mt Ama Dablang. Its virtually staring you in the face the minute you walk out of the tea house. Apparently Ama Dablang is a far more technical mountain to climb than both Everest and Kalipattar. Our guide, Dawa, is off to Ama Dablang with an expedition group in October. Dinner tonight was Yak Steak and Chips - Yum, then off to bed. Tomorrow is a rest/acclimatization day.
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