Our Trek - Days 3 & 4

8th April 2008 - Rest day in Namche spent shopping, eating and drinking coffee, sleeping and then off to Park Headquarters (the highest point in Namche) to take in the spectacular views of Mt Everest and the surrounding mountains.

9th April 2008 - Off we go again - We made our way to Thamu, where we had been earlier invited for tea.. by the Head Lama and a lady from America who was staying with the nuns at the local nunnery. It was a real treat as we were ushered into the Prayer Hall where we were served tea and snacks. Once finished our tea, our friend showed us around the hall and gave us a run down on the different aspects, fixtures and ways of the Buddist faith. When we went to leave the nun who was present for the duration we were there, poured holy water into our hands and gave us a blessing. We were to taste the water and put the remainder through our hair.

From the prayer hall we were shown through the new Monastry being built which had been designed by the head lama. It was magnificent to see and we hope to return one day to see the finished product.

On leaving Thamu we continued on our journey to Thame, where we were to stay for the evening. The walk to Thame was really pleasant, through pine forests and we managed to catch sight of a musk deer grazing in the forest which was a buzz. We arrived at Thame with headaches at about lunch time. We put the headaches to rest with some panadol then wandered through this tiny medieval looking village. I'm not sure if anyone realizes but there has been a bit of political tension around the place and this has been due to the impending elections which were to take place tomorrow in Kathmandu. Voting in Thame was to take place at the local school....which we quickly learn't, as Brad was ushered off the grounds by military. We decided after lunch and a bit of a sleep to take a stroll up to 3900m and check out the Gompa Monastry on the top of the hill which was certainly worth the walk. Early night was had in preparation for tomorrow.

Kathmandu

Aaahh Kathmandu - the atmosphere of this place is unreal. After getting used to the idea of limited power as they load shed daily here, unreliable mobile phone connection, tiger balm sellers, hash sellers and the like we are totally in love with this place. Our first day in Kathmandu we were transferred from the Airport to Tibet Guest House which is located just off one of the busiest streets in the Thamel area. Just away enough so we could get a decent nights sleep, but just close enough to all the most popular restaurants and shopping areas of Kathmandu. Most of our afternoon was spent getting our bearings and trying to work out the Rupee against the Aussie dollar and then a quite night.

The next day we met our Sherpa guide, Nima, who is a lovely man. He met us at our guest house for coffee, then took us back to his office to organise all the formalities of our up and coming trek to EBC. Once the formalities were out of the way, he invited us to meet his family and join them for a meal - wow traditional nepalize food. I love my indian curries, but this may have even surpassed the ol indian curry!! Nima and his family are lovely people and I would gladly recommend his company to anyone wanting good, reliable service for trekking and mountaineering. After lunch Nima's daughter (Chookie) took us for a stroll over to one of the most holy Stupa's in Kathmandu. This was a great experience for us, as her great grandfather on her mother's side was one of the gurus way back and there was a picture and statue of him in the temple. She was able to share a wealth of knowledge with us and even got us in through the back door...whereby as a foreigner we would usually be charge an entrance fee of course. After that we made our way back to the Thamel area and went up to the roof top garden at the top of our hotel which offers magnificant views of the Kathmandu valley. We met a party of 7 Aussies up there who were off to trek Annapurna region. They had an interesting story to tell - they all met whilst trekking the Kokoda Trail 2 years prior and had reunited to do this trek. After speaking with them, Brad and I took off for dinner. Just had to have some western food, so indulged in Pizza and red wine at the "Roadhouse Cafe" which is a very popular cafe in Thamel - again I can highly recommend the food at this place.

Next day Nima came to visit us and took us for breakfast at a Hotel where he does a lot of business. Our breakfast was provided by the hotel free of charge because of Nima. He then booked us in there for our return from our Everest Trek. We then went and got the rest of our hiking gear. Nima suggested walking poles which we got and a windbreaker jacket.

After shopping (one of my favourite passtimes), we took a Rickshaw up to the Monkey Temple which was about 20 minutes away from the city. After climbing the million steps up to the top of the temple we were suitably impressed. It certainly set the mood. We decided to walk back to Thamel after visiting the temple to give us a little warm up for the trek. The walk was only about 45 minutes, so not too bad. Lunch was next at a local Nepalise cafe called Himalaya Cafe which served up good honest cheap nepalise food. After our lunch we popped into the bustling internet cafe as it had POWER on...............(huge thing in Kathmandu...and Skype, so we could contact our boys and my mum. Its always a buzz to see them, gotta luv Skype. Now its time to stroll out and peruse the shops..mmmmm more shops...