Our Trek - Days 8 & 9

13th April, 2008 - Last night we slept well, no funny dreams, but I awoke once with a pounding head and needing the toilet!!!! Seems to be the norm at the moment! When morning came we both felt reasonably well rested but again a slight headache was bothering me. Anyway Dawa had planned for us to take a 3 hour walk up to Chhukhung at 3734m in height after breakfast as another way to acclimatize us for what was ahead. It was the coldest part of the climb that we were to endure. After reaching Chhukhung, having magic views of Island Peak and grabbing a bite to eat, we quickly made our decent back to Dingbuche where on arrival, Brad and I went straight to the room and slept for 3 hours solid. We were completely whacked by the climb and the cold. Didn't do a great deal in the afternoon, just tried to chill out in preparation for our climb tomorrow.

14th April, 2008 - Today was a hard slog, particularly with the harsh, cold winds and craggy surfaces we were to climb.....at one stage we were on Khumbu glacier where there was plenty of ice to be seen and hints of snow from the evening before. About half an hour out of Lobuche (4930m) our destination for today, my fingers, hands and arms began to swell at a rapid pace. Dawa said it was probably due to the cold, but I did become frightened as all I could think of was my blood pressure and the fact that I still had a slight headache. Once we hit the lodge, both Brad and Dawa massaged by arms until the swelling started to reduce. I also took an extra Cartia tablet (which I had already been taken daily anyway) as a precaution which helped increase my urine output and reduce swelling. The headache seemed more like just a pain in the back of the head at this stage and was controlled once again by panadol and the addition of coedine. Today although a difficult walk, was a very interesting one. We were now at the serious stage whereby there were memorials scattered about, honoring those who died whilst trying to summit the mighty Everest in the past. We also saw lots of snow.....the roof of the tea house even leached a little bit of snow. The tea house was overflowing with people hovering around the fire (actually pathetic excuse for a fire really). The burning of dried Yak patties just weren't cutting it in this freezing weather!!!!!!!!!!! It took a while to warm up after sitting around for a couple of hours in down jackets/sleeping bag, yak scarf, hot water bottle etc etc.......but FINALLY we were warm enough to retire to our freezing cold little room upstairs. Prior to going to bed though we managed to trade a chocolate bar for some more panadol, as we had run out and my head was still hurting.

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.