October 15, 2012

 Day 5.  Namche (11,320'/3450m) to Deboche (12,369'/3770m).

A long day today.  Tea at the end - at 6:12pm.  

Just a follow-up from yesterday.  After I saw them yesterday, Helen and Steve continued to rent climbing items and buy things - especially things with down in them!  Helen & Steve are from the North Island of New Zealand and aren't much used to the cold weather that we will undoubtedly experience.  Helen came out with a great quote today: "This is the most money I've ever spent to feel this lousy."  

I had a long sleep last night.  I think I was in bed shortly after 8 and woke up about 6.  I slept well; got to sleep before the stereo snoring could begin - Helen/Steve on one side and Liba on the other.  I didn't hear a thing!  I also missed the dog fight over by Dennis & Paule's tent.  

For breakfast this morning we had toast and eggs, and we were on the trail by about 8:45.  We had a clear sky to start (as usual), it was pretty clouded over by noon, and we were walking in the clouds later in the afternoon.

A nice view back to Namche as we went on our way................

We had great views of some high peaks and then saw Everest, Lhotse, and Ama Dablam.  Here's our first sighting of Ama Dablam (white peak in the middle).

The distinctive shape of Ama Dablam

Here's a picture showing the village of Phortse (which we did not visit) high on the left.  

The great views continued for a quite a long time.  We could see down the river valley to our last bridge crossing (with all the tattered prayer flags) before the climb to Namche.  We had lots of ups and downs in the morning and got up to about 3600m before dropping to 3200m at the river crossing (and lunch).  There was also a little market there where I bought a necklace and bracelet. 

Another military checkpoint

We had a nice hot lunch outside before starting the climb to Tengboche which sits at about 3800m.  There is a big gompa and monastery there.  I have seen this place many times before in movies about Everest trips.  It is where the expeditions generally get their blessings for climbing the mountain.  I took some pictures but we didn't spend much time looking around.  We did go to the bakery, though, and my (expensive) apple crumble was very tasty!  

Tengboche is a cultural and religious centre for the people of the Khumbu region.  

At lunch I felt my first tinglings in my feet from the Diamox.  

The 600m uphill push took a few hours, but it wasn't too tough.  Although - I did go very slowly.  I tried to breathe more through my nose to save my (sore) throat, but found that tough to sustain.  The cough is progressing into my chest.  I have raided Paule's medicine chest (thank you!).  Tylenol last night, Advil this morning, and Neo Citran tonight.  The Czech doctors may have something for me as well.  Note to self - next time bring more drugs!  On the positive side, my heat rash and leg swelling was pretty much gone by this morning.  

It is still shorts weather but I did wear a long-sleeved shirt under my t-shirt today.  That worked well until Tengboche, where I added two more layers and gloves.  We saw our first yaks today.  As I understand it, the yaks are best suited to the higher elevations and the dzopkios generally are used a bit lower down.

Did I mention that everything in this region comes in on the backs of porters?  Here's a big load of TP....  Oh - and Dawa carefully transporting our egg supply on his shoulders.

We walked through amazing rhododendron forests today; especially amazing as we entered Deboche.  Tonight we had dinner at the lodge, in the heated dining room!!

Sangye and a few others as well as some of the dzopkios left to go a few days ahead to drop off 140kg of gear.  We'll see them again in a few days. They travel much more quickly than we do!  

We're still laughing at Liba's stories of things she has failed to mention to us until now....