Trekking - Lukla to Namche Bazaar

It is hard to describe how excited we were to be landing in Kathmandu on April 21st.  India was great, but it really took everything out of us.  We couldn't wait for cooler weather, fewer panhandlers, the opportunity to trek in the Himalayas, and Jason and Kaley's arrival!!

We had absolutely no idea what to expect going into the trek to Everest Base Camp (EBC).  How hard will it be?  How nice are the accommodations?  Will the food make us sick?  What about the water?  How will we handle the altitude?  So many questions!

We kept a journal during our hike, alternating days recounting our memories -- the good, the bad, and ugly.  Looking back the journal, we agreed that it makes the most sense to give a day-by-day overview of our personal experiences along the way.  We hope to paint a rough picture of life along the trail.  Here we go with the first few days:

Day 1:  Lukla (2,860 m/9,383 ft) to Phakding (2,586 m/8,487 ft); 6.4 km/4 miles; ~ 3 hours

It wasn't until Jason said how excited he was for our flight from Kathmandu to Lukla that we learned for the first time that the Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla is one of the most dangerous in the world.  We will put up some landing videos when we find a better internet connection!

Our 6 a.m. flight lasted only about 30 minutes.  By 7 a.m. we found ourselves seated in Mera Lodge in Lukla for our first breakfast in the Himalayas.  It was a perfect blue sky day.  After breakfast our entire G Adventures group (15 of us in all) were thrilled to take our first steps of the EBC trek.   It would be hard to imagine a more beautiful place on earth.  Stone houses with blue trim, majestic mountains, amazing trees and flowers.  We were awe-struck.  In order to keep with the Himalayan motto of "climb high, sleep low,"  we spent the morning trekking through rolling hills that left us at an altitude several hundred meters below the airport in Lukla.  We felt great, had a good lunch (separate post coming about the food), and spent the afternoon exploring the village of Phakding on the beautiful Dudh Kosi (Milk River).   We spent the night at our first teahouse (separate post coming describing the teahouses as well), braved our first outdoor Himalayan squat toilets, and made it through the cold night.  Other than a bloody nose that stayed with Sara for a few hours, we didn't feel any effects of the altitude.

Just before the plane took off from Kathmandu to Lukla

Starting our trek with a thumbs-up in Lukla

A vista between Lukla and Phakding

Day 2:  Phakding (2,620 m/8,600 ft) to Namche Bazaar (3,440 m/11,320 ft); 10.25 km/6.4 miles; ~ 6 hours

Breakfast at 7 a.m. and out the teahouse door by 8 a.m.  We had a long and hard day ahead of us trekking from Phakding to Namche Bazaar, the biggest town in the region.  A 6-hour, mostly uphill trek in increasing altitude had us working hard -- especially the last hour up a relentless, steep hill.  We had heard we might see our first view of Everest at a lookout before Namche, but the daily clouds had already rolled in to cover up the "Top of the World."  Accommodation was relatively good in Namche (read flushing toilets in our rooms), so we were happy that we would be staying two nights in order to acclimatize.  That afternoon we unpacked, settled in, and took our first outdoor gas showers at the Hotel Snowland.  Several hours of playing cards, eating dinner, and drinking tea were a great way to wrap up our second day.

Passing a donkey train our way to Namche Bazaar

Our first view of Namche Bazaar

Day 3:  Acclimatization Day - Hike from Namche (3,440 m/11,320 ft) up to Hotel Everest View (3,880 m/12,729 ft) and back to Namche

Day 3 was the first of two acclimatization days built into our itinerary with the goal of climbing, spending a few hours at a higher altitude, and then sleeping low.  Our first acclimatization climb was to Hotel Everest View, billed as the highest five-star hotel in the world.  A fairly steep, two-hour hike brought us to the hotel where we enjoyed tea, soup, and delicious grilled cheese sandwiches.  Seemed pretty nice to us until Jason and Sara had to use the bathroom, which was an outdoor, squat toilet straight down the mountainside.  That didn't seem so five-star, but presumably the guests have better toilets at their disposal.  Side note: We realize it isn't necessarily polite to discuss toilets so much, but it was a pretty big topic of conversation during our trek, so we hope you won't mind if we bore you with the details.   

Lunch at Hotel Everest View

David touching Mt. Everest

More to come as we move closer to the top of the world . . .