Day #11 - Looking for a Mobile Phone Signal in Dingboche

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With an afternoon to kill, I thought it would be nice to have a look round Dingboche - it didnt take long. My main reason for this was to hunt out a mobile phone signal that Dirge believed you could get by some green shed he pointed out to me about a 100m from the lodge.

I went to the directed location, but no signal. I reasoned that perhaps if I walked to the top of the village I might get a signal - this proved fruitless also. Stopping and asking other trekkers in the village, they pointed me to the rows of orange tents at the lower end of the village - this also proved fruitless.

About to give up, I noticed the 2 stompas (churches) on the hills behind the village at its lower end. I considered it might be worth a try to climb to the lower one as there may be a signal from lower down the valley reaching it. Climbing the 30m or so to the first stompa had me out of breath, but I was rewarded with some nice views of Dingboche and the valley we had trekked through earlier that day - however still no signal.

I was about to call it a day when I decided I would give it one last shot and climb the additional 50m or so up to the next Stompa. Eventually I managed to get upto to this higher Stompa and find an area sheltered from the wind to try out my phone - still no mobile signal! However, as a consolation the views over Dingboche and into the valley beyond were really good, and as this was one of the occasions I had been on my own, it was a truly refreshing experience. I stayed up next to that Stompa for probably 20-30 minutes, nice and warm, sheltered and able to peruse the slow paced movement of locals and trekkers alike in the the village below. Despite the wind flapping away at the prayer flags, it was a truly peaceful place and I felt wonderfully contented in such a towering location.

Spying the clouds starting to roll in from the valley below towards Dingboche, I beat a hasty retreat back down to the village and into the Lodge for the usual selection of dinner, black tea and bed.

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