Summiting Everest was easy !

Not quite sure what all the fuss is about. Climb 29,000 feet sure, we did it three times. Well in my dreams.

So we had an amazing last 11 days trekking in the Himalayas. Had a few set backs, but it was yeah amazing. We flew in to the town/village of Lukla on a 19 seater "Twin Otter" propeller plane(quite an interestingly steep and short runway) on the 11th of June. From there we had a small breakfast and started walking. We continued walking until the afternoon of the 21st when we decided to sit and return back to Kathmandu.

The most beautiful views and vistas I have ever seen. Friendliest most welcoming people and some very delicious meals of daal bhat. Daal Bhat is what the Nepali people in most cases eat two times a day and that is their diet. It consists of steamed rice(bhat), lentil soup(daal), and always some sort of steamed green vegetable and when you are lucky some potatoes and a piece of fried papad. Delicious and nutritious and the best part is refills are included and expected with the price. So that is how we sustained ourselves for the last few days.

Each day brought about in the realm of 5-10 new waterfalls to see, some of the most beautiful forested sections with 100's of shades of mosses and leaves. Mountain flowers, great clouds and some of the most bizarre fog. Since this is the off season for trekking there were upsides and downsides. Upsides were we could go days without seeing any other tourists, the hills are green with the rain, the rivers and the waterfalls are their fullest and just the quiet of desserted mountians all around. The only real down side was the distorted views due to dense fog and clouds. The nightly rains were nice and after a few days we figured out to get up early before the clouds came and this gave us the opportunity to see the amazing views.

Here is the sad part - all the books, guides ... say it is the fittest, strongest, healthiest people that become victims of AMS (acute mountain sickness).

So yeah, it was me. We had intended on Gokyo Ri as our final destination. This destination being a peak at 5360 Meters. We made it to Macchermo, a small village at 4410 Meters. I could not get well. Guess my body did not agree with the altitude. It started days before with severe headaches, dizziness and "drunken walk." We took our time and acclimatised as recommended. But after 30 hours in Macchermo and symptoms worsening we did as we were advised and descended. This did not leave enough time to try it again, but Andrew was very adamant that this was the right decision and that it would be better to miss out on Gokyo Ri and be alive than for him to have to hire to carry my dead body down from a higher elevation. Probably the best idea.

So we stayed some extra days in Namche Bazar and waited for a clear morning to get views of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse. Then we descended and ended up flying back to Kathmandu a few days ahead of schedule.

Anyway it was amazing. We are well. Have too many great photos to post, but will give you an idea of what we saw.

Trekking in the HImalayas has been a very magical expierence for me. Something unlike anything else I have ever done. Yeah it was great.

Sorry that is it on the photos - internet too slow and too much exploring to do. Enjoy.

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