Paradise Lost

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Today we set off from lovely Namche to walk to Tengpoche monastery (approx 3700m) where we intended to stay the night.

To be honest I wasn't feeling that great. Think I'd caught too much sun while swanning round Namche eating apple pie in cafes and had a nauseous feeling in the stomach that wasn't going away.

The walk started well though. We had a really clear view of Everest and the path wound round the ridge of the valley, a sheer drop to the icy roaring waters on one side and high pine clad mountain on the other. However, no trail in the Khumbu region is flat for long and we started descending to the river. Going down, not too bad - except that for every step you make down, you know you're going to have to go up - and then some - and any uphill at altitude is really hard work. You gasp for breath at every step and pant uncontrollably if you go faster than yak speed (i.e. very very slowly).

We reached the bottom of the valley and then faced a 2 hour walk up to the monastery in the midday sun. I wasn't too worried initially as if you plod along you can get into a tolerable rhythm and I'd been fine on the climb to Namche, but there was little shade and the sun got hotter and hotter and coupled with my nausea and too much sun form the day before the pleasant walk turned into a torturous, unending struggle to the top. Lungs bursting, stomach churning, burning in the Himalayan sun we eventually reached the monastery and from there staggered another 20 minutes to the next village Deboche where we intended to stay.

Unfortunately the only place left was THE WORST LODGE IN THE WORLD'. Si was almost quite jolly as it reminded him of trips of yore, but by this time I was shivering uncontrollably with fever from sunstroke and the cold, dark, fly ridden lodge, constructed entirely from plywood was not a happy sight. The lodge was called 'Paradise Lodge". Insert your own jokes here. The loo was the most bizarre thing. They had taken the trouble to import a western loo - then buried it in the ground encased in concrete......you do the math.

Bitterly cold night, might just as well have been sleeping outside, only relieved by meeting a complete nutter of an Australian in the lodge that evening who thought you got altitude sickness from getting a chill and had ascended 1000 metres in a day, had to be carried to the doctor at Pheriche (4200m) and really shouldn't have been allowed out on her own.

Felt much better the next day though - next stop Pangboche 3900m.

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