Last day of trekking

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Lukla, Nepal

Altitude at start of day: 2,800 meters / 9,184 feet

Last night I finally had dreams so I must have slept a little. At least I feel more refreshed than I have for the past week. And my sinuses finally seem to be clearing up. However, after another night of mouth breathing, I did awaken with a tongue that felt like sandpaper. I can't wait for that issue to be gone.

After grabbing breakfast we set out on our last day of trekking. It ended up being a very easy day. The weather was warm and the skies and scenery beautiful as we walked from small town to small town. Along the way we met a Canadian man who claims to work for the largest Saudi Arabian oil company. He is apparently here doing independent research for something called HABIPAP on some sort of breathing apparatus for climbers and plans to test it at base camp. Dave and I were convinced he was up to something else until we saw the 15 porters he claimed to have hired walking along with his equipment throughout the morning.

We made it to Lukla at 11:00 am and are very excited to be here. We've had a very enjoyable time, especially in the more scenic areas away from the barren landscapes surrounding Everest, but are also ready for a bit of normalcy.

Our room here is very nice. It has an en suite bathroom with a hot shower - though for some silly reason we would have to pay to use it. Why they insist on nickel and diming everything, even when something like a shower is already in the room, is beyond me. It's like they try to tease you into extorting more money. At least there is a double bed and a twin bed. I took the small one, figuring I probably won't really sleep anyway. Dave might as well enjoy it.

We had fried rice and apple tea for lunch before heading out to walk around town. While this is one of the larger towns along the trek - complete with an airport - that is not saying much. We covered the town's main road in a few minutes. We did manage to purchase some envelopes that we'll use for Ram's and Hari's tips and also a couple Everest Base Camp patches that they can sew onto their bags to commemorate it if they so choose. For some reason, things appear to be more expensive here. Dave had paid 100 rupees for two similar patches in Namche a week ago. They wanted 200 rupees for these two. I said that was crazy and Dave told them 150. Done. The skills we honed in Kathmandu paid off.

We also found a “Starbucks” coffee shop - like most everything else, probably a knockoff - where we were able to connect to the Internet while having some tea. Interestingly, they had a TV on that was playing a Premier League soccer match and then the 2006 NBA Finals, as if it was airing live. Things are so backwards here. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and farting at each other in our room.

Around 5:00 Dave and I decided to head out for a celebratory beer at a happy hour at one of the local bars. We chose Wave Bar because they had a buy 2 get 1 free beer special and free popcorn. The little things mean so much anymore. We enjoyed our brews - along with a bunch of other returning trekkers at the bar - before making our way back to the teahouse for dinner.

At the teahouse we gave Ram and Hari their generous tips and base camp patches and asked if they wanted to join us for a celebratory drink before their dinner. They did. We made our way back to Wave Bar where we ordered up two Everest beers for Dave and I, a Tuborg beer for Hari and a Johnnie Red and water for Ram. Cheers to a good trip.

Nearby we met an Australian guy who was from Canberra but sounded more like he was from Queensland (think Crocodile Dundee accent). He had a really pushy guide that he loved but Dave detested. The guide seemed like more of a servant - of course this dude loved that.

Ram ordered a round and we started spreading out, Dave shooting some pool, Hari and I watching and Ram dancing. As the brief evening progressed, Hari found this to be a drinkathon, ordering beer after beer for himself and Dave. Ram couldn't handle his whiskey and was dancing with anyone or anything that he thought would dance back - three Canadian women, some guys, his pool cue, his reflexion in the mirror. Anything.

Surprisingly, I stayed pretty calm (as did Dave). Once he finished an agonizingly slow game with Ram - who in his state was a horrible pool player - he and I teamed up in doubles against a couple other guys, hoping to bring back our Shippensburg pool shooting glory days. As we already had cheap beers, all we needed were numerous baskets of wings. On our opening break, I quickly realized that the balls here are much lighter than at home as, when my cue ball struck the head ball the cue ball became an airborne projectile, rising several feet above the table and striking the wall. We managed to do pretty well that game, except in closing out which took us longer than expected. The second game went similarly but we couldn't close this time; mostly my fault.

The night ended up being our latest one in a while. We made it past 10:00. Pretty badass, I know. Tomorrow we fly back to Kathmandu. I never thought I'd say this - I'm excited to return.

Altitude at end of day: 2,860 meters / 9,380 feet

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Photos

Dave
Happy to be on his last day of trekking.

Mani stones
The trail has many rocks with religious script painted on them called Mani Stones. People are supposed to stay to the left to avoid bad luck.

Town
One of many small towns we passed through today.

Valley
Looking down into the valley of green. The scenery is much better here.

Suitcase?
A porter has to carry a rollerboard suitcase for his Vietnamese customer.

Crossing the finish line
Back at Lukla after a long journey.

First beers
Our first beers since leaving Kathmandu.

Cheers!
To a successful trek.

Busting a move
Dancing with his pool cue.

Dancing queen
By himself with Hari pretending not to know him.

Still going
With the Aussie guy and the Canadian girls.