http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Nepal , Namche en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:03:56 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:03:56 BST I didn't sleep well last night and I definitely had a cold. I couldn't face brekkie which is very unusual for me so my guide said that we could stop on route to our next destination which we did. Today's trekking was no fun at all. I felt sick and had a headache. I really struggled with the trek which was mainly uphill on uneven surfaces winding and bending in different directions. I didn' http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-288317.html It's true. My pack was too heavy my knees were too fragile my legs were too weak and my feet were too delicate.But on a 1000meter ascent it's the altitude not the fatigue which you can't bear.Long before the symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness AMS set in the thinning of the air around you as you climb is palpable. At 1000 meters the oxygen delivery rate is still 88 of that at sea http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-287607.html My lungs are burning my lips are frozen my legs are begging me to stop. Four more steps. I stop to gasp for air. At last there is no where else to go. I'm standing on the summit of Kala Pattar at 5600m. Prayer flags are flapping furiously in the wind. Finally I muster the energy to lift my head and look around me. There it is... Everest piercing the bright blue sky surrounded by its Himalayan http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-272074.html Pictures Added Haven't had a chance to catch everyone up for a few days now. Since I last left off I spent a day in kathmandu enjoying the company of my wonderful guide Milan and seeing some really incredible things. So I'll give a brief update on that day then catch everyone up to where I am now Ive been writing in a little notebook so I made sure not to forget anything that caught my at http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-229526.html While the first half of my trek Jiri to Namche was all about the Nepali mostly Sherpa people that I met along the way this second part deals mainly with Nepalrsquos rockier residents. From Namche Bazaar 3450 m 11320 ft I initially headed northeast towards Everest. This is when I saw the dramatic thumblike Ama Dablam and caught my first glimpse of Everest since its fleeting apparit http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-151690.html A typical Himalayan trek always begins with a sketchy flight on a Dornier 238 Twin Otter up to the Lukla airport at 9500 feet. The airplane can only fill half the seats with passengers on the way up because the runway is only 400 feet long and is pitched at 30 degrees to stop the plane from drilling into the mountainside at the end of the runway... nail biterOnce firmly on the ground we set off http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-151459.html After the kayaking we had a day to sort ourselves out in Kathmandu and get ready for the next trek a two week trip into the Everest Khumbu region to climb a peak called Lobuche East. We headed off on the morning of the 3rd to get a flight from Kathmandu to Lukla you can do a walk to Lukla from a place called Jiri but it would have taken to long and what a flight it was. The plane fits may http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-149872.html Had quite a snuggly night. Laughable really. You're still freezing your bits off really and by UK standards it's probably intolerable but to the hard Mountain Woman I have now become it was really quite pleasant. Couldn't stay in bed past 6.30am however and how often have I EVER written that sentence as on some sort of massive high. Everyone else stayed in bed while I got up for breakfast http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-149221.html Namche Namche Namche After a predictably cold night we left Pheriche at 8.30am bound for Namche Bazaar. Most of the going was down until we got to scene of awfulness and interestingly the amorous French couple's grubby liaison THE WORST LODGE IN THE WORLD Paradise Lodge at Deboche. The climb from Deboche to Tengbocke is super steep and as breakfast was now hours ago extrenely hard with no http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-149128.html Prep Day Day prior to leaving for Everest was a hectic one. Unless weather up at base camp was to be a balmy 30 degrees celcius I was in need of some new gear. Our guide Dharma took Oto and I to a little spot where we got all the necessary gear for the trek. Here's a list of my new kit 091list093 Down Jacket Polar Fleece Thermals Tuque Gloves Hiking Boots which I would soon want http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-149099.html Just a short note to let you all know that I had a spectacular trekk into base camp and am now back in Namche... I will follow up with more details tomorrow when I get down to Lukla...Hopefully some of you have done the google earth thing because it will give you a better picture of all the places I have been along the trek from Lukla up to Gorek Shep and into base camp...On Sunday nite I wrote http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-147201.html Just thought I'd let you all know that I'm alive we're all alive back in Namche having made it to Everest base camp and up Kala Pattar. And we're OK. That is of course to redefine what being 'ok' actually is.... Lips cracked chapped and have tendency to bleed when we smile suddenly. Hair don't ask not allowed out. Nose flaking off in pieces Skin chapped and sore from constant no http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-146623.html Got some photosnbspAsia raquonbspNepal raquonbspNamche By Cam93April 3rd 2007Cameron ClarkHi everyoneThe wonders of technology here I am sitting up in the middle of the Himilayas 11000 feet up in the mountains and a guy is burning all of my camera memory cards onto a DVD so I can erase and take more pics and videos I've actually been taking lots more video...I don't have a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-144721.html SURPRISEI did not expect to find internet available up this far but there are new surprises around every corner today's trek to Namche Bazar from Phakdinge was the hardest hike I have ever been on... we started out at about 7500' elevation and gained about 4000' with a lot of ups and downs will be staying here for 2 nites to acclimatise to the altitude can definitely notice the differ http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-144393.html So we have just had our second acclimatisation day in Namche Bazaar. Pretty amazing day. It was bright clear and sunny as usual when we woke up and Simon and I decided to walk up the hill to the top of Namche. There was the most incredible view of Everest so we walked on further to the Everest View Hotel posh hotel for Japanese tourists and had a cup of hot lemon good drink out here while http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-143097.html Today we saw Everest for the first time Incredible. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-143066.html So so much has happened since I last wrote it's hard to know where to start. Plus this is costing me a million rupees per second plus I'm a bit altitudey and my usual wit and erudition are blunted somewhat...however..bear with me... Spent the second day in Kathmandu wandering around Durbar Square which is amazing full of ancient temples covered in extremely erotic art. You name it they're do http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-142409.html My fellow friends countryman travellers and avid readers welcome to the next chapter in Nepal. Firstly thank you for your kind words regarding the Annapurna Circuit I'm glad you enjoyed reading about it as much as I did treking it. So lets get straight into the next little adventure which includes a real mixture of humour adventure hardship and unfortunately real tragedy. A reminder that no ma http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-109989.html Walked from Orshu to Namche Bazaar. Wasn't a huge trek but we stopped to look at the Tengboche Monastery have morning tea at the bakery. It was such a beautiful day we didn't want to leave so Lance Curtis Sam Ashok I stayed for a beer when the rest of the group departed. After the first drink we decided to do a beer crawl all the way back to Namche. We caught up with the others for lunch http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-108552.html It snowed a bit overnight there was still a few centimetres on the rooftops as we set off in the morning. Today was an acclimatization day so we had a 'strenuous' walk up a BIG hill to visit a fancy lodge built by the Japanese. Apparently it costs USD200 per night to stay there they have their own helipad so guests don't even have to trek in. We had tea on the balcony looking up at Everest http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-108330.html Had a fairly average nights sleep because it was so dammned cold. It wasn't cold enough to snow yet my minus ten degree sleping bag just wasn't up to the task. I ended up wearing thermals another layer still wasn't toasty. I'm beginning to think it isn't really the best quality sleping bag will try to get an extra blanket at each teahouse. That may prove difficult in some places though as http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-108325.html Yesterday morning at 0510 I came down with a severe bout of sickness and Diarroha. So bad that as soon as I had made it down the hill Rolfe and Dave had to hire a horse to take me through the passes to Namche. Not having eaten properly since base camp I was weak and the illness made me dehydrated. Last night Dave The Doc put me on an IV in my cold bare lodge room in Namche. Nail in the wa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-105741.html hey people just a quick post to say that we're alive back in Namche Bazaar 3440m and that we're heading back to Kathmandu in a few days. Should be back on the 10th after which we'll post some real information about our trek. paul http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-104613.html hi everybody we're in namche bazaar now third day of our Everest trek. First day we flew into Lukla after only 3 hours of delay in the kathmandu airport. we started trekking straight away to Phakding about 3 hours in day 1 simple easy enough. The second day yesterday we walked from Phakding to Namche Bazaar which ended in tears with a 2 hour final ascent of about 600m of stairs dust http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-104611.html I'm not at Namche Bazaar after a exhuasting climb of Namche Hill. The air up here is thinner and its amazing how easy you get out of breath.Today is the last opportunity I'll get to write here until I return on my way back. Tomorrow we head out on our path to Everest.This morning we got another sneak peak of our goal. Everest 's 'hat' which stuck out on the skyline proud and wise. The winds u http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-103545.html So this is the last internet contact I'll have for the next 10 days... I made it save to Namche Bazzar The offical height is 3440 but my hotel is on the hill beyond Namche at 3500 meters. I haven't really noticed any affects of the altitude but then again I'm a little on the tall side so I may be acustom to the alititude already...Tomorrow morning we start on are way up to Everest Base c http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-99447.html It was decided that a hike was in order and so it was a hike that we did. Being forced to actually do all the planning ourselves no Doris and no tour operators we began by buying Jamie. Our good friend and reliable companion Jamie McGuiness followed us through thick and thin sickness and health for 10 long days.Things began with a flight from Kathmandu into the townvillagetourist meca that http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-95205.html Cold comfortAfter a breathless trek to the next tea house every evening the group settled down to enjoy themselves as best they could. Their activities severely limited by the cold. An absence of heating on the scale normally enjoyed by the average westerner plus a temperature of minus 12 centigrade created an obsession with warmth that can only be guessed at by the uninitiated. First there was http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-83030.html Like most trekkers we spent a couple of days in the hub of Namche Bazar mainly to acclimatize to the altitude before ascending even more. The higher altitude was noticeable when we walked around town. The stairs can be steep and sometimes they left us gasping for breath especially on the steep climb out of Namche. This is one of the larger towns in the area and a center for trade. Besides trekk http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-74683.html Before going to Lumbini thanks to our dodgy travel agency in Nepal we finally got air tickets from Kathmandu to Lukla gateway to the Everest region. The guys at the agency were so funny. When we used their calculator to figure out how the ticket cost per person and the USDNepali rupee exchange rate it kept giving us the wrong figure. We finally realized those guys rigged the calculator so tha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Nepal/Namche/blog-74367.html