Acclimatisation Trek to Syangboche, Khunde and Khumjung


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November 3rd 2012
Published: March 18th 2013
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Namche 3420m - Syangeboche 3790m - Khunde 3840m - Khumjung 3780m - Namche 3420m

Time taken:

Namche - Khunde 1 hour 30 mins

Khunde - Khumjung 30 mins



I'm woken this morning by gentle ring of the yak train passing by my room. The sun illuminates the tips of the peaks as I stare out at them over breakfast this morning which I take at the leisurely time of 7.15am this morning. Why the late start? Today is a designated acclimatisation day as we have gained significant altitude on yesterday's trek. The idea of today is to walk up a few hundred metres above Namche and then return to sleep here tonight, the so-called 'walk high, sleep low' theory of Acute Mountain Sickness prevention. There are several options today but we opt for to visit the twin Khumbu villages of Khunde and Khumjung.

Starting from the Zamling guest house means we are already at almost the highest part of Namche. We following the trail east above it and start to climb up the now familiar stone steps. These have a habit throughout the trek of gradually climbing to a point where the rock wall juts out, the trekker being unable to see past this imagines a blissful downhill or level section behind the rock. It is usually not the case however, as you may expect on a trek to Everest Base Camp, but at least it breaks the trail into manageable sections. The weather was fine, clear and sunny but with a cold wind, perfect for trekking.

We soon found ourselves arriving at the airstrip at Synangboche, literally a semi-flat area where helicopters land and take off. We paused to watch them for a few minutes with an audience otherwise made up of several interested dogs. We continue on up to Khunde village, on the way the views are spectacular and we don't meet a single sole other than the yak train herders. It is silent, peaceful and we keep our eyes on the large birds swooping and ascending the thermals effortlessly. Without a backpack my body feels light and strong so I really enjoy the trek today.

We arrive at Khunde through the memorial arches which seem to be placed at the start of many Nepali villages. They are not only decorative but informative too, giving artistic maps of the village and often encorporate a few prayer wheels. Khunde is a very pretty and amazingly neat looking village. Every field is surrounded by a metre high stone wall and every single roof is green! Suriya and I walked up the narrow stone passageways between homes and compeltely brown, bare-looking fields with heaps of earth in the corners. Suriya tells me there is nothing on the surface to see at present as potato is the main crop alongside buckwheat, the staples here. I was intrigued by the large heaps of earth in the corner of many of the fields and Suriya explained this is the Nepali way to store potatoes which have been dug up but are not needed to eat yet, ingenious. As we reach the top of the village Suriya shows me Khunde Hospital, a building of perhaps 5 or 6 rooms only, where it appears to be mother and baby clinic morning although I don't realise this initially as the women seem to be carrying only large padded bundles of shawls. He explains their babies are wrapped up tight inside to keep them from the cold with no even their faces showing. As we sit with the sun on our backs, a man appears from a door marked 'X-ray' vigorously shaking an old-fashioned film mounted on a metal frame, then holding it up to the sunlight to view it. I wondered how far a patient would have to walk with a fracture if one was found, Suriya says Lukla, ouch.

We carry on through the stone-lined pathways which link Khunde to Khumjung, which is the largest village in the Khumbu region. Here we visit the Sir Edmund Hilary School and Khumjung gompa famous for housing a 'yeti-skull'. The gompa caretaker is asleep somewhere when we arrive so whilst Suriya is calling him I wander around the inner courtyard. This places even smells historic and although the flags are tattered and the wood looks rickety, this place is obviously cared for by the locals. We enter the dark, musty gompa and are temporarily blinded after the bright sunlight. As my eyes adjust I find a very old monastery well kept and a intriguing box covered by a cloth. Suriya asks if i'd like to see the skull and despite my knowledge of it's inauthenicity in the eerie surroundings I am tempted to take a peek. I make the necessary small donation and the cloth is removed. Underneath is a padlocked box. The caretaker goes rummaging around the gompa for the key. Once opened, I can see inside a glass display cabinet, a conical shaped object with coarse brown hairs all over it. The framed informaton to one side suggests this is a the top portion of the yeti's skull. I believe the DNA tests done concluded the fur was of antelope origin but I guess they probably don't have yeti DNA on record so who is to say they don't share similar genetic material. Well it was a nice try. We light a couple of yak butter lamps and head off to the Hidden Lodge for lunch.

Lunch is a delicious warm tomato soup with tibetan bread, but my appetite is still strangely lacking despite the exercise and I struggle to finish my food again. After lunch we take a small track heading off into forest and about 30 mins later we come across signs for the Everest View Hotel. As we arrive there we see other trekkers for the first time that day, it seems hundreds of them after the quiet of the morning! Large groups are having lunch and tipping huge amounts as we walk through the hotel to the balcony for the view. We don't linger and Suriya suggests a quieter view point a few minutes above the hotel which we luckily have to ourselves. This is the second good view we have of Everest, the identifying feature of which is often a plume of cloud attached to it's top, rather than it's height which of course varies depending on the point you see it from.

Later back in Namche I head off into the streets to do some bargaining at the stalls which line the streets. I am wary of buying anything of any weight as I trek up but enjoy bartering for small items. With a small dose of retail therapy I wander to Caffe 8848 where I treat myself to a warming yak milk hot chocolate which tastes fantastic and interestingly comes with a cocktail stirrer. I don't know how other trekkers force themselves to sit out on the balcony there, I stay inside and close to the only proper coffee machine i've seen outside Kathmandu. I have a brief wander around the town then, getting a bit cold, climb back up to the guesthouse for dinner in the warm dining hall. I have dinner with another British woman who has had to stop here due to AMS, she is waiting for the rest of her party to come back as they are at Pheriche. She is being well taken care of and recommends garlic soup if symptomatic with AMS. A beer is tempting but I am wary of headaches and hangovers so decide to stick to hot lemon and tea which I seem to drink by the gallon and head off to bed by 9pm.


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