Blogs from Tengboche, Nepal, Asia - page 2

Yak attack, Today as we headed up to the hospital in Khunde we were chased by a Yak. (We were just going to visit, nobody was hurt!) Since we were walking on a path lined by stone walls it got a little exciting. Hemingway has nothing on us! Our hike today was down a steep trail for several hours then straight up to the village of Thangboche. There we enjoyed a snack at the Bakery as a horse tried to steal our food. Then we visited to Tengboche monastery. The monks were in the courtyard dancing. First there were two then about 8 were doing a different dance. They were certainly having fun. I wish I could have video taped, but it wasn't allowed. We are staying tonight at Deboche. I will try to post a ... read more

The Solukhumbu of Nepal is a place of incredible, daunting beauty, with fertile, glacier-fed river bottomed pine forest-filled valleys surrounded by mammoth snow-shouldered bastions of stark Himalayan rock. I spent eleven days sharing this landscape with yaks, tourists, Tibetan Buddhist monks, Mount Everest, and the famous Sherpa people, and now I can share a little bit of the experience with you. The first part is my day-by-day, followed by some general observations. Day One: My trip really began at the road entrance to the airport compound. Not wanting to spend too much on transportation, I took a tuk-tuk to an intersection close-by and walked the rest of the way (gear and all—a big backpack with a walking stick and sleeping bag hanging off of it). At the entrance I was ushered into a little holding room, ... read more

After getting a flavour of life in Nepal and checking out some of the major sites in Kathmandu, we began our extremely brief planning session (a few hours late one evening) to prepare for our trek to Sagarmatha (popularly referred to as Mt. Everest). We researched routes, bought and rented supplies (iodine, maps, sleeping sacks, down jackets, snacks, etc), talked with knowledgeable folks, booked flights to Lukla, and stored our extra luggage…finally, just a few hours before takeoff, we were done with our rather limited preparation. UPDATE: If you happen to be interested in a more detailed blog of the ins and outs of a trip to Mt. Everest Base Camp, check out the blog from my latest trip to Nepal: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/danielshortell/1/tpod.html At 5am, and for a price of 400 rupees, we caught a ride with ... read more

Hi again everyone, This will definitely be my last blog for next 7 days as we begin trek into Base Camp -- well things have defineitely taken a change of direction compared to the relative luxury of the lower villages and guest houses... there are only about 6 guest houses here and the amount of trkers has been drstically reduced -- sorry about spelling, cold fingers :) understandable less people going on further given todays brutal hike up here to Tengboche ... Hey, if you want to really see where I am at, just do the google earth thing, and look for Lukla in northwest Nepal -- then go up the valley and you will see the villages all the way up to Everest!! This place did have the first restaurant that has had "western" music ... read more

We started out this morning travelling along frosty bitten paths, in the shadow of Everest. Everest shows itself intermittently as we travel towards our goal of Base Camp. The trail is quieter now and sherpas and yaks are fewer. Last night Rolfe (group leader and accomplished mountaineer) told us the heart rendering story of a sherpa which encapsulates their spirt. One Sherpa who got to the end of his day and asked if he could travel to Kathmandu to get medicine for his daughter who had Scepticima (she was a two day run away). Later Rolfe sawthe same sherpa again and he made the same request. Each time the sherpa had to travel two days to give medicine to his daughter and once complete it was two days back again to rehoin the group. At no ... read more