Tapailai kasto chha? Theekcha theekcha

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Debuche, Nepal

Altitude at start of day: 3,440 meters / 11,284 feet

The morning started out at 6 am, again unassisted by an alarm. We packed up and made our way down to breakfast. While we were eating, I started to talk to Mimi, the girl who we noticed keeping a journal the night before. It turns out she is a journalist who is on her way back from Everest Base Camp. She was here for pleasure (not business) and was hired by the Patagonia Brothers on their current Everest Climb. When she left they were at Camp 2. She is heading to Vietnam in a few days, on which I gave her a few pointers, and then maybe India.

We started out on our morning trek around 7:30 and before we left Namche something astonishing caught my eye. One vendor was selling a number of various keepsake flags. On one, which hung below the Union Jack, it displayed a red Nike swoosh serving as the exhaust from a jet that was flying into two buildings that resembled the NYC World Trade Center, all on a black backdrop. At the bottom, in all capital letters, was the slogan “JUST DO IT”. I pointed it out to Dave who at first thought I was showing him the Union Jack.

“No. Below that.”

“Nike, ha ha.”

“No, look at the whole thing.”

“That's f'd up.”

“Yes it is. Flip the bird at it and I'll get your picture.”

Could you imagine if some shop in the States had a similar flag showing us bombing Dresden, Hiroshima, parts of Vietnam or various other places? We, as a country, would be crucified. And I wonder who would buy that thing anyway? I haven't come across many Jihadist trekkers during my travels. Unless they're the ones hidden behind ski masks when it's 75° outside.

This morning's trekking was much less rocky and much flatter. Along the way we stopped at a stupa dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Tenjay Norgay's successful summit of Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary. We also had a break where we watched workers build, or at least lay the groundwork for a house. During our stop I peed in a squat toilet and upon leaving the facility I and asked Dave if he had used the handicap toilet (is handicap the PC term nowadays?). He said he used the one on the left. “So the big one?” “I guess.” He never did get the joke, which, for the benefit of any others who see the joke pass them by, a handicap toilet typically has a bigger stall and it would be very difficult for one who needs physical assistance of a handicap stall to squat down to go.

At another break we watched some local toddlers interact together before continuing to our lunch spot in Phungki, Thanga, - which we reached before 11 am. We're gradually getting closer to our destination.

At lunch we dined on roasted potatoes with eggs and cheese. This was a nice change from noodles for me but I'll surely be having those for dinner. Dave gave in to temptation and took advantage of the ketchup that was available on the table. We set out on our post lunch walk at 11:45.

This afternoon brought us more of a winding climb, and therefore a slower pace. The terrain was not as rocky as past days. Instead it was a sandy dirt which kicked up numerous times as the wind blew.

At one point, I said to Dave “Today's Wednesday so I think we reach base camp, what, Saturday / Sunday?”

“I don't know. I lost all track of time. All I do anymore is eat rice and noodles, sleep and walk.”

“Numero dos?”

Nonchalantly, he responded “I don't even do that anymore.” I inquired further about this (why not?). Apparently the enormous quantities of cheese that we have been consuming - undoubtedly sourced from the local nak (female yak) population - have resulted in his inability to enjoy one of life's simplest pleasures. Que sera sera.

We reached Tengboche (3,867 meters), the destination provided by our itinerary, around 2:00. Over tea we had a short debate of the merits of continuing our trek. We decided to continue and make the following day's trek shorter. We ended up going only about 20 minutes further before Ram decided to call it quits in a town called Debuche.

We went inside our teahouse and the first thing I did was use the toilet. Here again, someone decided that it would be more convenient to urinate on the seat rather than make the effort to lift it. I would like to urinate on that someone.

With the day still in the afternoon and the ability to do laundry outside, Dave and I washed our clothing across a horse grazing area about 100 meters behind the teahouse. There we found running water and a metal bowl, combining the former and some detergent into the latter, squatting down to hand wash our socks and shirts from that day, as well as my nasty underwear from, well, let's just say more than one day. To dry our clothes, we used a nearby barbed wire fence that doubled as a wash line.

Earlier in the afternoon, I had commented to Dave that I had an abundance of ass boogers, to which he looked at me with an air of concern and disgust. Because of the state of my nether region and the preponderance of dust on my legs, I decided that 300 rupees ($4.20) for a hot shower didn't sound too bad. I got one of the girls from upstairs to open the shower door and she turned everything on. One head didn't work but the other did, resulting in a nice warm stream of hygienic glory. I tried to shower quickly, both because of the environment and the seven minute water time limit, but after a mental count of about four minutes, the glory stream turned to a hard drip. I was almost finished, with soap on my legs and crotch but this water was not turning back on.

I wrapped my towel around me and poked my head out to get one of the girls to assist. She came in, seeing no problem with me being in nothing but a towel, despite the reputed conservative culture here, and began turning the faucets. “Did you try the other one?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, maybe it's clogged.” She grabbed a chair and brought it into the shower, stood on it, removed the head and looked into the pipe, with her back to me. A few seconds later, she spit out a mouthful of pipewater. She went back for more, apparently using her mouth to form a vacuum to remove whatever was causing the issue, with the urgency and determination of a gas thief in the early 1970s oil crisis. She did this two or three times. I was thoroughly disgusted. I wonder if her husband knows where her mouth has been?

Then another girl came in to help as the first one left. She asked if I tried to remove the clog. Hell no. My mouth isn't going anywhere near that thing. Ever hear of Liquid Plumber? Or perhaps a plunger?

She somehow determined that the cause of the problem was a shortfall of water, which is carried to the roof and deposited for use. It must have run empty. It seems to me that perhaps that would have been the first place to look. They filled up the water and I went in to finish up, needing only 30 seconds.

The whole time, Dave was outside, laughing hysterically. My sorry state of affairs brought him great pleasure.

He got cleaned up as well, with no further issues and we went to grab dinner. While we went with the standard noodle fare, we switched up the milk tea for some flavorful apple tea. After we finished, and Ram and Hari finished their dal bhat (a rice and vegetable dish with either meat or potatoes that they have for almost every meal) we played another few rounds of Thief.

I later broke out my laptop to do a little journal writing. I showed everyone the pictures I had taken thus far, with the highlight being the two pictures of yak dung I took this afternoon. I figured I should capture what we see most of, as everyone spends a vast majority of time watching their step instead of the vibrant backdrop. Dave is worried about my fascination with this.

Shortly thereafter, we headed to bed in preparation for another trek day.

Altitude at end of day: 3,820 meters / 12,530 feet

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Photos

Uncalled for
The offensive flag and Dave's response. No, not that one; he still loves Britain. He dislikes the other one.

Worker
A man shaves off chips of wood that we guessed might be used for the house base.

Rhododendron flower
Dave helped me set my camera up to take great close-up shots like this one.

Landscape
Beautiful trees and flowers. What more could we ask for?

Yak dung
Dave's showing me how to use the close-up function for flowers was used in other more devious ways. But at least this gives a view of the bulk of what we see on the trail.

Washing my filthy clothes
Squat position and all.

Dave's laundry
Dave giving his clothes a good scrubbing.

Bowl
The bowl we used, filled with soap and water.

Shower
A picture of me in my towel outside the shower as I waited for it to be fixed.