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Published: December 11th 2018
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Today was a short but fairly strenuous walk from Monjo to Namche Bazaar. Walking up around 700m is quite tiring, especially as you end up at an altitude of 3400m so you notice the air being thinner.
Soon after leaving our lodge we reached the entrance to the national park and had to buy our admission tickets. The sun hadn’t yet reached into our little valley and queuing in the shade was very chilly! Unfortunately we got stuck behind some guides who were getting tickets for the whole group so it felt like quite a long wait.
Once our tickets were purchased we started the downhill walk to cross the river and pass through Jorsalle. It’s frustrating descending 100m when you know you need to be 600m higher than you are!
After a wonder along relative flat ground alongside the river you cross the Larja bridge the path starts to ascend steeply.
I found the ascent harder than expected. I think after the Annapurna circuit I expected to be super fit and acclimatised and that I would just skip up the hills no problem. We had to walk relatively slowly due to the sheer volume of people and
Mule train
Ridiculously long mule train - note they’re still crossing the suspension bridge I didn’t get particularly short of breath but it was hard work and my legs certainly complained! It was also quite dull - walking up through pine and rhododendron forrest with very little change in scenery through the trees.
That said, just over half way up, we got our first glimpse of Everest. I’m not sure which mountain it was though as each groups guide said something different and I’m not sure which one was correct!
Almost at Namche there’s a police check point for the national park tickets. We nearly lost our temper here. They seem to need to record everything which when you have guides giving in about 10 tickets at a time takes ages. And then they let the people checking out jump the queue. We very nearly just walked past without checking in but eventually it was our turn and we were stamped through.
Walking into Namche Bazaar past it’s prayer wheels and water driven wheels is quite a sight. The village is set in a horseshoe around the valley. All the buildings looks very new and unfortunately all rather similar. They are almost all lodges. We went through the centre, past the bars,
bakery’s and shops, and started asking for accommodation as we walked away from the centre. The first few places we looked at were very expensive, the next few full. We finally found one that was reasonably priced and had a room. The toilets outside but we can live with that.
We changed out of our clothes and went to have some lunch. After eating I was surprised to realise it was only 1208!
We meandered around Namche, looking at the shops and bakery’s. Unfortunately the bakery’s are rather expensive so we ended up back at our lodge instead - now we just need to decide what to eat for our afternoon tea....
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