Day 3, Sept 3rd, Kathmandu (& Day 4 and 5)
I finally have a notebook! Its now day 5 [I wrote in a bit of a strange order] and we should already be in the mountains! Day 3 was the project visit, and Day 4 should have been flying to Lukla. We were up at 5am, waited until 10 or so and told to go back to bed, which was fine as we were tired. I missed lunch as I hadn't slept the night before (too hot and damp sheets) and I couldn't face more Indian food but turned out it was pasta and good fries. So I joined the group later to head to the Monkey Temple. It was much harder than I was expecting, 400 steps to the top, in flip flops and running on only the food I ate at 6am meant I was dead by the time I got to the top and wondering what the hell I was thinking climbing Everest. It was very hot and of course there were monkeys everywhere. We got a gorgeous view over all Kathmandu, much bigger than I realised it was.
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| rooftop cafe |
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| view over Kathmandu |
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| too many steps |
There were loads of prayer flags hanging around and a religious ceremony was going on with lots of rice throwing and lots of people sitting on the floor holding a piece of string...
Steven James Jenni and I spent ages on the rooftop (even more steps!!) of a café drinking banana lassi and chilling above the sounds and smells and dirty air of the city. Some people got taxis but we walked back, then halfway James wanted a haircut which made us late for dinner so we got a taxi the rest of the way (scary ride!!) all the taxis are the same small square car and most say 'Sports' on them in large letters as if it'll make it go faster.
Dinner was at 6 in the hotel, it was Chinese but I only fancied the sweetcorn soup and then Pemba took me to get the fries I'd missed at lunch, BK's, "best fingerchips"!
So as I said Day 3 was the project visit which I have written a bit about... We got the bus for 90 mins or so to the middle of nowhere across a bridge that was a dodgy plank of wood to the school. There were two buildings, the main one, and the new block down a steep slope (which the kids hopped down like goats and we all skidded down holding on to eachother!). Kids were running everywhere in little cute uniforms and were excited to see us. We painted the ceiling with white primer and then blue, and I sanded the wooden window shutters and painted them. We stopped for lunch and had a wrap thing and potatoes and biscuits and sprite on the floor of the concrete building. It was pretty sparse and I wasn't that impressed really considering what the amounts of money we raised must be able to buy out here! We were just in and out after the DIY, we didn't really get to interact with the kids which was a bit rubbish to be honest and I think we thought it'd be better than it was. We saw their library, including books such as "A tree is nice".
On the way back we daw dead dogs in the road; stray dogs just wonder around in Kathmandu and in the mountains. We went to the hire shop after this to get last minute things and did a bit of shopping then had an Indian dinner which was exactly the same as the Nepali dinner.
So back to Day 5... Thursday, we were up at 6am. We were the third flight scheduled (the day before we were second) and so by 10.30 it was clear none of the other flights had flown due to Lukla still being too cloudy. It is one of the most dangerous airports with like a 2inch runway that appears as if from nowhere in the clouds and suddenly you've landed! So I guess we wouldn't want to fly in bad weather, but still pretty gutting.
Now Friday 6th was our LAST CHANCE to fly otherwise we'd have to do the Annapurna trek instead. Now when I wrote this I was so sure we were going to be stuck on this other trek and was completely gutted to be honest. Only one group has ever had to do it and the June group flew on their last-chance day so I guess delays are common but everyone makes it. So I am up tomorrow [Friday] at 4am to leave hotel Marshyangdi for good either way... Suffice to say its an understatement to say I am hugely gutted if Everest doesn't happen after all the stress and money spent, and time spent raising the money, and all of the people (e.g. theyre all talking about it at Aviva apparently) expecting me to go to Everest. At 11am Thursday we left the hotel on the bus to go to another Buddhist temple, similar to the monkey one without the steps and the monkeys...but first stopping at G-Café for lunch which served Nepalese, Chinese and pizza. You were only allowed to walk around the temple clockwise... like the Mani wheels.
We got Everest beer and Lassis on (yet another) rooftop café and all prayed for good weather with a minutes silence. Then we went to Durbar Square, with lots of temples and things but kind of disappointing for $7.50. We walked down 'freak street' and saw a guy fighting off a drunk guy, was a pretty lame fight.
Steven made me laugh saying he had four disappointments that day; 1.Everest not happening, 2.Durbar square, 3. getting up to get his pizza at G-café when it wasn't ready, and 4. getting up a second time for his pizza when it wasn't ready, hahaha.
I picked up my $2 laundry; was clean-ish. There was more Indian food that night in the 'garden of joy' [we ate inside] and I couldn't stomach any of it. There is not chicken due to bird flu there so all the curries are horrid things like mutton and buffalo, ugh.
Tomorrow [Friday] we don't get breakfast as we leave too early....fingers crossed!!
Friday 6th- last chance day
So we were up at 4. I had about an hours sleep and felt like crap (considering I had to trek for 3/4 hours later that morning too!). We were booked on the first flight of the day.
I showered and did my third 'final' hairwash and we were waiting by 5am. None of us got our hopes up....on the bus to the airport... could still be cancelled...going through security[they love a good frisking in Nepal and India!] ...its not going to happen...getting plane tickets and checking in the bags...might not go... getting on the plane at 6.30 and it begins to taxi to the runway I felt like I finally let out the breath I'd been holding since 4am..ITS REALLY HAPPENING! But I wouldn't believe it 'til we landed in the mountains.
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| Yeti Airlines |
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| World's most pointless air hostess |
We headed into the main town of Lukla, 2,850m. Breathtaking scenery, lovely fresh air, no horns, no piles of rubbish. We had takeaway breakfasts in slightly squashed boxes. sandwich, boiled egg, apples banana croissant muffin and juice and got on the free wifi to let the world know we'd survived.
We explored Lukla and saw the 'Starbucks' not sure it was real.
Day One (of the trek) Phakding, 2,610m.
Day Two, Namche Bazaar, 3450m
Namche is the main hub for the Sherpas and quite a big town. We stayed in Hotel Tibet. I had my last shower here for 300Rs. Was hot but then scalded me! The trek here was Nepali flat before lunch then steep ascent after but I was prepared for it to be hard so just kept steadily plodding onwards and upwards! In the afternoon we officially entered Sagarmatha National Park, and the Khumbu valley; the area that includes all the Sherpa villages and many mountains besides Everest; Lhotse, Cho Oyo and Ama Dablam (which we saw many times, apparently meant to be the third most beautiful mountain in the world-according to who I don't know). There was a small model of the park and its mountains at the entrance and our trek so far was nothing compared to what we had left, I saw we were going down the valley through all mountains to the end where the foot of Everest stood.
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| Entering Sagarmatha national park |
We registered all our cameras at the entrance to Namche, if they get stolen they close down the village! We are spread on two floors here in the hotel and my floor doesn't have power, damn!
Day Three, Namche Bazaar, 3450m Acclimatization Day
Acclimatization days are a bitch!! You think its more chilled as its only a half day and we get up an hour later but we go steeper in a shorter time period and for me there was no motivation to walk up just to come back down so I hate them. I found it hard and couldn't breathe properly. Everest viewpoint we walked to was a dud as it was all just cloud which was a shame. There was a museum too but wasn't very exciting.
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| View of Namche out my window |
Day Four, Debouche, 3875m
Debouche was just past Tengboche with its famous monastery. The only thing worth mentioning here is that when we woke up on day five we could see Everest for the first of only two times on the whole trek!
Day Five, Dingboche, 4410m
More walking...
Day Six, Dingboche, acclimatization day.
The others trekked up to 5000m today but I got to 4650m and went back down with Bali because my stomach was giving me so much pain. Other people began to get sick too with headaches, or throwing up and some people began taking Diamox that's meant to help acclimatize but I never had any.
Day Seven, Lebouche, 4910m
By this point I was truly sick and tired of the whole routine, of being dirty, of the food, of walking after no sleep, of the horrid toilets, of feeling sick, just the whole thing and was really desperate to go home, it was here I decided I was not going to travel after but just come straight home. Interesting part of this days walk, seeing the monuments for all those who died climbing Everest, often on the descent after summiting, including Scott Fischer's who I have read about in Into Thin Air.
Day Eight, Everest Base Camp, 5364m and Gorak Shep, 5140m
I have already spoken about the Base Camp part of today.. and Gorak Shep was where we stayed that night, the highest place we would sleep-although I didn't sleep much. We all wrote on a tshirt which will be forever (maybe) immortalized on the ceiling of the Yeti Resort.
Day Nine, down to Pheriche, 4240m
This was the day we got woken at 4am and then 7am and I still had a lot of trouble breathing on the walk so this wasn't a great day. It was quite long too, we got the Yak pizza that evening.At some point on the way back, either this day or the next we had to cross a new 'bridge' that had been put up since the one we were meant to cross a few days before had fallen down at 2am one night and we'd had to take a longer way round on the way there, but now we could use the 'new' one. It was pretty dodge to be honest!!! And we passed the broken one, scary stuff.
Day Ten, back to Namche, 3450m
During the walk today we visited the Tengboche monastery, and it wasn't that exciting to be honest. Good old Namche, back to the first shower ($3) in EIGHT days, it ran cold after a bit but was still one of the best showers of all time. This was the night we watched Tashi's Sherpa documentary and had Yak steak. It would have been a great night had some people not gone out, including the girl I shared a room with that night, and come back screaming like bloody 5 year olds at god knows what time in the morning, I was pretty pissed off!!!
Day Eleven, back down to Lukla!! 2850m
This day was hard and long especially after my lack of sleep. A lot of downhill which I'm slow at before lunch, which was at Phakding and everyone had a nap, then after lunch it was actually uphill for the final leg of our trek!
After lunch we detoured to Tashi's mum's house where they had lots of apple and pear trees and we picked fresh pears and the Sherpas shimmied up the trees to knock them off, one fell on Padam's head bless him! It was lovely and then we carried on in the right direction but off the main path, crossing one very dubious bridge with sides low enough to fall over. We stopped for a short break near the end, and there was a house with an open door covered by a curtain. Outside, in front of us was a horse a pony and a chicken. The horse kept sticking his head in the door, but got stuck on the curtain, and got one or two hooves inside before the lady came to push him out. He'd walk off and then try again in a few minutes. Maybe it was lack of TV or entertainment over the last week or two but I swear to god it was the most entertaining thing!! We all didn't want to leave as we wanted to see it actually walk all the way in.
After the horse show there was just a few gruelling hours left and finally I was high-fiving Padam back in Lukla!! That night we stayed at Bali's uncles house, where we'd had breakfast when we first landed. We had ensuites! We had our final mountain meal, it was the first serve-yourself buffet, with a starter of tomato soup. There was buffalo curry, rice (both of which I avoided) small fried chip like things, some green veg, lentils, and garlic pasta. Then as it was two people in the groups' birthdays soon they'd made a birthday cake that said "welcome to Everest lodge" on it and was very yummy!
I sat with Bali's niece for a while and she was so cute, she drew me a drawing too. I forgot to mention all the little kids that we saw running about as we passed through the villages are SO cute, all big round faces and cute red cheeks.
We kicked off the celebration with an Everest beer and then Mike was forcing shots of whiskey on everyone and music began to play and Yak man worked his magic on the dance floor!
We headed out of the hotel and the whole group + all Sherpas and yak man went to a 'Scottish' (few random Scottish signs was about all that was Scottish) pub, which was basically an underground bar that was all to ourselves, with a pool table, a bar, a dancefloor and once the ipods were plugged in playing our songs, and vodka shots and more Everest beer was had (I didn't pay for anything of this...) it was such a great last night, I couldn't have made it better! The pub also had writing all over the walls so we had another chance to leave our mark...theres a photo somewhere but its not up yet. There were also some great things groups from all over the world had written such as "What do you call a fat computer? Adele" hahaha and "I yakked on a Yeti".
The June group was stuck in Lukla 2 or 3 days due to weather but strangely didn't come here.
Everyone danced with eachother, and whenever I or anyone else sat down to take a break yak man pulled us back on the dancefloor, Mike (the older guy) got off his face drunk and made an emotional speech then sat on the sofa staring into space the rest of the night, Aaron and Helen tried to teach us some random Spanish dance, I had a dance with all the Sherpas, and James C did the full on dance to Lady Gaga's Applause by himself. There were probably a load of other funny moments I can't remember. Everyone got so drunk due to altitude and lack of drinking in the past few weeks.
The best part was I never ever would have thought I could have such a good night if you'd told me I'd be going out wearing my sports bra and well worn tshirt, (my Everest hoody which soon came off, so hot in there), my thermal leggings and sleeping socks which I'd shoved on for dinner, plus hiking boots, no make up, the hairiest legs I've ever had, and hair that hadn't been brushed for 3 or 4 days at least!! But it was great and I danced for hours!
I was one of the first to leave around 1 or 2 am, bearing in mind we were due to be up at 5 for a flight at 6.. Bali walked Steven and I back and told us we'd see him when he woke us...
A little while after I was back Aaron and Claire dragged Mikki into bed and forced her into her sleeping bag like she was a baby she was so wasted, and Tashi came in and wouldn't leave 'til they dragged him out, so drunk!
Then a while later Tashi came back in and woke us up telling Mikki he had more beer (she did not need it!) so I told him to leave her alone then he got on my bed and started nibbling my ear!! Silly guy!
So anyway, 5 am came and went with no wake up call as Bali was probably too drunk to wake up, and Aaron woke up somehow and was banging on our doors at 5.40 yelling '20 minutes we are going in 20 minutes' SHIT! my stuff was chucked everywhere and I was sleeping in the clothes from last night so I had to just stay in them and shove everything into my bag as first as possible. Mikki had thrown up all over her pillow in the night and didn't want to get up. Mike was most definitely still drunk for the flight and security didn't look too happy but we all, including Tashi's Mum, made it onto the plane and Bali and the others eventually got up to wave us off and watched us fly.
Although a few days before I'd been dying to go home, I actually really missed the mountains as we took off, we'd had such a great last night there. My ears killed during the landing but we got back in one piece.
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| Tashi, possibly still drunk! |
We slept for a bit back at Hotel Marshyangdi, where we'd
spent many nights before the trek, then went for lunch at 1pm to Fire and Ice
Pizzaria which was pretty similar to pizza express, it was very nice and
western although the food wasn't that good, I had a Hawaiian and a banana
lassi. Later on I shopped with James and he was great at bartering so I got
better at it and picked up loads of goodies. We returned our hire stuff (my
poles) and then went for dinner, the celebratory dinner at Rum Doodle. I wasnt
hungry after the huge pizza so didn't really enjoy my food but it was a cool
place. Rooftop [of course] fulllll of white cardboard feet that all the groups
who had trekked or even climbed Everest had filled out, they hung above the
tables and plastered the walls down four or five flights of stairs! We tried
but failed to find the June group's foot.
We got given our TIMS card which was the trekking permit with our photo stuck on and cool stamps (and my name spelt wrong of course) it was pretty cool!!!
Some other Childreach leaders were also at the meal and one was having his birthday so we got our second birthday cake in a row that night! I also had a really good mocktail that was basically OJ, sprite and cream! A few of us (half the group were leaving at 7am to go travelling) went out that night for shisha, and then to a club called Fire club which was apparently the best Kathmandu had to offer but was frankly awful. I left at 1 to go to bed because I was so tired having only had about 2 hours sleep. At the shisha bar Helen was intrigued as to where another table was from and asked them; all American, and one of the guys came over and started chatting to me. He was really nice and from Alaska I think and was on his gap year (so young bless him!) trekking with his dad and little brother. He left to go to a club and asked us along but I didn't want him to think there was anything more than chatting so I was like yeah..maybe but then that was the club we ended up going to so I got stuck talking to him there too. I wanted to go home and he offered to walk me but then he went to the loo so I did a runner and got Tashi to walk me home. Poor boy I just couldn't shake him off! Then at the airport on Thursday morning we were all sat reading and he walked past with his family, I could have died it was so awkward! He came over and said hi and I went really red because I felt bad about running off, and his Dad (who wasn't out before) said something super cringey like 'Does he know you or is he just going around talking to pretty girls' ah god! Then when he left the whole group was like who was that Emma?? hahaha I should never be allowed to talk to guys!
So anyway, Wednesday morning half the group left to go travelling, and the rest of us spent the day spending the rest of our dollars/rupees
Some of the rupee notes (missing the nice purple 50)
Then that evening we went back to Rum Doodle and I got a half decent lasagne, and some chocolate mousse. Wasn't particularly eventful and we were up early again the next day for the flight. FLYING HOME!!
So I had a nice time reading my Sophie Kinsella book aside from the airport awkwardness, then on the flight I was in the seat just behind everyone to Delhi, as I'd been booked on later. A couple hours later, my stomach was full of Delhi McDs 9which I later regretted), with no coke spilling this time and then we were on the final flight, (my tenth one in a month which is just ridiculous!!). This time the plane was much larger and so I was about 20 rows behind everyone else. However since it wasn't full I got 3 seats to myself and laid out and watched Modern Family again, and Halle Berry in The Call (really good!) and turned down all the meals on that plane since I'd already had three meals by eleven am!!! (breakfast, first plane's food, McDs) so I didn't need to eat again that day, bleugh! I managed to get some sleep but I landed at 630, 1130 for our bodies and been travelling since 5am so I was totally dead and just threw my stuff at the taxi man and said 'take me hooome'. Also just as I was leaving a customs guy stopped me and started asking questions about where i'd been (as if I had drugs, dick!) and I basically had a huge go at him saying I'd been travelling all day there's nothing in my bag leave me alone I need to go home!! And he gave up, haha.
So a few hours later, and I was home and straight into my amazing bed!!!!!!!!
Everest was an amazing experience, but I am very glad to be home, I've got a bad chest/cough situation I got in the mountains that still won't go so I am still waking up all through the night to cough my guts up, so I am making the most of lazing around until I start real life AKA my job on Monday. It's great to know that I really achieved something, not to mention all the money I raised for charity, and its definitely changed my views on my life seeing people living like they do in Nepal. It has also made me realise I could get used to living in the mountains (as long as I had an ensuite...) as its lovely and simple and beautiful, but for now I am happy in my little English valley.
So until next time.... hopefully I'll take this blog up again for another Disney adventure in the future, fingers crossed!!!!!!!!!!!
xxx
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