Day 3 Highlights
- Treacherous hike
- Gain of altitude more than 600 meters
- The real stuff
DAY3 - Travelogue
ME AND MY SMALL STEPS
We are having our breakfast of scrambled eggs and toasts; of course we are also sipping some milk coffee. Today is going to be one of the difficult days of the trip as we are going to climb more than 600 meters in the day in about 9-10 kms of hike. Phakding to Namche Bazar, at Namche Bazar weāll stay two nights one is tonight and the other one for the mandatory acclimatization process before we go too high in the mountains. The trek is alright in the beginning, it is going through some small villages with vegetation around them. We just crossed a couple of nice and high waterfalls. The valley has opened up now and the trek is going along the river, we did cross the river to the left via hanging bridge earlier. The incline is not much yet, we are crossing another bridge to go to the right side of the river. Trek still remains next to the river with its ups and downs. Sometimes the river flows far down and looks like a small stream from distance and sometimes it is very close to the trek and is roaring and creating a lot of noise due to the rapids. This sound doesnāt bother us though as we are kind of liking this sound now. Ok we can see one hanging bridge high in the mountains and we are going to climb up to cross the river to the left and then there is a very steep trek disappearing into the green mountain. I think the real steep trek is nearing now.
As soon as we crossed the hanging bridge full of prayer Buddhist flags, the trek is just going at more than 45 degrees. So it is starting to get tougher now. With our fitness level, we are moving very slowly. This is where I devised my motto of todayās trek āMe and my tiny stepsā. This slogan is going to help us all the way and this is the only formula to hike in the mountains. So here we are with our small steps, the idea is to put one step after another without thinking how far we are going and how steep are we climbing. We have been on the trek for several hours and it does not seem to end any time soon. The trek passed through some dense trees and the views behind them are mesmerizing. Sound of the river comes all the way up here although the river is a good few hundred meters below by now. We hear some birds chirping sometimes through the trees but itās hard to see them. We continue slowly and pass through couple of very small villages which are not much of commercial nature. The commercial nature villages have Tea Houses and some places to stay all along the trek and then there are some which are very less in number but they donāt have much to offer for the tourists. Sherpa kids are really beautiful up here though they are very dirty due to the harshness of the weather and less opportunities of getting a bath.
A small village came and we are sitting in its open dining area where there are some other older trekkers ordering their lunch. The sun is out and the heat it is producing is very soothing for our bodies. We have taken our shoes and socks off and those are sitting in the direct sunlight to get rid of any moisture and smell. The food is good and is served with love; the guy came to us to ask if we needed more food with a smiling face. We extended our break to lie down in our chairs under the sun for some extra time before we continue our treacherous trek still going up.
We are just going and going and going up without any end in sight. After hiking for about 9 hours with our numerous number of breaks for photographs and rest and lunch we are now nearing Namche Bazar. It is getting dark also making our hike a complete days hike today. Usually fit people could do this trek in 5-6 hours but then again it depends on you as how fast you go and how many breaks you take along the way. Entrance to Namche is not at all impressive with a small dirty street having some tea houses on one side still going up. Good thing is that our hotel (The Nest) is in the very beginning of Namche. We are in our room now which is a 3 bedroom basic facility room with shared bathroom for the whole floor. Itās quite chilly at this time of the evening. Our porter has already put our stuff in the room as he made it well before us. The Tea House is the biggest that weāve seen so far. And I think it is sort a compensation for us as yesterday we stayed in quite a lousy place and we spoke to our guide about it. But we are happy with this place. There are two very small energy saver bulbs in the room and these produce good enough light to see our stuff. We have two windows, one is blocked and the other one has an open view of Namche.
After taking rest for several minutes now we are sitting in the dining room where there are a lot of other hikers making their plans, reading books and discussing different matters mostly about this trip with their guides. Guides are taking orders for the dinner from their customers. There are quite a few very interesting characters also doing their own stuff. No one is bothered about what others are doing really; everyone is in a different state of mind and tired. Most of the people are going up but some are staying here on the way down. We met a few to check what are the conditions up there. There has been snow and some storm on high mountains a couple of days back and for that reason Cho La Pass was closed for a few days and people did trek in the snow for a day or so but the conditions seem to be normal now as the weather is getting better. We are hoping for clear skies and less cold when we reach up there and we are not the only ones praying for this.
Namche Bazar is located at 3440m (11352 ft) and is the business hub of the Everest Region. However I think this is the most difficult place to become a business hub because the approach to Namche from either side is extremely difficult due to the climb from any other side. From any side one has to climb a good few hundred meters to reach this business hub. This is a difficult place to reach while you are going up in the mountains and even when you are coming down from the mountains. I couldnāt find any bypass either therefore itās a must stop. Namche is also first of the two mandatory acclimatization points in this area. Weāll be staying here two nights to acclimatize before moving up to 13000 ft above sea level. Many people start having breathing or high altitude problems from here. But we are all fine and have not noticed any signs of breathing or other issues so far.
The dinner is Daal Bhaat and some other stuff. The environment in the dining room is very mountainous as I would call it. Anybody staying here has something to do with hiking in this particular trip, therefore everyone has something in common and that is the love for the mountains and the wish to see Mount Everest with their own eyes before these will close permanently. Iām here for the very dream that I kept having since my childhood. Since I fell in love with the mountains and got a chance to see them in Pakistan Northern Areas, Mt. Everest has been a must do in my to do list. Here I am to fulfill that dream making progress towards the Beauty slowly but surely.
After the dinner we are out in the open to see views around our tea house. It is very cold at this moment and windy too, it is difficult to stand outside for longer period without being packed in layers. We enjoyed the cold for some time and are in the dining room again to have some tea as the clouds have covered most of the mountains around here at this time. Dining room is a busy place filled with trekkers, their guides and porters. One could pay Rs100/hour for charging electronic equipment, though the charging here is very slow as it is from solar power through batteries. One could also pay Rs300 to take a bath with one bucket of warm water, again heated with solar power. We ask for extra blankets as itās hard to trust rented sleeping bags especially at this altitude.
It is time to go to bed and tell each other some stories yet again. Third night and Iām not getting any sleepā¦so far. Its after midnight and I've made a couple of trips to the common bathroom but no sleep. This is going to hurt me further in the coming days as this is the third night straight without sleeping and I'm surely hoping to get a few hours of sleep before starting my acclimatization hike in the morning. Good night!
