I am Write!

Attempting the base camp never would have crossed my mind had it not been for Jose to tell me of a friend of his who was interested but looking for company. Surprisingly, it happened so suddenly, that I hardly had time to figure out what-when-where!

Going offshore reduces half the time that one gets to spend with friends. It does feel that one gets 14 days off for life of one’s own, but with the trek to Base camp, I have been hardly left with any time for myself, leave alone friends!

14 days offshore, 13 on the trek, 13 (and counting) back offshore, I have had a so far hectic time - time not enough for sleep, forget posting about the trek that I’ve been wanting to write about for ages now!

This night shift - planned so that I could move into a night duty because of a planned shutdown (that hasn’t happened yet) I finally managed some time to put this post down.

Landing on a Thursday, going to office, catching a flight to Delhi, re-packing bags, a flight to Kathmandu next day, paper work and dinner at a live-music place. Lovely so far.

A short sleep, and a 2 hour wait at the Kathmandu airport for our Agni Air flight to Lukla, we made it to the Buddha Lodge - ht. 2430m. A breakfast and our 1st walk on the trek started. We met up with our porter Sanam, and our guide Raj who’d accompany us to the camp. The 1st day itself proved to be pretty deciding, considering that we ran into a Brit girl walking on her own - she claimed to have lost her guide & porter while she walked from Thapley - and on reaching Phakding - stop for Day 1, we met with her guide - Hira, another guide Lakpa who was taking a Vietnamese Lama to the camp. The Lama and Lakpa made a funny combination, with Lama only conversing through paper - writing in English, and Lakpa couldn’t read! Phakding also was where Raj decided that we should go visiting the near by Monastery, and the 300m ascend was done in 45 odd minutes - really challenging my old bones! At the monastery, huffing and puffing, we got to see “the Lama” of Nepal, and eat a prasadam of a plate of Potatoes fried

A nice and cozy sleep in a room no bigger than the ones we had in the hostel - that too with 2 beds here, we woke up at 6.30am for an early start to a long walk as suggested by Lonely Planet. Breakfast of chapatti and jam - horrible, and off we were. The initial part was comfortable, with not too much of an ascend too quickly. Getting our permits checked, we made entry to the Sagarmath National Park. So far the journey had been good. Almost done here, we met up with Ruth, who had started before us, but fallen behind, thanks to her demand for some noodles
Post this check post, the climb was tough. Going up was the only way out, and we stopped for regular stops to catch our breath which seemed to be gaining altitude than the mean machines that owned it! A pic here, and a pic there, ensured that the time spent on this trek wasn’t that easily measurable. Once, near Naamche - a good 5 hrs walk, we got to another post - this one just for entering Naamche Bazaar, but no fee to be paid. Into the bazaar that is held on Saturdays (and we got there on Sunday) we couldn’t even see the remains of what the Bazaar would’ve been. i guess everyone would have yakked away by then The walk from the Naamche Post to the place where we put up - Tashi Dele Lodge - almost on the top of the Bazaar was not just tough - it was killing! I dragged myself to the lodge, to that awesome cup of Lemon Tea, and a lovely bed to wait for me. This place holds the best shower that we had on the whole trek, and they also provided us with free battery charging - a thing money made out of in the Mountains of Nepal.

More than a night was planned at this altitude of 3500 m. The next day, we got to seeing the view of Everest from a view point near an army base, and then without really agreeing to Raj on the climb to the Shyangboche - the highest airstrip in the world, and further to Mt. Everest View Hotel - a 300m odd ascent, we did it with reluctance. Even though Vijay has been a regular trekker since he moved to the States, he also was caught wanting for more in the thin air The walk was good fun after the air strip, which only had a windsock to signify its location, and the Hotel view was definitely rewarding. What was amazing was the fact that rooms cost 164 USD/ night in the hotel, while a small pot of tea cost 200 NPR!

Back in the lodge, we were joined by a Canadian couple who had faced the ardulent pain of the altitude at Tengboche. Later in the evening, Ruth fished out a pack of playing cards, Vijay and I created fake money, and inviting the canadian couple we played Poker - at the highest altitude I could manage! It was here that I started having a headache, and it kept getting to me - leading me to take my 1st Dimox tablet, and I dozed off early this night. It was here that we changed our porter, coz Sanam had some family problem, and we took up another - Ming Ma to bear our load. He sat like a zombie in the lodge, and I wondered whether he’d take our load (only the bags :P) all the way up!

Next day again, we got up early and breakfast done, we made headway to Tengboche. This walk can be broken into 3 parts, first the flat portion, 2nd the walk down to a bridge, 3rd the walk up to Tengboche. The first part is where I found some of the best flora and fauna in terms of butterflies and bees but post this, there wasn’t much of a catch. The walk down to the bridge, and upto a village called Sanasa was luxurious, with tea breaks every now-and-then. This walk was done in 2.5 hours, and we expected to the same up. But our feet seemed to respond better, and even though Lama ran ahead of all of us, and Lakpa chased him, Ruth and Hira chased us, and Ming-Ma was far behind! Into Tengboche in 1.5 hours, we got to probably the worst lodge on the route - a Himalayan view - and after another horrible meal, Vijay decided but never got to sleeping. I presume it was for his R around, but I never confirmed him on this Another American Indian from Dallas - Rajan joined us in the lodge, and he just tried acting smart that the altitude sickness was for the oldies.

The monastery at Tengboche - the largest in Nepal, was the only thing worthwhile at this place. There are not more than 4 lodges, hardly any people, and the monastery holds up a board saying Women not allowed!! All this done, we did check the monastery, and watched the priests pray/ chant and then came back to our lodge to doing nothing

Next in line was our time spent in our rooms, and we for the first time faced the problem of light from solar costing too much - NPRs. 200/ hour for charging of batteries! No power in our room was also another learning point We dozed off early, and then got back up in the morning, to make our walk - that we expected to be tough - to Phireche. The Lama had a headache, and though Lakpa wanted him to go down, Lama kept pushing for going up. The walk to Phireche started with a walk down to Deboche, and then post the bridge, a slight gradient to Pengboche. Pengboche is split into 2 villages - upper and lower - and taking the lower is the sensible part of the walk. Without a torch so far, I decided to buy one, considering my dependency on Vijay for his the previous night. The walk from Pengboche was a little tough, the thinness of the air was really taking a toll on the breathing. Walking slowed down - atleast for me, while Raj and Vijay kept on their speed. There came a time when I wanted to stop, and after reaching a top of a peak, I saw a village ahead - a kilometer or so away. Raj and Vijay far ahead, I asked a porter near by, and he nodded when I repeated Phireche multiple times. Thankfully, the way from the point was majorily down hill! Another hour of walking and we got to the village to just find it majoriy deserted and quite a few lodges still under renovation. We found a cozy place, and then once again Raj ensured that Ruth-Hira, and Lakpa-Lama do show up in the same lodge. This was the 2nd stop where we’d be putting up for another night for acclimitization.

By now Dimox had become the only way I’d survive, and to kill the headache I had started taking two daily - on a morning evening doze. The next day, we wokeup to see a snow fall on the way ahead - and thanked our stars that we didn’t have to walk that day. Not-so-soon wishful thinking, Raj had planned another day walk for us. “Its better for the altitude”, said Hira. Better may not be for me, but for altitude’s sake, we walked. Walked. And walked till I ended with a partial headache, and decided to come down. This gave a doubt in the minds of Raj and Vijay - as to whether I’d go up or not. I slept, read, and ate to ensure that the headache died out.

Next day again, I was ready for the walk up. Feeling perfect But Lama didn’t. Lakpa convinced him to move down, and our group started to break. From Phireche to Dhukla/ Thukla to Lobuche is a 700 m ascent. It suggested by many to break the journey, but many also do the complete way straight. We were to follow the latter gang. Up a hill, down the hill, crossing a ricketey bridge, a tea-noodle break at Thukla, up the Thukla hill, to the memorials of those who died while summitting Everest - a thought crossed my mind on how it’d feel if someone had a memorial for just not making it to the base camp
The rest of the path was down hill, and we walked down to the lodge - above the clouds. Lunch done, Ruth’s heartbeat just wouldn’t come down. So, after a long discussion Hira convinced her to go down back to Phireche. We stayed over night at Lobuche, with nothing much to do.

Next day, just when we planned to get to the camp, Everest showed us why its also called Chomolungma - Goddess Mother of the World. She just ensured that we were challanged every time wer thought were were near. It had snowed again. Damned this earth, I convinced the team to go for the climb. We walked up, with almost zilch visibilty. Thankfully, this wasn’t a cliff on one side, and we slid, fell, played but made not much headway in the 1.5 hours that we walked. A risk assessment in the middle of the snow, I stomped back to Lobuche, coz people just didn’t will to walk ahead, and risk it. Back in Lobuche we contemplated what to do next, and the weather didn’t really please us. Raj said that incase it rained again, the snow would be tougher for us to even get back to Phireche. So, decided, we started walking back. Lunch at Phireche, and dinner at Tengboche was planned. So, we got to Phireche, and via the upper Pengboche - hoping to see the Monastery - which we found to be closed, we dragged ourselves to Tengboche by 7 PM. It had been 13 hours alive, and was the longest day of the trek.
It also tought us to not challenge the goddess mother of the world Another shower here, and a good meal of a Paratha in - something away form the Big Daal-Baths that we’d been eating till now, we called it a night. All this done, we wokeup next day to make headway to Phakding. Another day for 13 hours planned we walked to Naamche in 4 hours, and to Phakding in another 3.5 hours. All this ensured that Ming ma and Raj were tired, and we called it a night, just to wake up at 3 AM, to start waking at 4, to get to Lukla at 7, and get on a flight asap to Kathmandu and further to Delhi. Done done done, we were back in Kathamandu without much more effort. An 8 day ascent, and 2.5 days descent, we were rapid fire in doing it. Lunch at a place that Raj picked up, freshened up again at the same hotel where we had put up initially, we met up with Ruth, Hira and Raj for dinner. Thumba’s - an alcoholic drink made of millets was what we drank, and Hira was high! Awesome night done, all this with the inclusion of visiting the Monkey Temple, and the Pashupati temple next day, we had a tough time managing our time, and were hands full all the time.

Back in Delhi on an IA flight, I was happy to get a nights sleep at home