Thursday, August 5, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Day 15 : Going Back to Huts
After having an eventful fourteen days, and on top of all, last night fun we (Maddy, Kanchuki, Sudhir, Abhishek & I) had in Kathmandu streets, I'm not in a mood at all to end the trip. But, it has to end some day. Aditya woke me up as asked by me before going into bed last night, @ around 6:15AM. I still have a couple of hours of sleep left. By the time I opened by eyes it was 6:25. Maddy has a flight to catch @ 9:30 to New Delhi. I managed to get off the bed and accompanied him to Ali's room where he has to collect his passport and stuff. As we go into Ali's room he is already awake, Maddy collected the passport. Ali bhai started explaining the stuff being misplaced (one sleeping bag and one down jacket) by someone in our group and the due charges per head. Since the amount is not yet finalized, I told Ali bhai that Aditya's bills would be settled by me. We reached downstairs and Maddy had some stomach filled breakfast. By the time Maddy finished breakfast, Cab is in waiting. Saw off Maddy @ 7.
Reached my room and dozed off to sleep for a very short while. Tried reaching 310 and 309. Abhishek is still in bed, Padmaja is on her way to visit Pashupati Nath Temple, Kanchuki is still not wanting to say good bye to bed, Sudhir, as restless he always is, got ready and waiting for someone. I asked everyone to get ready in another half an hour. I took exactly thirty minutes to get ready. I reached straight away to 310, Abhishek is still in bed and no signs of Sudhir around. 309, noone is around. I reached the breakfast table and fast filling up my stomach. Found Sudhir, Padmaja, Mr n Mrs Ramesh. Till this moment I wanted to go along with Paddy to temple, but suddenly all my interest vanished, as I don't see any company who can wait outside the temple with me. Kanchuki also joined us at the table. Paddy set off to temple along with Mr n Mrs Ramesh. Sudhir, Kanchuki and I decided to meet a mountaineering guy who is near. Waited for Kanchuki to get ready, meanwhile managed to have some chit-chat with Sachin, Sudhir outside Ali's room. Hit the Kathmandu streets by 10, Sudhir and I had some delicious mango juide, Kanchuki managed to get one sip in between. She is busy windows shopping, I managed to help her here in buying one, she couldn't strike a deal. We walked down the road, entered a book shop, book bugs bought a couple of books. I couldn't find the autobiography of The Dalai Lama. Finally, entered on T-Shirt shop, Kanchuki was sweet enough to gift a T-Shirt each to Sudhir and me. We bought a few magnets and returned to hotel by noon.
We hurriedly packed our bags as we were asked to check out the rooms by noon. Reached the reception by half past tweleve and all set to hear mouthfuls from Ali. To everyone's surprise, we couldn't find anyone except their rucksacks. So, we'd decided to have quick lunch and headed to "Mandap". Ordered one Chomein and Fried Rice, quickly ate. Heard the news that a plane IX 812, Dubai bound plane, crashed into the valley off the Mangalore runway, and almost all passengers (158) boarded the flight have reportedly dead. Only 8 have managed to escape alive.
Rest of the team has arrived by 1:15, we all left the hotel "Marshyangdi" @ 1:30. Reached the airport by 2. Checked-in our luggage and headed to security Check-in. Missed Kanchuki here as we were asked to wait for more time as our flight is @ 4:30. Had some tea and ate few digestive biscuits. Headed to security check-in and boarded the flight. Flight IT066 had a smooth take-off and reached Delhi on time @ 6. Followed NDTV exclusive throughout my flight. As we're waiting for our baggage, Suddenly appeared Kanchuki, very nice of her. She wanted to say Bye to everyone. I purchased one Scotch Whisky and a Shampagne for my buddies back in Hyderabad from Duty Free. Bid bye to Kanchuki, who is due to spend this night in Delhi. Stuffed liquor into my rucksack as we're waiting for the bus to transport us to Domestic terminal. Reached terminal by 8, we just have 40 mins to board. Boarded the flight and landed safely in Hyderabad @ 11. Final snaps taken @ the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. Sudhir, Swetha and I have taken a cab. Reached home by midnight. That's all from my desk..... HIP HIP HURRAY.
Reached my room and dozed off to sleep for a very short while. Tried reaching 310 and 309. Abhishek is still in bed, Padmaja is on her way to visit Pashupati Nath Temple, Kanchuki is still not wanting to say good bye to bed, Sudhir, as restless he always is, got ready and waiting for someone. I asked everyone to get ready in another half an hour. I took exactly thirty minutes to get ready. I reached straight away to 310, Abhishek is still in bed and no signs of Sudhir around. 309, noone is around. I reached the breakfast table and fast filling up my stomach. Found Sudhir, Padmaja, Mr n Mrs Ramesh. Till this moment I wanted to go along with Paddy to temple, but suddenly all my interest vanished, as I don't see any company who can wait outside the temple with me. Kanchuki also joined us at the table. Paddy set off to temple along with Mr n Mrs Ramesh. Sudhir, Kanchuki and I decided to meet a mountaineering guy who is near. Waited for Kanchuki to get ready, meanwhile managed to have some chit-chat with Sachin, Sudhir outside Ali's room. Hit the Kathmandu streets by 10, Sudhir and I had some delicious mango juide, Kanchuki managed to get one sip in between. She is busy windows shopping, I managed to help her here in buying one, she couldn't strike a deal. We walked down the road, entered a book shop, book bugs bought a couple of books. I couldn't find the autobiography of The Dalai Lama. Finally, entered on T-Shirt shop, Kanchuki was sweet enough to gift a T-Shirt each to Sudhir and me. We bought a few magnets and returned to hotel by noon.
We hurriedly packed our bags as we were asked to check out the rooms by noon. Reached the reception by half past tweleve and all set to hear mouthfuls from Ali. To everyone's surprise, we couldn't find anyone except their rucksacks. So, we'd decided to have quick lunch and headed to "Mandap". Ordered one Chomein and Fried Rice, quickly ate. Heard the news that a plane IX 812, Dubai bound plane, crashed into the valley off the Mangalore runway, and almost all passengers (158) boarded the flight have reportedly dead. Only 8 have managed to escape alive.
Rest of the team has arrived by 1:15, we all left the hotel "Marshyangdi" @ 1:30. Reached the airport by 2. Checked-in our luggage and headed to security Check-in. Missed Kanchuki here as we were asked to wait for more time as our flight is @ 4:30. Had some tea and ate few digestive biscuits. Headed to security check-in and boarded the flight. Flight IT066 had a smooth take-off and reached Delhi on time @ 6. Followed NDTV exclusive throughout my flight. As we're waiting for our baggage, Suddenly appeared Kanchuki, very nice of her. She wanted to say Bye to everyone. I purchased one Scotch Whisky and a Shampagne for my buddies back in Hyderabad from Duty Free. Bid bye to Kanchuki, who is due to spend this night in Delhi. Stuffed liquor into my rucksack as we're waiting for the bus to transport us to Domestic terminal. Reached terminal by 8, we just have 40 mins to board. Boarded the flight and landed safely in Hyderabad @ 11. Final snaps taken @ the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. Sudhir, Swetha and I have taken a cab. Reached home by midnight. That's all from my desk..... HIP HIP HURRAY.
Day 12 &13 : Namche to Lukla
Day 12 : Namche to Phakding
Had two plates of french toast and later to join Kanchuki, Sudhir and Maddy and hit the Namche Bazaar streets. Purchased two walking poles one each for Sudhir n Kanchuki, one shawl for Maddy, one woolen cap for my sister. Lunched around noon and headed to Phakding @ 1.
The descent from Namche went very quickly. The hill that we had struggled to get up nearly two weeks before went very quickly on the way down. The dense air powered our retreat along side the Dudh Khosi as we made our way through village after village, like Jorsale and Monjo, and across many river crossings.
There were several hills on the way to Phakding. Although they went much easier with our bodies acclimatized to 17,000', it was still a shock top our system after so much descent the previous two days. Reached our hotel in Phakding at around 5 in the evening, tasted schezwan pizza in dinner and gulped two carlsberg while few folks from our team were tasting some local wine.
Day 13 : Phakding to Lukla
As the sun rose in Phakding we were greeted with mixed emotions. Eager to get back to civilization, but not yet ready to leave the Khumbu behind, we awoke for breakfast. After a few servings of eggs and black tea, we were ready to make our way down from Phakding to Lukla.
With the bright sun warming us in the low valley air, we enjoyed some tea and crackers before heading into the tea house where Mingma and Co. served us lunch. Only two weeks before we had sat in the very teahouse not knowing what would transpire in the weeks that followed. Blissfully aware of what we had done and seen, we took our time to have tea and reflect on our experiences. As we made our way out of Lukla, we took in the sights and smells of the Khumbu valley one more time. At the top of a decent hill, we stopped for a snack and some water as we watched the Dudh Khosi below. Just a short ways off lay the village of Lukla, our journey's end.
After the break we made our way up the hill to Lukla. With bittersweet feelings we made the last few steps up the hill together as we crossed under the archway that marks the entrance to Lukla one more time. We celebrated the moments with some snaps. We had overcome a fair amount of adversity through sickness and altitude to reach Base Camp and we were feeling quite proud of what we had overcome. Back in the lodge we ordered Puri, Aloo Parathas, Fried Rice, certainly an odd combination. Odd things often look very appetizing after eating a steady diet of potatoes and soup for two weeks.
As all of us needed some time to believe and digest the fact that we all did EBC, we caught up with an afternoon sleep. As the clock turned half past 4, Kanchuki barged into our room and invited us for an evening walk around the streets of Lukla. Kanchuki, Paddy, Maddy, Sudhir and me, We ended up @ STARBUCKS and had tasted some finest of coffees.
Dinner time was an opportunity to celebrate with our new Sherpa friends, Om Bahadur Ji and Kiran, and thank them for the success they helped us to achieve. Without them none of what we had accomplished would have been possible. We are eternally grateful for the help, support and friendship they provided. I must also thank Kanchuki who taught us some fine dance steps. As beer after beer was put on the table, we shook the dance floor with our steps. someone passed around a bottle of Signature that we all took a drink from. After hours of dance the party gradually broke up around 10 and played some cards till 11:30. With great happiness in our hearts we quickly fell asleep.
Had two plates of french toast and later to join Kanchuki, Sudhir and Maddy and hit the Namche Bazaar streets. Purchased two walking poles one each for Sudhir n Kanchuki, one shawl for Maddy, one woolen cap for my sister. Lunched around noon and headed to Phakding @ 1.
The descent from Namche went very quickly. The hill that we had struggled to get up nearly two weeks before went very quickly on the way down. The dense air powered our retreat along side the Dudh Khosi as we made our way through village after village, like Jorsale and Monjo, and across many river crossings.
There were several hills on the way to Phakding. Although they went much easier with our bodies acclimatized to 17,000', it was still a shock top our system after so much descent the previous two days. Reached our hotel in Phakding at around 5 in the evening, tasted schezwan pizza in dinner and gulped two carlsberg while few folks from our team were tasting some local wine.
Day 13 : Phakding to Lukla
As the sun rose in Phakding we were greeted with mixed emotions. Eager to get back to civilization, but not yet ready to leave the Khumbu behind, we awoke for breakfast. After a few servings of eggs and black tea, we were ready to make our way down from Phakding to Lukla.
With the bright sun warming us in the low valley air, we enjoyed some tea and crackers before heading into the tea house where Mingma and Co. served us lunch. Only two weeks before we had sat in the very teahouse not knowing what would transpire in the weeks that followed. Blissfully aware of what we had done and seen, we took our time to have tea and reflect on our experiences. As we made our way out of Lukla, we took in the sights and smells of the Khumbu valley one more time. At the top of a decent hill, we stopped for a snack and some water as we watched the Dudh Khosi below. Just a short ways off lay the village of Lukla, our journey's end.
After the break we made our way up the hill to Lukla. With bittersweet feelings we made the last few steps up the hill together as we crossed under the archway that marks the entrance to Lukla one more time. We celebrated the moments with some snaps. We had overcome a fair amount of adversity through sickness and altitude to reach Base Camp and we were feeling quite proud of what we had overcome. Back in the lodge we ordered Puri, Aloo Parathas, Fried Rice, certainly an odd combination. Odd things often look very appetizing after eating a steady diet of potatoes and soup for two weeks.
As all of us needed some time to believe and digest the fact that we all did EBC, we caught up with an afternoon sleep. As the clock turned half past 4, Kanchuki barged into our room and invited us for an evening walk around the streets of Lukla. Kanchuki, Paddy, Maddy, Sudhir and me, We ended up @ STARBUCKS and had tasted some finest of coffees.
Dinner time was an opportunity to celebrate with our new Sherpa friends, Om Bahadur Ji and Kiran, and thank them for the success they helped us to achieve. Without them none of what we had accomplished would have been possible. We are eternally grateful for the help, support and friendship they provided. I must also thank Kanchuki who taught us some fine dance steps. As beer after beer was put on the table, we shook the dance floor with our steps. someone passed around a bottle of Signature that we all took a drink from. After hours of dance the party gradually broke up around 10 and played some cards till 11:30. With great happiness in our hearts we quickly fell asleep.
Day 11 : Periche to Namche Bazaar
I had such a sound sleep yesterday that I woke up at 7 in the morning, everyone was ready for another hectic day at office by then, an 8-9 hours trek. Ali bhai had recovered magnificently and was in great shape to commence our journey back to Namche. Started @ 8 in the morning, saw a couple of marathon runners jogging their way up the hill, practicing for a marathon event from EBC to Namche scheduled @ 29th May. We were walking at a decent pace, taking too many breaks to take snaps. Meanwhile, our wonder couple (Ramesh n Swetha) looked to be in a real hurry to reach Namche and walked past us, and Abhi gave them some good company. All three had disappeared from the scene in just a matter of ten minutes. We were to go past Shamore, Pangboche, Debuche, Tengboche, Phungi Thanga villages to reach Namche. Four of us, Kanchuki, Sudhir, Aditya and I have together reached Pangboche @ 9:45AM, as Ramesh, Swetha and Abhishek were already waiting for us there. This was the same place we took a break during our forward journey. We sat down at a table, munched some snacks and had some hot lemon, Ramesh and Swetha had left the place by then, Sachin, Paddy n Kiran had arrived after few minutes.
We left this place @ 11, crossed the river "Dudh Koshi" to reach Debuche, and on our way we met a student from Tibet and who entertained us with some hindi and tibet numbers on his mobile phone while we trek uphill from Debuche to Tengboche. I loved this patch so much, full of RhodoDendron trees, a visual treat to the eyes. We all lied down on grass and took a small nap for 10-15 mins. Ali bhai, Javed bhai, Sachin n Paddy have joined us then. Resumed our journey and reached the Tengboche monastery after twenty minutes. Left the place at noon, now comes the difficult part of the trek, downhill 600m from "Tengboche" to "Phungi Thanga", walking pole did help in minimizing the stress on knees and ankles. We took all the care and reached the foot of the hill in 1 hr and 30 mins. Swetha and Ramesh have already reached this place, and they were all set to have lunch. Kanchuki and I have assumed the same seating positions as we did during our trek uphill. We were in for a pleasant surprise on that day as the blazing sun gave way to cool breeze and dark clouds. We swiftly moved into the dining hall and had lunched big time.
Lunch : Aloo Curry, Rice and Daal
Resumed our journey into the final leg of the day's trek, a slight uphill trek to Namche Bazaar. Ramesh & Swetha have spearheaded the attack and Fab 5 followed them. This was the only part of the trek, where you'd find a proper walking path constructed and maintained by some locals, absolutely no stress on knees, ankles and any joints. It pretty much resembled the KBR Park jogging track with just the background being different. We walked for at least a couple of hours, still there was no sight of Namche Bazaar. To be frank, it was a pretty long walk, I was dying to see Namche Bazaar from some distance. We were suddenly enthralled by the surprise thrown in by the nature, a dense set of clouds hovered the mountains and we could hardly see the valley, river and mountains on the other side. This was one of the breathtaking moments I experienced during the trek.
Abhishek pushed himself ahead from all of us and reached Namche Bazaar at least 10-15 mins before. We (Aditya, Sudhir, Kanchuki and I) headed directly to "Everest Bakery" and ate what not, everything, from pizaa to french fries, chocolate cake to capuccino. Headed to our hotel @ 7PM, dumped our backpacks in our respective rooms, we were lucky to get a room with a good view of Namche Bazaar and a very calm ice mountain behind the bazaar. Everyone of us had a hot shower here after 7-10 days and hit the dining hall sharp by 8. I soon regained my appetite, much credit to the Everest bakery, had 3-4 Omelettes, followed by Daal Rice. Had a good hot shower and reached the dining room for some drinks.
Locally brewed millet beer known as "Chhang"/"Thumba or tongba" a bamboo straw is used to suck the water and alcohol from the fermented millet. You can keep adding water as you keep drinking the tongba, until it is finished. "K", Sudhir, Maddy, Sachin, Paddy and I have tasted this and it tasted weird but different. Meanwhile, Javed bhai, Ali bhai and Sachin have made good friends with some local police and a military officer. We finished drinking by half past ten in the night and we hardly cared about the time as we didn't have to walk long way tomorrow, very small downhill trek to Phakding, that too only afternoon.
Drink session was over, Cards session was started. All of us assembled in my room and pulled a blanket as a replacement to the table, clutched its ends under our feet. Kanchuki, Paddy and I were sitting on one cot, Abhi, Sudhir and Maddy were on the other side. Business as usual, started with UNO games and later shifted to BLUFF. Kanchuki had first time won the BLUFF game, and she was right away on CLOUD 9. Cards went on till 2 in the night and we called it a day then.
Pretty eventful and stressful day comes to an end here.
We left this place @ 11, crossed the river "Dudh Koshi" to reach Debuche, and on our way we met a student from Tibet and who entertained us with some hindi and tibet numbers on his mobile phone while we trek uphill from Debuche to Tengboche. I loved this patch so much, full of RhodoDendron trees, a visual treat to the eyes. We all lied down on grass and took a small nap for 10-15 mins. Ali bhai, Javed bhai, Sachin n Paddy have joined us then. Resumed our journey and reached the Tengboche monastery after twenty minutes. Left the place at noon, now comes the difficult part of the trek, downhill 600m from "Tengboche" to "Phungi Thanga", walking pole did help in minimizing the stress on knees and ankles. We took all the care and reached the foot of the hill in 1 hr and 30 mins. Swetha and Ramesh have already reached this place, and they were all set to have lunch. Kanchuki and I have assumed the same seating positions as we did during our trek uphill. We were in for a pleasant surprise on that day as the blazing sun gave way to cool breeze and dark clouds. We swiftly moved into the dining hall and had lunched big time.
Lunch : Aloo Curry, Rice and Daal
Resumed our journey into the final leg of the day's trek, a slight uphill trek to Namche Bazaar. Ramesh & Swetha have spearheaded the attack and Fab 5 followed them. This was the only part of the trek, where you'd find a proper walking path constructed and maintained by some locals, absolutely no stress on knees, ankles and any joints. It pretty much resembled the KBR Park jogging track with just the background being different. We walked for at least a couple of hours, still there was no sight of Namche Bazaar. To be frank, it was a pretty long walk, I was dying to see Namche Bazaar from some distance. We were suddenly enthralled by the surprise thrown in by the nature, a dense set of clouds hovered the mountains and we could hardly see the valley, river and mountains on the other side. This was one of the breathtaking moments I experienced during the trek.
Abhishek pushed himself ahead from all of us and reached Namche Bazaar at least 10-15 mins before. We (Aditya, Sudhir, Kanchuki and I) headed directly to "Everest Bakery" and ate what not, everything, from pizaa to french fries, chocolate cake to capuccino. Headed to our hotel @ 7PM, dumped our backpacks in our respective rooms, we were lucky to get a room with a good view of Namche Bazaar and a very calm ice mountain behind the bazaar. Everyone of us had a hot shower here after 7-10 days and hit the dining hall sharp by 8. I soon regained my appetite, much credit to the Everest bakery, had 3-4 Omelettes, followed by Daal Rice. Had a good hot shower and reached the dining room for some drinks.
Locally brewed millet beer known as "Chhang"/"Thumba or tongba" a bamboo straw is used to suck the water and alcohol from the fermented millet. You can keep adding water as you keep drinking the tongba, until it is finished. "K", Sudhir, Maddy, Sachin, Paddy and I have tasted this and it tasted weird but different. Meanwhile, Javed bhai, Ali bhai and Sachin have made good friends with some local police and a military officer. We finished drinking by half past ten in the night and we hardly cared about the time as we didn't have to walk long way tomorrow, very small downhill trek to Phakding, that too only afternoon.
Drink session was over, Cards session was started. All of us assembled in my room and pulled a blanket as a replacement to the table, clutched its ends under our feet. Kanchuki, Paddy and I were sitting on one cot, Abhi, Sudhir and Maddy were on the other side. Business as usual, started with UNO games and later shifted to BLUFF. Kanchuki had first time won the BLUFF game, and she was right away on CLOUD 9. Cards went on till 2 in the night and we called it a day then.
Pretty eventful and stressful day comes to an end here.
Day 10 : Gorak Shep -> Kala Pattar -> Periche
Day 10 : 17/05/2010
Today was the day when we'd decided to do Kala Pattar by afternoon and resume our journey back to Periche. We knew it was gonna be pretty tight. This was a bad place in terms Before we commenced our journey to Kala Pattar, everyone of us started our journey to the way up @ 8 in the morning, which by itself might not be a great time to start. The ideal time to reach the peak would have been around 6, if it gets late, by 7. Before we kick off our journey, Kanchuki said she was demotivated, not willing to hike. Actually, that settled in my mind, I became demotivated. As I ascended the peak, not because I was running short of energy, somehow, I missed one pat on my back and said "Final Push". I had sound sleep overnight and had taken a pill to control, All was well, but no. This happened when I first saw the Everest smoking out after hiking 200m. I relaxed on a rock and Javed bhai followed me. Had I spearheaded the ascent which I did for the most of this trek, may be I'd have done that as well. An optimist view here, may be I'd ascent these peaks at later point in time. Time will answer my actions for sure, this was not just my day. Javed bhai and I have rested near the rock for at least one and a half hour till 11 in the morning. One after another suddenly disappeared from our sight, munched few masala peanuts. At around 11, we could sight Ali bhai and Kiran walking downhill, we eventually met them and it appeared that Ali bhai had aggravated his health even more from the last night. We slowly descended and reached our hotel by noon.
Ali bhai rested in the dining hall, Javed bhai and I ordered for a pizza. I bought a bottle of coke (500ml) for 220INR, for the first time in my life cold drink had cost me this much:). Never mind, the combination set the tone and my tastebuds have delighted with the pizza touch. Javed bhai was instrumental in making the decision to walk down to Periche just both of us as we knew that it was gonna take long. I had no choice to oblige his idea and we walked down to Periche. Javed bhai had led for the initial duration of the trek, after half an hour into trek, I found my rhythm and literally we hurried to the destination, having only halted at Lobuche to fill our water bottles and Thukla to find some Hot Lemon. After we reached Thukla, we had to go downhill to Periche which was long way across. I was confident and going downhill as if that was way to my home, Javed bhai wanted to make sure the way was correct. I saw a sherpa, 100m away, I went to him and confirmed that this was indeed the way to Periche. We followed him, we walked for an hour and a half to reach Periche. As it always happened, our hotel was at the other end of the village, Hotel "Nagarkot". Earlier, we met the lady from Denmark, who we met during our journey at Tengboche. Had a little chat with her and found that she had some breathing problems in Lobuche, hence she abandoned her EBC plans and marked her way back to Periche.
I said sorry to her and walked past. We reached hotel "Nagarkot" by 4 in the evening. We did it in four and a half hours, from altitude 5164m to 4200m, an altitude loss of 900m. I didn't have much to do, I freshened up and latched my hands onto the book, "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler. Javed bhai started feeling the cold and fortunately, the heater in the dining hall went on @ 5. Javed bhai was waiting for the rest of the folks, he was guessing when would the other batch turn up. I hinted him, batch would turn up not before 6:30, of course this was just my gut feel. There was one firangi couple in the dining hall, in which that lady was constantly coughing. Clock ticked, and it was around 5:30 in the evening. Om Bahadur Ji turned up and said that everybody was walking down very slow, I guessed that they might have gotten very much tired of Kala Pattar ascent, which I failed to do, and they would take at least another couple of hours. Javed bhai was very much worried and tensed that how would they walk down in the tough weather, light was diminishing slowly and a constant cloud cover was passing through.
Earlier, our walk from Thukla to Periche was one of the remembered evenings, because, we tasted snow, clouds and drizzle all during the journey. We literally touched the clouds and walked through them, a pleasant feeling to have.Ramesh n Swetha had reached the hotel by 6 and informed us that Kanchuki, Sudhir and Aditya were behind by at least half an hour. We were all very concerned that daylight was
diminishing rapidly, and Ali bhai, Sachin, Abhishek and Paddy were yet to reach. Ali bhai had had few blood filled vomittings on his way downhill, and he didn't seem to be in good shape. We all prayed god that he would do all right by the morning, Kanchuki said she didn't have sleep as she knew this was not that easy. Abhishek and Sachin were the last to join @ 8:30.
Day 10 ends here.
Today was the day when we'd decided to do Kala Pattar by afternoon and resume our journey back to Periche. We knew it was gonna be pretty tight. This was a bad place in terms Before we commenced our journey to Kala Pattar, everyone of us started our journey to the way up @ 8 in the morning, which by itself might not be a great time to start. The ideal time to reach the peak would have been around 6, if it gets late, by 7. Before we kick off our journey, Kanchuki said she was demotivated, not willing to hike. Actually, that settled in my mind, I became demotivated. As I ascended the peak, not because I was running short of energy, somehow, I missed one pat on my back and said "Final Push". I had sound sleep overnight and had taken a pill to control, All was well, but no. This happened when I first saw the Everest smoking out after hiking 200m. I relaxed on a rock and Javed bhai followed me. Had I spearheaded the ascent which I did for the most of this trek, may be I'd have done that as well. An optimist view here, may be I'd ascent these peaks at later point in time. Time will answer my actions for sure, this was not just my day. Javed bhai and I have rested near the rock for at least one and a half hour till 11 in the morning. One after another suddenly disappeared from our sight, munched few masala peanuts. At around 11, we could sight Ali bhai and Kiran walking downhill, we eventually met them and it appeared that Ali bhai had aggravated his health even more from the last night. We slowly descended and reached our hotel by noon.
Ali bhai rested in the dining hall, Javed bhai and I ordered for a pizza. I bought a bottle of coke (500ml) for 220INR, for the first time in my life cold drink had cost me this much:). Never mind, the combination set the tone and my tastebuds have delighted with the pizza touch. Javed bhai was instrumental in making the decision to walk down to Periche just both of us as we knew that it was gonna take long. I had no choice to oblige his idea and we walked down to Periche. Javed bhai had led for the initial duration of the trek, after half an hour into trek, I found my rhythm and literally we hurried to the destination, having only halted at Lobuche to fill our water bottles and Thukla to find some Hot Lemon. After we reached Thukla, we had to go downhill to Periche which was long way across. I was confident and going downhill as if that was way to my home, Javed bhai wanted to make sure the way was correct. I saw a sherpa, 100m away, I went to him and confirmed that this was indeed the way to Periche. We followed him, we walked for an hour and a half to reach Periche. As it always happened, our hotel was at the other end of the village, Hotel "Nagarkot". Earlier, we met the lady from Denmark, who we met during our journey at Tengboche. Had a little chat with her and found that she had some breathing problems in Lobuche, hence she abandoned her EBC plans and marked her way back to Periche.
I said sorry to her and walked past. We reached hotel "Nagarkot" by 4 in the evening. We did it in four and a half hours, from altitude 5164m to 4200m, an altitude loss of 900m. I didn't have much to do, I freshened up and latched my hands onto the book, "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler. Javed bhai started feeling the cold and fortunately, the heater in the dining hall went on @ 5. Javed bhai was waiting for the rest of the folks, he was guessing when would the other batch turn up. I hinted him, batch would turn up not before 6:30, of course this was just my gut feel. There was one firangi couple in the dining hall, in which that lady was constantly coughing. Clock ticked, and it was around 5:30 in the evening. Om Bahadur Ji turned up and said that everybody was walking down very slow, I guessed that they might have gotten very much tired of Kala Pattar ascent, which I failed to do, and they would take at least another couple of hours. Javed bhai was very much worried and tensed that how would they walk down in the tough weather, light was diminishing slowly and a constant cloud cover was passing through.
Earlier, our walk from Thukla to Periche was one of the remembered evenings, because, we tasted snow, clouds and drizzle all during the journey. We literally touched the clouds and walked through them, a pleasant feeling to have.Ramesh n Swetha had reached the hotel by 6 and informed us that Kanchuki, Sudhir and Aditya were behind by at least half an hour. We were all very concerned that daylight was
diminishing rapidly, and Ali bhai, Sachin, Abhishek and Paddy were yet to reach. Ali bhai had had few blood filled vomittings on his way downhill, and he didn't seem to be in good shape. We all prayed god that he would do all right by the morning, Kanchuki said she didn't have sleep as she knew this was not that easy. Abhishek and Sachin were the last to join @ 8:30.
Day 10 ends here.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Day 9 : Lobuche to Gorak Shep -> EBC
Day 9 : 16/05/2010
Had a sound sleep yesterday night and got off the bed @ half past 5. All set to reach our final destination, Gorak Shep, at an altitude of 5164m. We were gonna set this as base and do EBC, Kala Pathar. As usual, started @ 8, path full of rocks and rocks in all possible sizes. One would have to invest some time in understanding this formation, hardly you could see any vegetation on the hills, rocks placed all over. We reached "Gorak Shep" just under three hours into the trek, and put up at hotel "Paradise". Finished our lunch and all set to do EBC in the afternoon. We dumped all our luggage and backpacks in the hotel, as we'd return back to the same place after doing EBC. We were then a little lighter and set off for EBC. EBC is at an altitude of 5364M, this means you gotta gain 200m altitude from Gorak Shep. Om Bahadur Ji was leading us through the mountains and explained us to be a little extra cautious as rocks could slide down at any time, and that left us a little worried, but moved on. Terrain was very dusty all through, and at times slippery. Into the trek twenty minutes, we could see the tents in yellow, blue and red colors appeared as some dots at some distance, and we were told that was the base camp. This fuelled our body which was kind of giving up after some serious week trek, and helped us to keep that hunger to reach EBC. Let me tell your that was some real distance we had to cover to reach EBC. All this while, we were walking around some rocky mountains on the one side of the river pass and we had to cross the river sometime to reach the Everest Base Camp.
After gruelling two hours into trek, at around half past two in the afternoon, we had crossed the river (a dried one) and landed our foot in the Everest Base Camp, 5364M. It was a "Dream Come true", and we, were the first three ones from our group, who did it, Kanchuki, Sudhir and I. We captured few fine moments near the Everest Base Camp.
Lemme explain you my take on Everest Base Camp. It was 1 in the afternoon, no trace of sun at all, Mt. Everest and all other peaks surrounding it were hovered by clouds, heavy wind was going across, not even my woolen gloves and multiple layers could stop my shivering. We could hear some strange noises at regular intervals, guessed it may be the noise coming out of glacier falls, Om Bahadur concurred it. Small small water bodies which we could see around were completely frozen and I tried breaking them hitting with stones and failed to reach my objective. It is pretty apparent that this place experiences below zero temperatures 24x7.
Tents and Expedition camps were still some distance to cover and Om Bahadur Ji had some business at the camp. So, he marched on, and we followed him. We walked past one set of tents, and there was a clear sign board at the entrance which said "No Entry". Meanwhile, some serious drizzle also started, in fact, a snow fall, that fit my requirements, what a marvelous sight that was. I was completely taken away by the sight of Everest and didn't feel like placing a foot further. I'd taken off my gloves and down jacket and found a rock to just lie down and see Everest. I initially shivered for some time, but decided to beat it as this rock gave me the best view of Everest. I let my other folks go ahead and decided to spend some quality time till they come back. I could see Kanchuki and Sudhir, moving towards the expedition camps along with Om Bahadur Ji. I slept on the rock, you don't believe it, my body acclimatized to the conditions and my shivering stopped soon after. I stared and stared and stared, at Mt. Everest for close to fifteen minutes. Spent some invaluable time at that spot, all alone by myself. I moved towards the base camp milestone as I'd seen Kanchuki and Sudhir tracing their way back. As I neared the base camp milestone, I saw Ali, Swetha and Ramesh posing for photographs with two ladies. I congratulated all three of them and met the two ladies, who were around 165cm tall and slightly plump. One of those, hailed from Haryana, India, Mamatha Sodha, and was planning to summit that saturday, 22nd May, 2010. I wished her all the very best. Another hailed from Nepal and she seemed to have summitted Everest once. I too posed for a couple of photographs with them and considered myself to be damn lucky. This was truly a great day in my life. Meanwhile, Kanchuki and Sudhir have also joined us from the expedition camps.
Swetha, Ramesh and I have resumed our journey while other folks still wanted to spend some time. We met Paddy, as usual, accompanied by Kiran marching towards the Base Camp. She wasn't too long, hardly a thirty minute walk from the place where we met. We wished her all the best and moved ahead. Reached the hotel by 5 in the evening and straight away hit the dinner hall. I shared all my stories with the Pune batch at the dining hall, they were all ears to me. Ali, Sudhir, Kanchuki and Padmaja had joined us after thirty minutes. Had my dinner and hit the bed to catch some sleep by 9 in the night.
A memorable and an eventful day comes to an end here.
Had a sound sleep yesterday night and got off the bed @ half past 5. All set to reach our final destination, Gorak Shep, at an altitude of 5164m. We were gonna set this as base and do EBC, Kala Pathar. As usual, started @ 8, path full of rocks and rocks in all possible sizes. One would have to invest some time in understanding this formation, hardly you could see any vegetation on the hills, rocks placed all over. We reached "Gorak Shep" just under three hours into the trek, and put up at hotel "Paradise". Finished our lunch and all set to do EBC in the afternoon. We dumped all our luggage and backpacks in the hotel, as we'd return back to the same place after doing EBC. We were then a little lighter and set off for EBC. EBC is at an altitude of 5364M, this means you gotta gain 200m altitude from Gorak Shep. Om Bahadur Ji was leading us through the mountains and explained us to be a little extra cautious as rocks could slide down at any time, and that left us a little worried, but moved on. Terrain was very dusty all through, and at times slippery. Into the trek twenty minutes, we could see the tents in yellow, blue and red colors appeared as some dots at some distance, and we were told that was the base camp. This fuelled our body which was kind of giving up after some serious week trek, and helped us to keep that hunger to reach EBC. Let me tell your that was some real distance we had to cover to reach EBC. All this while, we were walking around some rocky mountains on the one side of the river pass and we had to cross the river sometime to reach the Everest Base Camp.
After gruelling two hours into trek, at around half past two in the afternoon, we had crossed the river (a dried one) and landed our foot in the Everest Base Camp, 5364M. It was a "Dream Come true", and we, were the first three ones from our group, who did it, Kanchuki, Sudhir and I. We captured few fine moments near the Everest Base Camp.
Lemme explain you my take on Everest Base Camp. It was 1 in the afternoon, no trace of sun at all, Mt. Everest and all other peaks surrounding it were hovered by clouds, heavy wind was going across, not even my woolen gloves and multiple layers could stop my shivering. We could hear some strange noises at regular intervals, guessed it may be the noise coming out of glacier falls, Om Bahadur concurred it. Small small water bodies which we could see around were completely frozen and I tried breaking them hitting with stones and failed to reach my objective. It is pretty apparent that this place experiences below zero temperatures 24x7.
Tents and Expedition camps were still some distance to cover and Om Bahadur Ji had some business at the camp. So, he marched on, and we followed him. We walked past one set of tents, and there was a clear sign board at the entrance which said "No Entry". Meanwhile, some serious drizzle also started, in fact, a snow fall, that fit my requirements, what a marvelous sight that was. I was completely taken away by the sight of Everest and didn't feel like placing a foot further. I'd taken off my gloves and down jacket and found a rock to just lie down and see Everest. I initially shivered for some time, but decided to beat it as this rock gave me the best view of Everest. I let my other folks go ahead and decided to spend some quality time till they come back. I could see Kanchuki and Sudhir, moving towards the expedition camps along with Om Bahadur Ji. I slept on the rock, you don't believe it, my body acclimatized to the conditions and my shivering stopped soon after. I stared and stared and stared, at Mt. Everest for close to fifteen minutes. Spent some invaluable time at that spot, all alone by myself. I moved towards the base camp milestone as I'd seen Kanchuki and Sudhir tracing their way back. As I neared the base camp milestone, I saw Ali, Swetha and Ramesh posing for photographs with two ladies. I congratulated all three of them and met the two ladies, who were around 165cm tall and slightly plump. One of those, hailed from Haryana, India, Mamatha Sodha, and was planning to summit that saturday, 22nd May, 2010. I wished her all the very best. Another hailed from Nepal and she seemed to have summitted Everest once. I too posed for a couple of photographs with them and considered myself to be damn lucky. This was truly a great day in my life. Meanwhile, Kanchuki and Sudhir have also joined us from the expedition camps.
Swetha, Ramesh and I have resumed our journey while other folks still wanted to spend some time. We met Paddy, as usual, accompanied by Kiran marching towards the Base Camp. She wasn't too long, hardly a thirty minute walk from the place where we met. We wished her all the best and moved ahead. Reached the hotel by 5 in the evening and straight away hit the dinner hall. I shared all my stories with the Pune batch at the dining hall, they were all ears to me. Ali, Sudhir, Kanchuki and Padmaja had joined us after thirty minutes. Had my dinner and hit the bed to catch some sleep by 9 in the night.
A memorable and an eventful day comes to an end here.
Day 8 : Dingboche to Lobuche
Day 8 : 15/05/2010
Target of the day, Lobuche, at an altitude of 4900M, via Thukla. Business as usual for the Fab 5, leading the way and heading towards Thukla, our lunch place. After walking for a couple of hours, we reached a place where we could see our lunch place on the hilltop on the other side of the river.
We just took a halt as the stream looked very pleasant and also we could see some ice formed over the rocks. Sudhir did some heroics here and managed to get on top few rocks placed absolutely in the middle of the stream, his heroics were applauded by all of us and Kanchuki captured few nice pics of him. Kanchuki and I also followed him. We could literally see the ice being formed on the rocks and we were trying to break it. We settled down on the rocks for quite some time and we saw the remaining group also joined us. Did not know who started the fight, we started fighting with ice and stones. Kanchuki and I have started throwing ice at them (Ali bhai and Ramesh), they, in return, started throwing stones into the water such that sprinkled water would drench us. Finally, we won the battle and Sachin was busy in some serious camera work. We played like this for 10-15 mins, it was loads of fun. I enjoyed it myself, hope the others also did. Headed to lunch place on the hilltop, we took the shortcut and the others have encouraged the regular route.
Sat down at the lunch table and had some great "Hot Lemon". We bumped into the guy from Portugal, Joao, who flew in the same flight as ours to Lukla and apparently his luggage got misplaced. He shared all his stories to Kanchuki, looked like she was the only one interested in. We ordered "Vegetarian Noodles" for all of us, one plate each, of course. Food was not that great, but decent. Had a 15 min break before we head to Lobuche. There was a steep climb in front of us, Fab 5 have started their business with Om Bahadur Ji in the lead. There was no clear path, rocks placed all over, had to really make our way, mostly in serpentine fashion. Lobuche was at least an hour and a half away, we witnessed one memorial, in the name of a sherpa, "Babu Chri Sherpa", who summitted everest record eleven times, and held few world records to have summitted in the shortest time, and spent most number of hours at the summit, and so on. Fab 5 reached Lobuche @ around 3 in the afternoon, and reached our hotel "Above the Clouds".
Called home and informed that I was doing good, I also felt good as I called them after four days. Each call cost us 100NPR. Rest of the team joined us around 4 in the evening. It was chilling weather outside, this was one of the worst possible accommodations I could think of, very small rooms, and there was no proper restroom. Kanchuki, Sudhir and I wanted to go out for an evening walk @ 5. We ventured out and severely beaten by the cold wind, everyone of us felt bad, so we had to abandon our fantasies and walk back to the hotel room.
Day 8 comes to an end here.
Target of the day, Lobuche, at an altitude of 4900M, via Thukla. Business as usual for the Fab 5, leading the way and heading towards Thukla, our lunch place. After walking for a couple of hours, we reached a place where we could see our lunch place on the hilltop on the other side of the river.
We just took a halt as the stream looked very pleasant and also we could see some ice formed over the rocks. Sudhir did some heroics here and managed to get on top few rocks placed absolutely in the middle of the stream, his heroics were applauded by all of us and Kanchuki captured few nice pics of him. Kanchuki and I also followed him. We could literally see the ice being formed on the rocks and we were trying to break it. We settled down on the rocks for quite some time and we saw the remaining group also joined us. Did not know who started the fight, we started fighting with ice and stones. Kanchuki and I have started throwing ice at them (Ali bhai and Ramesh), they, in return, started throwing stones into the water such that sprinkled water would drench us. Finally, we won the battle and Sachin was busy in some serious camera work. We played like this for 10-15 mins, it was loads of fun. I enjoyed it myself, hope the others also did. Headed to lunch place on the hilltop, we took the shortcut and the others have encouraged the regular route.
Sat down at the lunch table and had some great "Hot Lemon". We bumped into the guy from Portugal, Joao, who flew in the same flight as ours to Lukla and apparently his luggage got misplaced. He shared all his stories to Kanchuki, looked like she was the only one interested in. We ordered "Vegetarian Noodles" for all of us, one plate each, of course. Food was not that great, but decent. Had a 15 min break before we head to Lobuche. There was a steep climb in front of us, Fab 5 have started their business with Om Bahadur Ji in the lead. There was no clear path, rocks placed all over, had to really make our way, mostly in serpentine fashion. Lobuche was at least an hour and a half away, we witnessed one memorial, in the name of a sherpa, "Babu Chri Sherpa", who summitted everest record eleven times, and held few world records to have summitted in the shortest time, and spent most number of hours at the summit, and so on. Fab 5 reached Lobuche @ around 3 in the afternoon, and reached our hotel "Above the Clouds".
Called home and informed that I was doing good, I also felt good as I called them after four days. Each call cost us 100NPR. Rest of the team joined us around 4 in the evening. It was chilling weather outside, this was one of the worst possible accommodations I could think of, very small rooms, and there was no proper restroom. Kanchuki, Sudhir and I wanted to go out for an evening walk @ 5. We ventured out and severely beaten by the cold wind, everyone of us felt bad, so we had to abandon our fantasies and walk back to the hotel room.
Day 8 comes to an end here.
Day 7 : Acclimatization Day @ Dingboche
Day 7 : 14/05/2010
4280m, oxygen levels were low, I did have a little trouble breathing overnight, but did manage to have a very sound sleep, felt refreshed when I woke up in the morning. I knew it was near freezing weather outside and didn't want to go out till the sun was out. And also, We had to go all the way to the dining hall to wash our faces as there was no basin near any of our rooms. Long way for me at least, as I had my room at the other end of the basin. Lady @ the hotel was kind enough to give us warm water, washed my face and walked back to my room. Sun was clearly out and I did feel like taking a sunbath. I just sat on the rocky pavement in front of my room talking to sun. Folks started waking up one after another. Soon, Kanchuki came out of her room and I said "Good Morning" to her. She had a habit of drinking Bed-Tea. Sudhir, Kanchuki and I grabbed a cup of black tea each and sat under the sun. It was a nice feeling as we were beating cold weather and sun was with us. Today was the acclimatization day, Would have been great had we not needed to venture out and trek some peak. But, God was not that great either. He sent few of his disciples in the form of Kiran and Om Bahadur Ji. Soon, We were given orders to get ready by 8 to start summit the peak just behind our hotel.
We just had a look at the peak and it really looked like a small hike after doing Namche and Tengboche. Kanchuki instantly said, we'd come back in half an hour. None of us knew that this was not it, there was more to hike. We had to gain 600m to reach Nagarjuna Pea. Javed bhai and Sachin wouldn't want to acclimatize as they were not yet fully recovered from Diarrhoea.
Breakfast : Bread slices and Scrambled Egg.
I just had scrambled egg leaving bread.
Started the hike @ 8 in the morning, all was well, everyone of us moving at a decent pace. Om Bahadur Ji in the lead and Fab 5 (Abhishek, Aditya, Kanchuki, Sudhir and me) was following him. Ramesh n Swetha, as usual were playing the second fiddle. Followed by Ali bhai n Padmaja. Fab 5 turned Fab 4, as Abhishek was losing some pace. We were constantly in the hunt, taking very tiny breaks every now and then. To be frank, the terrain was little tough. As we were climbing up, Maddy had some problems in breathing. We persuaded him to take some rest and bring down his pace or call off the hike. We were hardly 30 minutes away reaching the peak. We 3, Satish, Kanchuki n Sudhir, kept going, going. Om Bahadur Ji summitted first, I followed him, Kanchuki n Sudhir followed us ! Let me tell you, we had to really struggle in the final 15 mins, as there was hardly any route, we had to literally do some bouldering. As I reached the peak, I could see three firangis smiling at me and say congratulations and I thanked them back. A breathtaking view at the top, you could see n number of mountains around you in 360o, but `Ama Dablam` was the closest. Sudhir was sweet enough to grab some cool pics of us.
Finally, only one young lady from TrekD, Pune group managed to reach the peak. We resumed our journey downhill, met Kiran and Padmaja on our way. It was still more than 45 min trek for them, so Padmaja had to abandon her dream to summit Nagarjun as our lunch might get delayed. Earlier, when we were on top, Om Bahadur Ji narrated us a great story of how these hills have formed and why the peak was named as "Ama Dablam", "Ama Dablam" translates to "The Mother's Charm Box". Kanchuki was all ears listening to him, apparently there was a feud between Shivaji and Sukumar, and blahblahblah. I couldn't catch much of Om Bahadur ji here. Reached our hotel by 1:30PM, after 3 hours of strenuous trek.
Lunch Time. Lunch : Aloo curry with Rice.
We had lot of time left in the day, so time to play some UNO n BLUFF. I played few very poor games here. Kanchuki and Sudhir, our two book buffs of our group, deeply into reading some stuff. They literally ditched us. Mr n Mrs Ramesh, Sachin, Maddy, Paddy and I were playing. Played till 4 in the evening, and slept till 6. Sudhir and Kanchuki barged into our room and invited us for an evening walk. I felt great and concurred their idea. Kanchuki, as she always was, very fond of bakeries. She managed to find one at the village entrance, a "French Bakery". We walked down to the bakery and ordered one Capuccino and one black forest for all of us. Kanchuki paid the bill and said this was her treat as her sister was granted visa. Walked back to the hotel and it clocked 7:30. Everyone else had finished their dinner by then.
I had ordered for an "Egg Sandwich", and the best food I'd consumed so far in the trip. Sachin also tasted a couple of bites, he liked it too. We slowly slipped into singing some songs, as usual, Kanchuki n Padmaja were at their best. I contributed wherever I could. Bored after listening to too many old songs from them, I broke the jinx and sang some good new hindi numbers. Sachin and Javed bhai also joined the party. Mingma suddenly came to us and said we were making lotta noise and firangis have an issue sleeping. We had to call it a day, and so we did.
An eventful and memorable day of my life comes to an end.
4280m, oxygen levels were low, I did have a little trouble breathing overnight, but did manage to have a very sound sleep, felt refreshed when I woke up in the morning. I knew it was near freezing weather outside and didn't want to go out till the sun was out. And also, We had to go all the way to the dining hall to wash our faces as there was no basin near any of our rooms. Long way for me at least, as I had my room at the other end of the basin. Lady @ the hotel was kind enough to give us warm water, washed my face and walked back to my room. Sun was clearly out and I did feel like taking a sunbath. I just sat on the rocky pavement in front of my room talking to sun. Folks started waking up one after another. Soon, Kanchuki came out of her room and I said "Good Morning" to her. She had a habit of drinking Bed-Tea. Sudhir, Kanchuki and I grabbed a cup of black tea each and sat under the sun. It was a nice feeling as we were beating cold weather and sun was with us. Today was the acclimatization day, Would have been great had we not needed to venture out and trek some peak. But, God was not that great either. He sent few of his disciples in the form of Kiran and Om Bahadur Ji. Soon, We were given orders to get ready by 8 to start summit the peak just behind our hotel.
We just had a look at the peak and it really looked like a small hike after doing Namche and Tengboche. Kanchuki instantly said, we'd come back in half an hour. None of us knew that this was not it, there was more to hike. We had to gain 600m to reach Nagarjuna Pea. Javed bhai and Sachin wouldn't want to acclimatize as they were not yet fully recovered from Diarrhoea.
Breakfast : Bread slices and Scrambled Egg.
I just had scrambled egg leaving bread.
Started the hike @ 8 in the morning, all was well, everyone of us moving at a decent pace. Om Bahadur Ji in the lead and Fab 5 (Abhishek, Aditya, Kanchuki, Sudhir and me) was following him. Ramesh n Swetha, as usual were playing the second fiddle. Followed by Ali bhai n Padmaja. Fab 5 turned Fab 4, as Abhishek was losing some pace. We were constantly in the hunt, taking very tiny breaks every now and then. To be frank, the terrain was little tough. As we were climbing up, Maddy had some problems in breathing. We persuaded him to take some rest and bring down his pace or call off the hike. We were hardly 30 minutes away reaching the peak. We 3, Satish, Kanchuki n Sudhir, kept going, going. Om Bahadur Ji summitted first, I followed him, Kanchuki n Sudhir followed us ! Let me tell you, we had to really struggle in the final 15 mins, as there was hardly any route, we had to literally do some bouldering. As I reached the peak, I could see three firangis smiling at me and say congratulations and I thanked them back. A breathtaking view at the top, you could see n number of mountains around you in 360o, but `Ama Dablam` was the closest. Sudhir was sweet enough to grab some cool pics of us.
Finally, only one young lady from TrekD, Pune group managed to reach the peak. We resumed our journey downhill, met Kiran and Padmaja on our way. It was still more than 45 min trek for them, so Padmaja had to abandon her dream to summit Nagarjun as our lunch might get delayed. Earlier, when we were on top, Om Bahadur Ji narrated us a great story of how these hills have formed and why the peak was named as "Ama Dablam", "Ama Dablam" translates to "The Mother's Charm Box". Kanchuki was all ears listening to him, apparently there was a feud between Shivaji and Sukumar, and blahblahblah. I couldn't catch much of Om Bahadur ji here. Reached our hotel by 1:30PM, after 3 hours of strenuous trek.
Lunch Time. Lunch : Aloo curry with Rice.
We had lot of time left in the day, so time to play some UNO n BLUFF. I played few very poor games here. Kanchuki and Sudhir, our two book buffs of our group, deeply into reading some stuff. They literally ditched us. Mr n Mrs Ramesh, Sachin, Maddy, Paddy and I were playing. Played till 4 in the evening, and slept till 6. Sudhir and Kanchuki barged into our room and invited us for an evening walk. I felt great and concurred their idea. Kanchuki, as she always was, very fond of bakeries. She managed to find one at the village entrance, a "French Bakery". We walked down to the bakery and ordered one Capuccino and one black forest for all of us. Kanchuki paid the bill and said this was her treat as her sister was granted visa. Walked back to the hotel and it clocked 7:30. Everyone else had finished their dinner by then.
I had ordered for an "Egg Sandwich", and the best food I'd consumed so far in the trip. Sachin also tasted a couple of bites, he liked it too. We slowly slipped into singing some songs, as usual, Kanchuki n Padmaja were at their best. I contributed wherever I could. Bored after listening to too many old songs from them, I broke the jinx and sang some good new hindi numbers. Sachin and Javed bhai also joined the party. Mingma suddenly came to us and said we were making lotta noise and firangis have an issue sleeping. We had to call it a day, and so we did.
An eventful and memorable day of my life comes to an end.
Day 6 : Tengboche to Dingboche
Day 6 : 13/05/2010
Woke up as early as 5:30 in the morning and felt like going into the Sun. Ali bhai and I have confronted the sun for ten to fifteen minutes in the hotel backyard and returned to our hotel rooms.
Breakfast : Two thick Chapathis, one Boiled Egg.
I managed to eat one half of chapathi and a boiled egg, filled rest of my stomach with water. All of us assembled outside the hotel @ 7:45AM to commence our journey to Dingboche after taking one group snap. We walked much of the time alongside the river "Dudh Koshi" and crossed the river to reach Pangboche. For a change, Ramesh had led us from the front and we followed him with due respect and reached Shomore at 11 in the morning, our lunch place.
Lunch : Tomato Soup, Aloo curry with Rice.
Resumed our journey @ 1:30 in the afternoon to Dingboche, Sudhir and Kanchuki have led us from the front this time. Aditya, Abhishek and I followed them. To our surprise, Javed bhai seemed to have a great pace and followed us very closely which was very nice to see. After a leisurely walk of one hour we reached Dingboche @ 2:30. We put up at the hotel "Paradise", situated almost at the other end of the village. Earlier, during lunch, Aditya had managed to exchange some pleasantries with a South-African Lady. All of us assembled in the dining hall at 4 in the evening.
It looked like Sachin had upset his stomach and had hard time reaching this place. And also, we heard an interesting story from Mr n Mrs Ramesh and Ali bhai as they had hard time identifying the hotel as there was no guide or porter walking wit them. Since we had at least four hours to dinner, we quickly managed to play some UNO games as Oldies, Ali bhai and Javed bhai played some Rummy. As we were playing UNO games, I witnessed the first ever snow fall in my life which lasted for at least 15 minutes. Played cards till 5:30 in the evening and few of us decided to go around the village for an evening walk as Swetha, Ramesh, Aditya and Sachin decided to stay back in the hotel.
Dinner : Mushroom Soup, Veg Fried Rice.
We (Ramesh, Sudhir, Kanchuki, Aditya and I) played cards till 9:30 in the night until Kiran (our tour guide) asked all of us to head back to our rooms and catch some sleep. We earlier ignored him, but obeyed his orders eventually. Sudhir tried his best to capture sparkling stars with his SLR and failed miserably, fellow cameramen Kanchuki and Abhishek couldn't help him out either. Sudhir, better luck next time.
Story of the rooms, No latches working and no light in the restroom. A beautiful day, not so eventful, comes to an end here.
Woke up as early as 5:30 in the morning and felt like going into the Sun. Ali bhai and I have confronted the sun for ten to fifteen minutes in the hotel backyard and returned to our hotel rooms.
Breakfast : Two thick Chapathis, one Boiled Egg.
I managed to eat one half of chapathi and a boiled egg, filled rest of my stomach with water. All of us assembled outside the hotel @ 7:45AM to commence our journey to Dingboche after taking one group snap. We walked much of the time alongside the river "Dudh Koshi" and crossed the river to reach Pangboche. For a change, Ramesh had led us from the front and we followed him with due respect and reached Shomore at 11 in the morning, our lunch place.
Lunch : Tomato Soup, Aloo curry with Rice.
Resumed our journey @ 1:30 in the afternoon to Dingboche, Sudhir and Kanchuki have led us from the front this time. Aditya, Abhishek and I followed them. To our surprise, Javed bhai seemed to have a great pace and followed us very closely which was very nice to see. After a leisurely walk of one hour we reached Dingboche @ 2:30. We put up at the hotel "Paradise", situated almost at the other end of the village. Earlier, during lunch, Aditya had managed to exchange some pleasantries with a South-African Lady. All of us assembled in the dining hall at 4 in the evening.
It looked like Sachin had upset his stomach and had hard time reaching this place. And also, we heard an interesting story from Mr n Mrs Ramesh and Ali bhai as they had hard time identifying the hotel as there was no guide or porter walking wit them. Since we had at least four hours to dinner, we quickly managed to play some UNO games as Oldies, Ali bhai and Javed bhai played some Rummy. As we were playing UNO games, I witnessed the first ever snow fall in my life which lasted for at least 15 minutes. Played cards till 5:30 in the evening and few of us decided to go around the village for an evening walk as Swetha, Ramesh, Aditya and Sachin decided to stay back in the hotel.
Dinner : Mushroom Soup, Veg Fried Rice.
We (Ramesh, Sudhir, Kanchuki, Aditya and I) played cards till 9:30 in the night until Kiran (our tour guide) asked all of us to head back to our rooms and catch some sleep. We earlier ignored him, but obeyed his orders eventually. Sudhir tried his best to capture sparkling stars with his SLR and failed miserably, fellow cameramen Kanchuki and Abhishek couldn't help him out either. Sudhir, better luck next time.
Story of the rooms, No latches working and no light in the restroom. A beautiful day, not so eventful, comes to an end here.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Day 5 : Namche to Tengboche
Day 5 : 12/05/2010
Had some great feeling when I woke up in the morning with all the headaches washed away. We were all set to depart from the village of Namche Bazaar which was a famous trading center between Tibet and Nepal, and head to the holy village of Tengboche. This has long been the religious centre for all inhabitants of the Solu Khumbu area. There were numerous shrines and a beautiful monastery that sits at 3870 meters. It was a long walk with no steep climbs lasted for two and a half hours till 'Phungi Thanga', the place we were supposed to have our lunch. We (`Fab 5`) reached 'Phungi Thanga' @ 11AM, andrest of the team joined us at noon. My appetite had really diminished over the past four days, I was not consuming much food, par below my standards. That was actually showing up after an hour or so in the uphill treks, feet hardly moving, and body not supporting. To overcome that, and to avoid burning of muscles, I had to much rely on Power bars (Courtesy:Kanchuki and Abhishek) and move on.
Menu for the lunch : Sweet Aloo curry and Thick Chapathis. I somehow managed to eat one Chapathi, and as the remaining folks were happily having their lunch. God only knew how could they eat such stuff, over and over.
All set to hike uphill to Tengboche, which was at an altitude of 3880M after a fifteen minute post lunch break. As we trekked uphill, met a lady from Denmark who was struggling to put her step forward. We moved on after rendering some support to her. We filled the water bottles from the stream and added some purifier drops. After reaching halfway as all my energy reserves inside the body have dried up, and so did I take one long break and enjoyed the sight of peaks on the right, Thamserku, Kantega, Ama Dablam, Mt. Everest and Nuptse. Every peak was unique in itself, looked pretty gorgeous and covered with ice in entirety.
Reached holy Tengboche peak @ half past 3, I was overwhelmed by the beautiful monastery with a beatiful mountain in is background. I enjoyed the closest view of Ama Dablam, while everyone else went inside the monastery. We regrouped at the peak and headed downhill to Debuche, 15-20 minutes downhill walk to the foot of the hill, with Dudh Koshi river running behind. On our way to the hotel `Ama Dablam Mountain View, I witnessed one of the mind-blowing patches you would ever see, path full of RhodoDendron trees in all possible colors (white, yellow, red,...), it was an awesome sight to behold. Two dark male horses were running up the hill with great pace was like an icing on the cake, we had to literally move aside to give them a way.
We dumped our backpacks in our allotted rooms, I washed my face and headed downstairs to gulp some Black Tea. Rooms were not that spacious, but decent enough. As I entered the dining hall, everyone burst into a laughter and said that my face was blushing/shining/whatever. I knew that they were pulling my leg. To embarrass me even more, Sachin told everybody that I'd applied `Fair n Lovely` on my face, which he had seen in my backpack the other day. I knew that this was all part of fun and I happened to be the puppet for that day :)
Dinner : Cuppa Noodles & Fried Rice. Kanchuki voiced her opinion that we must have A la Carte in our lunch n dinner, and Ali didn't seem to like the idea. I must say sorry to Kanchuki here I didn't second her opinion as I'd promised.
Into bed @ 9PM and tiring 5th day ends here.
Had some great feeling when I woke up in the morning with all the headaches washed away. We were all set to depart from the village of Namche Bazaar which was a famous trading center between Tibet and Nepal, and head to the holy village of Tengboche. This has long been the religious centre for all inhabitants of the Solu Khumbu area. There were numerous shrines and a beautiful monastery that sits at 3870 meters. It was a long walk with no steep climbs lasted for two and a half hours till 'Phungi Thanga', the place we were supposed to have our lunch. We (`Fab 5`) reached 'Phungi Thanga' @ 11AM, andrest of the team joined us at noon. My appetite had really diminished over the past four days, I was not consuming much food, par below my standards. That was actually showing up after an hour or so in the uphill treks, feet hardly moving, and body not supporting. To overcome that, and to avoid burning of muscles, I had to much rely on Power bars (Courtesy:Kanchuki and Abhishek) and move on.
Menu for the lunch : Sweet Aloo curry and Thick Chapathis. I somehow managed to eat one Chapathi, and as the remaining folks were happily having their lunch. God only knew how could they eat such stuff, over and over.
All set to hike uphill to Tengboche, which was at an altitude of 3880M after a fifteen minute post lunch break. As we trekked uphill, met a lady from Denmark who was struggling to put her step forward. We moved on after rendering some support to her. We filled the water bottles from the stream and added some purifier drops. After reaching halfway as all my energy reserves inside the body have dried up, and so did I take one long break and enjoyed the sight of peaks on the right, Thamserku, Kantega, Ama Dablam, Mt. Everest and Nuptse. Every peak was unique in itself, looked pretty gorgeous and covered with ice in entirety.
Reached holy Tengboche peak @ half past 3, I was overwhelmed by the beautiful monastery with a beatiful mountain in is background. I enjoyed the closest view of Ama Dablam, while everyone else went inside the monastery. We regrouped at the peak and headed downhill to Debuche, 15-20 minutes downhill walk to the foot of the hill, with Dudh Koshi river running behind. On our way to the hotel `Ama Dablam Mountain View, I witnessed one of the mind-blowing patches you would ever see, path full of RhodoDendron trees in all possible colors (white, yellow, red,...), it was an awesome sight to behold. Two dark male horses were running up the hill with great pace was like an icing on the cake, we had to literally move aside to give them a way.
We dumped our backpacks in our allotted rooms, I washed my face and headed downstairs to gulp some Black Tea. Rooms were not that spacious, but decent enough. As I entered the dining hall, everyone burst into a laughter and said that my face was blushing/shining/whatever. I knew that they were pulling my leg. To embarrass me even more, Sachin told everybody that I'd applied `Fair n Lovely` on my face, which he had seen in my backpack the other day. I knew that this was all part of fun and I happened to be the puppet for that day :)
Dinner : Cuppa Noodles & Fried Rice. Kanchuki voiced her opinion that we must have A la Carte in our lunch n dinner, and Ali didn't seem to like the idea. I must say sorry to Kanchuki here I didn't second her opinion as I'd promised.
Into bed @ 9PM and tiring 5th day ends here.
Day 4 : Acclimatization Day @ Namche
Day 4 : 11/05/2010
Did not have a sound sleep as my mild headache troubled me over n over the last night, but managed five hours of sleep in bits n pieces. Felt little relaxed after Maddy's magic tablet, still didn't have the inclination/motivation to ascent the peak which was 400m hike from Namche, place we would get the first sight of the Mt. Everest. The very thought of Mt. Everest alleviated all my headache and prepared me for the hike. Pushed off @ around 8 in the morning, seen a school on the way up with a proper soccer ground. Leisurely trekked uphill, taken a hell lot of pictures on the way up with the great ice mountains in the background, especially Sudhir helped Kanchuki with her all cine style pics.
Eventually reached the hilltop @ 10:30AM and what we witnessed there, first ever glimpse of Mt. Everest, was just awesome. I lied down there and gradually slipped into sleep. Sudhir and Kanchuki have trekked ahead to obtain topview of the Khumjung village along with Om Bahadur Ji, where in Abhi, Aditya & I have decided to stay back. Ramesh n Swetha also joined the party after few mins. All of us gathered at the mountain top and took few snaps with Mt. Everest in the background. Creative Sachin, captured a 360o video with the help of Mingma. We all headed to a restaurant to have some coffee, and few cups of coffee cost us 1.3K (NPR).
Reached the hotel by noon and had lunch when menu didn't change much, same old Daal and Potato curry. Slept till 6 in the evening until Sudhir barged in to my room and invited me for an evening walk and little shopping. We finally managed to meet our other folks in the streets of Namche Bazaar, and bought a useful walking pole for a meagre 225 NPR. Sudhir, Padmaja, Kanchuki and I have found some love with Everest Bakery, after we had some coffee and hot chocolate. Padmaja and Kanchuki pushed me to the corner with a tough query, would I belong to the category who want have a hot woman as a girl friend and a sita like wife back home. I hardly had a second thought and agreed that I belong to the same group. Post Dinner, Padmaja and Kanchuki have enthralled us with their Hindi numbers with a very little support from rest of us, but there was a gentleman sitting in the corner of the dining room joined us and sang some real good numbers. This continued till 9:45 in the night and were able to hit the bed by 10.
Day 4 : Not much eventful; comes to an end here.
Did not have a sound sleep as my mild headache troubled me over n over the last night, but managed five hours of sleep in bits n pieces. Felt little relaxed after Maddy's magic tablet, still didn't have the inclination/motivation to ascent the peak which was 400m hike from Namche, place we would get the first sight of the Mt. Everest. The very thought of Mt. Everest alleviated all my headache and prepared me for the hike. Pushed off @ around 8 in the morning, seen a school on the way up with a proper soccer ground. Leisurely trekked uphill, taken a hell lot of pictures on the way up with the great ice mountains in the background, especially Sudhir helped Kanchuki with her all cine style pics.
Eventually reached the hilltop @ 10:30AM and what we witnessed there, first ever glimpse of Mt. Everest, was just awesome. I lied down there and gradually slipped into sleep. Sudhir and Kanchuki have trekked ahead to obtain topview of the Khumjung village along with Om Bahadur Ji, where in Abhi, Aditya & I have decided to stay back. Ramesh n Swetha also joined the party after few mins. All of us gathered at the mountain top and took few snaps with Mt. Everest in the background. Creative Sachin, captured a 360o video with the help of Mingma. We all headed to a restaurant to have some coffee, and few cups of coffee cost us 1.3K (NPR).
Reached the hotel by noon and had lunch when menu didn't change much, same old Daal and Potato curry. Slept till 6 in the evening until Sudhir barged in to my room and invited me for an evening walk and little shopping. We finally managed to meet our other folks in the streets of Namche Bazaar, and bought a useful walking pole for a meagre 225 NPR. Sudhir, Padmaja, Kanchuki and I have found some love with Everest Bakery, after we had some coffee and hot chocolate. Padmaja and Kanchuki pushed me to the corner with a tough query, would I belong to the category who want have a hot woman as a girl friend and a sita like wife back home. I hardly had a second thought and agreed that I belong to the same group. Post Dinner, Padmaja and Kanchuki have enthralled us with their Hindi numbers with a very little support from rest of us, but there was a gentleman sitting in the corner of the dining room joined us and sang some real good numbers. This continued till 9:45 in the night and were able to hit the bed by 10.
Day 4 : Not much eventful; comes to an end here.
Day 3 : Phakding to Namche Bazaar
Day 3 : 10/05/2010
An early morning weather woke me up earlier than expected n required, off the bed @ 5:30AM. Didn't have a sound sleep overnight, but decent enough. Not in a mood to start the trek at all, very lazy and drowsy feeling I had that day. Fortunately, no muscle pains/strains, as I'd put in lotta hardwork hitting the gym and road over the past couple of months. I just thought I'd wash my face and went out to the cellar of the hotel and opened the tap. My God, tap came into my hand and whole water sprinkled onto my body, completely wet my clothes. I managed to wash my face with the near freezing water.
Reached the breakfast table a little early than everybody, learnt my lesson from the other day at Kathmandu. Had Half fried omelette, not enough to my standards, but it was pretty evident to me that I started losing the appetite day after day. On any other day, I'd have gulped at least 5 of those. All of us have reached out to start the proceedings of the day and everyone looked very fresh. Target was clear for the day, Namche by the end of the day, from 2652m to 3440m. A pretty demanding ask, but we were all up for it. All of us have started the hike @ 7:30AM in the morning, instantly five of us have gained the lead. Kanchuki, Sudhir aka "Mr. Restless", Abhishek, Aditya aka "Maddy" and myself. And we continued to be the group which led the team remainder of the trek. Our lead "Om Bahadur Ji", though he was 57, he contained lots of pace, all the time we would have to do the catch up. We rested at a point after an hour and a half of strenuous walk, as we usually do for everyone to catch up and regroup. Bahadur Ji pointed me to a peak, and said "Yeah Thamserku hai". I was also told, this was the peak never conquered. I found some love for this group It has an altitude of 6608m, It has a very sharp nose and beautifully covered with ice, an absolute delight to the eye. As we discussed this, Kanchuki, Abhishek, Sudhir and Maddy joined us. I narrated the same story to everyone of them, and they were all ears to me. We halted for 10-15 minutes there and resumed our journey. Munched a power bar sponsored by Kanchuki.
It was not that hard terrain, but too many ups and downs. Mostly we were going by the river side and thrilled by the cold breeze passed across. Had lunch at "Hotel Namaste" and resumed our hike after a brief ten minute break. Earlier Abhishek took some interesting snaps with the mountain in the background. Reached "Lajra Bridge" which connected the Phakding mountain to Namche Bazaar, constructed over the river "Dudh Koshi". All five of us waited @ the bridge for the rest of the team to regroup. Kanchuki managed to capture some beautiful snpas, and Sudhir was sweet enough to include me in his pics. We also met a bunch of veterans from Argentina, who were also on course to EBC. Place where two rivers merged, "Dudh Koshi" and "Bhut Koshi", a sheer delight to the eye. We took our time off to settle down and prepare ourselves for the strenuous trek uphill to Namche. Fab Five (Satish, Sudhir, Kanchuki, Aditya n Abhishek) have spearheded the journey and trekked uphill relentlessly. Swetha and Ramesh also maintained some decent pace.
We were taking a break as and when necessary, both short and long ones. I very much loved this part of the trek taking tiny breaks after every 30-40 steps and moved ahead before my muscles relaxed. Trekked for almost for two hours with breaks here and there, and reached a place where we could finally see Namche Bazaar. Felt good Kanchuki also joined after few minutes, and later Sudhir, Aditya and Abhishek also joined the party. We reached Namche Bazaar and found the "Hotel Kamal" where we would be putting up that night, Aditya and I were the first to get into the hotel. We dumped our backpacks and rested our butts in the restaurant upstairs. Rest of the party arrived after an hour or so @ 4:30PM.
Meanwhile, Tasted some good black coffee at the restaurant as "Hotel California" was played. Had a hot shower for 330NPR (200 INR) and hit the dining room for dinner. Watched a documentary post dinner by National Geographic Channel, "Everest - 50 years on the mountain", featured Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund Hillary and Dawa Sherpa. I was feeling a mild headache and painfully dozed off.
A stressful second day @ office comes to an end here.
An early morning weather woke me up earlier than expected n required, off the bed @ 5:30AM. Didn't have a sound sleep overnight, but decent enough. Not in a mood to start the trek at all, very lazy and drowsy feeling I had that day. Fortunately, no muscle pains/strains, as I'd put in lotta hardwork hitting the gym and road over the past couple of months. I just thought I'd wash my face and went out to the cellar of the hotel and opened the tap. My God, tap came into my hand and whole water sprinkled onto my body, completely wet my clothes. I managed to wash my face with the near freezing water.
Reached the breakfast table a little early than everybody, learnt my lesson from the other day at Kathmandu. Had Half fried omelette, not enough to my standards, but it was pretty evident to me that I started losing the appetite day after day. On any other day, I'd have gulped at least 5 of those. All of us have reached out to start the proceedings of the day and everyone looked very fresh. Target was clear for the day, Namche by the end of the day, from 2652m to 3440m. A pretty demanding ask, but we were all up for it. All of us have started the hike @ 7:30AM in the morning, instantly five of us have gained the lead. Kanchuki, Sudhir aka "Mr. Restless", Abhishek, Aditya aka "Maddy" and myself. And we continued to be the group which led the team remainder of the trek. Our lead "Om Bahadur Ji", though he was 57, he contained lots of pace, all the time we would have to do the catch up. We rested at a point after an hour and a half of strenuous walk, as we usually do for everyone to catch up and regroup. Bahadur Ji pointed me to a peak, and said "Yeah Thamserku hai". I was also told, this was the peak never conquered. I found some love for this group It has an altitude of 6608m, It has a very sharp nose and beautifully covered with ice, an absolute delight to the eye. As we discussed this, Kanchuki, Abhishek, Sudhir and Maddy joined us. I narrated the same story to everyone of them, and they were all ears to me. We halted for 10-15 minutes there and resumed our journey. Munched a power bar sponsored by Kanchuki.
It was not that hard terrain, but too many ups and downs. Mostly we were going by the river side and thrilled by the cold breeze passed across. Had lunch at "Hotel Namaste" and resumed our hike after a brief ten minute break. Earlier Abhishek took some interesting snaps with the mountain in the background. Reached "Lajra Bridge" which connected the Phakding mountain to Namche Bazaar, constructed over the river "Dudh Koshi". All five of us waited @ the bridge for the rest of the team to regroup. Kanchuki managed to capture some beautiful snpas, and Sudhir was sweet enough to include me in his pics. We also met a bunch of veterans from Argentina, who were also on course to EBC. Place where two rivers merged, "Dudh Koshi" and "Bhut Koshi", a sheer delight to the eye. We took our time off to settle down and prepare ourselves for the strenuous trek uphill to Namche. Fab Five (Satish, Sudhir, Kanchuki, Aditya n Abhishek) have spearheded the journey and trekked uphill relentlessly. Swetha and Ramesh also maintained some decent pace.
We were taking a break as and when necessary, both short and long ones. I very much loved this part of the trek taking tiny breaks after every 30-40 steps and moved ahead before my muscles relaxed. Trekked for almost for two hours with breaks here and there, and reached a place where we could finally see Namche Bazaar. Felt good Kanchuki also joined after few minutes, and later Sudhir, Aditya and Abhishek also joined the party. We reached Namche Bazaar and found the "Hotel Kamal" where we would be putting up that night, Aditya and I were the first to get into the hotel. We dumped our backpacks and rested our butts in the restaurant upstairs. Rest of the party arrived after an hour or so @ 4:30PM.
Meanwhile, Tasted some good black coffee at the restaurant as "Hotel California" was played. Had a hot shower for 330NPR (200 INR) and hit the dining room for dinner. Watched a documentary post dinner by National Geographic Channel, "Everest - 50 years on the mountain", featured Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund Hillary and Dawa Sherpa. I was feeling a mild headache and painfully dozed off.
A stressful second day @ office comes to an end here.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Day 2 : Flight to Lukla and trek to Phakding
Day 2 : 09/05/2010
Woke up as early as half past 4 in the morning after the hotel reception gave us a wakeup call and had a hot shower. Maddy and I have shared the room and continued to be the room partners for the entire tour. We rested little more than required until Javed broke the silence and gave us a mouthful. We hurried to downstairs where I could see everyone gave us such a stare as if we committed a sin :) I had the lightest of breakfasts ever had, some corn flakes with milk and a coffee. On board a bus to reach the Tribhuval Domestic terminal, Checked-in our luggage and proceeded to so-called security check-in. No sight of metal detectors, only manual inspection. Security lad asked me few stupid questions, like where are you from? where are you going? why are you going? what's there in this bag? etc...
We proceeded to board our flight, operated by Agni air, which is a small cessna, a 17 seater including a seat reserved for the only air hostess. It was a strange feeeling sitting inside this plane, unique of its kind, just 2 seats in each row with a very little gap in between. I was fortunate enough to get a seat right behind the pilot, so close to the cockpit, never been this much close before. A great feeeling to behold with all the panels so close, my eyes were lit, and tried my best to grasp the every bit written on and understand. There was hardly an announcement needed as the hell lot of noise came out as the pilot ignited the engines.
Cessna eventually took off, the feeling I had in the place was quite different from the normal A-320s and Boeing 737s. The pilot on my left looked like an experienced chap, as I was closely observing them, they were riding this plane as we drive our cars, looking outside the window and figuring out which path to take. Dense cloud cover over Lukla village made the pilots job hard to land, after a troublesome 90 minutes in the air they managed to land at Lukla. It was very scary as there was a hill standing at the end of the runway, cessna took a sharp right turn at the end of the runway and parked the flight in available parking slot. There were four parking slots one adjacent to each other on two sides, pretty much like a car parking slot. Flights take off and land only from one direction at this place.
Reached "Himalaya Expeditions" office which shared the fence with the airport. We met the co-ordinator Thapa ji and he introduced Om Bahadur Ji, Kiran, Mingma and other porters for the first time. Immediately started the hike towards Phakding, as I march forward step by step, a hell number of thoughts crossed my mind. Would I be able to cope up with the next eight days of uphill trek, from 2800m to 5500m? Though I didn't have the answer at that point in time, I convinced myself that I'd give my best shot at it. Nature at its best, lush green trees and valley on one side. After an hour of leisurely walk, we reached "Thoda Koshi" village after going over "Dudh Koshi" river for the first time ever. We waited for the rest of the team to join us for lunch.
Resumed journey after a brief 30 minute break post lunch and trekked uphill to Phakding @ 12:30PM. After a brief walk of an hour or so reached our hotel @ Phakding, tasted some black tea for the first time ever. Trekked uphill to a monastery as Javed and Kanchuki dropped out. Sudhir, Aditya n I have trekked uphill in a group, and reached the monastery at 3PM. Returned to the hotel and munched some Potato Fries and played some UNO cards after learning the game from Paddy and Kanchuki. Play went on till the dinner time, reached out to the streets of Phakding to make a call home. Hit the bed @ 9:30.
An eventful first day @ office comes to an end here.
Woke up as early as half past 4 in the morning after the hotel reception gave us a wakeup call and had a hot shower. Maddy and I have shared the room and continued to be the room partners for the entire tour. We rested little more than required until Javed broke the silence and gave us a mouthful. We hurried to downstairs where I could see everyone gave us such a stare as if we committed a sin :) I had the lightest of breakfasts ever had, some corn flakes with milk and a coffee. On board a bus to reach the Tribhuval Domestic terminal, Checked-in our luggage and proceeded to so-called security check-in. No sight of metal detectors, only manual inspection. Security lad asked me few stupid questions, like where are you from? where are you going? why are you going? what's there in this bag? etc...
We proceeded to board our flight, operated by Agni air, which is a small cessna, a 17 seater including a seat reserved for the only air hostess. It was a strange feeeling sitting inside this plane, unique of its kind, just 2 seats in each row with a very little gap in between. I was fortunate enough to get a seat right behind the pilot, so close to the cockpit, never been this much close before. A great feeeling to behold with all the panels so close, my eyes were lit, and tried my best to grasp the every bit written on and understand. There was hardly an announcement needed as the hell lot of noise came out as the pilot ignited the engines.
Cessna eventually took off, the feeling I had in the place was quite different from the normal A-320s and Boeing 737s. The pilot on my left looked like an experienced chap, as I was closely observing them, they were riding this plane as we drive our cars, looking outside the window and figuring out which path to take. Dense cloud cover over Lukla village made the pilots job hard to land, after a troublesome 90 minutes in the air they managed to land at Lukla. It was very scary as there was a hill standing at the end of the runway, cessna took a sharp right turn at the end of the runway and parked the flight in available parking slot. There were four parking slots one adjacent to each other on two sides, pretty much like a car parking slot. Flights take off and land only from one direction at this place.
Reached "Himalaya Expeditions" office which shared the fence with the airport. We met the co-ordinator Thapa ji and he introduced Om Bahadur Ji, Kiran, Mingma and other porters for the first time. Immediately started the hike towards Phakding, as I march forward step by step, a hell number of thoughts crossed my mind. Would I be able to cope up with the next eight days of uphill trek, from 2800m to 5500m? Though I didn't have the answer at that point in time, I convinced myself that I'd give my best shot at it. Nature at its best, lush green trees and valley on one side. After an hour of leisurely walk, we reached "Thoda Koshi" village after going over "Dudh Koshi" river for the first time ever. We waited for the rest of the team to join us for lunch.
Resumed journey after a brief 30 minute break post lunch and trekked uphill to Phakding @ 12:30PM. After a brief walk of an hour or so reached our hotel @ Phakding, tasted some black tea for the first time ever. Trekked uphill to a monastery as Javed and Kanchuki dropped out. Sudhir, Aditya n I have trekked uphill in a group, and reached the monastery at 3PM. Returned to the hotel and munched some Potato Fries and played some UNO cards after learning the game from Paddy and Kanchuki. Play went on till the dinner time, reached out to the streets of Phakding to make a call home. Hit the bed @ 9:30.
An eventful first day @ office comes to an end here.
Day 1 : Flight to Kathmandu
I welcome you to this exclusive blog which details all my experiences and encounters en route to Everest Base Camp (EBC) and Kala Pattar, features in world's top 10 treks. You can read more about EBC Trek on Wiki here, .
Satish - This is me.
Aditya - Maddy, My ex-colleague at Veveo, Bangalore. Youngest of the lot.
Kanchuki - Female Yak Lead of our team, a Macro Woman. I refer her as "K" in this blog at some places. Always loves to put on her hiking boots and walk, walk, walk... A very sweet lady with lots of chocolates always in her backpack.
Sudhir - An avid trekker with camera in hands, MR.RESTLESS (as Kanchuki puts it)
Abhishek - Calm n Composed, a cool customer.
Ramesh & Swetha - A wonder couple, wonderful as well.
Ali - Lead Organizer of our team.
Sachin - He is a MACRO man with a smile on his face.
Javed - The oldest of the lot. Very witty.
Padmaja - Everyone calls her sweetly "Paddy". One with lotta grit and determination. Good at Head Massaging.
And Now, our companions (Porters/Guides) during the trek :
Om Bahadur Ji - His original name is "Homunath Rai". He is the Guide and front anchor. We enjoyed his company thoroughly throughout the trek. His punch words, "Ya Achchha", "Wait Karna hoga", "Chalna hoga".
Kiran - Lead Tour Guide. "Not Possible" and "Yes Yes" are his punch words used on many occasions.
Porters - Mingma, Dawa, Lama, Bhupal . Real heroes of the lot. Hats off to you mates.
Day 1: 08/05/2010
This was the day when we all embarked on our dream journey to EBC, Kala Pattar. I was little anxious about my team and would I enjoy their company and all? All of us except Abhishek, assembled at the airport entrance. Abhishek was very fortunate to have the boarding pass issued just before 20 mins to the departure of the flight. We were the last to board the the flight an reached Delhi sharp @ 8:40AM. We soon reached the international terminal using the internal shuttle service and sat down in the lounge of a restaurant, just opposite to the terminal. All of us finally agreed to go to "Ambience Mall" in Gurgaon, a 15 min drive from the airport. Thanks to Abhi, who gathered the information in quick time. It was such a huge mall, which spanned for 1KM with all the branded outlets available, purchased one head band and one track for myself.
Gurgaon was like a hot boiler, mercury touched 45 mark that day. We managed to catch a cab and reached IGI by 12:15PM. Proceeded towards emigration and got my passport scanned for the first time. All of us (except Kanchuki n Aditya, they were to join later in Kathmandu) reached the boarding gate and everyone got into the bus except me. I was held back by the Kingfisher authorities as I needed to go through the security check once agan. I just wondered this might be bcoz of the Caribbean hat I sported! My gang had no clues what happened to me, they were anxiously waiting for my arrival inside the aircraft, and erupted into laughter as I entered the plane. We made a complete mess of the formalities as almost 80% of the craft was empty.
We settled into our seats and read the news that a national bandh was called off in Kathmandu the last day. We considered ourseves damn lucky and eagerly awaited the landing @ Tribhuval International Airport, Kathmandu. Amruth, a guy from "Himalayan Expedition" received us outside the airport and took us to the bus. We checked-in to the hotel "Marshyangdi" @ 4PM, allotted a spacious room with attached bathroom, fully air-conditioned. Without wasting much time, all of us marched to a place where we had to rent sleeping bags and down jackets. It was a long way to go, Amruth have taken us through the narrow streets of Kathmandu, eventually reached the place and selected down jackets of our respective sizes. We managed to find a medicine shop in the same street and bought "Piyush Water Purifying Drops" to purify stream water. Each bottle cost us 17NPR, my first transaction in Nepali currency.
We all assembled near the coffee table in the lawn and gulped few sips of tea and veg. pakoda. Today was a crazy day for some of us as we bumped into a place where one cashewnut plate cost us 2K (of course, in NPR). We settled the bill after a lengthy discussion, 1250Rs was the damange per Head. Never mind, S**t happens. Later, we moved to a serene place and tasted some delicious food.
A crazy Day 1 is Over.
Satish - This is me.
Aditya - Maddy, My ex-colleague at Veveo, Bangalore. Youngest of the lot.
Kanchuki - Female Yak Lead of our team, a Macro Woman. I refer her as "K" in this blog at some places. Always loves to put on her hiking boots and walk, walk, walk... A very sweet lady with lots of chocolates always in her backpack.
Sudhir - An avid trekker with camera in hands, MR.RESTLESS (as Kanchuki puts it)
Abhishek - Calm n Composed, a cool customer.
Ramesh & Swetha - A wonder couple, wonderful as well.
Ali - Lead Organizer of our team.
Sachin - He is a MACRO man with a smile on his face.
Javed - The oldest of the lot. Very witty.
Padmaja - Everyone calls her sweetly "Paddy". One with lotta grit and determination. Good at Head Massaging.
And Now, our companions (Porters/Guides) during the trek :
Om Bahadur Ji - His original name is "Homunath Rai". He is the Guide and front anchor. We enjoyed his company thoroughly throughout the trek. His punch words, "Ya Achchha", "Wait Karna hoga", "Chalna hoga".
Kiran - Lead Tour Guide. "Not Possible" and "Yes Yes" are his punch words used on many occasions.
Porters - Mingma, Dawa, Lama, Bhupal . Real heroes of the lot. Hats off to you mates.
Day 1: 08/05/2010
This was the day when we all embarked on our dream journey to EBC, Kala Pattar. I was little anxious about my team and would I enjoy their company and all? All of us except Abhishek, assembled at the airport entrance. Abhishek was very fortunate to have the boarding pass issued just before 20 mins to the departure of the flight. We were the last to board the the flight an reached Delhi sharp @ 8:40AM. We soon reached the international terminal using the internal shuttle service and sat down in the lounge of a restaurant, just opposite to the terminal. All of us finally agreed to go to "Ambience Mall" in Gurgaon, a 15 min drive from the airport. Thanks to Abhi, who gathered the information in quick time. It was such a huge mall, which spanned for 1KM with all the branded outlets available, purchased one head band and one track for myself.
Gurgaon was like a hot boiler, mercury touched 45 mark that day. We managed to catch a cab and reached IGI by 12:15PM. Proceeded towards emigration and got my passport scanned for the first time. All of us (except Kanchuki n Aditya, they were to join later in Kathmandu) reached the boarding gate and everyone got into the bus except me. I was held back by the Kingfisher authorities as I needed to go through the security check once agan. I just wondered this might be bcoz of the Caribbean hat I sported! My gang had no clues what happened to me, they were anxiously waiting for my arrival inside the aircraft, and erupted into laughter as I entered the plane. We made a complete mess of the formalities as almost 80% of the craft was empty.
We settled into our seats and read the news that a national bandh was called off in Kathmandu the last day. We considered ourseves damn lucky and eagerly awaited the landing @ Tribhuval International Airport, Kathmandu. Amruth, a guy from "Himalayan Expedition" received us outside the airport and took us to the bus. We checked-in to the hotel "Marshyangdi" @ 4PM, allotted a spacious room with attached bathroom, fully air-conditioned. Without wasting much time, all of us marched to a place where we had to rent sleeping bags and down jackets. It was a long way to go, Amruth have taken us through the narrow streets of Kathmandu, eventually reached the place and selected down jackets of our respective sizes. We managed to find a medicine shop in the same street and bought "Piyush Water Purifying Drops" to purify stream water. Each bottle cost us 17NPR, my first transaction in Nepali currency.
We all assembled near the coffee table in the lawn and gulped few sips of tea and veg. pakoda. Today was a crazy day for some of us as we bumped into a place where one cashewnut plate cost us 2K (of course, in NPR). We settled the bill after a lengthy discussion, 1250Rs was the damange per Head. Never mind, S**t happens. Later, we moved to a serene place and tasted some delicious food.
A crazy Day 1 is Over.
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