Day Twenty
After dinner last night, David, Richard, Carmel and I stayed and played 500 until just before 8.30pm. Then it was off to bed, where I read for 1/2 hour or so. Got to have a bit of a sleep-in this morning as absolutely no-one wanted to go back up Gokyo Ri! So, bed tea at 8am. But I woke at 6am and spent next couple of hours dozing. Heard George leave (and Jack farewelling him) around 6.30am. George had to be in New Delhi on Monday - the day we'd all be flying back to Kathmandu - so has decided not to go over Renjo La, but instead head down valley to Lukla today.
Breakfast was at 8.45am by which time Carmel and I were well packed and ready to go. I was cleaning up my bag - getting rid of unnecessary packaging - and found all the stamps I thought I'd left in Kathmandu! I may yet be able to post letters from Namche Bazaar as originally planned! Porridge, toast and jam and a cup of coffee for breakfast, then we had some free time as departure was set for 10am. I wandered around 'town' with Glenn and took photos of yaks, dung houses, stone huts and the lake.
So, 10am we were off - headed for our camping site just below the Renjo La. We ridged around the side of Gokyo Ri, the lake on our left, then worked our way up the steep steep slopes of the "hillside" behind Gokyo. My legs still haven't come good. Just can't get enough oxygen to the muscles at this altitude (approx. 5000m). So it was slowly as you go to our lunch spot - great views of Everest and Lhotse, as well as the lake, which is holy. Nima told us that some people see a temple in the middle, others a white yak. Whilst in Gokyo this morning, I was surprised to see a sadhu. Apparently he lives up on the hill behind the village, under a tarp shelter and has been there for years.
After lunch, the really hard section began so I made sure to eat enough. During my loo stop, I found some lovely moss-covered rocks with pockets of snow amongst them - so I went back for my camera and took some shots. Hope they work out!
The after-lunch effort was to take 3 hours - most of it steeply uphill. Same story as the morning - slowly slowly. After an hour, we had got over the top of the ridge and had fairly flat walking over sand and rocks to the campsite. We could see the others in the distance, so knew we still had a way to go. We finally got to the campsite by 2.45pm - the last bit was just a little more uphill! As we went, the views of Everest just got better and better! The odd thing was that the further away we went, the more massive Everest, Nuptse and Lhotse appeared! Got my first sighting of Makalu too!
We're camped on a sandy clearing, with the route to the Pass (which we saw earlier, with prayer flags fluttering)on one side and snow fields and a mountain on the other. A small stream is trickling its way through the campsite and heading downhill. Clouds have obscured most of the view, but every now and again, a mountain or two peeks through. It should all be very spectacular in the morning! Coffee and biscuits have just arrived - delivered right to the tent door by a smiling Cheung.
Day Twenty-One and Day Twenty-Two
Circumstances prevented any journal writing until we arrived at Lukla on Sunday. See below for the sorry story!
Day Twenty-Three
Still on Thursday -
After a cup of tea and listening to k d lang on CD I decided to get up and see what was happening with the clouds. Joined Richard outside and we chatted as we watched mountains appear and disappear through the clouds. We were joined by David, Glenn and Colin and by 5.15pm we were rewarded with a lifting of the clouds and perfectly clear views of Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse and Makalu, along with Cholatse and Tawache. We all stood there happily snapping away, waiting for sunset and the 'golden shot' and 'pink shot'. Absolutely fantastic!
Dinner was al fresco - spaghetti and tomato sauce - very tasty. Warmed fruit salad for dessert. Carmel was not feeling very well - terrible wind causing stomach cramps - so skipped dinner. All in bed by 7pm because we'd be getting up at 5.30am to start our assault on Renjo La at 7am. I read by torchlight for a little while - until it suddenly went out. Took awhile to get warm - kept feeling a little draught coming from somewhere that kept me shivering, despite cuddling my "tato pani" bottle.
Was woken up sometime in the night by Carmel, who had been very ill and continued to be unwell. I had to get up and find Nima to get another sleeping bag. It was so cold outside, but the sky was filled with stars. Got Carmel resettled in clean clothes and went back to sleep. Come morning and it was freezing! The little stream was frozen over. Our waterbottles were frozen, even the sand was frozen! Breakfast was in 'bed'. No washie washie. Carmel was feeling awful with terrible cramps in her stomach, so missed breakfast.
7am we set off uphill for the Pass. My legs were still stuffed and Carmel was capable of only 10 steps at a time, so we made very slow progress. Finally, after about 2 hours we made the top. All the others had gone up and over ages ago and we could see them, resting amongst the rocks far below. A fierce, chill wind was blowing at the top and Passang and Kanccha helped us string the last of our prayer flags. Took some pictures then it was time to descend the other side. Passang had rigged a safety-rail made of rope and anchored with ice-axes for the first part of the descent for everyone to use. The path down looked really scary, especially with the rope snaking its way down!
Tough descent! Passang coiled up the rope as soon as we had cleared a section, so god knows how some porters following us made it down! Long long way on loose scree. Steep path. Then lots of boulder hopping, more scree, more boulders. Endless, endless, endless. At one point, I lost my footing, and slithered downwards, taking Nima with me and we slid for about 3 feet - a little bit scary! About 1/2 way down we saw the others making their way past a 'beach' alongside a lake. That was the last we saw of them until we got to Thame.
At twenty to twelve, lunch was still another 1 1/2 hours away. Carmel was absolutely exhausted and this news really deflated her. Nima produced a bottle of Coke from his pack and offered it to her as small consolation. On we walked, slowly slowly slowly, until we finally reached the teahouse at Lungden - the Alpine Trekkers Comfort Stop. I ordered Sherpa Stew and Carmel had plain noodle soup. Wonderful! Nima had been concerned that we would not make it to Thame and had come up with a contingency plan where we all camped somewhere before Thame, then walking through to Namche Bazaar the following day. Now he announced that going at our current pace, we would make it to Thame after all! He sent Kanccha ahead to tell the others what was happening, and to send them on to Thame. At twenty to three, the three of us set off again (Passang had gone on ahead to catch the others when we stopped for lunch) - and at what a brisk pace! I couldn't believe the change in Carmel! Marvellous what two cups of black tea and a bowl of noodle soup can do for you! Thame was a good 3 to 3 1/2 hours away, so we had a lot of walking to do. We met up with Kanccha again - who must have run all the way to get to the others and back again! Cloud obscured a lot of the views, but we walked past some very pretty villages. Crossed the river a couple of times (the Bhoti Kosi - if we'd followed it northward it would have taken us to the Tibetan border and a traditional crossing place for traders) - one spot was fairly open and strewn with huge boulders that all had a pinkish hue - very pretty. On and on we slogged. Carmel's energy was diminishing by the minute and I was getting pretty tired myself. Daylight was going when the cloud lifted down the valley and gave us perfect views of Themserku in the setting sun!
On and on we went in the dusk. 5.30pm. Where was Thame? We kept expecting to see it around every bend, over every hill - but no. Came to a stupa and were met by Cheung. Aha! I thought, this must be the Thame monastery - can't be far now. But just more uphill. Up up up - then a big cheer from Kanccha and Cheung, they could see the lights of Thame. The descent was by torchlight - slowly and carefully, then we staggered along the lane. Past Apu Sherpa's lodge and onto our own where we walked into a very nice welcome and congratulations from the others who were very surprised that we had arrived when we did - just one hour behind them. The time - 6.10pm. We had been walking for 11 hours! Dinner was bit of a blur. Carmel almost fell asleep in her soup and went to bed rather early. I sat up talking with Glenn and Zoe for a bit and enjoying a tot of Everest Whiskey before toddling off to bed myself. Our room was very luxurious - electric lighting, lots of space, wide beds, western-style doorknobs instead of the usual bolts, and just down the hall from a western-style loo - sit down, flushing job - cor blimey!
Had the best sleep ever (quelle surprise). 7am wakeup call and brekky. Jack, Carmel and I left for Monjo at 9am with Cheung. The others decided to go visit the Thame Monastery (the real one - the one we passed last night is abandoned) first and would catch us up. The walk started off a bit briskly and afer yesterday's effort, my knees were really hurting (not enough rest time to recover). I put on both knee supports and rubbed in some Nurofen, which helped a bit. So, for me the walk was both a bit tiresome and lovely at the same time. Carmel, understandably, wasn't 100% either and Jack was weary too, so we all enjoyed the opportunity to walk at a moderate pace and not feel that we were being left behind. It seemed to take forever to reach Namche Bazaar. On the map, it looks just a short distance, but in reality it is a good couple of hours walk. Just before we got to Thamo, a dog decided to accompany us and it came all the way into Namche with us! We were almost at our lodge when Cheung pointed out the others just rounding the bend on the other side of town. They must have run to have got there so quickly, as we had had an hour's headstart on them! They told us that Nima was determined to get to Namche by 1pm to stay on schedule to reach Monjo, so had them fairly scampering along the trail!
We had until 2.30pm to have lunch and go shopping, so after eating, Carmel and I went into 'town' where I bought some tshirts, cloth badges and a bracelet and Carmel bought a tshirt. Back at the lodge for a short sit before heading off. It was a relief to finally arrive at Monjo, where we had washie washie to freshen up before dinner. It was Glenn's birthday, so a cake was brought in for him and we all had bit of a party, with us all getting up to dance to Nepalese music after Mandal gave us a wonderful demonstration. I started feeling a little queasy - thought it was caused by dancing around a hot stove with a full stomach. Despite Glenn's certainty to the contrary, a sip of whiskey did not help and I went to bed with a headache and slight wind pains.
Well, did I have a bad night! 3 times I had to get up and go outside to the loos to throw up. This involved disentangling myself from the sleepingbag, finding and pulling on my boots (decided I was dressed enough in my thermal leggings), find my fleecy jacket, grab the headtorch and roll of toilet paper and try to creep down the hallway and out the door. Not easy with wooden floor boards and a clunky door, I can tell you! Every step seemed to echo. Then it was crunch my way up the gravel path and into the loo. The squat loo. The squat loo with no flushing water. So everytime, I had to fill the watering can up three times so I could adequately clean the porcelain around the 'drop' once I had done my business. Then it was back to bed, reversing the earlier procedure and lie there in misery while my guts churned themselves into a state that would propel me out of bed once more. The 4th time I got up, Carmel found me a plastic bag and I threw up in that! I then spent what was left of the night feeling ever so sick without needing to throw up and with an "almost going to fart" feeling. 6am decided to get up to dispose of the bag before too many people were about. Got dressed, agreeing with Carmel that yes, indeed I was lucky I didn't have the diarrhoea she had had, when it struck! Hobbled off to the loo to clean up and do some more business. Back to the room for Immodium, Maxalon and C-Flox. Just what was needed on the last day of trekking! No sleep, vomiting and diarrhoea, no strength, no energy and 5-6 hours walking to Lukla! Nima mixed up some rehydration fluid for me and Mandal carried my pack and we set off ever so slowly for Phakding - the lunch stop.
God, was it hard work! How Carmel got over the Renjo La and all the way to Thame feeling the same way I do I will never know! Felt like death warmed up. Just put one foot in front of the other, taking frequent stops. Finally got to Phakding about 40 minutes behind the others, who were all sitting in the sun. I went and lay down in the dining room and had a nap for about 30 minutes. Lunch for all the others was fried Tibetan bread, curried vegetables and potatos. The smell almost made me ill again. I got a plate of plain boiled white rice which I could barely eat. Ended up washing mouthfuls down with the rehydration fluid. Couldn't eat much of it at all. Decided to get a small bottle of Coke and see if it had the same curative effect on me as it did on Carmel. I hate Coke, absolutely loathe and detest it, but that bottle was the best drink I have ever had!
The walk to Lukla was hard too - long long way with lots of long uphill pulls, including a 40 minute hill up to Lukla itself. We all started off together with Mandal setting a nice slow pace and I joked that at that rate I would be in Lukla the same time as everyone else! That changed after a while and Carmel and I began to fall behind. But not before Zoe was suddenly taken ill with what at first seemed the same illness, but turned out to be bad cramps. So I just settled myself for a long slow walk, calling out when I needed a rest and trying to enjoy the passing scenery. At one rest stop, we were joined by a woman and her two sons. She told them to say Namaste and when Carmel replied, she said something else to them and one of them asked
Where are you going?
Lukla
We are going to Lukla too!
It's a long way, isn't it?
It is 3 hours walk!
And off they all went. We crossed paths with them several times and by the last time, they had been joined by the rest of the family and a whole heap of luggage.
I spotted an areoplane overhead at one stage - the first for weeks and weeks. It was one of those scenic flight ones that Carmel and I are considering taking - US$100 for an hour's flight over Everest and back to Kathmandu. Whilst still in Monjo, we heard and saw 2 helicopters fly overhead going north. We later learned that someone from one of the Ama Dablam expeditions had died and these were the rescue craft.
The scenery was lovely - really lush and green. Lots of little farms, well vegetated hillsides, streamlets running over the track. We came to the spot where three weeks earlier a landslide was being fixed. Now the work was finished and what a job! A huge wall of stome built under the track. It looked terrific! Finally, Carmel pointed out the ridge over which Lukla could be found. Distant but not too far off to make me feel more despondent. One foot in front of the other. Slowly slowly up each hill. One foot in front of the other. Until suddenly I was walking under the entrance gate and past the soldiers into Lukla! We had made it - or almost. Still had to walk right through town, around the airport and down to our lodge. Staggered into the dining room and gratefully sat down, then lay down. Couldn't finish my tea and biscuits and as soon as room keys were handed out, Carmel and I toddled off. The rooms were in a new section of the lodge that hadn't been there last time Carmel stayed here. We found our room, opened the door and gasped in amazement. Such a huge room and with an ENSUITE BATHROOM with a sit down flushing loo, a handbasin AND a shower nozzle! Omigod, such luxury! AND electric lighting! We were so excited about the prospect of a shower before dinner, it wasn't funny - until we discovered there was no hot water. Darn! i climbed under a blanket and had a good lie down while Carmel had discussions with the others about organising a trek t-shirt. We told Nima about the lack of hot water and he told the lodge owner, who went off to sort things out. Lights flickered and went out, water ran hot for a moment or two, lights came back on and water stopped altogether. Oh well, we've gone this long without showers, one more night won't hurt!
Dinner was around 6pm. I didn't fancy much to eat. Had some mushroom soup and tried to have some rice, but ended up having to rush off and be ill again. Went to my room to brush my teeth and discovered there was no power at all now! Dug out my headtorch and went back to the dining room. Because of the curfew in town, our porters couldn't come across for a farewell party, so everything was a bit flat - good thing we had partied the night before! Anyway, after leaving shirts and shoes to be given to the porters next morning, I toddled off to bed - a 5.30am start tomorrow! Lit a candle so Carmel could see when she came in and climbed into bed. Carmel came in about 30 minutes later, said Candle is a nice touch, but can I turn the light on? But the power is off, I said. Oh, is it? And she flicks the switch and the lights come on! Just my luck, I guess ha ha ha.
