Day 2 Monjo to Namche Bazar and Everest Museum
We left Monjo at 7am before the German group that also stayed at the guesthouse. They were a friendly group of ca. 15 hikers, who looked to be around 50 years old. They appeared to be having a very good time with one another. I really wanted to get the hike behind me, as I knew it was going to be difficult, and I wanted to experience the sounds of the mountains and not people on the trail. The beginning of the trail from Monjo is a beautiful nature walk along the Koshi River until one comes to the fourth suspension bridge from Lukla. From here the trail goes up and up and up over uneven rocky steps. The altitude gain isn’t really the problem here, at least for me it wasn’t, but rather the unevenness of the steps. Many were much higher than most Western codes allow for and, even when I regularly take the stairs, they aren’t like the ones on this trail, and they require more leg muscle. Even the porters needed to stop occasionally, although I certainly did so more than they. The uphill slog is mostly over rocky stairways, which would be treacherous if they were slippery. Luckily, the day was perfect, not too hot, not cold, and clear skies. The views along the trail are stunning. After the rocky, uneven stairs there is a long more gradual uphill walk before one gets to lower Namche Bazar (3440m). Once in Namche, it was time for a tea break at the Stupa Café next to a stupa and the cascading large Prayer Wheels that are water powered sending Om Mani Padme Hum prayers out to the universe. After the rest, we headed to the hotel, which is in the heart of town, to deposit the backpacks. That accomplished, I asked to go to the museum, thinking it was in town. This was incorrect, it is at the top of the village. The (still uneven and over-dimensional) stairs to the museum are steep and many. It was almost as difficult to get through Namche to the Museum (3555m) as it was from the bridge to lower Namche. Ramesh suggested that before we go to the lower museum, which is the one at the top of the pass, we should go further uphill through the woods to a plateau with another museum and fabulous views. He was correct; this upper path led to the Tenzing Norgay Monument (3600 m) and spectacular views of Everest, Ama Dhablam, Lhotse etc. There is also a plaque with two stones that were brought here from the Dead Sea, from one of the lowest terrestrial points to near the highest. It was incredibly peaceful on the plateau surrounded by some of the highest mountains on the planet. I didn’t want to leave, but my stomach was grumbling. One does need to eat on these treks and drink lots of water. We intended to go into the upper museum, but it was closed for renovations, so we went down to the lower one. It consists of two small rooms on two floors that have daily living artifacts from the local Sherpa community and one room upstairs that is dedicated to Buddhist images. In another building there is a photo gallery in two small rooms with ethnographic images. From the museum, we headed back down to Namche center for lunch, a pizza, that we shared as it was very large. I’ve become somewhat addicted to the ginger-lemon-honey tea here as it is good for my throat and cold and tastes delicious. The lunch place played U.S. pop songs and was across the cobblestone road from a Walmart Shopping Center, - that had nothing to do with the shop of that name in the U.S.. In the afternoon, I wandered around the various shops and art galleries in town. It seems that everything imaginable is for sale here.
It was a good day. The next day was going to be another very difficult day for me as we were going to Khumjung (3780m) to see the Yeti skull – it is really a kind of antelope – but who’s to say the Yetis don’t exist… On the way I planned to stop at the Everest View Hotel (3880m). The path from Namche Bazar to Everest View Hotel was supposed to take a little over two hours of uphill hiking. From Everest View Hotel it was supposed to be relatively flat to Khumjung.
