Beginning of the Trek to Tengboche Monastery
Tengboche is perhaps the most important monastery in the Solo Khumbu region. The lama at the monastery has traditionally been the person to bless those who attempt to climb the sacred mountain Sagarmatha, known in Tibetan as Chomolunga. The worldly name for the mountain is Everest. As the Sherpas who live in this region know, however, the goddess and the mountain are one, and those who don’t respect her do so at their peril. Tengboche monks help safeguard the sacredness of the mountain region. As it is such an important site, I wanted to make the pilgrimage there and then cheat and take a helicopter into the basin below Sagarmatha to pay my respects to the mountain deities.
I needed to Ieave the hotel in Kathmandu at 3:30 am to begin the over 130 km four hour drive to Ramechhap’s Manthali, a small airport in the eastern part of the country as flights no longer fly from Kathmandu Airport to Lukla. The early morning drive was through valley villages and windy mountain roads, and the sun came up just as we could finally see some snow-covered peaks. The driver left me at the entrance to the airport amid a whole gaggle of international tourists heading to the Everest region. As I tried to wiggle my way through yellow Northface bags, red, blue and black duffels from various trekking companies and large to medium sized trekking backpacks, I heard French, Spanish, Italian, German from Germany as well as Austrian German, along with what I’m guessing was Korean as well as English, from England, Australia and the US, as well as Nepali. It seems Sagarmatha is calling the world. She is also the reason I am here.
My ticket was for Yeti Airways, but when I got through the gate, there was no check-in counter for Yeti Air. I then heard a guide tell his group that Yeti Air is the same as Tara Air, so I weaseled my way through the stacks of bags all around to that counter where I was told I had to wait. They checked in three large groups before they even looked at me, although I was the first in line. After they’d finished with the groups, the staff took a short break. When they came back, they started working on various luggage tags. Finally, one of the fellows looked up and said they’d get to me in 10 minutes. After I was finally able to check-in, there was a search area divided by gender, before coming to the waiting area, which is a covered porch by the runway. There is an outhouse like facility for a toilet and a large water dispenser in the waiting area, but nothing else.
My flight was scheduled for 8:15, but that time came and went, and there was no plane. An earlier Tara Air flight left about 7:45, so it was entirely possible that they were running behind schedule. It was fascinating to watch the various airlines flying in tandem to drop off and pick up Lukla passengers. When it seemed like every other flight had been called and there weren’t many more people in the porch area, around 9:45 a Tara flight appeared in the sky that would eventually take the rest of us to Lukla (2840m) and the beginning of the trek. While I was waiting, I began to wonder whether this leg of the trip wasn’t a mistake as hiking with this crowd wasn’t going to be particularly pleasant. But the weather was good. It was a beautiful day, and my wish to be able to see some of the high peaks came true.
The plane to Lukla is small and seats a maximum of eighteen people, and I was able to grab a window seat on the left-hand side. It was unfortunately just under the wing, but I could nonetheless see the Himalayan Range underneath the wing. They are spectacular peaks! Landing in Lukla is infamous. The runway is almost non-existent, but the pilots are phenomenal as they bring their passengers safely down without crashing into the mountain.
My porter over the next few days, Ramesh, met me in the luggage area and after a quick breakfast we started the trek along with the hordes of other tourists. Our original goal for the day was Phakding (2610m), but we made good time on the mostly downhill section, so I asked whether we could continue to the next village. I wanted to do this because the trek from Phakding to Namche Bazar was supposed to take 6-7 hours, and from Monjo it should take 4-5, and as it’s almost all uphill from Monjo, with a couple of fairly steep sections, I wanted to limit the next day’s pain. We did make a rest stop for tea in Phakding, which was nice, and then headed on. The section from Phakding to Monjo (2835m) was devoid of other tourists, but still full of yaks, that aren’t really yaks, but jopkes, a mixture of cattle and yak, and ponies. This leg of the trail was amazingly beautiful, filled with waterfalls, rushing streams and rivers, and capped with a few amazingly beautiful snow-covered peaks. We arrived in Monjo a little after 4pm to check into the guesthouse. The room was barren, it didn’t even have an electrical socket, but it did have a solar powered hot water heater for the shower, although there weren’t any towels. It was a good thing I had packed one. The internet also didn’t work well, but I hadn’t really expected it to.
I’m glad we made it to Monjo as the next day to Namche Bazar was taxing, although it only took 3 1/2 hours, with lots of stops for me to let the heart rate settle, not 4-5.
