Well, after a decent tramp from Jiri, number 2 (aka Hans) has also
reached Namche, to be amazed by the “resort’-type feeling it has (until you
explore the side streets. The unofficial name is Namche Bazar, but Bizar would
be more appropriate. As an example laundry services are available using real
washing machines, considering these have been carried up the hill to
3500m. Forget our earlier notes that
moving house was hard work, that was only one washing machine and some boxes,
but here virtually everything is walked in.
As most goods are portered in from Jiri, you can read my trip notes
below which cover the same route. According to my guide book I’ve now got more
than 9000m of climbing in my legs in those 7 days, so will skip Mt Everest (not
enough tea-houses up there!).
To get to Jiri from KTM a day-long busride is required, but having
booked the trip a day in advance I got a good seat alloing my backpack to be
in, not on top of the bus. There are some warnings about theft, as indeed
Westerners are incredibly rich compare to some people here. Won’t say that life
or happiness should be counted in dollars, but it helps if you got a few! After
the first quick six hours the express bus became a local runabout, with more
and more people joining. One skinny lady poked her bum under my armpit, so she
could sit on the armrest. Relax and accept. A toddler that got nearly crushed
in the crowd could sit on my backpack, but found it a bit scary near the big
fella with the blue eyes. The busride ended before the muscle cramps got too
severe, and the rest of the day was spent reorganising the backpack. With
camping gear, cold weather clothes, some emergency food and a bulky medical kit
(thanks Mika!) I could just squeeze it into the 80litre pack. Guess it was in
total some 20kg.
As expected day 1 and 2 urged the body to adapt to this load, to the
climate (still foggy and a drizzle every now and then) ad off course some
hills. It seems like every third house is open for visitors to sell tea, and
every fifth is a little shop selling basically the same stuff. Occasionally the
tea and shop functions coincide, and often tea shops offer some food. As sore
throats (and probably TB) are quite common here, you often hear raw
throat-clearing sounds, and then somebody pops out of a door and launches a
little liquid bomb on the ground. These same people work in the tiny kitchens (usually
an open woodfire, with smoke escaping through the bamboo roof) so no wonder I
got a good throat infection. At least an excuse why the legs felt a bit tired.
With the “final” destination Macchermo at 4400m, it made sense to sleep
rather high and get used to the altitude. The trail went over a 3500m pas and
another 3200m pass, so I got reasonably used to the altitude by sleeping
somewhere around 2500 – 2900m (you just need
to breathe 30% deeper). It happened a few times at night that the
auto-pilot forgot the inhale deep enough, forcing me to wake up and re-start
breathing. Strange feeling, but fortunately got better during the week. The
higher altitude also resulted in cooler nights, so I could finally get my own
sleeping bag out. Still too hot, but better too warm than too cold.
On various moments in KTM nd on the track the hymn “Oh Mani Padme Hum”
could be heard, form souvenir shops, from hostels, or just houses along the
way. Very monotonous and slow, but when you struggle up a hill with no spare
capacity, it is actually the right rhythm. Still not sure if I’ll buy the CD..!
Accommodation was always easy to find, sometimes very basic but reasonably
clean. Food could be either the traditional dal bhaat (rice, lentil soup and
some cooked veggies), momos (kind of dim sum, eithrsteamed or fried), fried
rice or chow mein, and also ‘western’ stuff as macaroni, pizza etc. Haven’t
tried that because it won’t taste as expected, and the local stuff is indeed
quite nice!
With regards to wildlife: the
butterflies are amazing, some colourful birds spotted, one snake, a few funny
frogs, but all others on four legs where domesticated animals. Various types of
cows, buffalos and cross-breds (even with yaks), a few sheep, many goats,
chicken everywhere. For transport I’ve come across some mule-caravans, and
closer to Namche also yak-like cows (impressive horns, although the real yaks
live still higher in the cold). The
least attractive however where the leeches: during 6 days I had only one
sucking my valuable blood from an ankle, but one section of 30 minutes
(according to the guidebook a scenic alternative to the main track) resulted in
about 20 leeches on my boots, legs and backpack. Got most off without harm, but
still found two intensely satisfied leeches in my socks at the next stop. Bugger!
The good thing is that they don’t itch nor infect.
Today being a lazy day in and around Namche, the plan is to have a look
at the Saturday morning market and then leave for a 4-5 hour walk into the
Gokyo valley. Altitude dictates it will then be another two walking days to arrive in Macchermo, although it is
only half a day’s walk in horizontal distance. Will be interesting to see how
Mika, Sean, Anna, Helen and the Nepali crew (Chhewang and his assistant) are
settled in – hopefully no earthquake damage to the medical post.
Oops – by the way: there was a significant rattle caused by a quake in
NE-India, but it didn’t cause any immediate damage where Mika and I were at
that moment. I did however note some fresh landslips just
below Namche, with one bridge damaged by a slide. It involved a bit of a detour,
but at some point in time the mind gets immune for more climbing!
