Well awake bright and the wakey wakey black tea followed by washy washy then breakfast we are ready to leave camp and head for Namche Bazzar, at a height of 3446m is the Sherpa capital and the headquarters of the Sagarmatha National Park are based here.
The sun is rising fast...as is the temperature. It's going to be another lovely day.
This morning, about 10 minutes after leaving camp,. we pass through the gates of the Sagamartha National Park. The establishment of
this national park is to limit strictly the use of firewood
in the area The few local people who have a permit to cut wood, must gain
approval from the authorities on the basis of it being primarily for personal
use. The gates are busy with trekkers registering their entry to the park, there is also an information center here. From this entrance to the park, we have to go downhill for a while before coming to bridge.
We follow the river course to the confluence of the Bhote Kosi from the west (Tibet), and the Dudh Kosi from the east before crossing a dizzyingly high bridge over the Dudh Kosi River (2840m).
You don't want to meet 'Yak' traffic on this bridge, that's for sure! ;)
It is a tough climb as the trail passes through forest of pine and we have some great views of high glacial mountains.
Walking through the pine forests and the stony path reminds me of Dollar Glen, where Roy and I do conservation work for National Trust of Scotland...except for the higher mountain views of course.
We carry on for a while before arriving at a spectacular viewpoint. This is the viewpoint that provides us with our first view of Mt Everest at an amazing height of 8850m. This can be seen pictured below on the left, with Lhotse 8516m and Nuptse 7879m next to it. It feels unreal to be seeing the highest mountain in the world, for real!!
(Pictured above - One happy group photo in front of Everest.)
We carry on our way, going up steeply until we arrive at the colourful buildings tucked into the mountain side. It has been a hard climb for some, with Rachel struggling with her breathing. It's a case of breathing in through nose, and then expelling through the nose slowly until pattern regains. It's a worry to know that any one of us may go through this experience as we gain more height. We know we need to pace ourselves as our altitude increases.
At around 2pm we arrive at Namche Bazaar, the Sherpa 'capital' of Nepal. We follow through the busy narrow streets until we reach the Yak hotel where we will be staying for the night. After a drink of hot mango, we get our room keys and settle in before going down for tea. After tea, we hand some laundry in to be cleaned before setting off for a strole and to use the internet before dinner. The streets are busy with trekkers looking for gifts and walking gear.
There are shops, Post Office, banks and many more places in the busy and bustling Namche, where cows wander around the streets. There is a Tibetan market on Saturdays however unfortunately we arrived a day late for this, there was still however lots of handcraft and walking stuff available. We bought a prayer scarf to leave at Base Camp for good luck and a couple of gifts. I wish we could have spent more time here as was originally scheduled, but unfortunately there will be no rest day for us due to the extra days walking. Before dinner we take advantage of the opportunity to have a shower...one that will have to last us for the next week!! ;)
After dinner we utilize the opportunity to make use of the internet again for a while before going back to lodge for bed. We've got another early rise ahead of us and it's nice to be in a comfortable and warm room prior to the week that lies ahead of us. This also gave us the opportunity to charge not only our metaphorical batteries, but physical ones too.
Tomorrow we will continue to climb onwards and upwards, with a visit to a monastery after we leave Namche.
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