Last Day in Nepal

Since today is our last day in Nepal we are trying to fit in as much as possible.

We wake up early, eat breakfast and hail a taxi for the Pashupatinath temple. Regular check out time is noon, however Kiran has manged to extend that to 2:00pm so we have a few more hours to wander about.

The cost of the taxi is 400 rupees (we were told that we could probably barter this down to about 300 but we are so damn tired of haggling over prices that we accept that rate without comment).

The temple that we are going to is a Hindu temple that is considered to be one of the holiest Hindu temples in Nepal. It is situated on the Bagmati river which is also considered sacred.

There is a tourist fee of 500 rupees per person to enter the area and when we get there, we can see that there are already a few bus loads of tourists who have already arrived. I'm stressing the fact that this is a tourist destination because this temple is also well known for the public cremation ceremonies which were well under way when we arrived.

The place is incredible. You just don't know where to look when you arrive. It has a mixture of religious ceremony and almost carnival attmosphere. There are rows of vendor stalls hawking the regular tourist stuff and multiple guide "want-to-be's" wondering around asking the tourists for 100 rupees in exchange for guide service. You also have some amazing, old temples and stupas complete with holy men, dressed for drama and willing to take your cash for photos. There are beggars—both very young and very old, young children jumping into the river along side monkeys who are also jumping into the river. The river itself is DISGUSTING...polluted with trash, clothing, flowers, plastic wrappings and prayer scarves from the dead bodies, burnt wood, and we're guessing, human remains. Some people are wading through this mess, scavenging something but we couldn't tell what. There were also people washing their faces and shampooing their hair in the filthy water. Cows were also scattered about, strolling through the water. Add to this scene, groups of mourning (wailing) families, about 10 burning bodies on piers overlooking the river and you have a vague picture of what the scene was like. The smell was pretty bad as well.

We spend about 2 hours wandering around, trying to make sense of what we were experiencing. It seems very strange to us to be able to photograph the cremations and funeral groups in very personal moments when, as Westerners, this is something that is not typically done. These funerals are very public.

We decide to head back to the hotel for some last minute shopping and to rearrange our luggage contents to make sure we have distributred the weight evenly. We always seem to need one more suitcase whenever we are heading home from these long trips.

Now the wait starts for the trip home.

Finally some 5 star Luxury at the Yak and Yeti in Kathmandu

Our flight back to Kathmandu from Chitwan is scheduled for around 12:30 pm but I think we're getting a drive there around 10:00 am which means more airport waiting.

We wake up around 8:00 am and start packing up to get ready to leave. For some reason the A/C was acting funky all night, powering on for about 30 seconds then powering down for about 3 minutes. This went on for a while until we decided to shut the damn thing off entirely. Not an easy decision in 40 plus Celsius weather but the noise was too much. Needless to say our room was a sweatbox when we woke. Thankfully the A/C was back to working again the am so we cooled off quickly.

After a quick breakfast (including our regular branch of fresh picked lychees) we decide to head out for a final walk about. We take the opportunity to get some last minute photos and we visit a graveyard that we've seen while driving by bit haven't had the chance to stop at.

Of course we also take the time (for the millionth time) to marvel at the amount of wild pot growing at the sides of the roads and in the fields. Crazy!

We get back to the lodge and the security guard at the front gate checks his watch and says something to us about the time. Turns out our driver is waiting for us...the time for leaving has been changed once again and we have to leave to leave now. We pay up the bill (for beers, water and pop) and find out that they don't take credit cards—cash only. Luckily we have just enough rupees to pay. We are hoping that the ATMs are open in Kathmandu when we get there.

The deadline for the constitution was last night and the staff had been watching the news cast well into the night, however they were reluctant to talk about the situation this morning. All we could find out was "no strike" so hopefully all is OK in Kathmandu (we've had no Internet access in Chitwan).

The wait in the airport and the flight back are uneventful. We had hoped for lower temperatures once we arrived in Kathmandu but it didn't feel any different.

Kiran meets us as expected, and whisks us off to the Yak and Yet hotel (our only 5 start accommodation during this whole trip). Along the way he mentions that he has been very busy at the airport in the last few days. The final trekkers and climbers from mount Everest are now arriving back in Kathmandu however they have been held up in Lukla over the last 3 days. The weather has been preventing flights in or out of Lukla so the travellers are starting to build up in Lukla. Thankfully we got when we did with no delays.

We arrive at Yak and Yeti and are thrilled with the luxury—huge, king size bed, huge room, A/C, lots of pillows, great restaurant, elevators, a POOL!!!, TV and mini bar. We quickly unpack, get lunch then hit the pool. This is the life ( and we agree that next vacation will be 5 star all the way :-)

At dinner, we notice "diet coke" on the menu and miraculously they have diet Pepsi in stalk. A 250 ml can costs 250 rupees, that's around $3 Canadian. We discuss the crazy high price then decide to splurge and order 3 cans to bring to our room. Interestingly some of the items in the mini bar are cheaper than purchasing them directly from the restaurant...yeah mini bar!

Day three in the Chitwan Jungle

We start the day off with a safari which lasts for one and a half hours.  The first animal we see is a rhino, real close up. I guess being on the elephant allows us to get pretty close. We see deers, birds and several peacocks. I'm in awe at how the male peacock can have such a spectacular tail in the dense jungle without damaging the feathers.

After lunch, its a 2 and half hour jeep safari. We see sloth bears, wild boar, bison, spotted deer, peacocks, crocodiles more rhinos. A mother and son that were with us on this tour are avid bird watchers so the guide tended to stop for every bird siting which made the trip a big longer that it should have been, but what heck. They were like a dictionary of bird names (common and Latin names).

Back at the lodge we are faced with another meal that we are not sure we want. We have found that eating at the restaurant has become painful at best. We have resorted to being very specific about what meals we want because they tend to give us way too much food which ends up going to waste. I don't think they are used to cooking for westerners—they typically have tourists from China, Japan and India.

When I ordered 2 scrambled eggs for breakfast I received a bowl that contained two boiled eggs that had been smashed up, mayo and spices added and then the whole thing heated up. It was definitely NOT scrambled eggs and I ended up not eating breakfast that day. Another day I ordered vegetable chow main and ended up with a plate full of crispy chow main noodles with a handful of cooked noodles and a bit of curry sauce poured on top. Not all meals are bad, but its become a crap shoot as to whether or not we get an edible meal. I've resorted to making sure we have a bunch of lychees on hand to eat just in case the meal is bad. In defense of their cooking skills, I'm sure that if we ordered Nepalese meals the fare would be just fine. We're just at a point in the trip where we are getting tired of curries, dal bhat and momos so we're starting to crave western food again.

When we eat, its not uncommon to have the maître d', the waiter and the cook staring at us. Many times either Rick or I have glanced up form a meal only to find all three staring at us. We've never been such center of attention before and we're not sure what to make of it. It's kinda creeping us out. And this seems to happen every time we eat.

During the middle of the night there is a very violent thunderstorm. One our windows broke in the wind and woke us up. We start to secure the rest of the windows only to notice that water is pouring in through our front door. We put down towels to help stop the flow. The wind is so bad it looks like it is bending many of the fruit trees almost to the ground and the lightening seems to be constant...no breaks in between the flashes. The storm continues for almost two hours.

Day two in the Jungle

This day starts early at 5:30 am. We get coffee then hop into the jeep with a family of 4 who are visiting the lodge. This morning is bird watching. Now Rick and I aren't much into bird watching but its an outing so we go along. We see a lot of eagles, king fishers and a rhino in the distance.

At a few points during the drive we have to cross security check points and I noticed that the driver handed big branches of lychee fruits to the security guards. We had noticed that there are quite a few fruit trees on the lodge property—lychees, mango and pomelos. The mangos and pomelos are still green but the lychee fruit are just starting to ripen and we asked about them, we were told to help ourselves to any of the the fruit that we wanted to. I guess the fruit are popular with security guards too.

We get back to have breakfast then we're drive back to the sunset point to see the elephants getting their daily baths. We're invited to get on the elephants (if we want) and to get into the water a scrub their backs. I woman is walking around with a bunch of bananas in her hand. She's selling the entire bunch for 100 rupees, a bit costly, but I buy them from her to feed the elephants. That starts a run on banana selling and the woman gets a couple of kids involved in running banana bunches for her to keep her in stock.

I'm sure that the elephants could smell the bananas cause the closest ones started walking towards us. They take them one by one in their trunk and move them to their mouths.

After lunch we head to a Tharu Cultural museum which contains many old tools and clothing. It also explains that the Tharu are the oldest culture to exist in Chitwan today. Through generations of living in the jungle, they have developed a natural immunity to malaria. Due to some issues (not sure what) the government removed them from their land and then re-assigned them a place to live. This caused many Tharu to change their way of living form fishing to farming and many became impoverished or did not survive.

Off to Chitwan National Park

The flight to Chitwan takes only 20 minutes. They really rush you through these domestic flights. No waiting on the tarmac..sit down, buckle up, take off, get your butterscotch candy and glass of water then get ready to land, and get off the plane. Real quick.

The manager of the Chitwan Jungle Lodge greets us at the Bharatpur airport and a beaten up land rover is waiting to transport us. The heat is incredible—it's over 40 degrees Celsius.

The drive to the lodge takes about 20 minutes through a couple of small towns and even more villages with mud huts. We learn quickly that a vehicle in Chitwan is an open invitation for people to hitch rides and the truck stops a few times to pick up and drop of locals who are travelling along the road.

The lodge is relatively small and we seem to be the only clients. We are served a lunch plate with a variety of foods on the plate and then start settling in to our room.

There's hot water for showers (yeah), A/C (double yeah) and actual flush toilets so we ignore the fact that there's a couple of geckos wandering around in our room.

We decide to wander around the property which takes about 15-20 minutes so we extend our walk to the road outside and the mud hut villages that surround the lodge. It didn't take long before we noticed that the road is lined with wild marijuana growing. Some of the plants were taller than I was.

When we get back to the lodge, we are given a quick overview of what activities are planned for the next three days. Today we go on a brief walking tour of the village. Our guide explains that the mud huts in the surrounding area belong to people in the Tharu culture. They make their huts from bamboo reeds covered with a mixture of horse dung and mud. The rood id made from dried grasses. After the structure dries, the sides may be decorated with white hand prints for good luck. Our guide tells us that we can go inside one of the houses if we want..”they don't mind”. If this was a staged visit (i.e. a house for tourist display only) then yes we would have gone in, but the people are living in these houses. It didn't seem right to us to just walk into someones house so we decline.

We end up walking through the village into a more modern town and then to a river bank that had a few bars and a lot of lounge chairs. This seems to be the place that everyone gathers to watch the sunset so we order some drinks, sit back and relax.

More Days in Kathmandu

The next couple of days are uneventful for the most part. The weather is great, we are both feeling “healthy” and we spend most of the days exploring the Thamel district, shopping, eating and snoozing. The strike is only on during the middle of each day. Shops etc are open early in the morning and then again later in the afternoon. Cars are still not allowed on the road during the strike period and we find that we can tell if the strike is on or off when we first wake up—no horns honking means the strike is still on, horns means its off. True to the media reports, the strike does only last 3 days.

Most restaurant menus include “diet coke” but no one every has it in stock so I've managed to find a new favorite drink—lemon soda. Its basically the juice of one squeezed lemon topped with club soda. Jam packed with sodium I'm sure, but who cares...its vacation time. Rick has been sticking to his Gorkha or Everest beers.

Visiting ATMs has been stressful. Several times we have used our cards in an ATM (going through the entire process) only to have the machine shut down, giving out no money.We've been sticking to strictly bank ATMs so we're confident that there's no fraud happening, however it seems as though the transaction process (or the error messaging) is a bit out of whack in some of these machines. Also we've noticed that many of the ATMs do not take bank cards, only VISA cards.

Kiran gets back to us and confirms that Lumbini is off the itinerary and we are now flying to Chitwan instead of driving. This will bring the total flights on this vacation to 10 flights!!!

We repack our bags yet again and pass over our extra, non-essential luggage to Kiran who will store it and deliver it to our new hotel in Kathmandu when we get back from Chitwan. This service is fantastic for us because we did need to bring both winter and summer clothes which meant a lot of extra baggage to carry around.

Side trip to Durbur Square in Bhaktapur

We had decided yesterday to attempt a tour outside of Kathmandu. We called up Krishna, who had given us the guided tour of the monkey temple to see if he was available. We don;t usually go fr these guided tours however the first one was included in our package from PeakFreaks and we found Krishna very informative and willing to discuss almost anything. We have found it difficult to discuss the current political situation with any of the locals so we are interested to hear what he has to say about the matter. Also, since there are no taxis available, we are hopeful that Krishna will be able to arrange for a "green plated" tourist only vehicle.

We get a call back from Krishna- the tour is on! $55 for 3 hours with guide, car and driver included. We are heading to another city just outside of Kathmandu called Bhaktapur. Our main focus will be the "Durbur Square" in this city—where most of the interesting  and very old temples can be found.

The drive is slightly nerve racking...there are police every where. At first we were were worried that the police may target us, however we we find out that they're there to prevent riots ( in the event that the people start trashing cars etc.) so we feel a bit safer. When I had originally discussed the possibility of getting transportation, Krishna had told me that there would be no problems; "it is safe". Today he is saying we "probably" will be safe (what the hell!!) We get stopped a few times by police and are told to take alternate roads due to protests that are underway. The roads are empty of cars—only people walking, rickshaws, motor cycles, bikes and kids playing football or cricket. At one point our car is swarmed and there is a man yelling with a large rock in his hand.The people are peeking into our car and when they see we are clearly tourists they move away from the car, pulling the angry rock man with them.Krishna looks a bit worried, shaking his head muttering that he doesn't know what that was all about. He says loudly that he thinks the the man with the rock was drunk. We're just glad nothing bad happened.

The suburbs of Bhaktapur (at least the part we see) are kinda weird...many large, smokestack factories that produce red bricks, intermingled with wheat farms. We see so many people thrashing wheat wherever we go...on the road side, in the middle of the street, in the fields and in the Durbar square itself.

There is a small fee to get into Durbar square ( I think about 1,000 rupees each). The temples are stunning and the history amazing. What we find sad is that there is so much work to be done to restore these temples. The wood work really needs to be preserved better and a lot of it is covered in bird poop.

I had started the day not feeling up to par (I think I have the stomach flu that Rick had a few days back). When we enter the air conditioned, Thanka painting school, it hits me full blast and I have to sit but what I really want to do is find a bed to sleep NOW.  I keep thinking about how sick Rick was before and how could he possibly have walked that distance feeling this bad. Ugh. Rick continues with the tour of the thanka school and heads up to the main studio to negotiate a price for a painting.

Unfortunately, we decide to cut the tour short because I'm not up to walking. Krishna tells us that the only other place he had wanted to show us was the potter square, where the artisans are working in clay. Because of the strike, the potters will not be working today, so we aren't missing much.

We head back to the hotel where I sleep for the next 12 hours and Rick is left to explore Kathmandu on his own (and yes he has some stories about that!!! :-)

Back to Kathmandu

Even though we are up at 5:00 AM with all bags packed and ready by 5:45, we still missed getting boarding passes on the first flight back to Kathmandu. Flight #2 will have to do. There's such a short window of time that the Lukla flights can operate due to clouds and fog. Early morning flights are the best. We rush through breakfast, say our goodbyes to Karama and enter the "herding coral" to wait for our flight. We find out that some of the people waiting here were scheduled to fly out yesterday but were bumped due to issues with the general strike.

We are very relieved when flight 2 is called and we are all quickly packed into the plane. It takes off smooothly—almost didn't notice the drop-off point at the end of the runway.

Once Kathmandu is in sight, everyone on the plane is commenting that the streets are empty. Kiran meets us at the baggage check and rushes us out to a waiting land rover. We've offered a lift to another passenger who;s travelling alone and not sure how she's going to get back to her hotel due to the strike. Kiran doesn't say a thing but ushers her into the vehicle as well.

All taxis and buses are now marked with makeshift, green signs —"Tourist Only". Rickshaws are the only other vehicles allowed to operate during the strike. Any taxis that are running may be mobbed so it could get difficult travelling in a vehicle. At one point Kiran seems unsatisfied with the sign. We stop and he and the driver get out for about 10 minutes to fuss with the ropes that are attaching the sign.

While we are driving Kiran informs us that our itinerary will probably have to change due to the strike. Although the general strike has only been called for 3 days (we've arrived on day 2) there's speculation that is continue through to the end of the month (when the constitution should be completed). Instead of the 5 hour drive and overnight to Lumbini, we may need to catch a domestic flight to Chitwan and totally bypass Lumbini altogehter. It seems he doesn't want us on the roads because we could get stuck in traffic for days or get stranded at the airport due to lack of transportation in Lumbini.

We wait to hear what gets planned. In the meantime it looks like no shops are open, no restaurants, no ATMs or Internet....

Final trek day!

Rick woke up feeling good today so need need for a "horse on hire". I had a horrible sleep—there was a huge thunder and lightening storm during the night and I had a high temperature that finally broke. Overall, I'd say we're ready to get on the plane back to Kathmandu. Just need to get this last 4-5 hour trek over with.

Karma's wife presents us each with a Buddhist blessing scarf, wishing us good luck and goodbye.

We set off with the knowledge that a good portion of today's trek will be uphill.

Rick is back to taking pictures so we know he's feeling much better. Not much to tell about this day except that seemed short (compared to a lot of the other days).One thing that we do notice is the amount of happy, smiling people on this leg of the trek, They are all fresh from the airport and are starting their first day of trekking...no Everest Walking Dead here.

We arrive in Lukla, settle into our room for the night, then head out in search of fresh ground coffee. Karma and our porter join us at the bakery. We find out that our porter is heading back to base camp to start hauling gear out of the camp. When we ask how long it will take him to reach base camp unburdened, he replies 1 and a half days. We're not sure if this is true or just bravado but we're impressed nonetheless.

After dinner, we take advantage of the power outlets in the dinning area to recharge the lap top and cell phone. We end up speaking to a fellow trekker there who informs us that a general strike has been declared all across Nepal in protest of the new constitution. We'd been advised that could happen at time during our trip, we just aren't sure how we'll be effected. Will we be able to get a drive form the airport, is the hotel still open, will there be any restaurants open, and what about our arranged driver from Kathmandu to Lumbini (or the hotel in Chtitwan)? WE watch the news that night in the teahouse common room to see if we can get some news (we decide not to pay for Internet access this night) The news reports (all in Nepalese) don't look promising—people yelling, broken windows on a press car and some press spokesperson giving a very angry speech (complete with fist in air) All is up in the air until we arrive in Kathmandu tomorrow. Our fingers (and toes) are crossed.

Next stop - Toktok and Karma's teahouse

Today is a pretty bad day. It started with lineups for the toilet and sink in the teahouse. Although it was cute that the children from last night spent the night, it was difficult to get some bathroom time.

Rick is not feeling well today. Some sort of stomach ailment. He had a bad headache in the night so he had a Diamox, this morning he feels sick to his stomach. Karma is trying to get him to eat but he's not up to eating anything. We set out on the trek not sure what to expect. We go very slowly...Rick can only handle a bit of travel at a time. The cameras are stowed away in our backpacks for the whole day—further confirmation that all is not well.

We stop for a couple of hours at lunch (we usually only stop for an hour). Rick again refuses to eat but lies down inside the restaurant on the benches and falls asleep for the couple of hours. The timing is actually perfect because it starts to rain off and on over the next hour and half.

Karma and I start to talk about a "Horse on Hire" (the Nepalese way of saying "horse for rent"). We are determined that if Rick can't make it to the next teahouse, we're getting him on a horse.

Luckily Rick is able to handle the next 2 hours of trekking (many of which are uphill in the hot sun) We pause a lot and take a lot of water breaks, but we finally make it to Karma's teahouse.

Rick goes right to bed and Karma and I discuss what's for dinner. Karma suggested a variety of things and we finally settle on tomato soup and plain rice for Rick and Dal Bhat for me.

His wife makes salted, butter tea and popcorn for snacks at around 4:30 pm.

Dinner ended up being EVERYTHING that Karma had suggested... tomato soup, hot chips, lentil soup, dhal bhat, butter tea and regular tea....way too much food.

Poor Rick had all this food put down in front of him, most of which he couldn't eat.

We ate what we could and then excused ourselves to go to bed. I`m starting to feel a bit under the weather but it may be due to the amount of food.

Getting to the toilet is the last hurdle before bedtime. It`s an outside toilet (nothing unusual in these parts) however its around the side of the house, up a hill with some very steep and uneven steps to cross. I kept thinking about the fact that Karma told us his pet dog was killed by a tiger just 6 months ago. When we go to the loo, we keep the flashlights moving to make sure the tiger is not about.

Onwards to Namache Bazzar

Thankfully, after yesterday's trek that seemed to never end, Karma allowed us to sleep in a bit. We wake up well rested yet we have both developed a pretty bad "Khumbu Cough". This cough is not contagious but it is just as annoying as a regular cold...runny nose and bad, hacking cough. It's caused mainly by high exertion in a dry, high altitude area. Since this year has been extremely dry at Everest (there's practically no snow at the summit) the Khumbu Cough is quite prevalent amongst climbers and trekkers. People have been known to break ribs from the severe hacking, so we decide to take as many precautions as possible to help-breathe in water vapors (if we can find hot water!!) and wearing a buff over our faces to try and keep moisture in.

The trek into Namche is not long but there is a lot of upwards trekking (yet again). It never ceases to amaze us how many times the trail does down, down, down only to have to gain back that ground again by going up, up up.

We arrive at the teahouse in Namache (same one we stayed in on the trek up) in good time. When we arrive the common area is filled with children. They're having a music lesson—learning to sing a traditional Tibetan welcome song for an upcoming festival. The teahouse owners daughter runs a (separate) boarding house for school kids. Many children in the villages need to stay at a boarding house in order to attend school. They will live at the boarding house and attend school for 3 weeks out of every month. They get a week off every month when they get to go home to see their families.

The boarding house owner decided to bring the kids to the teahouse to practise, get a good meal, do their laundry (this teahouse actually has a washing machine and dryer that has been flown in by helicopter), and spend the night.

When we arrive it is dinner time so we order our meals, but we are then presented with the fact that we are eating in front of the children. Without fully knowing the situation of the children gathered there, the decision to eat in front of them becomes awkward, so we bring our dinner and pot of tea up the room.

We can hear the children practising and later on we see their small shoes all neatly in rows outside their rooms (4 children to a single room  with 2 single beds).

HOT SHOWER DAY!!! What else can I say. I missed my chance for a hot shower on the way up because I was sick so I'm really happy to finally have the chance. Needless to say our clothes are still filthy...

We heard the mouse again (or rat?) in the night so it's still at home in the teahouse. We also found out what the stale, musty water smell is near our room. We smelled it the first time we stayed here but this time we noticed an open door directly across from our room. It was protecting a cubby room under the stairs that was full of small potatoes. The cubby was about 3 feet deep in potatoes. I can't imagine that the ones on the bottom will be any good, but it sure explains the "slightly off" taste of a couple of the chips (french fries) that we were eating.

Starting to head back

The camp cook wakes us up...breakfast is ready. When we glance out our tent the view is breathtaking. We have a clear visual of the ice fall from our tent door.

Tim greats us and fills us in on what the climbers have been up to over night.The radio starts crackling again with reports coming in from all over. Apparently there are 200 climbers on Everest at this time, all waiting to make their summit attempt/ There is only one clear weather window on the horizon (somewhere between the 18-21) so there needs to be a lot of cooperation between the teams to make sure that huge traffic jams don't occur.

Tim mentions that there were 3 avalanches during the night. We didn't sleep very well all night (maybe a few hours each) so we had heard the rumblings but weren't sure what it was. We definitely did hear the glacier cracking a couple of times during the night underneath our tent. One of the avalanches was "quite huge" and the snow from it fell just short of base camp, another one took out camp 3 on the mountain. Luckily there were no teams at camp 3 however a couple Sherpas were caught by the avalanche and a rescue mission was being executed as we sat down to breakfast.

As you can imagine, Tim had a lot on his mind that morning, however he still took moments here and there to explain what was happening and then to suggest some last minute photo ops before we left base camp.

I must say even though we had a cold, restless night we were sad to leave so soon.

Karma seemed unusually restless about leaving on time this morning (we ended up leaving about 1 hour late) and we weren't really sure what was up. We found out soon enough... today's schedule had us trekking back over 4 1/2 days worth of previous trekking in one day. Needless to say the rest of the day was a blur. It felt like we were never going to stop walking. Most days we ended anywhere between 2-5 pm.  Today we didn't stop until around 7:00pm (it starts to get dark around 6:00pm)  With only a few hours sleep the night before and all the walking during the day, we were exhausted.

We make it to Everest Base Camp

The trek to base camp takes only 3-4 hours from Gorek Shep.  Since base camp is actually situated on a glacier (the Khumbu glacier) we end up having to trek along the top edge of the glacier for a couple of hours before we actually descend into it.

We arrive at a makeshift entrance to Base Camp. There are tons of prayers flags and scarves all around the entrance monuments. Over the years people have added personal mementos or simply written messages on the rocks around the entrance. We notice that there's a dog sleeping peacefully in the sunshine. I asked Karma if this was a wild dog and he said "No, it's not a wild dog, it's a free dog". Not sure what the difference is but it was a friendly dog, definitely used to people.

Rick and I add a Canadian flag buff to the mix, take some photos and we continue on. Last step is to find the PeakFreaks Camp site. Karma is not sure where it is, but he thinks its "at the end" of the base camp (of course it is, cause that means more walking! ;-)

Base Camp was not what we expected it to be. Yes there are tons of tents set up but we kinda expected them to be set up on a flat, rocky field. This was no flat field. The living glacier is constantly moving and melting. There are streams, crevasses, and many icy hills and gulleys throughout base case. Its not somewhere where you would want to walk in the dark.  To get an idea of the size, we've been told that to walk from one end of base camp the the other takes about one hour.  At one point when we were walking, we had no way forward except to jump over a rushing stream...kinda scary.

We see various Sherpas coming out of tents to yell instructions to Karma (thank god) and we end up climbing a small hill where we can scout the tents a bit more. I spot the PeakFreaks logo not to far off so we head off.

We are greeted at the camp by Tim Riopelle, PeakFreaks owner and the Everest Climb leader. He offers us tea and we sit in the main dinning tent to chat, get acquainted and ask questions. We find out that we are the last trekking "group" to arrive this season and that all the climbers are currently on Everest waiting in camps 1 and 2 for a window in the weather to open up so they can press on.

After we get our gear stashed in out tent, we head off to find the medic / first aid tent. We want to see if we can get some sterile gauze etc. for Rick's sunburned hand (which has really blistered quite badly). The Sherpas so far seem attracted to looking at Rick's blistered hand, so he has joking told them all that it now costs 100 rupees per viewing.

Popcorn (for snack) is served at 4:00pm and dinner at 6:30. For dinner we're served tuna sushi, pasta and vegetables with canned fruit for desert. It seemed like a gourmet meal to us.Throughout the afternoon and evening, the radio is crackling on and off with climbers reporting into base. Tim makes a point of explaining everthing that is going on.

After dinner we're all pretty much ready to head to bed, so we scout out where the nearest "outhouses" are, layer up in multiple pants, tops, jackets, hats and mitts then slip into our sleeping bags. We're hoping this night  isn't too cold.

Onwards to Gorek Shep

Today's trek is to Gorek Shep, the last stop before base camp. We are getting excited to see the end of the trek. We haven't had access to hot water in over a week, no showers, and our socks are standing up on their own. Getting into clean clothes will be a joy.

Once we get to Gorek Shep the day isn't over yet. We eat lunch, stash our gear in our room and then Karma tells us that we have a acclimatization trek to do in the afternoon...up the slopes of Kalla Pathar. We have heard of other trekkers speak of this trek over the last few days and its sounds to me like "hell day" all over again. I politely try to get out of the trek but it is a "required" part so we get ready for what ends up being another gruelling hike. The height of this "mini mountain" is 5545m. Sad to say I gave up at 5350m It was the only time during the trek that I said "That's it, I've had enough." There was about another hour left in the uphill trek so Rick and Karma decided to press on while I sat on a rock waiting for them. Soon after, they both came down the hill...Rick wasn't going any farther either. We figured we had gone high enough for acclimatization, and the view that was offered at the top, was going to to be marred by the clouds rolling in.

Back to the teahouse for a good meal and a good sleep. Tomorrow....Base Camp!!

On the Road to Loboche

Another beautiful, sunny day. The terrain today is mostly grasslands. We pass by large stone structures (like one story houses without roofs). Karma tells us that this is where the yak herders come with their herds during the summer months. The land is all brown now, no grass is growing and just a few small flowers blooming here and there, but soon there will be plenty of green grass for the herds to eat.

An area where there are a lot of monuments and memorials for people who have died on mount Everest. We suspect that these stone monuments and plaques have been placed their by family and friends who have made the pilgrimage to say their goodbyes. Its a very quite, somber place, with no birds or yaks bells—only the sound of the wind.

This is around the time that we really start to notice the fact that many of the people around us do not look "good". Many people are walking with shuffling gait, head down and arms moving slowly, no real expression in their face. We dub them the "Everest walking Dead". The exertion and lack of oxygen is taking its toll-turning people into living zombies (and I'm one of them)

This is the first and only time that we notice 2 different sets of trekkers walking with their dogs. One stops running to lick Rick's hand and then take a drink in the mountain stream that is running along side our path.

When we arrive in Loboche, the teahouse is packed. Usually it's just the 2 of us or a few other people. Today there is about 20-30 people in the dining room. We spot Sarah and Nick as we are heading to our room. Both of lie down for quick nap only to find that we are both hit with altitude sickness again so we hit the Diamox and then to bed.

Karma wakes us up a couple of hours later because we are late for dinner (we havn't had an opportunity to recharge the phone so we're without an alarm). I refuse to go-felling to sick, Rick tries to convince me to go but I just crawl back into bed. Rick leaves but is back a few minutes later saying that the room is packed again and very noisy. Since both have raging headaches we decide to skip dinner. Karma won't have nothing of that and promptly returns with our (pre-ordered) dinners, pot of tea, and condiments. We are getting the royal treatment.

Rest day at Pengboche—the Sonam Friendship Lodge at 4300 m

It was friggin cold in the rooms this morning. So cold that we didn't want to get out of bed, didn't want to get changed. Ricks right hand was swollen to about twice the size it should be. We figure its due to the bad sun burn that he got on his hand yesterday—the lodge keeper's wife inspected his hand and said maybe it was a result of pressure from the walking pole. We don't know what's up but it worth keeping an eye on.

We start the day at 7:30 am and order pancakes and a sherpa porridge made from barley. As we're eating, we keep looking out the windows into the courtyard where two horses a and foal are feeding. Our gaze is soon diverted by a young girl sitting in the corner with a huge pile of yak dung in front of her. She proceeds to dip the hardened, flat patties into a bowl of water, then she kneeds the dung like bread or clay until it it is soft and maliable then she rolls it into a 8 inch diameter ball. She soon have more than a dozen dung balls in front of her.

Although yesterday was a strain and I wasn't keen on a trek today, Karma has convinced us that a short trek would be good for acclimatisation so up the hill we went. At the top of the hill was an old stuppa and the view of the surrounding mountains was incredible so we decided to sit for a while and talk. We commented that we didn't see anyone outside then all of a sudden David and Steph from Grimsby appear, followed by Sara and Nick and their guides. It became a party atmosphere at the top of the hill—everyone laughing, sharing stories and taking pictures. After a while everyone started to trek further up the hill for another couple of hours of trekking. We decided not to continue on but to stay and enjoy the view.

Back at the lodge we have lunch—“Peets fresh coffee (from San Fransico), cheese pizza (the best one Rick has had on this trip), veg noodle soup and Seabuckthorn juice ( a juice made from berries local to this area of the Himalayas).

David and Steph tracked us down at out teahouse to borrow our SD to USB adapter, then we all head off to the Internet cafe for a quick facebook fix and to power up the laptop for a second time—recharging the laptop costs 300 rupees for 1 hour (that gets us to 85% charge from a drained battery. Internet on their laptops cost 500 rupees for 30 minutes so we don't get much online time here.

Next stop is a bakery /pool hall to enjoy a sit out in the sun and some baked goods. Nap time then up to the common room to sit and chat. Sara shows up (she's been touring around all the teahouses checking out the facilities and seeing who's there).She stays for a while then its time for us to order dinner. This teahouse gives you hot towels befroe dinner. This is really the only hot water we get during the trek so its well received.

Most teahouse common rooms have a pot belly stove in the middle of the room. They seem to only be lit in the evenings so its a good time to hang out there. We never gave much thought to what was being burnt in those stoves until we saw them light it today. One of the boys hauled in a huge brown paper sack, about 2 feet wide and 4 feet tall, stuffed with what looked like charcoal. It wasn't charcoal..it was hard lumps of yak dung. A few of the lumps were dipped into a kerosene pot to help start the fire, then handfulls of the stuff were dropped into the stove. Once the fire was lit I thought it would stink, but all we could smell was the kerosene.

Power is out at the teahouse pretty much all day. The overhead light in your room is not powered up until you finish dinner and head to room. Once the owners sense that you are in bed for the night, all the power is shut down again. Flash lights are a must for those later night trips to the bath room because the halls are ptitch black.

Tenboche and Monastery



View from the inner courtyard looking towards the main entrance

Male lion protecting the entrance of the monastary

Inside the temple

Although we were told by our guide that the monks will not be performing a ceremony in the morning, we decide to visit the monastery early in the morning (we were up early anyways...) There are other people waiting so we wait with them. After half an hour the monks start arriving. There are only four of them in the monastery so this isn't a big event, but it's still interesting. All visitors are invited to sit quietly on carpets off to the side as they start their prayers. It actually is one monk who sounds like he is reading scriptures in a sing-song, monotone, repetitious way. The other monks join in with odd words or phrases here and there. It was mesmerizing. After about 30 minutes we had to leave to keep on schedule with our sherpa. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed during the prayer time.

We have another sunny day of trekking to the village of Penboche.

We pass some huge landslides on this day. Like every other day, there are trees, farmland, suspension bridges, manis, stupas and of course mountains.

We brought a Nepalese language book with us but it turns out that the Sherpas speak their own form of language so the book is useless for us.

At lunch we end up at the same restaurant as Nick and Sara. After they left a young boy, maybe 4 or 5 comes out of the restaurant carrying a plate of fried noodles, egg and vegetables. He walks over to our table so I pull out a chair for him and he sits with us to eat his meal. After he is done he does into the house and a small blue ball and indicates that he wants to throe it to us . We play a game of catch and kick the ball around for a bit. When he misses the ball he tens to draw a heart shape in the dust around his feet and them spits in his hands. Cute

As we trek closer to Mount Everest we move past the treeline. The terrain is more barren and desolate. The wind starts to get colder and we notice that our water bottles are constantly cold—no need for refrigeration up here. About an hour before arriving in Penboche, it starts to rains and then changes to snow as we arrive.

We see helicopters at least every day and today is no exception. When we arrive in town we find out that the helicopter landed in town to pick up a porter who was suffering from altitude sickness.

Next stop Tengboche

We set out (reluctantly) the next day into sunshine and warmth. The morning goes well, mostly flat land trekking through woods and open farm land. We stop for lunch and see David and Steph at the restaurant right beside us. Everywhere we stop for lunch, I'm always looking for a place to wash our hands. There's usually a plastic water barrel with a spout and pail somewhere outside the restaurant but this time, nada. When I ask, the restaurant owner invites me inside her kitchen to wash up. I notice her children sitting on the dirt floor preparing vegetables ( I had just ordered vegetable noodle soup) and the room is so dark I hardly see anything. I'm wondering if I really want to seem them preparing our meals.

We eat our lunch outside while Karma chats with some monks sitting at the next table. I keep looking at the forward trail that we are going to be travelling on soon. There are many stone steps going up, up, up. Our lunch arrives—Rara veg noodle soup. We asked Karma what rara was but he was unlcear (sometimes there is a bit of a language barrier). Once the soup arrived it looks to me like “rara” means “Ramen”. At one point I look across to the table beside us and a man has his boost and socks off, bare feet up on the table. Some tourists are just plain rude and disgusting.

There's a grey horse that wanders down the path and pokes it's head into the doorway of our "restaurant". It's rewarded with a bucket of food, probably table scarps from the patrons.
 

After lunch we start our upward trek that pretty much doesn't end for the next 2-3 hours. My god what are we doing!!!

During the trekking, a lot of times we tend to leap frog the same groups of trekkers. There's a group of girls and their leader from Australia. I think they are raising money for some sort of charity. The first time we met on the trail one of them yells out “Go Canada” as they walked by. There's also a group of three men from India. One, who is a lawyer, is having difficult time like us so we often meet him while one of us is paused on the trail catching our breath. This is his second time doing the Everest base camp trek. He claims it is addictive (Right!) He also tells us that he doesn't rely on Diamox for these treks but trusts in garlic...so he eats a lot of garlic soup.

We finally arrive in Tenboche and get checked into our room.We notice the toilets and the “hot shower” are both outside in the courtyard. There is also no power outlets in the room (which we think will be the same for the remaining trek up. Tenboche claims to have the “highest monastery in the world". The monks invite the public in to hear their prayers and chanting everyday at 4pm and 6am. Since we arrive around 3pm we wonder around taking pictures only to find that monks had started early (or we had the time wrong). Disappointed we head off to the bakery for “real” coffee, apple crumble and dutch apple cake at the bakery. It was delicious.

We end the day with Sherpa stew and a good night's sleep.

Acclimatization day in Namche

We both woke up feeling better but still not fully restored. There was something in our room last night trying to get into the trail mix bag (no its not just hallucinations from altitude sickness). I could hear the bag crackling and once I turned the light on the noise stopped and when I drew the curtain (cautiously) to look on the ledge where we stashed some of our essentials, nothing looked touched and there was nothing there. I'm thinking it must be a mouse.

I've learned that if you getup early enough, the hot water may be turned on so you can wash your face and hands at the sink with hot water. The heat gets turned on first thing for the family to use, then gets turned off again, once they are done.

After breakfast karma suggests a quick scenic tour to the upper levels of the town (there's that up word again) and a visit into the bazaar area. We reluctantly agree, more to put him at ease that we are feeling better.

In the bazaar Rick buys a new goose down feather (80/20) jacket for the colder parts of the trek. He did bring a jacket, but these jackets are cheaper here than in Canada, are lighter and warmer than the one he brought. He also buys a warm knit cap for walking.

After dinner we head straight to our room. This tearoom offers an electrical outlet in the room so we can recharge or tech for free and surf the Internet using their Wi-Fi ( I think it was 600 rupees for 2 days).

In the middle of the night I hear scampering of claws on the floor above us. I think (by the heavy sound of it) it's a rat and not a mouse.

Day 2 trekking (AKA HELL DAY) to Namche Bazzar

Another bright sunny day for trekking. We are really lucky to have such good, dry weather.

During breakfast we meet 3 other trekkers from Australia. They have just finished climbing Abu Dama peak. Apparently weather conditions were not so good for them. Some of the climbers had to abandon their summit attempt because the weather got so bad..

Along the trail we pass by Karma's house/teahouse so we stop for a visit to meet his wife and youngest son. They serve us tea and biscuits and Karma proudly gives us a tour of his home. Teahouses are similar to bed and breakfasts. There is usually one main are where guests can sit and spend leisure time or eat their meals. This is also the family room room, so its not uncommon to see the family sit down to eat dinner and watch tv (if the family has one) or the kids do their homework or watch cartoons. Karma has a tv and a small fridge in his common area. The walls are filled with family photos, awards, dimplomas, awards, thankas (religious paintings), prayer scarves and flags. If the family is Buddist (which a lot of them seem to be) a picture of the Dali Lama is also displayed. Karma also had the trellises along his ceilings painted with very colourful religious symbols. This was done by visiting Buddhist monks who had come to bless the house.

The scenery along the trail is beautiful—farmland, mountains, streams and teahouses. We stop for lunch at one of these teahouses and meet a father and daughter (David and Steph) from Grimsby, Ont. (small world). We have dhal bhat and curried chicken, chat a bit and then we're on our way.

The afternoon of this day is not so good. The weather was still beautiful but the incline up the mountain becomes very steep. The trail takes a zig zag path up, up, up. At every turn we hope that the trail levels out but nope..it keeps going up. This day is supposedly the worst day of the trek for difficulty. We find ourselves pausing every few minutes to catch our breath as we are now over 2500m altitude. Karma patiently waits each time we stop. I think we are both (at times) questioning why we are here as many people do when faced with difficult tasks.

At one point we stop at the Sagahartha National Park entrance to process our trekking forms and pay the fees. There is a small information centre that has a 3D model of the mountain range and information posters about flora, fauna and past expeditions to the various mountains. Outside the building is a poster board with various event announcement. Two posters in particular catch our eye...they are LOST posters for trekkers who have recently gone missing in the area.

Namche Bazaar

Thankful for the rest stop, the gruelling climb continues... We had brought walking poles (sticks?) but had not used them on the first day. We were thankful that karma had talked us into using one each on this day. They definitely helped. When the torture finally ends and we reach Namche we quickly realize that reaching the town is not the end of the trek. The towns are spread across the hillside, and we almost guaranteed that our teahouse is not near the entrance but probably near the top of the top. Up, up. Up we climb again. At one point we reach the main “bazaar area” of the town. Shops upon shops upon shops, just like in Kathmandu. As we are climbing the stone stairs into the bazaar we can hear Stevie Nicks blaring out “...don't stop thinking about tomorrow...” Probably was coming from the Irish/reggae pub.

We arrive at the lodge around 2:30 pm and get settled into our room. Rick gets a severe case of the shakes and has a bad headache and I feel like I'm going to throw up. We go downstairs to arrange for a hot showers (you have to pay for hot water along the way...usually 300 rupees) and order dinner (you usually need to put your order in before 5:00 pm). Rick takes a shower first and then gets tucked into bed with his sleeping bag and an extra comforter that Karma brings for us. I realize that I'm too sick to even have a shower, but I decide to hook into paid Wi-Fi at the teahouse and look up symptoms of Altitude sickness. Looks like that's what I got so I pop a Diamox and head to bed. Rick wakes up feeling good enough to go down to dinner. Karma is concerned about me and brings my dinner up to the room. I assure him that I took a Diamox and I'll keep him posted on how I feel. After a couple of hours sleep I feel well enough to eat but the slight headache still remains. Hopefully the rest day tomorrow will be better.

Day one of trekking

Our day starts with a 4:30 wake up call. All the luggage that we are not taking with us on the trek is handed over to the hotel desk for safe keeping. They give us two boxed breakfasts (2 boiled eggs, cold toast, a bit of jam, juice box and an apple.) Our Peak Freaks organizer in Nepal—Kiran—picks us up in a taxi and we're off to the airport. Out of the eight flights that we have during this vacation, the next one to Lukla is one of the ones that we have been nervous about.

As we are driving to the airport, we evidence of the "road widening project" that Krisha had told use about yesterday. It looks like the government has taken a HUGE knife and cut a direct line through all buildings at each side of the road...shops, houses, apartment buildings... The rubble was left at the road sides and we saw truck pulling up to reuse some of the building material. it was weird to look at the buildings (especially the apartment buildings) and see half rooms, open for all to see inside. It was like an earthquake had hit.

Landing at Lukla Airport

At the airport, Kiran handled all our baggage check ins and whisked us through security. We waited patiently while the weather reports came in to see if the flight would be a go or not. Finally we boarded a small bus that took us out to the plane. We were with a group of people travelling from the US. In the plane you sit one person on each side of the plane—a total of about 16 people total. There was one stewardess who handed out caramels to everyone before take-off, then we didn't see her again. There was no checking to see that your luggage was stowed, no checking of seat belts and the cockpit, which had a curtain separating the cabin and the pilots, was open the whole flight so we could see the instrument panel and a view out the front of the plane.

The flight itself was uneventful, although there was a lot of cloud cover/fog and the plane seemed to fly disturbingly close to the mountains.We sat on the left side at the front of the plane so we had a great view of both the mountains and the front of the plane. After about 20 minutes we landed. The landing itself was a bit rough but nothing unusual. Everyone in the plane was either taking pictures or video. One out of the plane there was very little time for pictures on the tarmac as the security folks keep you moving.

Our Sherpa - Karma

We had been instructed to find the "Sherpa Cafe" where our guide and sherpa would be waiting for us. It was surprising easy to find ans once inside the cafe our guide, Karma, found us. We handed over a packet of documents and money (our trekking forms and $ for meals along the trail.) We had tea, did a bit of pack adjustments and we were off.

A good part of this day was downhill (which means coming back its going to be uphill!!) The trek itself was mainly uneventful but with amazing scenery. We are seeing A LOT of donkeys and yaks on the trail. In fact trying to avoid stepping in yak or donkey poop is now a normal part of walking. Sherpas laden down with huge loads is another common site. We've seen them hauling not only gear for trekkers and shop supplies, but bundles of 2x4's and granite boulders.

We had lunch at a small teahouse next to monastery. A small puppy wandered in and  fell asleep under Rick's chair. It started to follow us when we left and several trekkers stopped to pet it and try to coax it back to the teahouse where we thought it may live. Finally Karma, tracked down the owner who scooped it up and ran off.

On today's trek we crossed a total of 4 suspension bridges (again nothing like we suspected). Yes they are high and some are above roaring rivers but they all (so far) have been made with thick steel cables and are very sturdy.

We ended our day at 2400m elevation at the Riverview Lodge, a small lodge at the side of  loud, rushing river. We are feeling good about the days ahead.

A couple of days in Kathmandu

What a crazy night sleeping. We had decided to sleep with the windows open instead of leaving the fan on all night (there is no AC at Nirvana Gardens). The night was filled with barking dogs, noisy birds and what think were monkeys. The noise just doesn't stop. We will probably sleep with the fan on tonight just to muffle the noise but there seems to be roving brown outs so you never know when you will have electricity or not. We are learning to recharge everything as soon as we notice that the power is on,

No showers for us this morning. There is no hot water (apparently this is a rare thing for the low to mid level hotels. We're waiting till the day gets hotter, when taking a cold shower will seem like a more inviting option.

Breakfast is pretty standard here: eggs, toast, porridge, pancakes, plain yogurt and fresh fruit. Bacon seems like its hard to come by...it seems to be on the menu but they always seems to be out of it. The option for non-vegetarians is sausage, which is really hotdogs.

We now have 2 days to spend in Kathmandu. Usually in this situation we would walks around and just experience the sights and sounds. Were we are located in Kathmandu, the layout of the roads is very confusing and we are kinda worried about getting lost. it seems that the streets are filled with thin shops—street upon street of them, no matter which direction you go. They are all selling the same goods— mountaineering/trekking gear, clothing, toiletries and snacks ( you need to buy your own toilet paper here), restaurants, banks, art dealers, knife shops  and jewellery. The duplication of products is unbelievable. We've decided that while we are in Kathmandu, we will try and not eat at the same restaurant twice. We are also trying hard NOT to buy anything at this early date.

Our second day we had a guided tour of the city. Since we only had 3-4 hours to do this, our main stops were the monkey temple (which is actually within about 1/2 hour walking distance from our hotel if we get the nerve and a good map) and Durbur Square.

The monkey temple was NOT what we had expected. Yes there are moneys everywhere but in such a small area you have a Buddhist monastery, a huge stupa with prayer wheels encircling it, a Hindu temple, multiple shrines to various gods and goddesses,  some very old buildings and structures that are hundreds of years old, some under renovation and of course...lots of shops. The whole lot is situated on a hill overlooking Kathmandu—a spectacular sight.

Our next stop is Durbur Square. Again this is not what I expected. I had expected a lot of shops (similar to what surrounds our hotel) but not so. This is an old part of Kathmandu that has many very old temples. There was so much to see in so little time, among them the Hippie temple (which is really a temple to Shiva), the Shiva and Parvati temple, Hanuman statue at the entrance gate to the palace, and Kumari Gar where the living goddess Kumari lives. We also visit "Freak Street", another popular hippy location form the 60's We see a few "hippies" that look like they've arrived in the 60's and never left.

Driving back to the hotel our guide Krisha spoke about the living conditions and the current political situation in Kathmandu. The deadline fro the creation of the Nepalese constitution is on May 27, 2012. We're hopeful that there will be no conflict at that time since we will be in Kathmandu past the deadline.

Getting to Kathamandu

After 36 hours in travel, 3 flights, 3 time zones, 17 hours in the air (12 of those on an over night flight with crying babies), and 13 hours waiting in airports we finally arrived in Kathmandu. What seemed like a long uncomfortable stretch of waiting and sitting suddenly became the most calming part of our trip.

Once we stepped outside of the airport, it was like we were celebrities. All the passengers were greeted with a wall of about 40 taxi and tour operators,lined up across the street, waving signs and/or yelling. The police and security were there to keep things check I guess. Once we saw our PeakFreaks contact, Kiran we gave a wave and then were whisked away very quickly to the car. We were both presented with a flower offering, baggage was stowed, last minute instructions were given to us and the driver, then we were off.
 

The drive was incredible. The streets look like they were made for one lane of traffic, the drivers seem to have made them into 2 1/2 lanes. Horns were beeping constantly (despite the fact that some streets have a "no horns" sign). The streets are very narrow and filled with pedestrians, other cars, buses, lots of motorcycles and sleeping dogs. We can't figure out how no one manages to get hurt.

After about 15 minutes we arrived at the Nirvana Garden Hotel. Since we arrived before check out time, we had to wait around for a few hours to get a room so we sat out side the hotel in their garden area equipped with WiFi, lounge chairs, goldfish pond, waterfall and tons of different plants and flowers. We ate breakfast in the garden and once our room was ready, settled in for quick cat nap. It will be an early night for us.

An Invitation from base camp

Just got invited for tea at Everest Base Camp. How cool is that!
Thanks Glacier Works and David Breashears!

Looks like interesting company at base camp

Looks like there will be a few research groups at base camp this year:

A group from the Mayo clinic researching the effects of high altitudes on the body: http://advancingthescience.mayo.edu/

From Yale University, David Breashears researching the impact of global warming on the Himalayan Glaciers: http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2295

A team from National geographic will be retracing a 1963 American route up the mountain with climber Conrad Anker, photographer Cory Richards and writer Mark Jenkins.
http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/everest/american-expedition-2012/

Hopefully we will get there in time to meet and see some of these teams in action!

Sad news from base camp

One of the Sherpas at base camp has passed away due to altitude sickness. He was an experienced guide and had made the climb to the top at least 10 times on previous occasions.


Direct from the GlobalHeadlines.ca web site:


Kathmandu: The son of fabled Everest climber Ang Rita Sherpa has died attempting to scale the mountain, officials said on Thursday, in the first death of the season on the world’s highest peak.
Karsang Namgyal Sherpa, an experienced climber in his own right who had conquered the 8848-metre (29029-foot) peak several times, collapsed at Everest base camp on Wednesday, said trek co-ordinator Dambar Parajuli.

“He was active a few minutes before his death. But at 2.30 pm (0815 GMT) he entered his tent and informed the other Sherpas about his problems,” said Parajuli, of the Kathmandu-based Prestige Adventure agency, adding that the probable cause of death was altitude sickness.

Mr Karsang, 40, was the elder of two mountaineering sons of Ang Rita, a 10-time Everest summiteer known in climbing circles as the “Snow Leopard”.

Parajuli said Karsang was in a team of 11 climbers, including three Iranians and a German, who had set off on the expedition from Kathmandu on April 10.


He is due to be cremated on Friday."

Our hearts go out to to the friends and family of Karsang Namgyal. This is very sad news....and a stark reminder of how dangerous altitude sickness can be and how indiscriminately it strikes.

Tests for Rabies Titre Levels

Went for our blood test today. Unfortunately the blood samples get sent to Toronto for testing, so we may not get the results back until we have already left for Nepal. The average response time is approximately 10 days but it can take longer.

Our fingers (and toes) are crossed that our titre levels are good enough and we will be well protected.

Which Everest Base Camp to Go To?

Different Countries: 
South Base Camp is in Nepal, the North Base Camp is in Tibet. Tibet can be difficult to get a travel visa for. They seem to be sporadic; changing their travel rules so you never know when you will have difficulty getting into the country. Nepal on the other hand does not seem to have that problem

Ease of Access:
You can actually drive to the North (Tibetan) base camp since they have extended the highway so if you don't feel you are in the best of health, you could choose the luxury method.

To get to the South (Nepal) base camp, part of the experience includes a "hair-raising" domestic flight in and out of the small town of Lukla, then a 13 day trek to base camp. If you don't want to take the flight, tack on another 4 days trekking (both ways).



Difference in Altitude:
South (Nepal) base camp is at a higher altitude that the north (Tibet).
  South is at 5,364 metres (17,598 ft)
  North is at 5,150 metres (16,900 ft)

Getting Physically Prepared

No one plans to go to Everest Base camp without some thought to their state of physical fitness. If they do, I can't believe that they would be very successful in their trek. That being said, although the path can be physically challenging, you do not need to be a pro athlete to tackle this trek. Obviously you need to be able to walk for long periods of time (up to 3 hours at a time) but you are really encouraged to walk sloooooowly.

As part of our fitness preparation we are using dog walks, treadmill walking (at highest incline), treadmill jogging, swimming and biking to help boost our cardio. Fingers are crossed that this will be enough.

and then Good News!!

PeakFreaks has received permission from the Nepalese government to let the trekkers spend the night at base camp (BC) for this year only!! We're in under the wire. So exciting!!

Now lets hope we are able to make it to BC without altitude sickness (or other ailments).

Half Price Rabies Shots...

Do I have your attention now? That's right half price!

When we first considered rabies vaccinations back in 2010, the cost per shot was $60 Canadian. We both needed 3 shots each for a total of $360. Because this was all out of pocket expenses (and we had other vaccinations to pay for) we decided against it.  On this trip there is more of a need for rabies prevention—we will be visiting monkey temples and Kathmandu has a high instance of rabies—so we wanted more info about risks.

The shocker was the cost...$220 per shot, 3 shots per person for a total of  $1320 (plus taxes)

After some discussions with the travel nurse we had a better understanding of what our options were. A few important considerations were:

• Rabies is always fatal in humans if not treated
• Signs of infection in humans only appears once its too late to treat
• Pre-exposure rabies vaccination will give you rabies antibodies (pretty much) for life
• When it comes to rabies vaccinations, there are two type of vaccine:
• rabies vaccine (expensive but fairly easy to acquire)
• rabies immune globulin (very, very expensive and difficult to acquire)

1. If you get bit or scratched by a rabid animal and you have no rabies antibodies, you need 1 shot of  rabies immune globulin AND then a series of four shots of  rabies vaccine. If you happen to be in an area where immune globulin is not available you're in trouble!
2. If you have rabies antibodies and then get bit, you would only need 3 rabies vaccine shots. No need for the expensive, hard to find globulin.

Armed with this knowledge we decided to take the plunge. As almost an afterthought, our travel nurse made a suggestion that we might want to consider a vaccination method that is not widely used in Canada but is globally accepted as safe and effective.

Instead of injecting one full vial of vaccine intramuscularly  (IM) we could share a vial and each have half injected intradermally (ID). This would reduce our entire cost by half. The caveat...there is a 5% chance that we won't develop enough antibobies and we may need a single, full dose if the 3 half doses didn't take. We decided to take a week to research and discuss.

The rabies vaccine we were going to be using was RabAvert. From the RabAvert drug insert::

RabAvert MUST NOT BE USED SUBCUTANEOUSLY OR INTRADERMALLY.
RabAvert must be injected intramuscularly. For adults, the deltoid area is the preferred site of immunization; for small children and infants, administration into the anterolateral zone of the thigh is preferred. The use of the gluteal region should be avoided, since administration in this area may result in lower neutralizing antibody titers (1).

From the Public Health Agency of Canada web site:

While intramuscular (IM) administration of rabies vaccine is the gold standard, the World Health Organization (WHO) considers the intradermal (ID) regimen an acceptable alternative as it uses less vaccine to produce a comparable degree of protection against rabies.In a number of countries throughout the world, ID administration has become standard practice. Although not recommended by the manufacturer in Canada, ID vaccination with rabies cell culture vaccines is an economical and widely accepted alternative to IM vaccination and uses one-tenth of the IM dose.


We decided to go ahead with ID method—95% success rate sounds good to us. Even if we both failed, we would still save money. The only caveat would be if we don't get our blood test results back before we left. We were taking a chance that we may not be fully protected on the trip.

This will be the first time that this Primacy travel clinic has administered rabies vaccine using the ID method, so special permission was needed by the clinic doctor. We're officially guinea pigs!

Bad News...

Today, a brief email to Becky at PeakFreaks brought discouraging news.
Apparently the Nepalese government has set in place a new rule that trekkers can no longer spend the night at Everest Base Camp. Only climbers (and I'm assuming support staff) can camp overnight. Becky only found out about this yesterday and I guess now is dealing with trying to get overnight accommodations for the entire trekking team that is arriving ahead of us.

This is a bit upsetting because the main reason why we chose PeakFreaks is because they are the only trekking company that offered this experience. Since they actually have climbers attempting to summit Everest, all the necessary permits/licenses are purchased—the trekkers are covered under that permit.