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.