Trek 15-22

Day 15: Back to Namche
Turns out yesterday we actually covered over 15km. We sleep in until 0800 and leave Pangboche at 0900. Up and down to Tangboche. Arrive to Tang. at 1130. Visited a buddhist monastery where we see monks wearing red, burgundy, and gold sari’s. They all have shaved heads and wear sandals. The monastery was much less immaculate than I imagine it would be. There are weeds growing everywhere, bird poo on windows, and its just untidy. We enter the temple and see a massive golden buddha, it was very nice. I eat pineapple for lunch and steve has fries. I’m so tired of the food. The onions and garlic make me stink worse as it all pours from my pores. The other day Steve said “mmm. I smell salsa!” as we were hiking in the middle of nowhere. I said “no dear, thats me you smell!” Anyways, I should have had more for lunch, only if I knew what the trail was like ahead of us! We descend the mountainside all the way to the river!! The old bridge is submerged, the boulder it was built on turned to its side. We cross the river and then climb back up the mountain. Its cloudy today and we spend most of the afternoon in the clouds. I’m so happy to be going to Namche Bazar- we know there is more food there :) We are at the Everest Hotel by 1630. Shower time! Once again its so hot it scalds the skin, but I don’t really care this time. There is two weeks of buildup on my skin that needs to come off! Dinner Time! We both jump off the vegetarian wagon and order chicken. Its sooo good! Steve has some chocolate pudding and I order fruit salad which has apple, banana, mango and something that looks like a plum. My eyes have been itching and burning off and on for a couple days now. Steve ( my nurse) ensures I wear my sunglasses whenever outside- he is worried I’ve had too much UV exposure and the itch/burn may be a version of snowblindness. The eyes are too sore to stay up and visit with our new friends (brazil/spain) and once again Steve helps me to bed.

Day 16: Rest Day
We sleep in. We decide to have a day of rest in Namche as the last two days have been a pull and we are ahead of schedule. We eat eggs and chapatti with hash-browns for brunch. We walk around Namche with Tony and Laura (brazil/spain). Steve buys a Mammut jacket that looks pretty authentic...but could be a fake. Spent $1000rps (approx. $14). My eyes are burning and watering constantly.

Day 17: By Steve
Walked to Lukla in the rain. Its been a real monsoon day. Rain pours down, stops for a bit, and does it all over again. Went to Mohan’s house and saw his woman and little boy. Had awesome shower, ate a good dinner and started to wait for the weather to lift. BJ’s eyes start out good then go all red and hurt. Just the right one now. Lots of people in tea house- all Nepali.
By BJ
We make good time to Lukla...its raining and my feet are soaked- but I don’t care because we are getting outta here! I finally get some use out of the poncho I brought along, but its hot like a sauna. Steve and Horka hike with umbrella’s- which is funny to see, but all the nepali carry umbrella’s during monsoon. The trail is muddy. We are crossing a long bridge and a big cow decides to cross from the other side. We yield as the cow barges past us. We stop in at Mohan’s tea house. They give us hot lemon. My eyes are burning and I don’t know if its due to the smoke in the tea house- they cook on open fire. His son, almost 3, is running around doing karate moves. He gives us a “namaste” and then “handshake”. We go to our tea house. I have saved my cleanest clothes so I can travel and not stink too bad! My right eye is burning- feels like it has sand and soap in it. I take a shower- must go outside through monsoon rain to get to shower. Should just shower in monsoon rain! The shower is nice because I can control the heat, but not so nice because I am half blind.
Day 18: By Steve
Wake up to rain and clouds. No plane today... We start to wait. BJ’s eye is not better. We will go to hospital today.

By BJ
We hike up a huge hill to the Lukla hospital. Paid 4000rps ($60) to see an eye doctor. Dx: Conjunctivitis in right eye. The hospital is nice- we must take off our shoes and wear sandals before entering. Its neat and clean, it even smells pleasant. I am issued antibiotic eye drops, antibiotic ointment, and anti inflammatory/pain killer pills. The doctor put in a couple eye drops and I thought my eye was going to burn out of the socket. In the afternoon we lay down for a rest. Someone knocks on our door and opens it. The young worker boy says something and we interpret it as asking us if we want another blanket. We say “oh yes, sure why not...” A few seconds later the tea house owner busts through the door and yells “Make ready!! Make ready!! Airplane!!” We frantically pack our stuff. The lady yells “bag too big!” and Steve says “only 22kg” and she yells “OK!” and loads it onto the young boy who is pretty small. He runs it to the airport. Horka is with us and we rush to catch up. Suddenly we hear a plane. Half of Lukla is heading to the airport. The plane lands, it is not yeti air. It is loaded in a few minutes, I stand on the path above the landing strip and take footage of the plane flying off the cliff. What a site! I rush to the terminal and we wait. Finally an air yet flight arrives! Unfortunately it is “Yeti #1” and we are on “Yeti #2”. Yeti #1 takes off and we wait some more. We can hear a plane but can’t see it. Suddenly everyone is leaving the airport. The clouds move fast and they are too low. Yeti #2 cannot see the runway and is returning to Kathmandu. Back to the tea house. There will be no more flight attempts today. Its 1400,we eat popcorn and drink tea. We go to Lukla “Starbucks” (a complete knock off) to use the internet. Steve bargains for internet time and gets us an hour for 300rps. Later we go back to Mohan’s tea house with Horka. Mohan is out feeding his pig so we have hot lemons with his wife. Horka and Rossin (the son) drink Chang. I laugh at the thought of a western kid drinking home brew at three years old...
We return to our tea house. Eat dinner of chicken sizzler and chips, I have veg curry and rice. A Japanese group of five are having a goodbye dinner with their 15 porters/guides/cooks! They were trekking and camping...They sing/dance- its very nice and something to watch. Must wake up at 0530 to check for airplane. My eye is feeling better already! I love drugs!

Day 19: By Stevie
Got up to a weather opening at 0600. Had some tea and all of us at Lukla headed to the airport with big smiles. We checked bags and got out tickets again and started to wait for the plane. Around 0900 some people start shaking their heads and start to leave. The plane could not see the runway since the clouds rose up. We waited some more but no plane. I spent most of the day with BJ and she spent most of her day with me. We feel like we are really stranded in Lukla now. We have no board games and we have read all our books. It is really boring. We are lucky we don’t have a flight booked out of Kathmandu or we would have missed it. BJ’s eye is soooo much better already- that is good. One less thing to complain about. My beard is huge, way longer than the hair on my head. BJ still does not like it. Some monks are staying in the tea house tonight too. Since they need the cheap room we have been upgraded to a room with a bathroom. Its nicer but we miss the double bed. We met some dude from New Zealand today. He is weird but at least he speaks english. He doesn’t have any games or books either so that sucks too. At least we can talk to him if we want, but I don’t want to yet...

Day 20: Rain rain go away!
Fog at 0530. Horka gets us up at 0700 because the sky is clearing. We can hear the airplanes. Once again we all gather around the airstrip but the planes never land. :(
Fog and rain come back. I go back to bed, getting frustrated now. All we do is eat, sleep, and stare at each other. There are more stranded people now. Steve meets a brit who tells of the worst stories of his time in India. Now Steve doesn’t want to go...he says “its too much hassle”. The group of Japanese are talking about hiring a helicopter.

Day 21: Get me outta here!
Fog @ 0530. Clear @ 0630. Fog @ 0700. Fog @ 0900. Japanese are leaving by helicopter. Another loooong day. We hang out with some more brits and an american. They teach us to play spades and hearts- nice to play new card games! Good laughs. They are the funniest people we have met in a long time. Steve and I hike up to a “golden buddha”. We then go for a chocolate walk- its become a part of the routine of being stranded with nothing to do. After dinner, Horka returns to the tea house after drinking Chang. Our guide of few words is much more chatty when he’s on the Chang. He is hilarious! Only wish he would share so much about buddhism and their culture when I’m not so tired! I go to bed while they pound back the beers...
No clean clothes. No place to wash dirty clothes. Too cloudy and cold out for anything to dry outside. I stink. My towel reeks too. Everyone stinks. We have a prolonged discussion regarding leeches. They can jump from trees and run. Horka says they come in all sizes. ewww. He explains you can get hundreds of them on you at once. I’m so happy we are above the leech line. We could walk to Jiri- which is 5 days away- then take a 10hr bus ride to Kathmandu but There is no way I am walking below the leech line. Not to mention the tapeworm... A trekking group of 62 is supposed to arrive tomorrow so the planes will make extra attempts at landing. We are hopeful.

Day 22: Where are you Yeti!? By Steve & BJ
We get up at 0500 to find a semi-clear day. Have the usual RaRa noodles and BJ has a pancake. We have been offered a heli ride for $200USD per person. We said no but are worried we will have to stay because of the clouds. At 0700 we go to airport for our daily recon. We are very hopeful- they told us planes are coming. Dozens of people are waiting. It is the best weather day so far. The heli comes and picks up the people who were willing to pay for the ride. But we are still hopeful. Everyone is anxious. People demonstrate their personal squatter positions...we are so bored. At 1000hrs we go back to the tea house and eat a second breakfast because clouds have come in. We are not so hopeful. The clouds move away and they tell us planes are coming! We all run back to the airport. At 1200 a plane lands! It is not our plane but they say ours is next. A few minutes later a second plane lands but it is not ours either. We are very bummed out to see all these people leave and we have to stay here longer. They say more planes are coming but we don’t know what to believe. We are not going to leave the airport until later because if a Yeti plane does make it, we do not want to miss it! A couple hours later and another plane can be heard! Its not ours. Finally, after so many ups and downs a Yeti Air lands! Freedom!! We are all cheering and laughing and hugging! We take off- its like a rollcoaster ride! We shoot off the runway and the mountains are right beside the plane. The ride is a bit turbulent and BJ almost blows chunks on the plane. The Nepali woman across from Steve prays the entire trip. We are soooo happy to leave Lukla. Namaste Bitches! We are back in the Kat!


Your crazy, your dirty, and we love you Kathmandu!

Getting back to Kat was great! People everywhere, horns honking, garbage in the streets, dogs running around- and we are happy! We return to the hotel we were in when we first arrived. We have decided to stay only one night and then move to the “Kathmandu Guest House” where the people we met in Lukla are staying. Our hotel is boring, no other people, no action, no fan, most of the lights are burnt out, and this time we encounter a super bad ant infestation. We return our rented gear (down jackets, boots, water bottles) and jump back in the action in Kat. There is an energy in this city that I can’t put my finger on, but its here! People are friendly, we feel safe, and we meet travelers- all with an interesting story! Us stranded passengers now friends, meet at the Everest Steak House for some steaks- delicious! Everyone is showered and people are surprised by how Steve looks without the mountain man beard. The day after our return, Horka took us to some sights around the city. We went to the “Monkey Temple” which isn’t about monkeys, they just live there and its easier for tourists to say Monkey temple as opposed to its real name. And, I think the idea of monkey’s draw tourists who have to pay 100rps to enter. The monkey’s are lil’ creepers. They will take food right out of your hands! They are not shy. To reach the temple we climb stairs up up up! Its hot and we are soaking in sweat. Beggars line the steps. The temple is ok, but the view of the Kat is great! Worth the hike!.We walk through the temple park and get to a busy road. Horka gets us on a public bus- which is like a VW van type thing. The driver’s side kick is yelling “Botha!! Botha!!” And soon the bus is PACKED. I am sitting face backward beside an old old woman. She looks like the type to be photographed for the cover of National Geographic...very traditional and wrinkly and interesting. The van door stays open as we swerve through the streets and the sidekick yells for more passengers going to Botha. The old lady pats my leg and through body language she tells me she is getting off and that Steve (who is crammed into the far back with Horka) can come sit with me. I relay this to Steve and he just waves his hand and says no- its all good...she thinks thats funny and laughs, she climbs over me and several other people and off she goes. The public transit is a great way to see the people...but its soooo hot! The sweat is running down my legs. We finally make it to the largest stoopa in Kathmandu and get off the bus. Near this place, Horka and his friends own a shop that makes and sells Thuka (don’t know spelling) paintings. These are traditional buddhist art. We see the painters and students working on the Thuka’s. We sit down for a coke. Its airconditioned. I appreciate the art- the detail is absolutely amazing! Some of the paintings take four months to complete. Now, so far in our trip I think we have been open to other cultures and accepting and respectful..etc. But the sales guy is trying to sell me one- and they are really beautiful, but I really can’t see myself having a painting of a god I don’t believe in. Its the same when the Hindi holy men come up and try to “bless” me with red paint on the forehead- absolutely not! So, I finally see one that is of gold writing in a circular pattern on black paper. The writing is a meditation phrase/mantra that sounds like “oh ma neh pat me om” which we always hear being sung. Its also very pretty. So I decide it is a neutral piece and buy it. We go for lunch on a rooftop and people watch. After our late lunch we walk around until monsoon rain comes. It was a nice day to spend with Horka. We spent time with the brits, american, and they introduced us to some guys from Bangledash- we toured more of Kathmandu and went to well known places like the Yak & Yeti to gamble and to Rum Doodle and Fire & Ice to eat. We had a whoot! I would try to tell some of the stories, but they just wouldn’t soung funny...had to be there!