Everest Base Camp
How was the plan made?
Life is a joy ride for some, bland for many. I existed in the middle of these two fathoming great experiences and fearing the new ones. Undeniably we live one life and the way we live, matters. Contemplating the way I was living and following the crowd of people who only ran for money didn't give me the utmost satisfaction. With time, I realized that some part of me is still unexplored and it is time to revel in my own self to bring out the unexplored version of myself. Like every common man, I woke up in the morning and slogged each day with the realisation that I am the breadwinner of my family and it is my responsibility to take care of them. Undoubtedly, I loved my occupation but when it comes to exploring your inner self, there is no giving up on your thoughts.
I was a part of various business groups and realized that there is a person living very close to my house, a complete stranger is also a part of the clan going to the USA for work purposes. It was a sheer stroke of luck to have someone living so close by be a part of the same business trip. I used to travel for business trips to various countries namely, USA, China, etcetera and certainly time crunch always remained. It is hard to admit the fact that my business trip did not spare me any leisure time but that's the truth. I met many people, some became friends, few remained strangers.
In no time I met a stranger, someone who lived close to my house and evidently we crossed our paths in another country, his name was Jaswinder. He was a stranger who became an acquaintance and a good friend. The formal trip to the USA awakened the unexplored version of me, an immense desire to travel. In no time the conversations became deeper and friendship grew stronger between the two of us. Soon we realised that we shared similar interests, naming one of them, travelling. In a continual exploration of newness, another person that crossed my mind and about whom I was sure shared the same interest was Rajesh.
Instantaneously, there were these three musketeers with similar life interests prepensing upon a magnanimous trip that didn't hold much of assurance. Like I mentioned above, I loved my occupation and these business trips were a blessing in disguise for I met Rajesh on one of my business trips to China. As the time grew, there was an inflation in the bonding wherein I’d rather mention the exact version. Suddenly, one fine day, a message drops in the common group, “Any trekker available in the group? Planning for Everest base camp in March.” I was surprised to see that message and started wondering, “What next ?”
I read the message after half an hour, excitedly called him and asked whether he is alone or he has company. He straightforwardly said, “It's me alone!”. He further mentioned the fact that maybe Rajesh would join. No doubt, there was a sudden rush in my mind where my conscious and unconscious parts of the brain synchronised with each other and abruptly made me utter, “I am in!”. 28th February 2021, this particular conversation takes place and consequently, Plan on, Bang on!
I felt lucky to be well acquainted with Jaswinder as he was a frequent traveller and was part of various expeditions in his life. Soon after, Jaswinder, Rajesh and I decided to meet and unfortunately, Rajesh could not join us. We met at Jaswinder’s office, talked for a while about our whereabouts and finally had a conversation regarding the plan. To be honest, there was an untiring willingness that kept us going till the end. We did some internet surfing and then we realised that Jaswinder had links with a few travel agents. We were quite committed to each other to make things work and came to a conclusion to start our journey on 15th April. Without thinking for a second, we started to book the flights.
A sudden voice cracks my mind and makes me wonder, “ I hope it won't rain too much during these dates. Let's check the weather forecast once again.” Guess what? The weather forecast predicted immense rain during those few days. Taking full advantage of the situation, we decided the tentative dates of our travel and made a rough itinerary to practically accept the fact that we are finally going for an expedition to Everest Base Camp.
The trip was planned for 14 days to be precise. While we were chit-chatting, we suddenly thought to see whether we were going in the right weather conditions. Soon after we got a heads up on the weather conditions, we were sure that the hiking trip was on. I did research in detail about the place that we were going to for my own knowledge. Disappointed with some of the other hurdles, we decided to just flee, maybe not on the same date but before or after. Finally, the date we decided was the 3rd of April.
Preparing for the Trek
Travelling to Kathmandu was an overwhelming thought and we certainly thought to freeze the dates from 30th March to 12th April ( exactly 14 days, not a single day extra if plan delays due to any reason). At that instant, we thought to meet around 13th or 14th March and shop before we went trekking. Just like an excited child craving for a joy ride, the three musketeers start to spend some quality time in Decathlon. To talk about myself, I personally had no experience of trekking before, while we were shopping. As guided by the agent, wearing brand new shoes was a poor idea. Unfortunately till then, we had done the buying.
We suddenly came in a fix and thought to buy them and wear the shoes all the time before we started the journey for all the comfort reasons. Well, the twist here lies in the incapacity of a common man to take a selfish decision. The pandemic has frustrated each individual and my family were a part of it as every individual across the globe. In no time I thought of going trekking but realised that if I need a break then my family does too. Meanwhile, I was deciding on a good place to take my family for a vacation.
We decided to cover three places, Bangalore, Mysore and Coorg to be away from the usual routine and spend some leisure time together. It was a long tour unexpectedly, the first few days were spent giving time to my family and the last few days were for me to have a new experience in life. Amidst the settlement of the two different worlds, I had leisure time but also, wore my new shoes wherever I went to avoid any kind of shoe bite. I planned the family vacation before leaving for the trek because I thought “ It's better to go with all your heart than with a feeling of guilt.”
Soon after I came back from my family vacation, I started working out and exercising to gear up the strength, my friends had already had a bang on. At this time, when everything got booked and we had to make a move, God was not so kind. There were end moment changes in flight and our flight got cancelled. Who can think of a scenario worse than this? We were jumbled up in three flights with a short span of layovers and constant cancellations. Well, better late than never, the three musketeers took a flight of 10:40 am from Chandigarh and reached the capital wherein we had a long span of the layover.
Reaching Kathmandu
Well, 30th March was the day when we finally made it. Somehow, we were lucky in the fact that the connectivity flight got delayed. Before we entered the International Terminal we were bound to get the covid test done again wherein it also took us time as we were waiting for the luggage. At the time we reached, the flight was delayed and what can be worse than the fact of getting later with half an hour of form filling formalities, a consent form for passengers travelling to Kathmandu. Adding on to more details, we were one of those last people from the crowd to board the flight. During the hustle, we got hungry and thought of grabbing something to eat before boarding the flight.
Few elements in the journey are inexplicable however, one of the most unexpected incidents we came across was the fact of wobbling the plane here and there. We witnessed that the flight had almost reached the runaway as we could see the runaway clearly but somehow the flight took off again. To my surprise, we took another round laying low in the air where we could see the building and the runaway from a decent distance. Finally, the plane landed and we were given the scanned copies of our consensual forms.
Excitedly, we got through the arrival area of the airport and looked for the assigned guide/manager who had to pick us up and take us to the hotel. It was a bliss feeling to experience such a warm welcome along with the garland of flowers. In no time, we headed to the hotel and took some rest along with some tea sipping. Since we had come with the purpose of the trek, we were supposed to buy some clothes and gear packs as we were required to carry a special bag that fitted our needs in terms of being waterproof with the allocation of abundant space fulfilling 12 to 15 kgs to weight. It was certainly advised to carry only necessary luggage to control weight as there was no point carrying whole luggage during the trek.
Furthermore, we also did some currency change formalities and got back to our hotel around 9:30 pm. We had a quick dinner and thought of dozing off as it was a tiring day.
Flight to World’s most Dangerous Airport
Next morning, we had a flight at 9 am, somehow expecting ourselves to be on time was too much to ask for at that time, hence we thought to give it a try. Nonetheless, we were running late as we were supposed to leave the hotel around 7:30 and till 8:30 were in the hotel running to and fro to have breakfast. We took a good shower for the last time anticipating that the facility won't be given so easily again.
We left some of the luggage in the hotel as it was difficult to carry the whole luggage for us, certainly, we were heading for the airport. After even reaching late, we realised there was no announcement for the flight. Not to forget the fact, Kathmandu airport (TIA domestic Terminal) seemed like a bus stand with some security where huge flocks of people are in continual commotion completely discordant to the environment of other airports. “Who wishes to have a bad start in the morning?” Well, we were one of those struggle bearers at the airport.
Moving on, the first announcement regarding the flight was acknowledged around 10:30 am and to my surprise we were meant to wait in the shuttle bus for more than half an hour. Finally once we were boarding the plane, one of us sat in the first row, I sat in the middle row and the third one was right behind me. The flight took off around 11 am, thereby marking a bad flight experience for us in every way. Rather than thinking of goodness coming our way, we experienced every possible negativity on earth. Starting on, we could perceive a strong smell of diesel and petroleum right after we sat on our seats, a tiresome mind and nausea during the whole trip was very much displeasing.
The total duration of the flight was not a big deal as the problems seemed to be. The flight was of 40 minutes and we were supposed to land in Lukla and start with the trek. Unfortunately nothing of the sort happened, as were informed by the pilot soon after 30 minutes of the flight that the plane had been directed back to Kathmandu due to bad weather conditions. Oh, I regret this journey so much ! (Instant feeling that I had).
After witnessing such a displeasing experience, we were cut to the quick. Finally, when we made it back to the airport we were given two options, either to travel by road wherein we had to travel for two days on road and then travel by trek on the third day. Lukla airport, also known as Tenzing Hillary Airport is the starting point of the trek for Mount Everest Base Camp. Lukla airport is one of the dangerous airports constructed worldwide, however, reaching Lukla without delays was an enormous task to complete.
Undoubtedly, there was another option to avail but it was an expensive one. We were given an option to travel in a helicopter as Lukla airport incorporated the helipad facility. It was time for a quick decision making as it takes around one and a half hours for the helicopter to get ready. In addition, the amount of the tickets was a big question as the ticket is sold for more than double the amount of the normal flight. Thinking that maybe this is the last obstacle in the journey we thought to spend the magnanimous amount on the tickets as we preferred comfort over money.
The bad experiences had no end hence the journey of the helicopter made us feel pukish, soon after one of us started puking wherein unfortunately we had to open the window of the helicopter. Going through all the crests and troughs, we finally made it to the Lukla airport. Right after we reached, we came across our guide waiting for us with two porters. Not to forget the fact, the actual trek journey was supposed to start from Lukla to Phakding. Just like Lukla was the first milestone, Phakding was another milestone & stopover for this night as per the plan.
Subsequently, the weather started taking a twist and we were required to wear our caps and gloves as the cold weather conditions started to hit enormously. Briefly describing, Lukla is a village where very few people reside. The space incorporates not more than 200 families, therefore, before commencing the trek, we went to a nearby shop as we were hungry and wished to eat something. The trek covered a fair distance of around 8 to 10 km and technically as per the plan we were supposed to finish the trek by dusk.
We started the trek around 5:30, unfortunately, the first day was very dull and we could not cherish the time as we thought we would. Since it was the first day of the trek, our energy levels were aggravated to the core. While we were on the trek, it started becoming dark immensely, in addition to which the guide gave us an option to either stay in some middle location or keep moving ahead and continue the trek.
I could sense the fact that the trek is becoming tiresome and boring and to turn the tables, we all thought to dance in order to cheer everyone’s mood. To be precise, it was around 7:30 when the sun started setting and it grew darker and darker. All of the trekkers were expected to reach the destined location by 8:30 and by god’s grace we were able to achieve our target. It was an overwhelming feeling to see ourselves touch the desired milestone.
Well, I must say “Things don't come easy as we expect them to, it certainly takes relentless efforts to achieve your goal.” With the passage of time, we started experiencing the feeling of altitude sickness. Though it is very common among the trekkers, I was still a bit taken aback. As soon as we keep heading for the trek, the food options start getting limited and that's what we experienced too.
The two famous kinds of meals in Kathmandu are daal bhaat and garlic soup and these two famous food items that we got on our way. Daal bhat being a speciality was available throughout the journey and garlic soup was made as it helps in maintaining the body temperature well. We were advised to drink an adequate amount of water throughout the journey. Along with this, we had a cup of tea but it’s not like Masala teas but the mostly powdered versions in multiple flavours. Never expect the milk that we got was from the cows and buffaloes during this journey if you are used to it. The only option is Nak’s milk. Nak is the female sex of Yak.
1st of April was “The Day” as we reached Phakding. If i talk about myself, i was very tired and all other trekkers had a tiresome day. The weather became immensely cold and we thought to rest under a tree house. The sight of various animals carrying something or the other on their back and people carrying goods on their heads was overwhelming. Well, the tiring journey made us fall asleep easily. It was 5 am the next morning, when we woke up and to my surprise, a rough patchy land like Phakding had the arrangement of proper toilet seats. No doubt, the water supply was good though it was very cold. In the meanwhile after freshening up, we realised that we are in the middle of heaven as the scenic beauty had no bounds. Without another thought, all of us started clicking pictures and making memories. For everyone to know, the houses are built in a very different way wherein we experience an enthralling view as the door opens towards the road.
One of my personal suggestions to all the trekkers is to be careful while changing the clothes as it is very important to keep the body temperature maintained through the journey in order to avoid altitude sickness and congestion in the body. I recommend that the clothes should be changed within the sleeping bag to avoid the influx of air till your body as the innermost layer is hardly changed throughout the journey. The layer of clothes is changed after two to three days as the body should not be fully exposed to the environment.
It was around 8:00 AM when we were having our breakfast to head further. Another important thing that I realised was the fact as soon as we move towards higher altitudes the prices tend to increase and things start becoming costlier. To my surprise, things of bare necessity were as expensive as the costs of five star hotels. Around 9:00 AM we started our journey where we could hear and see the gushy waves of the water and on the other side was the perfect view of the mountains. The sight is basically of two bridges hanging in a way that two different hills can be connected. During the start of the journey it started drizzling and luckily we were carrying our rain coats. Well I must say, the overall experience was worth it.
Amidst the journey we stopped for lunch and we had fried noodles and cherished the calmness around. By the time we finished our lunch, it started raining cats and dogs. We were sure that trekking would become a toil due to the heavy rainfall, so we thought to take a rest and wait for the rain to stop. As soon as the trek continues, the altitude sickness starts increasing and to keep up with the trek, it is highly advised to carry your favourite things to keep your taste buds active and familiar. Small things like chocolates, candies and other flavoured mints.
One more suggestion that I would like to give my readers is to not control your urine necessarily. While we talk in a generic sense, controlling the urine has various side effects therefore during the trek it is a blunder to not let your piss pass on time. People have upset stomachs and it becomes very difficult for the body to be acclimated to the new altitude. Coming back to the day, we started our journey after the rain had a halt and within sometime we came across the Hillary Bridge. I would like to give a little brief about this suspension bridge as it is named after Sir Edmund Hiliary and is one of the scariest bridges connecting the way to Namche Bazaar with a tremendous steep trek. Well, for everyone to know Namche Bazaar is the last spot from where we can procure the necessary items, the last place for us to visit the ATM or see good hotels. Every kind of service that includes massage centres, recreational centres, shops, cafeterias etcetera can be found here.
Crossing the bridge is the toughest part of the journey as the trekkers move along the edge of Dudh Kosi River while walking through the final suspension bridge, furthermore, there is an immense change in the altitude that makes the patch risky too. Usually, it is not recommended to cover this particular path of the bridge during the nights as the bridge becomes risky and undoubtedly there is jungle all around. To keep up the safety of all the trekkers, the journey through the bridge is not recommended. Quite often yaks are travelling through the bridge and it is advised that the trekkers should wait for the yaks pass and then start heading towards the bridge in order to avoid any kind of mishap.
Another interesting sight that we experienced was of a waterfall as we were walking through the bridge and it felt as if we were in an aeroplane due to the peak height. As soon as we crossed the Hiliary bridge, we were heading to Namche Bazaar. The distance from the bridge to Namche Bazaar is around 2 kms and we were dead tired to even head the journey of those 2 kms. The weather conditions were never stable, undoubtedly they were getting worse as we were reaching higher altitudes. It started drizzling a little and gradually rained cats and dogs. One of us thought to wait for the rain to stop and eventually we all stopped. While admiring the scenic beauty, we came across a fruit vendor and bought some fruits from him. I did realise a fact that he was going to Namche Bazaar to see his fruits and he was a frequent trekker unlike us.
Keeping our spirits high, we kept munching on our way. There came a time when we had to stop at a certain place as all the trekkers got scattered and there was a break in the chain of people. Well, everyone wants to have their own share of fun but I realised that individual fun shall be curbed in such journeys. To refrain the people from walking alone, it took us time to reassemble at a certain point and eventually the stretch became difficult. While we waited for the rain to stop and assemble together to head further, it got very dark.
We stood at some nearby shelter and realised that it is becoming colder and colder. We were still 30 to 40 minutes away from Namche Bazaar. After we started walking again, we met our guide within five to ten minutes and started the trek. Soon After we could see a glimpse of Namche Bazaar. Walking down the path and the street, we finally reached our accommodation. Our stay was booked at Hotel Tibet which was ten minutes away from the accommodation as it was almost at the top of the hotel. As soon as we reached our desired place, we were exhausted and thought of freshening up a little.
Beyond this, we faced many interesting things. To mention one of them, every hotel in that region has a common area right at the centre of the dining area where the bonfire is lit to keep the area warm and the process of heat generation keeps going. People can easily rest in rooms and dining areas. Adding more to my delightful experience, we came across a family from the United States wherein I was surprised to see the fathers chit chatting with their kids. No doubt, seeing them was an encouragement that we are not alone here and reaching till this point is an overwhelming achievement for all of us.
“Sometimes life doesn't run so smoothly as we think it should, however, it is a roller coaster ride. To what extent an individual is adaptive to changes is the actual challenge.” Seeing the masses everywhere made us feel that it's going to be a long journey with memories. In continuation to my narrative experience we ordered popcorn and garlic soup for dinner. Another noticeable thing that i would like to share is the fact of the vendors selling expired items and products at Namche Bazaar. On being asked, the concerned authorities gave an answer of not having any other choice.
The vendors were very clear with their explanation that nothing gets expired easily when it is so cold and admit the fact that it is the customer's choice whether the customer wants to intake or buy the food. Well, this fact was very new to me and then I realised, driven to the wall, one has no option but to strike back. While everyone thought to sleep and take a rest, I finished writing my daily diary and realised that within a few seconds, it started to snow. If you ask me, watching the snowfall and those white flakes was the most enthralling experience of that particular day.
2nd April, the very next day we spent our time in leisure. After we woke up we all decided to take a rest during the whole day and roam around the city. I personally believed that roaming the city was not easy as it seems to be rather it would end the day in exertion. However, we certainly had no particular schedule on this particular day to be honest. I could notice little changes in the body, as when we woke up, we were low on breadth. To my surprise, I suddenly woke up around 4:00 AM as I was feeling restless and pukish. The whole idea of not keeping well was bothering me, hence i thought to get back to sleep and rest for a while.
Finally I woke up at 7:00 AM and felt better. It was a beautiful morning. Well, one of the funny aspects on the trip was to notice the fact of people not bathing on a regular basis. I felt amazed to know that people who stay here take bath once a week. While I was sipping the milk in the morning, I realised being awake in a paradise as the view was pretty awesome. To let you know, Namche Bazaar is the centre and we were staying in a hotel named Tibet. Also, we met the owner of the hotel, Mingma who acquainted us with the whereabouts nearby. While the chit chat was going on, I discussed my health issues that I was facing during the stay since he was a localite and was comforted by him. He mentioned the Tibet border, an autonomous region of China that is often called, “The roof of the world.” The border was 100-200 metres away from the place we were staying and falls under the provinces of China, Qinghai to the north east, Sichuan to the east, Yunnan to the south east, Myanmar, India, Bhutan and Nepal to the south.
In conversation with Mingma, he told me that he comes in this area only during summers while he remains downhill during winters. He spoke about few families living in the village as the major number of people have moved out due to the stagnant income or because of no meagre earning. Meanwhile, I called my friends to join us for a walk of around half an hour to one hour in order to see the mesmerising view point as it was worth watching. It was around 10:00 AM when we started the walk towards the track. Mingma praised the beauty of the viewpoint so much that we just changed our clothes without taking a shower and went to see the viewpoint. I took a few pictures and uploaded them on social media to let everyone know more about the place.
Heading towards the track, when we reached the Everest viewpoint, we got to know about a museum of Everest being made. Adding on further, I would like to talk about Sir Edmund Hilliary and Tenzing Norgay, first two people to reach Mount Everest, top of the world’s highest mountain on 29th May, 1953. Like I mentioned before, the view was worth the walk. The place did not portray just one view, however, many other views could be seen other than Mt Everest. Ama Dablam, known as Mother’s Necklace in other words incorporates long ridges on each side just like a mother extends her arms to protect her child. Ama Dablam is one of the most beautiful peaks in the world with an extraordinary view. Meanwhile, we visited the museum and were certainly intrigued by the artefacts in the museum. I was very keen to know every detail about the place to gain a better experience. Thereafter, we clicked pictures and started descending towards the local bazaar of Namche Bazaar.
There are some unknown facts that sometimes require recognition, however, I was surprised to know around 300 deaths took place for not being able to survive during the journey in the year, 2019 and probably 800 attempts took place in the year, 2018. One of the few people that I know of was Loveraj from Uttarakhand as he made it up till the summit for more than seven times and for your knowledge I would like to briefly talk about any name Apa, nick named ‘Super Sherpa’ as Apa made the record of reaching the summit more than 21 times.
Soon after we reached Namche Bazaar, we were starving and thought of grabbing something. We thought of trying the local food from the market and took some snacks realising that the snacks were expired. Now this time, we got used to the fact that there is no use complaining about the food as this is the kind of food that we will consume. Just when I decided, ‘ No complaints, No demands’, my eyes suddenly got laid at the nearby cafe which opened a week back from the day we went. It was named as Everest cafe, moreover right beside the cafe was the massage centre and in no time I took the opportunity to rejuvenate from the tiresome days. Hence, I got a body massage.
We had burgers and pizzas for lunch and started heading back towards the hotel. Somehow, the burgers in the cafe proved to be the appetiser and unfortunately we felt hungry again. Without even giving a second thought that we might be over eating, we told the chef of the hotel to cook some dal and butter roti for us. I am sure all the Indian food lovers can relate to our craving of that time. Finally we slept after satiating ourselves with the Indian food.
The next morning was again a delightful one, we took a shower probably after three long days. I woke up around 5:30 AM in the morning that day and thought of eating something light for breakfast. Eventually we decided to eat khichdi as we had to go for a trek and thought to keep ourselves light to avoid falling in the trap of nausea as it is one of the major reasons to cause irritability. Around 9:00 AM, we started the trek for Tengboche, it was time to see a peaceful Himalayan village. While we started, we had another family heading towards Tengboche at the same time. The trek is usually for 9.2 kilometres but it takes around four hours to reach there. Well, for everyone to know, I would like to mention about Ama Dablam again. This mountain peak could be seen from Namche bazaar also but once you reach Tengboche, you will witness a breathtaking view of Ama Dablam.
After reaching the desired location, we could see many more viewpoints and experienced a surreal feeling. I thought to capture the moments and make memories so we started clicking pictures. We stopped after almost four hours for lunch and ordered hash browns along with some chilli chutney. Undoubtedly, we felt accomplished after finishing the first half of the trek and thought to cover the second half after lunch. Well, as soon as lunch was over we started the trek around 3:00 PM and the whole trek was steep. Since it was completely an uphill trek, we almost took another break after one and a half hour of the trek. Meanwhile, one of our team mates got some urgent work so we thought to sit by the view amidst the lap of nature till the time he completed his work. Throughout the trek, Jaswinder and I were slow as compared to the other people as Jaswinder was not keeping well.
However, where there is a will there's a way. Finally we made it uptil Tengboche around 6:00 PM. While I am about to uncover the reality of the place I must say that in that particular moment we were cherishing every essence of the beauty of nature as it was a barren land that still looked beautiful along with the sun setting at its own time, it's just that our existence at that time made us feel lucky to witness the different colors of nature. Well, we noticed that Tengboche was a small town with a monastery where very few hotels could be found. It was getting quite cold during the dusk and we were still fifteen minutes away from the hotel.
Not wasting much time, we started walking downhill and I realised, while we were going downhill, it was a little slippery. As soon as we reached the location of our stay, we were extremely tired, went to the rooms, rested a bit with no heater in the rooms. I must say it was freezing and heaters at that time became a necessity. After resting for some time, all of us went to the common area where the provision of the heaters was done. We sat together for dinner, ordered food and started having conversations with each other. We noticed the arrival of the same friends in the hotel, those who were with us in the last hotel.
In order to boost up our tired minds and tired faces, all of us started singing songs and dancing with each other while eating some momos and spring rolls alongside. Among us, Rajesh started making a habit to sit near the chimney area while all of us went back to our rooms and called it a night.
4th April
Well, after having a good night we got up on time and noticed that our hands were freezing as it was extremely cold. Having experienced such swelling in the hands due to the peak winter atmosphere, I thought to start sleeping just like Rajesh did. The act of sleeping in the dining area just to feel cozy was followed by me, moreover I started meditating at the same place too. Moving on, we had our breakfast and headed towards the next journey around 9:00 AM. It takes around three and a half hours to reach the next destination. While we started, we went through a plain path and witnessed a few bridges on our way.
It was freezing cold and we came across different mileages throughout the trek. No doubt, the sun remained totally absent and we witnessed lodges, a river alongside and a collapsed bridge. The trek became quite interesting as we were paving the path through the valleys while crossing various small villages that we could not have even thought of existing. To my surprise, I witnessed something in real life which I had just read in books: solar cookers. The process of using the energy from the sun and converting it into heat in order to cook food was a rare sight.
We found people doing daily chores in their villages, random people in different groups walking through the villages. We met a few of them, spent time with each other and had a lot of fun. While we were heading forward, after walking for about two to three hours we thought to stop by for lunch. Right from Tengboche, we stopped at Pangboche village, home to Khumbu's oldest monastery and is a perfect place to have lunch. It was around 1:00 PM when we thought to have lunch and take some rest for a while. We ordered food, soon after eating Jaswinder and I started walking further, as usual Rajesh on being asked refused to join us as he is used to taking a short nap after lunch. He said he will join us after a while.
Hence, Jaswinder and I continued to explore the wonders of nature by walking around. Right after we started walking, after 20 minutes I realised that I had misplaced my sunglasses. For all the readers, who are not aware of the importance of the sun glasses, it was just another equipment to be carried as mandatory to cover the eyes from the direct strain of sunlight. We did move about back and forth to find them, but unfortunately we didn't find the glares and started walking further. The existence of such parallel incidents make you reminisce about the place quite often.
Undoubtedly, it was a plain path wherein on one side we could hear the water roaring as the river was passing by alongside. The path was upside down, certainly leading us to walk uphill and downhill, the way was a little zigzag to be precise, though it was a plain path. The path splits wherein two rivers meet, Imja khola and Khumbu Khola. Well, I was introspecting in my mind while walking, “Who thought to experience nature's paradise so closely?” I felt quite lucky to be able to make it till every point. Soon after walking for around three hours more, we could see Dingboche, as we had almost reached the desired point. Having its existence underneath the shadow of Ama Dablam, one of the most beautiful mountains in the world makes the place worthwhile.
For those who wish to know more, undoubtedly it is a tough day of trek. It is advised to drink plenty of water throughout as the trekkers start feeling the altitude completely. Thereafter, after we reached the hotel in Dingboche, we realised that the owner of the hotel was the same where we stopped for lunch at Pangboche. Indeed, it was a tiring trek because of the high altitudes and valleys around. Moreover, seeing the surroundings, it seemed as if only our group held existence at that particular place.
Well, wait for more! No internet bandwidth was a cherry on the cake as soon as we reached Dingboche. The hotel incorporated the same dining area like we witnessed before at the respective places. Another thing that made us feel weird was the fact of no staff serving the food. The hotel incorporated a self service protocol or at times we could see the owner and his wife serving the food to everyone.
Moving on, there were potatoes in the making, hence I requested the respective person to add our masalas in the food. Since we were a little homesick for food, we had our own packets and ensured we experienced a tinge of the taste of our kind. I personally believe people travel or hike for their own choice and personal reasons. I came across a man, Farhaan, a wanderer who has been trekking all the while with no money. He was from Canada but belonged to Pakistan. To my surprise, this man travelled from Kathmandu by road and then paved his path walking all the while. He joined us a bit late, hence we were chit chatting all the while.
Once we started, when the time passed, we got no clue. After meeting new people, few became acquaintances, many remained unknown. I realised that people have different reasons to travel. There are people fighting depression, having busy social lives, etcetera, every kind of person would be found hiking. Well, somehow, we called it a night after having our dinner. I went to sleep around 9:00 PM and woke up around 5:30 AM, the next day in the morning.
One tip that I remember was to stop after every 1000 metres of journey, it is advised to stop at the location to be acclimated to the prevailing weather conditions. However, for acclimatization we thought to stay in Dingboche. Well we thought of heading our journey a little early the next day, hence we packed our luggage and slept. While we left for the next place, we were told by the guide to halt if need be. Hence the name of the middle place where we stopped was Lapocuhe.
