around the world

April - May 2017
A 42-day adventure by Simon
  • 36footprints
  • 3countries
  • 42days
  • 158photos
  • 0videos
  • 10.4kkilometers
  • 9.8kkilometers
  • Day 11

    Phakding to Namche Bazar

    April 11, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Phakding (2610m) - Toktok (2760m) - Monjo (2835m) - Namche Bbazar (3440m)
    Finally internet again :D
    Today I had a short walk and arrived after 5 hours in Namche Bazar. Doesn't feel like being at 3500m, there are lots of shops and restaurants, bars, whatever you need. Since yesterday the track and villages changed a lot, as I came on the main track where all the "lazy" people coming from lukla with plane join the walk. It feels like being in the skiing villages in the alps. Tourists, shops, restaurants, bars,... really strange after walking 4 days through the original/poor Nepal. But the track is better and there is less pollution.
    In the afternoon I went for a walk to acclimatize and climbed up to 3800m. I hardly met other people and just enjoyed the silence and the views. In the end I met the first time a guy who was on Everest 👍
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  • Day 12

    Namche Bazar to Pangboche

    April 12, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Namche (3440m) - Kenjoma (3550m) - Phunke Tenga (3250m) - Tengboche (3860m) - Pangboche (3930m)
    I felt good acclimated and decided to skip the rest day in Namche. In the beginning it was annoying to walk in a queue with heaps of other tourists. But soon I could leave most of them behind me and enjoy the scenery, realizing that I'm coming closer to the giants with every step. After climbing up to Tengboche I had the best view on Everest so far. It's hard to imagine how high this mountain is, looking up to the summit from 4000m and realizing that it's still so much higher^^. In the afternoon I arrived in Pangboche. After the check-in I went for a walk to acclimatize again. But it was windy and clouds covered the sun, so I went back to my room. Even if I complain about all the people on the track, I often feel quite lonely in the evenings and realize how much I miss you. But using this time to study the Bible helps me to realize that I'm not alone and gives me strength again.Read more

  • Day 13

    Pangboche to Dingboche

    April 13, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Pangboche (3930m) - Dingboche (4400m)
    A short walk, after 2 hours I reached Dingboche, the destination for the next 2 days (I have to do a restday for acclimatization).
    After dropping my backpack in a teahouse, I went for a walk to Chukhung (4700m). It was only 5km to walk and 300m altitude to gain, but it took me almost 2 hours :D seems like the thin air also has influence ob me ^^. I also walked quite slow as I had heaps of time to kill and tried to enjoy the scenery, but it was very cold and windy. After a warming tea I went back to Dingboche. There I had a coffee (and free wifi :D) and meet a couple from Frankonia. We were sitting and talking for some hours, because there's not much more to do. Then I went back to the teahouse, fortunately they had a fire going and I could warm up again (it's freezing cold outside in the night)Read more

  • Day 14

    Dingboche to Chukhung

    April 14, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Dingboche (4400m) - Chukhung (4700m) - Hill (5100m)
    I felt really good and decided to use the planned "rest day" to climb up to Chukhung. It was only a short walk (even with backpack) and I arrived at 12. On the way I stopped sometimes and had a look around, the mountains and the clouds were so great. In the afternoon I went for a little walk to climb the first time in my life over 5000m. I stopped at almost 5100m and it was really hard. But also a good feeling. But walking here felt more like walking in the dunes at the beach, it was very sandy :D. And tomorrow I'll climb up a pass at 5500m, with backpack, might be the hardest day of the trip.
    Back in the teahouse I played cards with some other guys (some of them will climb Everest 👍) and waiting for dinner. And it started snowing, just hope I'll be able to go over the pass tomorrow...
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  • Day 15

    Chukhung to Pyramid

    April 15, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Chukhung (4730m) - Dingboche (4410m) - Dhugla (4620m) - Lobuche (4910m) - Pyramid (4970m)
    "Nichts ist so beständig wie die Lageänderung" they always told me in the army :D. It snowed almost 20cm tonight and I decided not to walk over Kongma la Pass (5535m), because I don't know the way and it was quiet cloudy. But the landscape was amazing! Everything was covered in snow, it was freezing cold and the panorama was maybe the best till now. So I started walking through this winter wonderland, built a snowman and often stopped to enjoy the silence and views. The closer I came to Dingboche, the more "tourists" had been there. And after Dingboche, on the way to Lobuche, it was crazy: hundreds of people and Yaks, often there had been traffic jams 🙈 as I finally arrived in Lobuche, they told me that all lodges are already full. They offered me to stay in the Pyramid, an Italian research station with "hotel", a little bit more expensive, but with food, wifi and power inclusive^^. So I went here and made, together with 3 French guys, new plans: tomorrow early in the morning to Kala Patthar (Lookout, 5550m, with good view on Everest), then down to theBasecamp (5360m) and back to the hotel.

    It's almost like paradise here :D hot drinks inclusive; popcorn, soup and dal bat (with meat!) for dinner (almost like all you can eat👍). And all that at 5000m altitude!
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  • Day 16

    Pyramid to EBC

    April 16, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Pyramid (4970m) - Ghorak Shep (5100m) - Kala Patthar (5550m) - Ghoral Shep- EBC (5300m) - Ghorak Shep - Pyramid
    What a day. Starting at 6am with freezing cold wind (up to 60 km/h) and it didn't stop. Maybe the coldest day in my life, seems like two of my fingertips were damaged...
    But therefore the air was very clean and I had amazing views. After almost 3 hours we (I walked with from Checke) reached the top of Kala Patthar. Often the wind was so strong that we were blown some steps down again, but at the top it was luckily not too windy and we could enjoy the views: Everest, Lothse, Everest Base Camp, the whole Khumbu Glacier and heaps of other summits. Definitely the highlight of the tramp. Going down again was also not easy, because there still was some snow left and it was often slippery. Furthermore the wind often blew us down and it was hard to stop. Walking to EBC was harder as I thought. Lots of up and down and still the icy wind blowing in the face all the time. And honestly, it was not really worth going there. Only lots of people, you can't see Everest from there,... Bug now I can say I've been there :D Walking back was really hard. I felt that I haven't been drinking enough and I was freezing like crazy, but after 9 hours I finally was back. I had a strong headache and couldn't feel some of my fingertips. But after drinking lots of hot tea and relaxing in the warm bed I was almost fine again. And having the first time pasta since two weeks was also awesome!
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  • Day 17

    Pyramid to Pangboche

    April 17, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Pyramid (4970m) - Dughla (4620m) - Pheriche (4240m) - Pangboche (3930m)
    "Lazy" day, late breakfast at 8 and watching NBA (at 5000m altitude, crazy :D), drinking tea, relaxing. At 10 Dalibor and I started walking (after a small morning workout :D). It was still quiet windy and cold, but it became better the further down we got. After the steep descent to Dughla it was relaxed walking in a big valley, always having a good view on Ama Dablam (maybe the most beautiful mountain here). We often stopped and enjoyed the sun and views. In Pheriche we stopped and had lunch (almost the first time I did this :D). From there it was only a short walk and we reached Pangboche. It was still quiet windy here and there had often been little sandstorms again. Also vegetation changed, first trees could be seen again.Read more

  • Day 18

    Pangboche to Namche

    April 18, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ 🌙 -7 °C

    In the morning I went with Dalibor towards Ama Dablam Base Camp. We only went half the way and relaxed with views of Everest, Lhotse and all the others giants. We returned back to the teahouse, took our backpacks and started walking down towards Namche. This was harder than expected, as the track went up and down a lot. In the beginning it was warn and sunny, but it became cloudy in the afternoon and windy. After reaching the town and having lunch we went to have a coffee. Cappuccino and Black Forest Cake, it tasted so awesome after all those days with (almost) only rice and potatoes 👌. Afterwards we meet Aidan and his guide again, we decided to walk together the next day. After dinner I played UNO with a German couple from Bamberg, was funny to talk and hear the Frankonia dialect again :DRead more

  • Day 19

    Namche to Lukla

    April 19, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Last Day! Hard to believe :D was a lot up and down again, really funny, you think you just have to walk down the valley, but also climb up again and again^^. So after 6 hours we finally reached Lukla. We relaxed, had a coffee and brownies and bought some beers to go "plane spotting". Our teahouse was next to the airport (or the airport was built in the middle of the village :D). It's the most dangerous in the world, with a 527m short and 11.7 % gradient runway. So we just were sitting there and watched the planes come and go, was good fun and fascinating.Read more