Tengboche to Dingboche

Elevation - 4410 m

It was a beautiful, sunny, clear morning and we got great pictures of the surrounding mountains including the little bit of Everest.

Our walk started downhill through a lovely Rododendron forest. They grow wild here and are in bloom everywhere. We climbed gradually up and after a town called Pangboche, we were above the tree line. Only scrubby junipers were growing and there is a considerable amount of environmental damage here. No one really follows a trail so large areas are trampled. Vegetation here is very fragile and takes a long time to regrow.

We had another good tea house and we have discovered that we really lucked out when we got Bijay as our guide. He has been to Everest Base Camp 108 times and knows all the good tea houses, the names of all the mountains and every few minutes he runs into someone who seems really happy to see him. We love him. He has a great sense of humour and could walk these trails blind-folded.

Our room has its own western toilet. This is a mixed blessing. Because of all the water you need to drink in a day, 4 to 5 litres, you end up peeing all night long. This means crawling out of a warm bed and baring your backside to the below freezong temps. Sitting on a cold toilet seat makes it that much worse and by the time your business is done, your teeth are chattering. And, to flush these things you dip a jug into an ice-cold bucket of water and pour it into the toilet. After, that you have to sanitize your hands with that gel stuff which results in frozen sausages for fingers. All in all, you usually wait till you're about to pee the bed before you venture out. But at least we didn't have to leave our room. In many tea houses you have to walk down a hall or even outside. This was luxury by comparison.

We stayed here two nights to acclimatize to the altitude. There was a big dining room and we met lots of nice people. On the morning of the second day we climbed a big hill behind our tea house. This climb took us to the elevation that we would be sleeping at the next day. Doing this kind of thing is another way of helping acclimatization.

Unfortunately my infection has moved into my lungs and I really wasn't feeling well. I had some antibiotics with me so I was wondering if they would help. I paid for wi-fi and texted our son Eric who has a good friend who is a pharmacist. His friend said the antibiotic I had was not really for my type of illness but that it would not react with the altitude meds I was already taking. I decided to start taking it anyway as I was desperate. In the afternoon Jon found a pharmacy and bought me a different kind of antibiotic which the clerk said would work better for the type of infection I had. The rules about drugs are very different here! I started with the new antibiotic and had a nap in the afternoon. I am really starting to worry about being able to make it to base camp as I feel like crap. And to make matters worse our guide has a fever and is also not feeling well. He told us that in all the trips he's done he has never been sick! Go figure!Read more