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Epic Trip to Nepal
  • Janet Taylor

Epic Trip to Nepal

A 31-day adventure by Janet Read more
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    April 11, 2017
    Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

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    April 10, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    It's the day before we leave for our "Epic Trip to Nepal" and I can hardly believe we are finally here. I've had a countdown going on my phone for many days and it felt like the days were crawling by. Jon and I have talked about doing this trip since we first met when we were 20 years old. Between careers, kids, life and health issues it has taken us 37 years to get to it. A year and a half ago I honestly didn't think this trip would ever happen but we are are all packed up and ready to go.

    There have been many, many details involved in planning this trip, most of which were taken care of by Jon. For my part, my "to-dos" are all done, I'm sitting relaxing with a cup of mint tea, I'm going over last minute details in my mind and wondering if I'll sleep at all tonight!!    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    First Leg of the Trip!

    April 11, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Well I was right! I didn't sleep much last night. But no matter. We have a long journey and it's best if I can spend some of it sleeping.

    Our good friend, Colleen Landa, picked us up at our home to take us to the airport. Our son, Eric, met us there to say goodbye as we hadn't seen him in a week or so. We had a little visit and now here we are sitting on the plane to Toronto. The only incident was losing my brand new body butter from the Body Shop! It was a 200 mL container and the limit is 100 mL. Such a rookie mistake.Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    End of the First Leg

    April 11, 2017 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    After an uneventful flight to Toronto, we boarded the UP Train to downtown Toronto to meet up with my mom and dad and my Auntie Cathy at her lovely apartment on the lakefront. My cousin and his children also joined us and we had a great visit even if it was too short. Cathy had made us a delicious meal which we enjoyed while catching up. I have a wonderful family but they all live too far away so I don't see them nearly enough. And I forgot to take pictures!!

    We jumped back on the UP Train, made it back through security with no problems and are now enjoying a beverage in the Maple Leaf Lounge while waiting for our flight to London, UK.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Second Leg of the Journey

    April 12, 2017 in England ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We were quite comfortable on the flight to London. We were in small pods with seats that lie flat so we were able to get a few hours of sleep. We landed at about 10:30 am London time and found an Air Canada lounge outside security in Terminal 2. We had showers and put on some fresh clothes then jumped on the Underground and took the Picadilly Line to Covent Garden.

    We wandered around the Covent Garden area and found a pub on a corner where we had, of course, fish and chips!! It was such a beautiful, sunny day that all the doors and windows were open so it was like eating outside.

    The Internet is quite amazing and has made the world seem so much smaller. A few weeks ago I was surfing around and found a women's lingerie/clothing website that carries specialty clothing for women of my "shape"!!! This company, Bravissimo, has a shop in Covent Garden which was very close to where we had eaten lunch. We found it easily and Jon went exploring while my own personal fitting assistant helped me shop. I found some lovely things which fit perfectly and which were a really good price.

    We started meandering back along the street on the Picadilly Line. It was very crowded and busy in the whole area. We heard lots of people speaking German, Italian, and French and we saw lots of families with kids. We wondered if it was Easter Break in Europe and if everyone was on holiday. We got tired of dealing with the crowds and jumped back on the Underground.

    We are back at Heathrow in the Air Canada lounge waiting for our flight to Delhi. We are both tired from only sleeping a few hours and from all the walking. Although this will be a long flight, (about 8 hours) we have the lie-flat seats again so are hoping to get some sleep. We want to be rested for the chaos that awaits us in Kathmandu!

    PS - Sorry about the uninspiring pictures. I'm a little out of practice.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor
    1

    Third Leg

    April 13, 2017 in India ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    Well we made it to Delhi but we won't be leaving the airport as we catch our plane to Kathmandu in about 30 minutes.

    Our flight from London was very comfortable - they actually gave us pyjamas to change into! I slept like a baby but I have no idea for how long. We've gone through many time zones so my poor body has no idea what's going on. It doesn't matter, I'll get sorted out in Kathmandu as we have three days before our hike.

    I heard from Elizabeth and Reig, our intrepid travelling partners. Their flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. Qatar Air put them up in a hotel in Philadelphia for the night and they will hopefully be flying out today at the same time as their original flight. They will arrive in Kathmandu a day late but Jon purposely scheduled the extra days before our hike for just such hiccups!

    Once again, lame pictures but I hope they improve.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Fourth Leg and We Made it!!

    April 13, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    We have arrived and Kathmandu is an assault on the senses!! As we descended to our landing we discovered that the city is enveloped in a smokey haze. As soon as you step off the plane onto the tarmac you are breathing in this smokey haze and the surgical masks that you were advised to bring but didn't, make sense.

    The first challenge is to get out of the airport. It's chaos but we were among the first ones off so we got through in reasonably good time. The hassle is that you have to purchase a visitors permit before you leave the airport. Once the immigration officer gave us our visas we went to collect our bags. We had to show a security officer our luggage tickets and then we were officially in Nepal!

    Outside the airport it's a crowded mess of people wanting to take your bags and drive you somewhere. Jon spotted the sign for our trekking company, our luggage was deposited in the trunk of a beat up old car, we were deposited in the back seat of said car and we were on our way.

    The first thing the driver did was to drive forward over a sidewalk and right into traffic all the while honking his horn. I knew we were in for a wild ride and our driver did not disappoint. My first impression was that it was very similar to Peru or Mexico but much more crowded and intense. The electrical system is insane with big clumps of wires hanging all over the place. No one seems to bother much about the lanes and what appears as utter chaos actually has a weird sort of flow to it. Motorcycles weave in and out everywhere, vehicles pass each other any which way while brave pedestrians bodly step into this fray. Our driver was amazingly talented and deftly wove through this craziness and deposited us safely at our hotel.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Dalai-La Boutique Hotel

    April 13, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    After dropping our bags in our room while our driver waited, he then took us to the trekking company office. We chose Nepal Eco Adventures which had very good reviews. It was literally a two minute car ride. At the office we made our final payment and collected some gear for our trek.

    The idea was that we were to walk back to our hotel. The problem was we didn't know we were to walk back until we got to the office and neither of us had been paying much attention to where we were going. You might be thinking that a person couldn't get lost on such a short walk back but you'd be wrong. We wandered around for a while and then accidently stumbled upon our hotel. All the streets look the same and there are no street signs so we are definitely going to have to keep our wits about us when we venture out alone!

    We were dirty, tired and hungry but hunger won out so we went down to the hotel restaurant for a good meal. Jon actually nodded off while waiting for his dinner. After dinner we availed ourselves of the wonderful amenities in our room and drifted off in our first proper bed in two days to the strains of a very loud band playing in the courtyard right below our room. Thank God for ear plugs!    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Exploring Thamel

    April 14, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    So I woke up at 2:00 am and could not get back to sleep. I read until it was time for breakfast and then we went exploring. Our trekking companions, Reig and Elizabeth, were delayed due to a cancelled flight. They are arriving later today, one day late, so we decided to do a bit of last minute shopping.

    Thamel seems to be where all the tourists end up so we saw and heard people from all over the world. Most of the shops carry very similar things and most of it seems to come from India. There are tons of places selling hiking gear but most of it is very good fakes.

    We used a map to get around but we quickly got the feel of the place. Well actually it was Jon who got the feel of it. I was too busy looking around at the goings on and would have been hopelessly lost without him.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Dog Tired!

    April 14, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    I was determined to stay awake until bedtime but I just couldn't do it. After a late lunch I stumbled off to our room for a nap.

    Reig and Elizabeth arrived at about 5:00pm and after they deposited their bags in their room we hustled off to the trekking company. Reig and Elizabeth settled up and we wandered back to the hotel. We had another lovely meal while we caught up but by 8:30 pm we were all done and ready for sleep.

    And lucky us, another band was playing in the courtyard below our room. I was hoping for a quiet night but I'm getting used to these seranades!    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Swayambhu Stupa (Monkey Temple)

    April 15, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    I had a great night's sleep and was ready for a day of exploring. We had arranged with our trekking company to have a guided tour of some of the significant sites around Kathmandu. Elizabeth, Reig, Jon and I joined a larger group at about 9:00 am and the 20 of us set off in a large van.

    Our first stop was the Monkey Temple. This is a monument that both Buddhists and Hindus use for prayer. And, you guessed it, it was filled with wild monkeys. The monkeys were a bit disconcerting at first because I wasn't sure if they would be aggressive. We were warned not to bring food as they would try to snatch it away. It turned out the monkeys would get quite close but they weren't aggressive.

    Our guide had a heavy accent so I had a hard time understanding what he was saying about this site. What I gather is that a lotus flower is enshrined in this stupa and has something to do with one of the Buddha's from long ago! Sorry I can be more specific. I'll research this more when I get home.

    Monkey Temple is up high on a hill and has great views of the city.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Durbar Square

    April 16, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    After the Monkey Temple we drove to Durbar Square. If you've seen any videos of the earthquake, it's probably of this area. There are very old buildings here and many of them were damaged in the earthquake and are being supported by beams and poles on the outside. The old palace is here which was in use by the royal family until 1969 when a new one was built in a different location. It seems to have two distinct sections, one in the pagoda style and one that looks almost European. The palace was so badly damaged that it cannot be repaired. It will have to be taken apart and rebuilt to the tune of approximately 10 billion dollars. Of course the Nepalese government doesn't have the money and is hoping the Americans and Chinese will help them out. I'm not hopeful the current US administration will be too open to that! Many other old buildings in the square will also need to be repaired. I think it will be a while!Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Bouddhanath Stupa

    April 16, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    The next stop was this stupa which is the largest in Nepal. It enshrines the remains of one of the Buddhas. It is a huge round structure of many levels. On the street level their are prayer wheels around the whole thing and their is a constant stream of people walking in a clockwise direction, praying and spinning the wheels. Its quite something to see.

    The stupa is surrounded by buildings which are about 4 or 5 stories tall. Our group made it's way up to a roof top restaurant in one of these buildings for our lunch. We spent the lunch hour visiting with some young Spanish people who had moved to Ireland for work.

    After lunch we walked around the stupa to some stairs which took us up a level and we did a full circle on this level.

    We walked back to our bus and made our way back to the Trekking company office.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor
    1

    The trek begins!

    April 16, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    We have chosen to do this trek with only the four of us, Elizabeth, Reig, Jon and me, in the group. We were not trying to be anti-social, but we have planned a trek that's a bit different than the usual one people do and also we wanted to be able to go at our own pace. Adjusting to altitude can be tricky and we didn't want to feel pressured to keep up if there were younger more energetic members in the group. Going up too quickly can lead to lots of problems.

    Apparently, there are tons of tourists in Nepal right now - many more than were expected. It's great for the Nepalese as they need all the business they can get. We will have a chance to visit with other travellers along the way and in tea houses in the evenings.

    I had to pair down my gear even further to only 17 kg. I'll carry 5 kg and the porter will carry 12 kg. The porter will also carry 12 kg from Jon. Makes us westerners seem like wimps by comparison.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Hurry up and wait!

    April 16, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We ate breakfast and then checked out just as a car and driver and our guide, Bijay, showed up. We loaded up the vehicle and headed for the airport for our 11:00 am flight to Phaplu.

    We arrived at the airport at 9:30 am and commenced waiting. Then we waited some more. Then we moved to a different area and waited again. Finally at about 12:30 pm our flight was announced and we loaded a small bus to take us to our plane. We were flying with a group of doctors on a medical expedition.Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Wild Ride!!

    April 16, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    It was a crazy, bumpy ride through the mountains to the Phaplu airport. You ascend from Katmandu but then you never really go back down.

    To land you go through a pass so close to the mountains that you feel like the wings will touch the trees. The plane then banks to the right and basically drops quickly down onto a runway. The runway ends at the edge of a cliff so there is no room for error here.

    It was a bumpy, windy ride but it only lasted about 20 minutes.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Phaplu to Junbesi

    April 16, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    We stopped in Phaplu at a tea house for lunch and water and then we started off towards Junbesi.

    It was so awesome to be finally walking. At every turn there was something interesting to see. Not many tourists go this way so we were a bit of an oddity and locals seemed curious about us. We passed a school and the children waved to us and yelled Namaste until we were out of sight.

    It happened that many boys who were students at a Buddhist monastery were on the trail with us. They had been at a different monastery for a ceremony and were on the way back to Junbesi. Our guide struck up a conversation with three of these students and we ended up walking with them for most of the way. They shared with us fascinating details about their schooling. They said they had been learning English from an Italian fellow, go figure!! They were shy to speak with us at first but eventually they got quite chatty.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Junbesi

    April 16, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Elevation - 2700 m

    Sir Edmund Hilary came through Junbesi and for the rest of our trek we will be following the same route he took. The first picture below is of the tea house he stayed in. It wasn't open as it was damaged during the earthquake and was being repaired.

    Our first tea house was a very interesting experience. The rooms were about 10' x 10' with two beds. There is room under the beds for bags and boots and things but it's tight for two people. Being very small people, Reig and Elizabeth shared a bed to keep warm. There was no way Jon and I would fit on one though.

    We had walked for about 5 hours and having been awake since 4:00 am, I was ready for bed.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Thuptencholing Monastery

    April 17, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    After breakfast we started off to the monastery. It was a lovely 2.5 km hike up and it was a beautiful, sunny day.

    Once at the monastery, we were welcomed by a monk and shown two of the places where they meditate. In each of these rooms the walls are painted with very detailed artwork and there are long pads on the floor on which the monks sit. A monk in the second room did a blessing for us and put a loop of red string around our necks.

    After viewing these rooms, we were offered tea. We went down to a little room beside the kitchen and joined three older monks who were having tea. Through our guide we learned a bit about them and about the monastery. Before the airport in Lukla was built 25 years ago, the way to Everest Base Camp was through Junbesi and they used to get many visitors. Now almost no one comes.

    We shared our cookies with our hosts and drank delicious sweet, milky tea. It was a lovely, lovely experience. As we were leaving one of the female monks asked me to take her picture. I showed it to her and she a friend had a good giggle about it.

    There is a picture below of the kitchen where they cook food for the 400 monks that live there. Ladies reading this, never complain about your kitchens!! The cooking here is done with wood, it's not vented properly so it's very smokey and everything is black!    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Walk to Ringmu

    April 17, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Elevation - 2720 m

    We left the Monastery and started off for Ringmu. It was a beautiful walk but it was mostly uphill and we were pretty tired when we rolled into Ringmu. In total we walked 20 km today and I was really feeling it.

    The scenery is, of course, amazing. We passed little collections of houses. People use every available level space to grow vegetables and they make level spaces by terraacing the slopes.

    The houses are mostly made of stone blocks which are hand carved and they are not heated. There is usually a wood stove of some kind in the dining area but not in sleeping areas. We have down sleeping bags and usually the tea houses give you a big heavy blanket to put over. I was a bit squeamish about using the blanket as I'm sure they are not washed much. I got over my squeamishness quickly when it was time to get into a very cold bed.

    The food here is bland and either boiled or fried but it's filling and keeps you going. I am relying on potatoes, noodles, porridge, pancakes and eggs. At noon I have been having noodle soup with veg and an egg. Apparently there is a bakery at Namche Bazaar so I'm looking forward to that.

    After supper we stumbled off to bed for a very early night.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Ringmu to Jubhing

    April 18, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Elevation - 1680 m

    Today we walked 19 km and, no word of a lie, it was all steeply downhill and very rocky. Every step down was a precarious balancing act. Because we were decending, it was very warm and dusty and we all felt nasty and dirty when we arrived in Jubhing. This was the worst day for Jon because all the downhill was very hard on his knees. And to add insult to injury, he got a very bad case of chafing in his nether regions!!
    We were so very glad to finally make it to the tea house.

    We desperately needed a to clean up but there was no shower. They had a separate building for a toilet and shower which looked fairly new but they hadn't got the shower hooked up yet. We had to make do with buckets of cold water in a little shower room. It was actually quite refreshing and it felt wonderful to be clean.

    This tea house looked fairly new so we figured it had been rebuilt since the earthquake. We had actually planned to go a bit farther and sleep at a higher elevation but there was no way we could have walked anymore. Unfortunately, there were mosquitoes at this level and as we hadn't planned to stay this low, none of us had gotten malaria vaccinations.

    I felt as though I was developing a cold so, once again, I stumbled off to bed right after supper.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Jubhing to Paiya

    April 19, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Elevation - 2730 m

    Well we have discovered a new use for duct tape! Jon put some sterile gauze over the chafed area and then covered the whole thing with duct tape. It hurt like the dickens when he took it off, and he is now sporting a bikini wax, but the area is healing up nicely.

    Today we walked 16 km but it was a mixture of up and down. The scenery is absolutely amazing and, of course, pictures don't do it justice.

    We have been running into more and more donkey and cow/yak trains. Cow/yaks are a cross between a cow and a yak. Their horns are different than a yak and their hair is shorter. These animals are harnessed up with wooden devices that sit on their backs over a pad. The gear is then tied to these wooden things. The donkey trains are rigged up in the same way but are quite sad. We saw a few animals with terrible sores and the men driving these trains threw rocks at the animals to get them going. The cow/yak trains were much more civilized and we speculated that because the yak trains are much shorter, they are probably family owned. The donkey trains can be quite long and are probably driven by hired help who don't really care much about the animals.

    It started to cloud over as the day wore on and made for a nice walking temperature. Just minutes after we reached the tea house a crazy hail storm hit. We figured the blessing we got from the Buddhist monks had saved us from being out on the trail when it hit! The noise was deafening on the roof of the tea house.

    After the storm, we had bucket baths with lovely hot water that was already heated in the kitchen. The rooms were like little cabins and the dining room was lovely and warm with a little woodstove in the middle.
    And surprisingly, this family even had a fridge sitting in the corner of the dining room. Someone would have had to carry that fridge over the rough terrain we had just traversed to get it there!    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Paiya to Phakding

    April 20, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    -Elevation 2610 m

    Today we walked 14 km and my slightly sore throat has developed into an upper respiratory infection. We have finally hit the main trail to Everest Base Camp and there are many more tourists on this trail. It is very different than what we've experienced so far. As grueling and difficult as these days have been, it was lovely to see the less touristy side of Nepal.

    The people here are amazingly tough. They have to be because they carry everything they need for many miles. Apparently, all supplies are trucked into Phaplu, where we started, and then carried everywhere else. It's taken all our strength to walk from Phaplu with just a day pack on our backs, never mind some of the loads we've seen people carrying. You just cannot match the toughness of these people.

    We stayed in a very upscale teahouse in a room with its own bathroom sporting a western toilet and a shower. The tea house had a large dining area but the food was the same as we experienced all along.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Phakding to Namche Bazaar

    April 21, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Elevation - 3440

    It was another long hot walk to Namche Bazaar but the thought of a hot shower and our own western toilet kept me going. I was still fighting an upper respiratory chest infection and was feeling very tired. Bijay took my pack for about 45 minutes to give me a break and that really helped.

    We made good time and got to Namche Bazaar at about 2:30 pm. I went straight to our room and had a shower. Bijay suggested I start taking the altitude medicine so I took one dose along with some Tylenol and crawled into bed.

    We met in the dining room for tea and supper. I was feeling much better and enjoyed my meal. I was still tired after the last six days and turned in for an early night.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Namche Bazaar

    April 23, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    We are spending three nights and two and a half days here at Hotel Namche, a fairly decent hotel. Namche Bazaar is actually a small city. Tibetan traders used to come here to trade goods and every week they still have a market. All kinds of stuff is brought up from Phaplu by mule trains and porters. People come from all around to stock up on supplies for their tea houses. There is an airstrip here that's not used anymore but helicopters fly in and out. No one gets supplies by helicopters because it's way too expensive.

    Our rooms are not fancy but after some of the tea houses we've been in, they feel quite luxurious. We have our own bathroom and although the rooms are not heated, our beds have electric blankets. It is absolutely glorious to crawl into a nice warm bed.

    On our first day here we took it very easy and walked up to have a look at the market. After that, we walked up to the Sagarmatha National Park interpretive centre. From here you can get your first glimpse of Everest but unfortunately it was covered with clouds. As I looked at the clouded Everest, I was wondering how the people who were attempting to summit it were doing. We've had a fair bit of cloud the last few days and apparently the trail to base camp got one foot of snow the other day.

    After the interpretive centre, we walked to another monastery for a quick look around. Back on the main drag, we found a bakery and had a bit of lunch, then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening taking it easy.

    The next day Jon, Reig and Elizabeth walked up to Everest View Hotel. This takes about 2 hours up and 2 hours down and is a good way to acclimatize. I was feeling quite unwell and so I stayed in bed. In addition to dealing with the upper respiratory tract infection and the effects of altitude, I developed tummy troubles yesterday afternoon and haven't been able to eat much. I did a little shopping for supplies we will need and had some tea and a bun in a German bakery. Go figure! They have free wi-fi so I was able to upload some blog posts. I mostly spent the day resting. After supper I took a cornucopia of drugs and crawled into my nice warm bed for more rest. Jon was asleep by 8:30 pm. Tomorrow we head to Tengboche.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to NepalJanet Taylor

    Namche Bazaar to Tengboche

    April 24, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Elevation 3860 m

    We walked for 5 hours and went about 12 km. The trail was fairly level until the last couple of hours and the went uphil quite steeply. Once again the scenery is breathtaking. We arrived about 2:30 pm and were quite chilled. The tea house was small but comfortable and reasonably clean by Nepal standards.

    There is a monastery in the village and at 3:00 pm there was a ceremony that was open to the public. Jon and I and Bijay got there and were invited inside to sit on thin pieces of foam around the outside walls. The monks gradually came in, picked up thick heavy robes and sat down cross-legged on cushions on solid benches. It seemed like there were one or two monks who were leading and they took turns starting off with some chanting that the others would repeat. They speak Tibetan. There were only about 7 or 8 monks there and it looked like there was room for at least twice that. It was very cool to watch but we had to leave before it was over because it was cold inside the building and we were slowly getting chilled to the bone.

    We went straight to the dining room which was toasty warm and drank some hot tea to warm up. I have been ordering "hot lemon" which I think is just lemonade warmed up. Our guide advised us not to drink coffee or too much tea as they are diuretics and dehydration is a big problem at altitude. As we were having tea Bijay called us outside. The clouds had cleared a bit, the sun was setting and were able to catch a glimpse of Sagarmatha (Everest) poking out behind another mountain.

    Although the dining room was warm the air was difficult to breath. The dining rooms all seem to have the same types of stoves in which they burn dried yak poo! They open a lid on top of the stove to add more poo. When they open this lid smoke escapes into the room. In addition, wood or more yak poo was being used for cooking. There was a flimsy little cloth hanging in the doorway to the kitchen to screen the view from the dining room. The cloth did nothing to prevent the smoke from the kitchen from wafting into the dining room. So the combination of yak poo, and cooking smoke created quite a lethal brew as the evening wore on and caused my cough to worsen. As soon as I finished eating I left. Unfortunately, the only other warm place was my sleeping bag so that's where I went even though it was quite early.

    I coughed quite a bit through the night and I'm sure I disturbed other guests as the walls are only 1/4 inch plywood! I'm a bit worried about how this infection will affect me as we go higher.    Read more

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