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Epic Trip to Nepal

April - May 2017
A 31-day adventure by Janet Read more
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  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to Nepal
    Day 9

    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 Nepal
    Day 10

    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 Nepal
    Day 11

    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 Nepal
    Day 13

    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 Nepal
    Day 14

    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

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to Nepal
    Day 15

    Tengboche to Dingboche

    April 25, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    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

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to Nepal
    Day 17

    Dingboche to Thukla via Pheriche

    April 27, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Elevation - 4620 m

    Our destination today was Thukla but I had a very bad night of coughing so we decided to stop in at Pheriche where there is a medical clinic. Depending on what the doctor advised I would either go on, stay in Pheriche or go down while the others carried on.

    We got our usual start at about 7:45 am and got to the clinic about an hour later, a few minutes before they opened. This clinic is really cool. Younger doctors volunteer for two months at a time. Westerners pay to be seen and for any medications, etc. This pays for the locals to receive medical treatment for only 50 rupees which is about 50 cents! The doctor told us about a local man who had appendicitis and needed IV drugs and to be airlifted to Kathmandu. All this only cost him 50 rupees.

    I met with the doctor and he listened to my chest and heart and checked my oxygen levels and pulse and they were all good. He said I was doing everything right and gave me some cough syrup to help me sleep. He said I would be at a way greater risk of developing altitude problems so I'd have to watch for that. I felt so relieved that I could go on and that I wasn't developing pneumonia. After paying the $80 US for the visit we carried on to Thukla.

    It was going to be a short trek today. From now on the days are short as we climb to higher elevations. We walked through a beautiful valley surrounded by sharp jagged cliffs. The last hour we climbed up to Thukla. This is a very small collection of buildings. It seemed that there was really only one tea house there. We ate lunch in a sun room, organized our gear and then had a whole afternoon to kill. We collected in the dining room were we visited with two very interesting British fellows. They had saved for a couple of years and then had sold up everything and had commenced travelling around the world. We had some interesting conversations, and finally at about 4:00 pm the stove was lit. We were relieved as we were all cold but then commenced the toxic brew of yak poo and cooking smoke. The toxic brew won out because the elevation made it very cold and we stayed in the dining room.

    Eventually they stopped adding fuel to the fire so we wandered off to our cold, cold rooms. This was one of the dirtiest, coldest and most miserable places yet. I'll be glad to get out of here.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to Nepal
    Day 18

    Thukla back to Pheriche

    April 28, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Elevation - 4240 m

    Unfortunately, the toxic air brew wreaked havoc on my lungs and I spent most of the night coughing. Between the coughing and the trips to the toilet, I got very little sleep. I developed a headache and it hurt to take a breath. I was out of breath just getting dressed and tying my boots.

    I only had one more night to get through before I saw base camp but I just didn't think I could do it. I was worried about getting really sick in the middle of the night when nothing could be done. I had read information on altitude sickness and you can get sick really quickly. When I weighed it all out, I decided to give up on making it to base camp, go back to Pheriche and see the doctor again.

    It was a very difficult decision and I cried when I said goodbye. This has been a dream of mine since I was in my 20s and it was very hard to let it go but I didn't think it was fair to let myself get so sick that I would now be a problem for the rest of the group. I had said to myself before the trip that I would try not to pin the success of the trip solely on making it to base camp. I wanted to appreciate all the experiences along the way so that if I didn't make it, the trip wouldn't be a total loss. I was trying to channel my inner monk but was finding that very difficult and to tell truth I was totally pissed off at the world.

    After my teary goodbyes, Santos, one our porters, carried my bag and helped me down to Pheriche. Jon had left his bag at Thukla and the plan was that Santos would take me down then go back up to Thukla, get Jon's bag and join them in Lobuche. As we descended, I started to feel marginally better. My breathing was easier and I wasn't having so much trouble getting my breath.

    Bijay had sent a note with Santos which he gave to the proprietor of the Himalayan Hotel. It was too early to check in so I left my bag at the hotel and went to the medical centre. Santos explained my situation and then I sent him on his way back to Thukla. I saw a young Australian doctor who checked me out. I wasn't sick enough to be helicoptered out but he did think I would feel a lot better if I went down another 500 metres. Unfortunately, there was no way I could manage all my crap in my condition and I no way of letting the group know where I was. I decided to stay.

    A few days earlier, we had discussed the possibility of hiring a helicopter to take us from base camp to Lukla instead of walking down. After some discussion, we all agreed that we would do this. With the air at Everest base camp being so thin, our group would have to be shuttled two or three at a time to Pheriche (a happy coincidence) where we would then all climb aboard for the rest of the trip to Lukla. So the new plan was that I would stay in Pheriche for two nights and they would pick me up on the way down.

    After seeing the doctor, I checked in. I asked for a room with a toilet and got a queen size bed and a bathroom with a functioning (mostly) western toilet and, luxury of luxuries, a sink and mirror!!!

    The manager led me up to a lovely warm sunroom and brought me some hot lemon and toast and peanut butter. I then took advantage of the hot showers, put on some clean clothes and went back to the sunroom so my hair could dry. I had an afternoon nap and later in the dining room was able to take a call from Jon. I ate supper and visited with a young woman we had met earlier on the trail and then spent the evening sitting around the dining room stove chatting with some lovely young travellers.

    The next day after breakfast I had a walk around the village, watched helicopters coming and going and then spent the afternoon reading and catching up on this blog. I'm bored but feeling much better and ready to be moving on. I just hope the weather cooperates and I can get out of Pheriche tomorrow.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to Nepal
    Day 20

    Pheriche to Lukla via helicopter!

    April 30, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    I was up early, packed and ready for breakfast by about 6:30 am. I didn't sleep very well as I think I was anxious to to be moving on.

    I finished my breakfast then settled my bill and was outside with my bag at 7:30 am. I knew the heli would be there in the morning but I hadn't heard when. The locals were quite interested in this crazy white woman standing around on the main trail as though I was waiting for a bus!

    I waited there for an hour but eventually needed to pee. I dragged my bag back to the hotel, did my business, and continued waiting.

    As I was standing by the side of the trail and old woman and an old man ambled past prodding a small yak train. I knew instantly that the old man had been a porter. Although he was not carrying anything, he walked stooped over from the waist with a flat back and with his knees bent. Out of respect , I didn't take a picture and I realized that while I had seen quite a few old Sherpa women, the old Sherpa men were not as plentiful. It made me sad to think that the lovely young boys who were our porters might some day end up all crippled up like this old man. It's a very tough place to live.

    The owner of the hotel eventually helped me carry my bag down to the heli pad. The heli pad is just large rocks of a similar size piled in a round shape. The spaces between the large rocks were filled in with small rocks. I waited while another team was shuttled from base camp and then finally Elizabeth and Reig showed up.

    Neither of them looked particularly well, both were shivering and Elizabeth had developed a fever and a nasty cold. The heli dumped out their bags and took off back to base camp to pick up Jon and Bijay. A few minutes later, the heli was back and we piled the bags back in the heli and all climbed in.

    I called shot gun as I felt my consolation prize for not having been to base camp would be to sit up front. No one objected. I think they were all too exhausted to argue. The pilot, Andrew, a New Zealander, gave me a head set and we all buckled up. It was the coolest 15 minutes of the whole trip and such a rush to see the mountains flying by underneath us. I held the Go pro and filmed everything but the actual experience was way cooler than it looked on the video. I've decided that in my next life I'm going to be a heli pilot!!

    The flight was over way too quickly. We landed on the Lukla heli pad which is right beside the airport and runway and really close to a building. It's a really dangerous heli pad. Helicopters are being fuelled up while people, and chickens, run around. There are no signs and passengers getting off are kind of shooed to the side to get them out of the way.

    We found a porter to help us get our bags to our hotel. We dumped our stuff and met on a roof top patio for lunch. We eventually moved inside when it started to rain. Elizabeth was really not looking well and only had juice to drink.

    We spent a few hours resting then had a look around Lukla, ate supper and then had an early night. As the day wore on, Elizabeth got worse and worse and I was quite worried about her. I was hoping that after a good night's sleep she would be feeling better.    Read more

  • Janet TaylorEpic Trip to Nepal
    Day 21

    Lukla to Kathmandu

    May 1, 2017 in Nepal ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    During the night Jon developed a very bad case of food poisoning. He'd had tuna cheese pizza because he thought he was safe eating canned meat. Only afterwards did it occur to us that the can must have been opened a long time before it was used for his pizza! So here the poor man was with terrible stomach issues and facing a 30 minute plane ride in a small plane with no bathroom. Also during the night, Elizabeth's condition worsened so only Reig and I made in down to breakfast.

    We packed up and dragged our bags to the airport just after 7:00 am. The usual third-world airport chaos ensued and eventually we made it to the waiting room. By this time Elizabeth and Jon could barely stand. They sat on the most comfortable place we could find and we commenced waiting.

    If you Google Lukla airport, you'll find it's one of the most dangerous airports in the world. The reason is that the the runway is ultra short and ends in a brick wall. When taking off, the other end of the runway drops sharply off a mountain. While we waited for our flight I watched other planes coming and going. The lack of safety standards had me cringing every few minutes. At one point a young man walked so closely to the prop that I was sure he would lose his head. I actually flinched and looked away.

    Planes came and went and still we sat there waiting. Elizabeth and Jon were getting steadily worse. It was freezing in the waiting area and they were both shivering. We filled water bottles with hot water for them to hold to help them get warm. We had dressed fairly lightly because we thought we would be in Kathmandu where it was warm. After five, yes five, hours of waiting we decided to go back to the hotel to wait. We got a room for Elizabeth and Jon and they wrapped up in blankets and slept. Reig and I had something to eat and we carried on waiting.

    The delays were due to heavy rain in Kathmandu, then rain in Lukla and then wind problems in Lukla. Because of the crazy runway, conditions have to be perfect in Lukla or they close the airport. We went back to the airport at about 3:00 pm. Elizabeth could barely walk and Jon wasn't a lot better. We were told to line up outside where we waited another 30 minutes or so and then they cancelled the flight altogether. Apparently this happens quite frequently and we've heard stories of people being stuck here for three days waiting for flights out!

    We grabbed our bags, dragged our asses back to the hotel, and settled the two sick ones into their beds to sleep. We needed to be at the airport by 6:00 am the next morning so it was an early night.    Read more

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