Saturday 27th March 2010 - Namche Bazaar to Tengboche

Saturday 27th March 2010 - Namche Bazaar to Tengboche

It is hard to believe this is our ninth day since leaving home. We seem to be rapidly making progress now since we began trekking which is excellent. Today we are heading for Tengboche, home of the world's highest place of worship, the Tengboche monastery. The routine now for each morning is well established. Wake up call, pack the rucksack, porridge and coffee for breakfast with some toast and settle the bill for the lodge. My bill came to 2400 rupees which is quite reasonable considering I got some laundry done too. We start trekking at 08.30am on a beautiful and sunny morning. The haze from the past few days seems to have cleared and left a crystal clear sky. I am hopeful we will get to see Everest today. Barely thirty minutes into the walk today and the dream I have had since almost a year before of seeing Everest for the first time was realised. After turning a corner the splendour of Everest was revealed to us, the famous Everest plume was clear to see, it was one of the best experiences of my life.

I spent ages there just taking pictures and looking in awe at the mountain I hope to someday conquer. There were better views also of Lhotse and Ama Dablam, I managed to get one great shot of me with all three behind me. It looks so far away from here though you wonder if you are going to make it at all but it draws you in, captivating you with its magic. People talk about summit fever, I have it and I am still twenty miles from the base camp never mind high on the mountain. The mornings trek was easy, buoyed by seeing Everest for the first time I was flying it. Mostly flat or downhill before lunch we were making good time. After lunch however like the Namche climb came another 600m all uphill section. Only this time I was at the front of the group. I have been feeling so strong the last two days that I want to push on and prove to myself that I am prepared for this trip properly, I can get the job done. I have put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed on this trip, if I cant make it to Kala Patthar what chance have I of of climbing Everest? This was niggling at me from day one and would continue to do so for the entire trip.

I have been fortunate to date not to experience any altitude sickness, hopefully that will continue to be the case. Tengboche at 3860m is a small place, the monks have limited the amount of lodges and shops that can be built keeping it a relatively small rest stop. Our lodge Tashi Deleck Lodge and Restaurant is small but cosy. The rooms are basic but on a par with the others we have stayed in so far. Had we realised that our last western toilet would be in Namche I would have spent more time with it this morning, however local squatting style it would have to be from now on. After a quick freshen up we walk over to the monastery where the monks have just began their prayers. It is impressive to watch the monks praying in unison and we are thankful for being allowed to witness it. We wander around Tengboche for a while and stumble across a soccer game. The local monks are playing against some of our porters. Naturally being from the UK and Ireland we go over to investigate closer to discover Kevin and Jonas are already playing. Luckily for us some of the players started getting tired meaning we got our chance. Soccer at nearly 3900m is nackering. You sprint for ten meters and you nearly keel over trying to catch your breath. The monks are not the best players in the world but are great fun. Prackash was keeping an eye on us and joined in himself, perhaps to make sure we didn't do too much strenuous work.

The shower facilities were a little less than impressive. A half bucket of hot water with a jug would in fact be the last shower I would have for the next week until our return to Namche Bazaar. Of course I did not know that at the time. Ebrahim and Asif told me the best method for using such a shower is to squat down and throw some water on yourself, then lather up and repeat step one until sparkling clean. It is at times like that when you actually ask yourself how did you pay to come and do this? Nevertheless it was nice to be clean again, the trail today was so dusty that every nuck and cranny has dust in it. Dinner tonight is yet again garlic soup with vegetable Momo. I waste little time demolishing it, there is no place to use the internet here so I will have to wait 24 hours at least and Dingboche before I can see if there are facilities there. Calls home are so expensive, almost 200 rupees a minute, this would be OK for a few minutes but as you only take so much cash with you from Kathmandu you do try to be careful about spending it too early. I get times where I feel really homesick, when we are walking I am not too bad, I focus on the moment but during the downtime it gets very lonely. Call it sad but Laura bought me a compass on a Carabiner clip for Christmas, I start taking that to bed and leaving it under my pillow at night, it reminds me of home and I have something of hers to keep with me as I sleep. This was something I had not expected when I left home, to be so homesick.