The first days of trekking

Packing the jeep

buying soccerballs

Dawne and I on the streets of Kathmandu

Dawne was thinking we should have brought some soccerballs from home to give to kids on the trek so instead we bought some in Kathmandu on our drive to Phaplu. We just kept an eye out for stalls with soccerballs hanging! The drive from Kathmandu was 10 hours and 280 km, but there were so many switchbacks going up and around hills it was probably about 120km as the crow flies. Along the way we saw some interesting things. I missed getting a picture but one bus actually had a goat on top of it in the luggage area! Apparently it was being transported to dinner unaware that it was the main course. We also saw many dump trucks which are used to transport all sorts of things. They are super cool, decorated in words, flags, and colorful stickers. One even had a soccerball painted on the side of its bed.

truck 2

truck 1

truck 3

Truck 5

truck 4

Locals gathering

One of many brick making areas outside Kathmandu

Plaques with good sayings on them on a wall on the roadway

Pretty view of the river

kids after school

In the Jeep from Kathmandu to Phaplu

Little girl on side of road

woman carrying basket

We also saw our first glimpse of people carrying loads strapped to a band that sits on their head. We would see many more of these on the trek as porters do most of the heavy lifting, transporting duffels for lazy tourists like me. We stopped for snacks at this little place on the side of the road. They had the best food! My favorite were these rings of sweet fried bread that I think are called sel roti. Later we stopped again and had our first taste of dal baht, an all you can eat dish of lentil soup (dal) and rice (baht) usually with vegetables or curry. You get a plate with everything on it, then they come around every so often to give you more.

woman carrying big load

woman carrying sack

Stopping for a snack

Our snack

Our first dal baht

people hanging out on the side of the road

spices on the side of the road

locals on the side of the road

kid in a window

little girls playing in a gravel bin

Goats on the road

Brightly colored clothes drying on a line

Big mud puddle

The drive was long, starting in the lower areas where people lived on hills but still had electricity and easy road access. As we progressed the road got higher and less well maintained. As you can see from the pics we had some large potholes and muddy waters in the dirt road. Later our driver also had to drive through fog which enveloped some of the highest mountains over 8000 feet in elevation. He did a stellar job with blind curves, bad roads, and fog!

Foggy road

This two way road is a bit too narrow for 2 cars

Finally we arrive at Phaplu

Finally we reached our destination, Phaplu, at 8100 feet. The accomodations were pretty basic with a shared bathroom. For dinner I had the sherpa stew and multiple cups of my new favorite drink, masala tea (tea made of spices with milk and sugar). The three of us had a triple room, and unfortunately I followed Natalie in her reasoning that sleeping in the sleeping bag liner with no sleeping bag would be warm enough. It wasn’t. After growing accustomed to 89 degree weather in Indonesia and the Philippines, 53 degrees was freezing! In the morning Dawne in her cosy sleeping bag heard me complain about the cold and began to wonder if the altitude had affected me and I was delusional. Once she found out I was only sleeping in my liner, she realized I wasn’t delusional, but crazy!

Our room in Paphlu

Starting our trek

The next morning we started off on our trek to Nunthala at 6am. Today was disastrous for me. First my water bottle came open inside my backpack and spilled everywhere. I wasn’t adjusting well to the 8100 foot elevation and didn’t feel that great. One of the reasons I added 3 days to the beginning of the trip was to start lower and gradually work up to the 9000 foot elevation of Lukla, where most people start, but I didn’t realize I would be starting at 8100 feet. Then once we got going, Natalie noticed that my pack was sitting wrong. Since I know nothing about backpacks, I had not adjusted it correctly and also had all the heavy stuff on one side so it was unbalanced. She got me fixed up, but then the elevation started getting to me and I was really tired just from walking and was falling behind. Everyone else took some stuff from my way too heavy pack for me and lightened my load by about 9 pounds which really helped a lot so I was able to maintain a respectable pace.

Natalie fixing my pack

Ashley Natalie and Ram on the rocky trail

Crossing a bridge on the trail

Natalie and I crossing a stream

On the trail

Me at lunch

We walked several miles then stopped for lunch (dal baht of course). After lunch we walked up a million steps to the top of a hill at over 10,000 feet, then back down (we were wondernig if it was really necessary to climb 2000 feet just to go back down or if our guide had a mean streak). Plus this was a super long day of walking with me logging 17 miles (much of that uphill and the downhill was no picnic either as we had to pick our way down paths of rocks and my bad knees had grown tired and unstable). My friend Dawne, who is MUCH better shape than me, logged 20 miles…at one point she was walking a zigzag path in front of me so she could walk a reasonable pace as I was slowly plodding along gasping for breath. We sent her off on a couple detours to check out stupas (Buddhist shrines along the trail) so she wouldn’t get too bored. Our porters were also outpacing us, which is typical for porters, but ours would hang out somewhere and wait for us to catch up every so often. A few of their waiting poses were pretty cool so I took so pics.

Our guide spotted a monkey in a far off tree

On the long trek to 10,000 feet

Finally at the top of the first big hill

Super cute friendly puppy

As we finally dragged ourselves into Nunthala, we saw some cute baby goats and an adorbale puppy. When I went to take a picture of him, he shuffled out and came over to be petted. Adorable! A good end to a long day of hiking. Nunthala was lower at 7300 feet, which was much better for me. But by the end of the day we were all pretty exhausted and the next day was supposed to be about the same. We were pretty sure our bodies couldn’t take that so we talked with our guide who was able to get a jeep for much of the trail the next day. We all paid for much needed hot showers at Nunthala. The shower was the niftiest one we encountered: it was made of thin stacked stones as walls and wide flat stones as the floor…they make good use of the materials available, and there are LOTS of rocks here. We also liked that when Dawne ordered an apple pie, the owner made it, fresh!

very fresh eggs

REPLACE me petting puppy

Making the pie

Frying the pie

Eating the pie

Our first jeep

Next morning we hopped into the jeep and rode just over an hour along the muddy bumpy road ending at the bottom near the footbridge over the river (the car bridge had washed out and not been fixed yet). We had to wait 3 hours there before catching another jeep on the other side. While we were there the teahouse man made us tea in his wood burning rock stove! The jeep up was even bumpier and really rough. When we got to the top, our poor porters in the back were luckily still there. I commented that they would probably rather have walked and one of them smiled wobbily and nodded agreement. This is where we also started contending with donkeys. I learned to dread the sound of bells signaling donkeys coming. They come in trains of about 10, hauling food or propane tanks. You have to move to the mountain side of the trail when you hear them coming because they don’t mind knocking you off the cliff.

One of our porters in the back of the jeep

gathering wood to make tea

Tea cooking in the wood burning stove

Locals hiking down the trail

Second jeep driving through donkey trains

Donkey train

Giving away our first soccerball

We walked, not very far and stopped for lunch. Unfortunately, we ordered 2 different soups, two different spring rolls, and a bread. The lady had to make them all from scratch so 90 minutes later we were served. From that point on, we vowed to always order dal baht for lunch, which they always have ready to go. We walked on, trying to avoid donkey poop as we stepped from rock to rock, navigating the rocky trail. That is where we gave away our first soccerball to a young man in a group of young people who passed us quickly hopping from slippery rock to rock balancing easily…in flip flops! They also seemed to effortlessly avoid the donkey poop.

Soccer playing kid wearing flip flops on the trail

The end of a donkey train working its way downhill

Some porters hauling goods from one town to another

Natalie in front of waterfall

Nat and Ram trekking in the rain

Natalie and Dawne crossing our first suspension bridge

Our shoe cleaning area

When we stopped for the night, we had mud all over our shoes and trekking poles so we went into the garden area where they had a faucet, a pitcher, and a drain area. I used the pitcher to rinse off the bottom of my shoe, but a couple parts wouldn’t come off so I used my finger to rub them off. Then I realized that it was a light brown like the color of donkey poop so I asked my guide if it was donkey poop. He said “maybe.” After 3 days, I now knew that when Ram says we will get there in 30 minutes, it really means 45 minutes and when he says maybe, that really means yes (also behind my back he indicated to my sister that yes it was donkey poop). Oh well, nothing I could do about it now except wash my finger really well with soap which I did. We then found a stick to use in place of fingers. The place also had 2 cute little girls who were working on schoolwork so Dawne gave them a pack of pencils and from that moment on they were her little shadows, following her downstairs to sit by her side and following her into our room where they sat watching her every move.

Dawne and her two shadows

Dawne and our rocky trail

Natalie and I trapped against the rocks for 3 consective donkey trains

Next day we set off on a trail of wet rocks where we had to find a path up and down along the mountain sides while trying in vain to avoid poop from the donkey trains. At one point we had 3 sets of donkey trains come by one after the other, pinning us against these rocks. The rain also came making the rocks more slippery and making Natalie injure herself. She was able to get to the lunch spot, but we still had a few hours to go. We arrived at our first serious likelihood that our group would not get to Everest Base Camp. In order to keep our schedule, we needed to reach Phakding that day. Natalie could not get there with her injury. I was questionable. Finally our guide suggested getting a horse to transport Natalie the rest of the way to Phakding and then to Namche Bazaar the next day since that would be a fun place for Natalie to hang out and recover while we went on.

typical non western lunch toilets

Women tending their fields

Natalie on horse with onlookers

The horse (Golden) was super sweet as was his owner. I got a head start since I was the slowest in the group and awhile later Natalie passed us looking like a princess riding through the lowly villagers. EVERYONE on the trail stopped to look. It was pretty cool though pricey at $95. The next day started off easy for the first few miles. Again Natalie started after us and rode by on Golden attracting much attention. After lunch the trail went up and up in a steep climb to Namche Bazaar with many stone steps. I knew this was the biggest climb of the trip and I was determined to make it. We passed an elderly Indian gentleman who gave me hope…he said the key to getting to Everest Base Camp was to hike slowly so you can adjust to the elevation. I definitely had the slowly part down!

Natalie with Golden and his owner

Natalie on Golden crossing a suspension bridge

We walked across the top suspension bridge which was REALLY high

Me and a friendly dog

Goats and people carrying baby goats

Dawne giving away the second soccerball 2

Dawne making friends on the trail

Dog with red dot on forehead

Dawne and I at one of the checkpoint gates

At lunch with our dal bhat

Cute puppies

Dawne and I on the way up to Namche Bazaar

My first and only glimpse of Mount Everest

When we finally got to Namche Bazaar, I was so happy. Then our guide kept walking up and up more stairs. We went through the center of town and then up the back end continuing until almost the very end of town. I think they purposely choose the very highest or fathest teahouses for us to stay in. The total elevation increase from Phakding was 2800 feet. But the teahouse (Moonlight Lodge) was really nice with excellent food and super nice hosts. We even had our own bathroom in the room. Definitely a nice place for Natalie to spend a week until we returned.