Everest Base Camp Trek, the last adventure of my sabbatical from work. This trip has been on my bucket list ever since I watched the Everest Movie, Into Thin Air, in the late 1990s. The village of Namche Bazaar was especially intriguing to me.
Candace and I watched the more recent Everest Movie, which we rented on Netflix. The next day, Everest trips showed up on my Facebook feed. After discussing the conspiracy theories behind this advertisement, I started researching the trip. There are many companies out there guiding clients to base camp, and after some time I stumbled upon Nepal Hiking Team. This company was actually #1 on trip advisor (out of over 900), so I felt confident booking with them. Since this was a solo trip, and my first travel out of country alone, I was looking for a trip that was completely contained. Nepal Hiking Team exceeded all expectations with great city tours, excellent trekking guides, and good accommodations on the mountain. Ganga, the owner, was prompt in his response to my correspondence prior to the trek. If I were to ever travel in Nepal, Tibet or Bhutan, I would definitely travel with this company again!
If you’ve been following my blog, you know that I’ve been away from home since June. I didn’t want to push my luck with Candace, but with this trip being 3 weeks long, it would be hard to accomplish while having a job. I texted Candace, and her response, as always, was “Go for it!” I immediately booked the tickets, and waited for a good moment to tell her it was a go.
I chose to trek in early November, which worked with my schedule, but also is a very popular time for the trek. It is fall in Nepal, the weather is mild and the skies are clear, which gives you a good chance to see the mountain. Only caveat is that the nights are very cold! Here, I am pointing to Mt. Everest.
After 33 hours of travel, and crossing the International Date Line, I made it to Kathmandu. I read horror stories about the airport, which was easy to navigate upon arrival. Nepal Hiking Team was holding a sign with my name, and whisked me off to my hotel. The traffic is insane in Kathmandu. There are no rules and no traffic lights at intersections. Being an aggressive driver is key to making progress on the roads. There are motorbikes everywhere, weaving in-between traffic, as well as pedestrians. It was a feast for the eyes!
The next morning, I met the group I would be traveling with. There were six of us in the main group, and 2 others who would hike part of the trek with us. We were pretty quiet that first day, taking in the sights of our city tour.
Our first stop was Swayambhunath Temple, also known as “Monkey Temple”. Appropriately named, there were monkeys everywhere! Prayer flags floated in the wind above the Stupa, and prayer wheels lined the bottom. Prayers from the flags are carried through the air when the wind blows, blessing everyone who is touched by the wind. The prayer wheels contain scrolls inscribed with mantras, and when turned clockwise, the mantas are released to bring benefit to all beings.
We walked around Kathmandu Durbar Square, and learned quickly to mind the traffic. The sites and sounds of the city were overwhelming. There was music playing in the streets, as well as so many traffic horns, you become immune to the sound.
We arrived during a Hindu festival called Tihar, also known as the festival of lights. The city was decorated with garlands and lights, and the vendors were selling colorful dyes for use during the festivities. The festival lasts for 5 days, and this day was the day of the dog. The locals celebrate their relationship with the dogs by feeding them, placing a spot of red dye on their foreheads and adorning them with flowered necklaces.
Another culture stop was Pashupatinath, a sacred temple along the riverbank, where open-air cremation ceremony of the Hindus takes place in public view. Elderly Hindu’s arrive here during their final days and are housed in the shelter, until their death. They are cremated along the riverbanks, and their ashes are then swept into the river. The Hindus believe if you are cremated here, you will rise again in human form, despite any sins you may have committed during your life. This was a very spiritual place, and the atmosphere was calm and serene. The temple here withstood the 7.8 earthquake of 2015, and was built in 400AD.
All of these sites are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the final site we visited was Bouddhanath Stupa, a place of worship for Buddhists. This Stupa was built in the 5th century, and is the largest, most ancient Stupa in the world. The Buddha eyes, also known as wisdom eyes, looks out in every direction, symbolizing the all-seeing Buddha. The character below the eyes, where the nose would be, is a curly symbol and the Nepali character for the #1. This symbol signifies the unity off all things.
The next morning, we were scheduled for the 6 am flight to Lukla, the start of our trekking adventure! We were all excited for the flight, as the flight is boasted to be one of the most dramatic short flights in the world! The short runway in Lukla is on the side of a cliff. I had regretted taking some items out of my duffel bag for the trek, but we were only allowed to carry 15 kg in our backpacks and duffel, or pay a fee.
Normally, I would just pay the fee if necessary, but my ATM card got stolen by the ATM machine. I stood there in disbelief, as the error screen for windows popped up and the ATM machine rebooted. I was pressing buttons, hoping my card would eventually pop out, but it didn’t. Some local gentlemen checked on me in the phone booth sized box where the ATM machine was housed. I didn’t have a local SIM card in my phone, so one of the guys called the bank to report my dilemma. The local people here were amazing, always willing to help you. I had some cash, so I went to have it exchanged for the local currency, the rupee. My $100 bill had a tear, and was rejected by the first vendor I went to for exchange. I had another $100 in the safe at the hotel, and thought I’d try again with both bills at another vendor. Luckily, my bill was inspected, but finally exchanged for rupees. I had to be very cautious as my funds were limited.
Once we arrived in Lukla, I was blasted with the coolness of the air. If it’s this cold down here, it’s going to be freezing as we make our way up the mountain! We enjoyed a coffee before taking off on our easiest day, a 4 hour trek to Phakding, 8699 feet. This day did not prepare us for the rest of the trek, as it was extremely easy trekking. We arrived to the teahouse where we would be sleeping early in the day. The temperatures had warmed in the sun, yet despite this, our rooms were freezing cold. I took a walk with my book and camera to one of the many suspension bridges and sat on a large rock in the sun. It was heavenly and a great start to a fantastic adventure.
I much anticipated our next day’s trek to Namche Bazaar. A more difficult hike, we traveled about 7 miles before reaching Namche. We entered Sagarmatha National Park and our guide obtained our permits.
One of my favorite parts of this trek were all the suspension bridges that we crossed. Prayer flags blowing in the wind adorned many of the bridges we crossed. We had to be careful not to cross with pack animals, the donkeys carried supplies down low and Yaks more common as we climbed higher. The animals wore cow bells around their necks to warn hikers of their presence.
The yaks carry very heavy loads, and don’t know their boundaries. It was important to stand on the mountain side of the trail, and not the cliff side, when these animals passed by, as you could be knocked off the trail by their load. I actually witnessed one local man get in front of a yak while he was making haste, the yak attempted to use his horns to knock him off the trail, while the man proactively jumped off the trail to avoid injury.
We had an excellent room in Namache, a little warmer than our last room, with a great view of the village. Adriana was my roommate during the trek. Her resume included summiting two of the 7 highest peaks on each continent. I am thankful for the advice she gave me as we traveled further up the trail.
Namche Bazaar was one of the most colorful villages of our trek. We were greeted by another Stupa and prayer wheels, and I watched the local villagers doing laundry in the stream. Everything in the villages past Lukla is carried by porter. I even saw a porter carrying raw meat up the mountain. For religious reasons, no animal can be killed 2 days below Lukla, so Namache was the last village where we ate meat dishes.
We got a rest day in Namache, but I would more aptly call this day as an acclimatization day. We hiked to the Everest View Hotel, the highest luxury hotel in the world according to Guinness Book of World records.
I would assume that this hotel had heat in the rooms, which the teahouse did not. We slept cocooned in our sleeping bags every night, as the nights got colder and colder as we ascended. The only areas that had heat were the dining rooms, where we would sit with our mates and enjoy dinner and conversation after the long days of trekking. The dining room was heated with dried yak dung, which became more prevalent as we ascended.
We sat outside on the deck of the Everest view hotel and enjoyed coffee and teas in the sun to acclimate to the elevation of 13,000 feet. After descending back to Namache, we did a little shopping in the village.
This was the start of elevation sickness for one member of our group, Saga. Saga and Stina, from Sweden, were the youngest of the group, early 20s. Stina actually celebrated her 23rd Birthday with us in Phakding. We bought an apple cake and split it 4 ways. Our guide, Bim, also received some tragic news. His son was involved in a motorbike accident and he left the tour to meet his son in the hospital. I heard later, his son was recovering well.
We spent this day with our porter/assistant guide Robin. Robin was amazing, he carried a box of apples, tied together with a thick frayed string that he held, everyday, while we ascended. Our new guide, Narayeen, arrived as we headed out the next morning for Tengboche, 12,660 feet.
I loved Tengboche, it was a highlight of the trip. There is a monastery there, and we arrived in time to watch the monks pray. All of us trekkers took off our smelly boots outside of the monastery before we entered. We lined each of the walls inside the monastery, some standing while others sat on the cold floor in front of those standing. The monks arrived to the monastery wearing their puffy winter jackets, once inside, they put on their traditional robes over their jackets. They sat down quietly, before beginning to chant/pray. I was standing at the monks backs, but those with views of their faces told me that they would not take a breath in-between their long chants, as they prayed in unison with one another. I shed some quiet tears, as I was so grateful to be a witness to this spiritual event. When it was over, the monks quietly left. I walked around the space admiring all the statues and the monastery itself.
As I exited the space, I saw the slab of rock that a monk prayed on in the 16th century. He prayed that a monastery would be built in this spot, and it was built, around the rock where the monk kneeled and prayed. There are indentations left in the rock. Our guide told me that this monk had special powers, and therefore left these marks. The monastery and our tea house all but disappeared in the fog that swept us up that evening.
After Tengboche is where the trek became more challenging for me. We hiked about 7 miles to the village of Dingboche, 14,464 feet. The hike there was amazing, as we were greeted by another Stupa as we entered into the village. We had another acclimatization day here, where we hiked a hill above the village called Nagerjun. Our guide suggested we not go the whole way to summit this peak. I felt great that afternoon, and felt like I could go higher.
But things changed that night. In the guesthouses, we no longer had running water. At Dingboche, we had access to water in large storage containers to brush our teeth and wash our hands. I was brushing my teeth the whole time with tap water, this might have lead to my demise. I ate a large dinner that night, the standard Nepalese dish which includes lentil soup, cooked vegetables and rice.
This was the last of my substantial meals. I went to bed feeling nauseated, and awoke in the middle of the night with toxic diarrhea. The facilities were also becoming more rugged, but luckily there was a western toilet that night. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to trek that next day in my condition. There would be no bathrooms along the way. I survived the night by staying present, or picturing our porter Robin carrying a toilet for me. I medicated myself heavily with lomotil throughout the night. I also accepted more anti diarrheal meds from our Swedish friends, which seemed to work. I started taking antibiotics for traveler’s diarrhea. I also awoke with yet another headache, although this one did not subside after taking ibuprofen, as they had in the past. I started taking the medication for altitude sickness, Diamox.
This was around the time that we lost our patriarch, and now good friend Ron, who was also feeling sick. Ron had brightened our every day, with stories of his past. He was a great conversationalist over all and he was also an amazingly strong hiker. He would tell me stories, and at one point I told him I couldn’t respond because I was too short of breath to talk. He was amazing! But he was getting sick, he had not slept for 4-5 days, and he was unable to keep himself warm. It sounded to me like he was developing the flu. I think he saw the writing on the wall, and knew he would have trouble continuing, or worse, get sicker. At 71, he didn’t want to take his chances, and he chose to be airlifted back to Kathmandu hospital. From then on, wherever we went, we all commented that we wish Ron were with us.
Our other friend Saga, also began struggling more. I had given her 20 of my Diamox, knowing I would not need all 60 tabs prescribed to me. Despite the med, she was spitting up secretions and feeling dizzy as we ascended. With the help of her friend Stina, she was able to keep going.
On our hike up to Lobuche, I was feeling better, no bathroom stops. I figured I would be blocked up for days with the amount of medication I took. I was however, the slowest person in the group now. With little appetite, I couldn’t take in the calories required for this strenuous trekking.
A highlight of this day though, was reaching the climber’s memorial. Climbers from the 1996 tragedy on Everest, as well as other climbers who have died, are remembered here.
My throat started to become sore when I reached Lobuche, elevation 16,105 feet. I had Stina, who was a nursing student, look into my throat. The news was not good, she visualized white patches with indicated infection. Saga had also been struggling with this infection. I was awakened in the middle of the night, choking on my secretions. By the next morning, I could not swallow without pain. Each sip of fluid I took in, I could feel pain starting at my esophagus and traveling across my anterior chest. I could no longer drink the tea that had soothed me in the past, ginger lemon, as it burned my throat tremendously. Even drinking water gave me discomfort. I could only breathe now from my mouth. The dust on the trail gives hikers a condition known as the khumba cough. To combat this, we all wore neck gaitors or masks over our mouths. At this elevation, it became hard to breath going up hill at times, I needed to lower my scarf to catch my breath.
There are two types of trail conditions on Everest Base Camp Trek. Steep uphill (and later downhill), or what’s called Nepalese flat, a little up and a little down. Our guide Narayeen, briefed us nightly on what to expect the next day.
This day would be our hardest, the day we trek to Base Camp. First we made our way to Gorekshep, the village where we would be sleeping. We had lunch and repacked our backpacks with only the necessities. I realized I was moving too slow on our way to Gorekshep, when our porter Robin offered to take my backpack. For fear of holding up the group, I let him.
After lunch, I was determined to carry my own bag, it was lighter now and I felt better after taking a break. Saga was also determined to make it to base camp and kept going despite her illness. Our group was split with wide gaps in-between us, and Robin again took my backpack. It was a hard day, and I had to stop every few feet to catch my breath. I let the hikers behind me pass, and when I saw the sign for basecamp, I was feeling hopeful. I know I could do it if I just put one foot in front of the other. I still had another hour to reach basecamp, and continued slowly. Our friends from Australia were on their way back and gave me the “you could do it!” cheer, “it’s not too much further…”. I could finally see the end in sight, but I was tired. I thought of turning around crossed my mind, but I didn’t entertain that thought.
The others in the group where leaving base camp as I arrived. Their smiling faces gave me the energy I needed to get to the end. I didn’t have the group to celebrate with once I arrived, so there was a little bit of letdown initially. Once I got over that, I celebrated with Robin, who was so patient in assisting me along the way. It was pretty cold, so we snapped a few pictures and started back. Hiking back was also very difficult. Again I needed to stop frequently to catch my breath. The elevation at basecamp is 17, 594 feet!
I arrived back at Gorekshep at dusk, 1.5 hours after the rest of our group. Our guide Narayeen was getting worried and met us outside, about a quarter mile from the teahouse. I struggled to keep up with them even on flat ground. Once I arrived to the dining area, I rejoined the group. I was given the menu right away and ordered chocolate pudding, as my stomach could not handle solid food. I could only eat a few bites. I sat there with all my gear on for a while, short of breath. I was so bloated I felt like my lungs were high up in my chest, and I couldn’t fully expand them.
Others in our group were also physically exhausted. This was the first time I saw Paulo, our friend from Italy, tired. He hiked too fast leaving base camp. Matthew from Australia was also looking pale.
My O2 sat was 82% and my HR was 110 at rest. The oxygen in the air at basecamp was 52%. Normal room air oxygen is around 75%. I remember a lone trekker sitting at our table that night, sleeping while sitting up. The water in our water bottles froze overnight and there was a sheet of ice on the window in our room. It took me 20 minutes to take my boots off, bending over required effort, and I had to take a break after untying my boot laces, before I could take the boot off.
This night, my stomach issues returned. Only the services at Gorekshep were the worst yet. The toilet was a porcelain hole in the ground, which required flushing by taking a pitcher and dipping it into a large bucket, and pouring it into the hole. To make matters worse, ice had formed around the hole and it was slick and hard to keep your balance while squatting. There was no running water, and the sinks were terribly dirty. I didn’t even have the energy to brush my teeth. I took the rest of my supply of antidiarrheal meds to get me through the night. I also started a second course of antibiotics, hoping it would also kill my respiratory infection.
The next morning, the highlight was a hike up to KalaPathar. I had heard that this is a must do hike. Our guide opted for us to just hike to the viewpoint, rather than the summit, which required a start time at 0500 am. Since I was awake all night anyway, figured I’d give it a shot. I was very slow. Narayeen took me up a little ways and showed me Mt. Everest, but left the mountain to get Saga airlifted to Kathmandu hospital. I slogged my way up to a rock outcropping. It was very windy and cold. I decided to turn back, as we still needed to take a long hike out that morning.
Meanwhile, Saga was doing worse. Her breathing was irregular overnight, and her situation was becoming an emergency. She made it to the basecamp sign the day before, but now needed evacuation and emergency medical treatment. She and Stina left us that morning, which left our group of 6 down to 3. Our friends from Australia, Matthew and Damiano, who we saw nightly at the teahouses, had another adventure of hiking the high passes after EBC. Damiano was an animal, he continued past the viewpoint of KalaPathar, the planned end point, and went to summit. He was finishing as our group of 3 was readying to decend.
Narayeeen stayed back to see Saga and Stina off safely, while Adriana, Paulo and I started decending. It was a foggy, cold day. We intended to stop at Pheriche, but decided to go further onto Pangboche, a 20-22 km day. I was starting to feel better as we made our way down. I also splurged on more TP, and I was able to blow my nose, which made me more comfortable. TP for nose blowing was a luxury item on the trek. Narayeen had told us that 8 people died trekking the week we were there, an unusually high number. A Chinese nationalist died in his bed at Gorakstep the morning we arrived, likely due to acute mountain sickness.
We descended in 3 days what took us 8 days to ascend. My stomach was improving, but I also developed the Khumba cough, which was very annoying. You could tell who was on their way up and who was on their way down, those who were coughing were descending. Adriana also developed the cough, but Paulo seemed to have escaped this fate.
It was such a relief to be back in Namche! My appetite was slowly improving, and I was now leading the group on the hike down. Our last night was spent in Lukla, and we were the last people to go to bed, around 9:30pm, as we had bonded and knew this was the last of our days together. My bed time had otherwise been at 8pm.
After an exciting flight from Lukla to Kathmandu, we spent the rest of the evening shopping in Thamel Square. Then, our group of 6 was made whole again, as we all got together for dinner to swap stories.
Adriana, Paulo and I did another tour to Bhaktapur on our last full day in Nepal. Bhaktapur is a neighboring town, and full of culture and art. Our guide showed us every water well and water spout in the city, which gave the 3 of us a good laugh at dinner that night. I enjoyed the contrast of this city as compared to Kathmandu.
We did learn that the Nepalese people don’t necessarily have running water in their homes, and it is customary to bathe outdoors.
My favorite area was Pottery Square, where the wares were set out on the city streets to dry.
I also enjoyed Patan Durbar square. Here, we watched women praying and lighting candles for good health.
My flight was scheduled to leave at 11:30 pm the next day. I killed time by walking around or catching up on social media. Ganga picked me up and took me to the airport, which should have ended my Nepal adventure. The airport was chaos, and I was not allowed in either entrance when I arrived for whatever reason, but I went back to the first entrance as was finally let in. Then, the monitors were not working, but I found my way to the correct line, for my flight to Dubai. We ended up waiting in line for 4 hours. People were becoming restless, and actually going behind the ticket counter to listen to and yell back at the airport staff, in Nepalese. A gal waiting in line before me got the intel periodically. Long story short, we were all stuck in Nepal for another 24 hours.
The airlines set us up in hotels, and they did not have the infrastructure to change our tickets at the airport. We had to wait for customer service to open the next day at 10 am. I had tried to change my ticket on my own and was quoted a price of $12,000 to get to Dubai, so I was at the mercy of the airlines. I was still sick, so I slept the whole day while we waited. By the time I woke up, we got our connecting flights scheduled. We were told to just show up at the airport together for our flight to Dubai, and tell them what happened. We were not issued tickets for that flight. Things are pretty causal in Nepal. I did make some new friends during this hiccup, so everything worked out the way it should!
Everyone in our trekking group is still communicating on a daily basis, through WhatsApp, email and facebook. I feel so lucky to have found this great group of people that I traveled with. We all complimented each other well, and truly care for one another. Our group came from Sweden, United Kingdom, Brazil, Italy, Australia, and me from America. We went from strangers to friends in 16 days, maybe it was all the prayer flags blowing in the wind…
