In what quickly became the norm, we got up around 7 to hit trail again – with the objective of reaching Namche, the central trekking village for the region. Likewise, this would entail a serious climb of altitude, from 3400m to 4200m, over a few hours.
Funny how 800 meters doesn't really sound that high, but each turn of the trail seems like an eternity!
The trail started with the local equivalent of a traffic jam – two groups of zopkios met going in opposite directions. I could just imagine the local traffic reporter giving the update... “ah, we've got a jackknifed yak outside Phanking... we recommend alternate routes up to Namche. Oh, wait, sorry folks, there ARE no alternate routes – you're screwed. Have another tea, and hope for the best, y'all.”
We also finally got our first glimpse of the snow-covered mountains that would be our companions for the next week or two:
The climb up to Namche was brutal. It started with the highest cable bridge we saw yet:
…then went up, switchback after painful switchback for 700 meters. Ouch.
Thankfully, London served as surprisingly good training for this – with the loads of walking, my weekend hikes, and even my lazy role as handler in ultimate. Whatever – I seemed to bounce back pretty well after just a short break.
As we entered Namche – we got another example of David serving as the best icebreaker on the trail. There weren't any other black men on the trail, so David would attract a number of subtle, and not-so subtle curious stares. With his big engaging smile and cheerful “Namaste's” (hello), it was very easy to turn little kids' wide-mouthed stares into giggles in no time.
We took in another step further – as I brought out the trusty balloons for a pair of brothers.
The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring this cool town that spreads around a steep half-ring of hills.
Plus – they had their own selection of outdoor knock-offs, all brought over the border by their Tibetan cousins, so it was fun browsing and stocking up for the more serious bits of the trek to come.
The evening brought one of those events that you never would have predicted, as Dawa asked us if we wanted to check out a local music concert, with five Nepalese music groups performing.
Sure – count us in. We bundled up, and headed up to relatively rare flat bit of ground for the show.
It was... memorable.
From the opening metal cover band trying out everything from Metallica to Guns 'N Roses, we were in for a, ah, wide-ranging musical evening. As they moved on to a very enthusiastic version of Deep Purple's “Smoke on the Water”, I couldn't help but wonder if the original aging rockers could have ever envisioned their song echoing off the surrounding Himalayan peaks.
From metal, we moved out to a male Nepalese pop star, then a couple of girl singers, who all got the crowd going – who even started spraying the best nearest equivalent of champagne (lukewarm Coke) on everyone.
That was about it for me – so it was off to bed.
The next day was a 'rest day'... allowing us to acclimatize to the altitude and (theoretically) avoid the nastier symptoms of high altitude sickness (AMS).
'course, what Dawa hid from us, was that he planned a hike further up to keep us in shape.
So it was, around 9ish, that we wound our way up a steep path, and came up with a stunning vista:
From the local peaks, to Namche below, and even 8000m mountains Everest and Lhotse, it was stunning. We just sat, and tried to process that “hey, we'll be up THERE” in just a few more days!” It simply did not register.
To add insult to injury, we saw a seriously steep switchback going up a nearby hill to a hotel. David, to his later regret, asked if “hey, can we check that out?”
Sure. And we headed off. And up. And up.
Gasping, after 1250 feet, we arrived at the Japanese-owned hotel, where rich tourists could fly directly in, check out the mountains, and then leave, all without something so tedious as (gasp) WALKING.
It's now mostly closed – since, well, the one and only plane servicing the airstrip crashed a few years back.
We got to check it out though – even playing a bit of ping pong with the staff:
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