Nepal - Kathmandu and the journey to Mount Everest

My 3 week stint in Nepal was based around a 14 day hike to Mount Everest Base Camp.  To be honest seeing Mount Everest was one of the big ‘to do’s’ that I was looking forward to on this trip.  I had a few days to burn in Kathmandu before my trek started, so I ventured out to explore the city.

Quite the contrast from Dubai isn't it....take a minute to appreciate all the crazy that is this intersection

I stopped in to a local eatery for my first taste of Asian cuisine....and I’m glad I did!

 Courtyard restaurant, somewhat quiet and out of the madness of the city streets

First course was this dish made of peanuts in a mustard seed sauce with chilies, garlic, onions, peppers and tomatoes

Second course was momo’s (steamed dumplings)...I went for mushroom and spinach

Third course was thukpa – noodle and vegatables in soup base

Those three delicious courses plus a pot of local masala tea (black tea with sugar and milk, kind of like chai) ran me a whopping $4.75...loving Asia so far!

Part of my trek package was a day tour of Kathmandu and its’ sights.

First stop was the monkey temple:

Nepalese prayer flags

Oh that's why they call it monkey temple

A stupa...common to see around Nepal, it is a symbol of Buddhist warshipping 

Monkey pondering life.....or maybe whether or not to jump....or how many banana’s to have for lunch perhaps

Man spinning the prayer wheels attached to one of many temples.  The larger the prayer wheel the more prayers you get

Inside one of many monasteries.....very peacful

Large prayer wheel

Everybody at once now..."awwwwwwwww"

One of many temples dedicated to Shiva (Hindu God) in Durbar Square...Nepal is 80% Hindu with the rest mainly Buddhist

STOP FEEDING THE PIGEONS WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE

Kali the God of death...bad ass

Oh you better believe it

The big stupa - the yellow/brown pattern you see on the upper white section of the stupa is a saffron mix that they throw on daily

uhh I'm sorry?

High priests are protected by armed guards whenever they leave the temple

If your family is of certain social standing, you can bring your deceased to this temple so a priest can give them one last prayer

Once the priest have given the deceased the final prayer, the bodies are brought down to the river side for cremation...right out in the open

Lucky to be in Kathmandu at this time, as the people celebrated Tihar

Mid-day street party....as if traffic isn’t bad enough!

Marigolds are hung as a part of the celebration

Amazing street art, made from different types of flowers and seeds

I was treated to some singing and dancing by a group of school kids while in a coffee shop....very cool

And then it was time to board a plane to Lukla, and start the hike....

I was at the back of plane

Lukla airport, the world's most dangeorus....youtube it if you want to see the landing/takeoff

uhhh thanks?

The beginning!  The trek team from left to right (Petra from Switzerland, me, Stacey and Howard from Australia)

The Himalayas didn’t waste any time displaying beauty

First gorge crossing only 30 minutes in

Locals playing a game similar to crokinole where you flick plastic discs into holes

Dal Bhat....a staple in Nepal, consisting of rice, potatoes, vegetables and awesome sauce

Namche Bazaar – the largest town along the way...about 3200m

View from the lodge we stayed at in Namche

Everest in the distance!

Local capturing the mountain views...love this pic

First glimpse of the big easy up close....Mount Everest baby!

Morning sun beaming down on Kumbu Valley

Workers chip away at large stones to make smaller blocks, and then build tea houses from them

One such tea house

The changing landscape as you ascend closer to base camp

Dilapidated stupa

Landscape becoming more desolate

Memorials marking a few climbers who never returned from Everest. The white stone to the right of this picture is for Scott Fischer, who was one of the guides who tragically died in the famous 1996 tragic expedition.  The movie and book Into Thin Air was written about that expedition.

No vegetation what so ever up here....around 4500m

Final path leading to EBC....don't slip!

 Boo ya!  EBC baby! (you can't actually see Everest from the base camp ironically)

Everest Base Camp 5364m

Our support team, great bunch of guys

EBC panoramic

As the afternoons roll on and the temperature drops, the clouds begin to creep into the valley

Sunset at Gorek Shep (5150m)...one of my favourite shots

Because you can’t actually see Everest from Everest Base Camp, we hiked up to Kala Patthar (5545m) for better views - arriving just before sunrise we were treated to some breathtaking scenery.

Everest you gorgeous mountain you

Close up

Interesting cloud formation around Everest

Cranes can fly at this altitude

Zoomed in at the part of base camp where the expedition teams are preparing to climb (yellow tents)

Unfortunately you don't have a whole lot of time up at base camp due to the altitude, so we headed down after 1 night

More marked sites dedicated to climbers who did not return

Ironically the one day it snowed, we stayed at a lodge called Snow Land Lodge....the Aussies were thrilled

The yaks were less then enthusiastic

Narrow pass on the way back

The team takes 5 to enjoy some ginger tea and amazing views

An Everest in front of Everest....so cliché

a local drying out yak shit paddies (the brown circles on top of the stones).  This is their main source of fuel to keep them warm....seriously

We visited a high school, unfortunately it was a weekend and classes were not in

The school was entirely funded by Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to summit Everest

Team shot about 10 days in...everybody still healthy and in high spirits (even though showers were minimal at this point and we probably all smelled worse than the yaks)

Another stupa....common to see on the trek

Coming back through Namche Bazaar via a different route

The Hill-ten hotel....haha the Nepalese sure to have a sense of humour when it comes to knock offs

I'm going to take a time out to show you how hardy and strong these porters (sherpas) are....most of them are 5 feet tall and might weigh 140 pounds, yet they can carry nearly their body weight on their backs up these steep and dangerous hills.  Men, women, young and old...

These guys carry everything....including several office chairs at once!

Typical pack carried by one of these porters

Ever carried a dozen 4x4's on your back at once?  Didn't think so....just another day at the office for these guys!

Afraid of heights? haha

Another shot of the bridge....quite often you’d be sharing these bridges with yak’s and dozens of others which sometimes made them sway back and forth.

Hindu writing on a cliff side....this was prevalent throughout the trek....most of the time it means good luck or be happy etc

Typical tea house on the trek...large room with a stove in the middle which they only turned on around dinner time

The other side of the welcome gate ;)

First thing I did after the hike?

2 weeks without a decent coffee on the trek, you better believe I stopped at Starbucks

I just had to survive a white knuckled take off from Lukla and my Everest trek will be complete....at times like this you just have to put your faith in the skills of the highly trained and highly focused pilots and cross your fingers that nothing bad happens...

WHAT THE $%!@

The pictures I posted of the Everest trek really don’t do it justice, the views were absolutely magic the entire way.  The 5-8 hour days spent hiking was all worth it when you took a minute to catch your breath and looked up in awe.  Often I would just stand there gazing up at the mountains and scenery without saying a word to the other hikers, but you all knew it was worth the grueling hours spent hiking.  I felt fortunate to have stayed relatively healthy the entire way aside from a headache at real high altitudes.  Compared to some people (high fevers, shortness of breath and helicopter evacs in extreme cases) I had it good.  I stayed away from meat (not sanitary) and alcohol (expensive) for nearly 2 weeks and I think that helped the cause.  Definitely a highlight in my trip thus far, and an experience that I will never forget.

As I finish writing this blog I’m on a 26 hour overnight train from Chengdu to Guilin China....I’m looking forward to getting off to say the least.