Travel Pig

It wasn’t as bad of a trek as I expected. The altitude continues to make the uphills harder for me but I did it. I have had a headache and having taken one Advil per day. You should not take too much at altitude and I already take a baby aspirin., daily

Some of the paths were very narrow because of washouts, one spot I looked down and was a bit nervous. It was a big steep area. When going up I much prefer scrambling on rocks rather than gravel or steps.

We finally got to Dingboche. It’s a little more rustic and there is still so much snow. It is melting and it makes the path very muddy.

The tea house is better than the last and I have my own bathroom. No shower and the toilet seat needed to be tightened, so I did that.

As usual we had some tea, ordered dinner and then unpacked a bit. We stay here two nights! A water bottle I stashed in the duffle that the porter carries had a pin hole hole and got my pillow a little wet, could have been worse. Took a nap, now in the tea house waiting for dinner.

As we walked into the village, I couldn’t understand that we went to the Guest House furthest away, but Nimmi knows where she wants to go. And knows everyone and she is well respected. There are very few female guides. The ladies that I talk to are envious that I have. Female guide.Photos to follow later

Guest house

Today we will have breakfast at 8 and leave at 8:30. It will be 6 hour day of trekking. When I woke up at 5:45 it was 23 degrees. No central heating. Every once in awhile while I was sleeping I thought I heard a furnace start up. Nope. Incessantly barking dogs were Ike me up early today. I went to sleep at 8:30

I have hand warmers that I throw into my sleeping bag while I am getting ready and it really helps. I throw my long underwear in to warm them up too. And my sleeping socks. By the middle of the night I am too warm. I sleep in smart wool long underwear and socks. I keep forgetting a beanie to keep my head warm. Apparently this helps with decreasing Altitude sickness.

In the morning, I just put my clothes for the day, in my still warm sleeping bag and then decided, why not me too. I was freezing!

This guest house is pretty new, they were affected by that terrible earthquake a few year ago so they rebuilt. I think they forgot the sink ! No where to brush your teeth! Don’t worry, I did anyway.

And only a squatter for the toilet. Difficult with sore legs. Aiming is fun!

My room does not have a lock from the inside, broken. A man walked in yesterday looking for Nimmi. So, last night I placed my duffle between the door and bed and felt safe enough.

Chatted with a young solo female traveler last night. She’s from UK but lives in Australia. She spent six months in South America never sleeping in a bed and cried when she finally did . She is climbing a mountain today snd will start medical school soon. Her guide is Nimmis boyfriend.

What’s this?

The hike was pleasant. It was supposed to be to be a 3 hour hike. I had already asked the question of which time does she tell me when I ask how long. Does she give her time, average persons time or mine. She gives my time to include breathing breaks. My legs are tired but not painful, thanks to the gym and hiking at home but my breath can’t keep up on the uphills and my heart beats hard too so I have to stop. Natalie had suggested 50 steps and then a minute of rest. My schedule is more like 25 steps and 30 second rest. Nimmi respects my schedule and she constantly tells me that she has had many slower hikers. Down hill I am fine. Every step has to be looked at, as soon as you look at something and walk you will be in trouble, tripping, falling, stepping in poop etc.

The scenery is spectacular. Around each turn is something new. We saw the national bird. He is very colorful

Hope to rest a bit today. The altitude is tough. Back at 13,000 feet

I slept pretty well. Not too cold. So many noisy Indian men in. A group next to me. I gave one hit to the wall and maybe they started talking quieter. The guest house is pretty much plywood. I saw a man on the trail carrying 4 sheets of plywood. Photo later. No vehicles since Lukla. Everything is brought by ox, mule or human or helicopter and now by drone too.

The bathrooms are pretty clean. There is western style and squatters, urinals in both. Two to a floor, one shower and one sink in the hall wait. I think there are 50 people here.

Beautiful mostly downhill. Nimmi had said that she would meet up with the Porter and I in a bout 15 min. An hour later I wondered if I heard wrong again. I had to pee in the forest. Hard to find a spot but I did and was discrete. Hey female campers, it’s ok to use those light days pads camping and hiking. Keeps things dryer and fresher. Not sure what men do about that, but I am kinda a clean freak and bad smells bother me. The first day and night it was diesel and pollution. Kathmandu is in a large bowl so the air is very stagnant.

I also thought that I would be smart and bring a small bottle of essential oils to drip on the bed, pillows as needed. I think some of it leaked so that has added a strong eucalyptus smell.

Then on the trail, so much dung, ox, mule, horse. Hard not to step in it.

Such beautiful scenery, then we stopped for lunch at Nimmis sister restaurant. It was lively with a large group from Singapore and Taiwan. I had some noodles with an egg on top.

Then more hiking up and up! we hiked the rest of the way mostly up. We took the original trail. It was less crowded and shady.

Finally we arrived at Tengboche. There is a beautiful monastery that began in the 1600’s. Back to the lodge. It is a guest house with shared bathrooms. Nimmi changed the plans because she knew I was tired. Rested a few min and then had basically some ramen for dinner. Just like college!

Internet is super slow so no photos. Will add later.

Waiting for the porter. He’s late!

After a nap yesterday I walked around. Natalie suggested I walk down to the village. I wasn’t sure how far I could walk. Altitude is tough!

This is a pic Hans took from his hike of my hotel.

See the rock? They built the hotel around it.

So after dinner it’s time to start organizing and packing. You have to decide what to wear. I have been too hot each day hiking. I have learned to ask Nimmi what to wear and how much rain gear to carry. I need a bigger day pack.

Everyday I carry 2 liters of water and try to drink 2 liters before I get going. It’s hard to drink that much.

There is hot water and tea everywhere. I like the ginger tea and they are surprised when I don’t have milk and honey in it.

I kept the room heater on until it was so dry that I had to turn it off, same with electric mattress pad. I woke up a few times in the night, mostly to urinate but also to check the mountain. The moon light was beautiful on it. The mice scrambling on the roof was not.

More later Porter is here!

This hotel was built in the1960’s. It is in the Guinness world records as the highest elevation hotel at 13,000 feet. You can hike here or helicopter. I hiked!

The trail was beautiful but hard.

And at the end of the trail, I got a big hello from the Australian, Hans. We met 5.5 years ago, just before Covid. He happened to be in the area, he hiked 9 km to say hi. He just did a long hike called three passes with a group and tried to go to Island Peak but too much snow. He gave me a gift of his crampons.

We arrived to Everest being socked in

Lunch at the hotel was soup and spaghetti and jello. You have to do their meal service and timing is strict.

Here’s the room:

Here’s the room

The developer wanted all 12 rooms to have an Everest view

My room has heated mattress pad and a heater but it’s still cold. Dinners at 6:30.

This is a beautiful, brightly colored city. It is very hilly. Natalie and Ricky made me get out of bed to look around. They are in Maui. It’s 35 degrees here. I chatted with a local man and pointed which direction Everest was. Still so breathtaking in every direction. I have the mountain gunk in my throat, but otherwise I feel good

Today we hike up to Everest View. Should be great views of Everest and maybe the only ones I will see. The weather is so unpredictable.

Just had breakfast toast with butter and fried eggs. It’s nice to eat anything I want. Usually I am gluten free but it seems that cheese, yes cheese, a girl from Wisconsin is sensitive to cheese!

We started off after breakfast. On acclimatization days you are still supposed to to hike. I was thinking a jacuzzi sounded good. So up, up we went. I was thinking 10, 15 maybe20 minutes but it was a two hour hike, maybe more. There were so many groups on the narrow trail. We took lots of pictures