Travel Footprints

Trek the Himalayas Day #2: Phakding, Namche Bazar
Pit Stop: Namche Bazar
Elevation: 3,440 m
Relative Oxygen Rate: 64% (assuming sea level at 100%)
Price of Mineral Water Bottle: 100 rupees/USD 1.40

We left Phakding promptly at 7am today after a breakfast of Tibetan bread, chapati (rotti) and scrambled eggs. We were warned about the length and steepness of today’s climb to Namche Bazar so we wanted an early start. Problem is, that seems to be the idea of every other trekker that was coming from Phakding. Eventually, it got too crowded on the trails with yaks, jopke (cross between yak and buffalo), horses and trekkers all converging at some point.

Since the Westerners (mostly Europeans) were pretty fast by our standards, we decided to let them pass us group by group, and we trudged steadily up and down the mountains with several river crossings on a bridge similar to this video –

We had our lunch break in Jorsaille (2,800m) where we ordered spaghetti and cheese as well as chicken curry and rice. Dawa, our Sherpa, was carrying with him a box with his bag all the way from Kathmandu and we had a pleasant surprise knowing what was inside during lunch break. It was one box-full of fruits! That was such a sweet gesture from him.

Another pleasant surprise was seeing this sign in the lodge/restaurant where we stayed for lunch –

We inched our way slowly up mountains and down to the river to go up again eventually. We had our trekking permit stamped in the Sagarmatha National Park office somewhere in Monjo (2,850 m), evidence of our hard work. Hehe. Didn’t I say there were a lot of trekkers? By past noon, they were way ahead of us on the other mountain when I took this shot –

And we were left trekking side by side with porters that have unbelievable weight on their shoulders!

Imagine how slow we were going? But that snail-pace still managed to get us up to Namche Bazar (3,440 m) by half-past 4 in the afternoon. We absolutely loooooved the vibe of Namche Bazar – it’s like a little marketplace or tiangge that you wouldn’t expect in a mountain! Mr. Rono even had his ‘Trekker’s Massage’ and I bought some books for the rest of the trek – basically everything you need can somehow be found here!

The thought of shopping and logging in the internet again was re-energizing after the long trek! And the place where we stayed, Hotel Snowland, was fairly new opening only 2 months ago. We had our dinner of mixed fried rice and buffalo momo and played cards in the dining hall which we shared with an elderly couple from the US and a young German fellow with his Sherpa.

Our porters also did a good job choosing our room with a view of Namche Bazar!