Travel Footprints

Trek the Himalayas Day #5: Tengboche, Phortse
Pit Stop: Phortse
Elevation: 3,840 m
Relative Oxygen Rate: 60% (assuming sea level at 100%)
Price of Mineral Water Bottle: 200 rupees/USD 2.86

Early morning breakfast was a far cry from the high-spirited conversation in the Trekker’s Inn last night. We gave a warm hug to our Brazilian-American friend who had to trek back down from Tengboche and asked about conditions of people who had various degrees of altitude sickness overnight. Mr. Rono and Chin was really officially down with altitude sickness already but there was one last hope for recovery – take Diamox pills! Desperate times call for desperate measures

After a breakfast of rice porridge and boiled eggs, our Sherpa suggested we pay a visit to Tengboche monastery first before we proceed with our trek towards Dole (4,200 m).

The Tengboche monastery was very pretty! Inside the monastery, I was taught by our Sherpa, Ang Dawa Rai, how to pray the Buddhist way. So I got down on my knees and laid my palms flat while bending my head down towards the floor. All I prayed for on that brief moment inside the monastery were – safety and health! I knew this day will not be easy for our group. And so the trek begins…

From Tengboche, we have to go all the way back down to the Dudh Kosi river again. And then climb back up again! I swear, I lost count how many times we had to do this over and over again the past days already. To trek downhill and cross a bridge…

…just to climb back up again!

At one point, our Sherpa was telling us look over the other side of the mountain –

He was pointing to us where we came from because Tengboche is now on the other mountain from where we were standing!

It was hard for me to trek this leg from Tengboche to Phortse, but I can imagine how much harder it is for Mr. Rono and Chin to do this too considering they have already sought medication to address their altitude sickness. They told me over lunch that they were feeling extremely dizzy already. That’s not a good thing especially if one wrong move on the trail could be fatal –

After more than 3 hours of trekking, we finally saw civilization and we actually met the first persons on the trail. That was how secluded we felt during the trek not seeing any other trekker except for a wild goat that crossed our path near the river.

We finally stopped for lunch in Phortse (3,840 m) and decided to stay there for the rest of the day so Mr. Rono and Chin can cope with their condition. Ang Dawa Rai was also suggesting that some may go ahead (me and a porter) while the rest can stay. But we all agreed that we didn’t want to break our group. I also did not mind an extra day of rest. While the others were sleeping, I caught up with reading the book I bought from Namche Bazar – Eat, Pray, Love. It was really quiet and peaceful in Phortse. There were no other guests in the lodge but us and you barely see anyone passing by. Mainly because this was really not a main trail for trekkers. It was just a quaint, sleepy town located in a valley of Phortse.

We had dinner of hash brown potato and buffalo momo which wasn’t such a good idea. Remembering the stomach cramps of the Brazilian-American lady, we decided to avoid oily food for the rest of the trek. I was fascinated by the food our Sherpa and porters were eating – millet! Ang Dawa Rai jokingly refer to it as ‘yak shit’ because it really does look like one. I mentioned in my previous post that I’ve always felt some resemblance between Nepal and Uganda. This is probably one of the things they have in common. Millet is also a staple food for Ugandans, which they commonly refer to as posho