Travel Footprints

Trek the Himalayas Day #7: Machhermo, Gokyo Valley
Pit Stop: Gokyo Valley
Elevation: 4,790 m
Relative Oxygen Rate: 53% (assuming sea level at 100%)
Price of Mineral Water Bottle: 350 rupees/USD 5

Our stay in Machhermo overnight has been very challenging. We were coughing and sneezing all the time we’ve rubbed our nose raw because of our colds. Plus, we not only had to deal with the extremely cold temperature that dipped to negative degrees during the night but also the fact that we had to pee all the time. Now, you might think that we are getting overly dramatic at this point but really, peeing during the night is a challenge especially IF YOU HAVE TO GO OUT IN THE FREEZING COLD TO USE THE BATHROOM You have to understand that peeing frequently during high-altitude climb is a good sign – it means your body is coping with the altitude.

But all the lodges at this level have very limited facilities and all the toilets are normally shared with other guests. It would take Herculean effort for us to even go out of our sleeping bags, let alone walk out of the room and out of the lodge, expose our butt to the cold and then finally pee! But we had to do it. What makes our bathroom trips much, much more memorable in Machhermo is the fact that steam (yes steam) actually rises up from the floor-level toilet as soon as the warm pee touches the cold toilet! Ewwww. Then, you would have to deal with flushing the toilet using ice-cold water from the reserves which usually freezes up as well during the night.

The good news is, we’re trekking a short distance today from Machhermo to Gokyo Valley. The bad news? We were extremely exhausted from the day-long climb (Phortse-Dole-Machhermo) the day before. Remember, we went up an altitude of 700 meters in one day! Maybe that’s why our body systems have gone haywire with colds, coughs and frequent peeing (and farting! :p) overnight. I was very tired in the morning, I didn’t felt like I got some rest during the night at all. Plus, I can barely eat my breakfast of pancake because it tasted weird to me so I stuck to eating just egg drop soup. Bad idea! I should have known that despite the short distance from Machhermo to Gokyo, we were in for a long, long trek today after all…

This route would have taken a regular trekker 3 hours to complete (2 hours for locals), but we took more than 5 hours and we are simply exhausted! It’s not really just about being physically fit, it’s dealing with the altitude and ‘oxygen deprivation.’ Five short steps at this level made us feel like we’ve sprinted 100 meters. After hours of trekking in barren lands, we welcomed the sight of bodies of water – it’s the sacred lakes of Khumbu Region! We are finally near Gokyo Valley!

Gokyo and its associated lakes has been declared as a Ramsar site in 2007. This World Heritage Site is also considered the world’s highest freshwater lake system and is sacred for both Hindu and Buddhist. Which is just as well, because while the Holy Rosary helped me survive the gruelling trek yesterday, my mantra for today’s trek was Ohm Namah Shivaya when I felt I needed to draw in energy from meditation (just like we do in yoga) tapping into my inner strength. This journey has suddenly become spiritual for me as well.

It has taken us an extremely long time to reach our lodge that one of the porters (who usually goes ahead of us to reserve our rooms) was on the lookout from the 2nd lake. We gladly gave him our daypacks to bring to our lodge in the hopes that we can maybe trek faster now that we did not have to carry anything. He went ahead of us, carrying all our daypacks, to bring to the lodge. It still amazes me how strong and well-adapted these locals are. A few meters from the lodge, the other porter met us carrying a thermos of black tea and biscuits. It’s already past noon and they must have been worried we’ll just pass out due to hunger and exhaustion. Ang Dawa Rai, our Sherpa, is coordinating the ‘rescue’ efforts today quite well.

We finally reached our lodge and rewarded ourselves with some treats of Pringles and Coke (for a whopping 500 rupees each!) before eating our lunch of vegetable roll and mushroom pizza. Luckily, we were the only ones in the lodge so we were given undivided attention by the owners. Our demands are very simple anyway – rest and warmth. We just stayed in the dining area the rest of the day, the lodge owner even lent us some blankets to use while in the dining hall. We also entertained ourselves with the beauty of the Gokyo Lake overlooking the lodge and observe trekkers from a big expedition group below.

By 530pm, we were glad to see them bringing in yak shit for the heater – at least we have this to look forward to during our evenings

Trek the Himalayas Day #6: Phortse, Dole, Machermo
Pit Stop: Machhermo
Elevation: 4,410 m
Relative Oxygen Rate: 57% (assuming sea level at 100%)
Price of Mineral Water Bottle: 250 rupees/USD 3.57

We are seated comfortably at the dining hall of Yeti Inn in Machhermo when we took this shot of Mt. Thamserku under the setting sun. Thank God, we’ve covered what we needed to trek today successfully! From Phortse (3,810-m) to Machhermo (4,410-m) in one day was not easy but we did it!

There are two other group of trekkers in the lodge where we are staying – a mother-and-son team from Montreal, Canada (who we will call Team Canada, hereafter) and a gentleman from Paris, France travelling with his monk guide (who we will call the Funny Frenchman, hereafter). We were all doing our own thing, Team Canada playing their version of card game and us reading our books while Funny Frenchman rests.

We had dinner of mixed pizza and hot tea, not the most fitting combination but which we’re glad to have in this God-awful cold weather of the Himalayas. As in other nights, we’ve grown accustomed to spending more time in the dining hall during evenings because this is where a ‘heater’ is provided.

It’s actually a makeshift stove placed in a dining hall. They would typically put a kettle on top to make the most out of the heat generated fuelled by…guess what?…yak shit (yes, that’s yak shit he is placing inside the ‘heater’ ). When the Funny Frenchman learned what it was he said in his thick French accent, ‘Thank you, Yak!’ which cracked everybody up including the Sherpas. This Funny Frenchman is having a hard time expressing himself in English all evening, he would even say ‘it’s difficult for me and difficult for you to understand.’ He then shared that they don’t have yaks in France, only cows, which prompted the discussions of cows being sacred in Nepal.

While all this is happening, Mr. Rono is laying on the other side of the room daydreaming about the sunny lifestyle of the Philippines (we both agreed we need to pay homage to the beach when we arrive from the trek!). We would talk about our favorite food that we haven’t eaten the past week – from KFC to yoghurt! Ah, daydreaming about the Philippines was bliss!

Our trek is also becoming more dramatic as we got higher up the mountain, what with everyone (including me) having colds already. Mr. Rono insists that he has it worse since he has cough AND altitude sickness. He even suspects he may have water in his lungs already (such a drama king!) similar to High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema. Of course, at that point in the trek, that will never be verified. This night, I took a Diamox pill for the very first time while lying down on my sleeping bag because I found it hard to sleep already. I tried to hold out with the medication for as long as I can, but this is how far I can take it without medical help.

But we do agree on one thing – we were glad to have yak shits in our evenings in the Himalayas!

Trek the Himalayas Day #6: Phortse, Dole, Machermo
Pit Stop: Machermo
Elevation: 4,410 m
Relative Oxygen Rate: 57% (assuming sea level at 100%)
Price of Mineral Water Bottle: 250 rupees/USD 3.57

Lucky for our group, the Diamox pills seem to be taking a positive effect on Mr. Rono and Chin. So, on this early morning, we set out once again to our trek towards Dole and Machhermo after a breakfast of sweet rice porridge, boiled eggs and honey pancake. Once again, we went down to the Dudh Kosi river and up again in another mountain.

It was a good 2 hours of trekking until we finally saw other trekkers on the trail – a couple, Dutch by their accent, and they had neither a guide nor a porter. They were actually carrying their 30-kg bag while they trek! Goodness gracious!

It was getting colder and harder to breathe as we slowly made our way up the hill from Phortse towards Dole. Knowing fully well that today was Good Friday, I spent time while doing the trek to pray the Holy Rosary and remember the Passion of Christ through Stations of the Cross. We might not be in a church praying right now for the Holy Week, but this might just be the longest pasion we have ever done in our entire lives!

Although the sun was up, the wind was chilly! All the lakes and waterfalls on our way were frozen solid –

We had our lunch in Dole (4,200 m) where we met an Australian fellow who was travelling on his own, but who also seemed to be a seasoned trekker, on his way down to Namche Bazar from Gokyo. We had a nice chat with him and he was excited for us when we said we were heading to Gokyo Ri. ‘I’ve forgotten how beautiful it was up there til I came back,’ he would say. He has already been to Gokyo Ri twice and Everest Base Camp 5 TIMES! He said the panoramic view of Everest Base Camp does not even compare with that of Gokyo Ri. We were thrilled with his affirmation. Over our lunch of chicken noodle soup and boiled eggs, we talked about the Philippines (us basically convincing him to come visit since he’s been to Indonesia and Thailand already), trekking in Nepal and altitude sickness. He explained to us that Diamox was originally intended as medication for glaucoma but people eventually found out that one of its side effects is to help cope with altitude sickness. From Gokyo, he would meet his group in Namche Bazar and proceed to Everest Base Camp from there. Such a cool guy! He even has solar-power charger for his iTouch

From our lunch break, however, it was all ’suffer-fest’ of uphill climbing in high elevation.

Remember that we were supposed to be coming from Dole today trekking towards Machhermo. But because we decided to take a rest in Phortse, we were catching up on lost time of trekking to be able to stick with our schedule.

If you don’t see the video, click here!

We did arrive in Machhermo super-exhausted with the long day a little before 5pm. Because the sun is already setting, we were really freezing our arses off already by the time we reach Yeti Lodge. Oh by the way, on our way up, I noticed that one of my Columbia trekking shoes has a gaping hole on it. I was very disappointed with that discovery. I’m not sure how I get the tear from my Pagora trekking shoes but we’ve barely reached the goal of the trek and my shoes is already conking out on me!

In the end, I was also just grateful that the only thing that needed stitching on the entire duration of the trek was my shoe