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 #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