Page 14 - Phonebox Magazine December 2012

THE HIGHS AND
OF EVEREST BASE CAMP
Welanded in Kathmandu about 5 pm and were soon in a bumpy taxi headed along the dusty, noisy streets of the city to our hostel. We stayed in the tourist area Thamel and spent a few days navigating the alleyways lined with restaurants, bars and trekking gear shops, whilst getting used to the lack of pavements. This means you are walking on the road alongside the cars, motorbikes, rickshaws and other pedestrians with the constant beeping of the
horn which means anything from “Hey how’s it going” to “Oncoming!!’
During our time in the city we visited the temples and palaces of Durbar Square and Buddhist Stupas, the main two being Boudhanath and Swayambhunath (aka Monkey Temple). We also spent a day in the sunshine at the tranquil ‘Garden of Dreams’, where you can forget about the hustle and bustle going on outside
of the garden walls.
Within a few days we were booked to go on a two week Everest Base
Camp trek. Originally Emma had been apprehensive about this trek due to the reputation of Nepal’s aviation industry and the small aircraft that take you to the start of the trek. Once given the alternative option (a 30 day trek) we before we were in what was apparently
comforts for the more challenging times ahead. Buying chocolate bars, toilet rolls, biscuits etc comes at a premium cost however in the mountains and after walking out of one of the local stores we were a little perplexed as to how we’d managed to spend so much, but we knew it would be worth it. From above, Namche looks like a picturesque model toy town sat in an amphitheater hillside above the two great valleys Dudh Kosi and Bhote Kosi. With mountains description of being able to reach out and touch the mountains. Namche would prove to be our last night of comfort and chance to grab a proper shower and things were certainly about to become a lot more ‘basic’. No more so than on the terrace, we trekked down to our lodge in Namche as the whole day was an acclimatisation day. Next up was Tyangboche, home to the regions largest Buddhist monastery with majestic views of the Everest range and tending to the monastery garden, you could hear a pin drop. This really did
the domestic terminal of Kathmandu,
which was about as organised as the
underwear section of Primark at the

on a little twin otter 19 passenger plane,
bound for Lukla (2800m), which is one
of the worlds most dangerous airports
with a short runway perched on the edge
of a mountain with a 2000m drop at the
We were met by our guide Dinesh and porter Tika straight from the plane and were given breakfast at a nearby hotel whereby we were also shown a map of the Himalayas and where we would be trekking. Our trek started with a fairly mountain ranges of the Himalayas were already visible and the fresh mountain air was a welcome presence from the dusty streets of Kathmandu. The town carrying anything from sheets of plywood to aviation fuel for the mountain rescue and prayer wheels (making sure we passed by on the left hand side for good luck) and got our introduction to the mountain yaks that calmly moved by like herd trains all carrying useful supplies for the towns and villages in the area. We arrived in Phakding after approximately 4 hours and were already looking forward to getting our down jackets which we weren’t hiring until the next town.

porter with military precision. Stomachs lined, we set out and trekked along the beautiful white water rivers, bridges and forest mountains of the Dudh Kosi Valley to Namche Bazaar. Namche offered the chance to stock up on any home
feel like a truly spiritual place and we were lucky enough to go observe the monks pray and chant.

approached us with a slightly sheepish face explaining that accommodation was short as most had been booked up months in advance. Having only booked our tour a few days beforehand it was

hut of the shall we say, basic variety. Now we’re accustomed to roughing it and nothing phased us about the place, well nothing apart from the toilets, noodles we settled down for the night and had a good initial 3 hours sleep. country in the cold and dark and you have ‘company’ under your bed all sorts sat bolt upright, Mark brandishing a trekking stick in one hand thinking that it was rats. Every time we shone the torch, everything would go silent. We soon discovered a large hole in the wall and proceeded to block it with rocks from that way, not soon after we were settled back down to sleep, our little friends pushed the rocks out and proceeded to keep visiting us all night. We couldn’t dare to look any more and at 5:30 am sunrise was a welcome excuse to get enough rest to be trekking all day in the Himalaya. The beautiful sunrise over the mountains in the almost vacuum of space that was Tyangboche did offer we hiked higher both the air and scenery got a whole lot dryer. We were now
14 Phonebox Magazine
LOWS
It might seem a little melodramatic but when you’re in a foreign country in the cold and dark and you have ‘company’ under your bed all sorts of possibilities fill your head