01 October 2013 – Acclimatization Day In Namche

I am writing this as I am waiting for dinner, I’ve ordered Chowmein. Before you guys go thinking ‘Oh, the food must be all the same everyday’, here’s a sample of other orders – spaghetti, curry and rice, egg noodles. I have to talk about the food we have been having the past few days – it has been awesome. The tea-houses & restaurants along the way stir up nearly anything. However, you’ll fall in love with the local favourite, DBT (short for Dal bhat + Tarkari), simple as it sounds, it can make you swear you want nothing else.

Ananth and Natasha updating cybercast

But, I digress and should get back to today. Word of the day- “Acclimatization”. No progress towards the destination today, rather the objective was to get to an altitude about 500m higher while traversing a short distance and get back to Namche. We get to wake up later than usual (thank Sam for small mercies) and set off at a slow pace towards the top of a ridge which is directly behind our lodge. The climb is steep and we stop often. It is very cloudy and horseshoe town (Namche Bazar) disappears from view very quickly. No one’s having any trouble with altitude so far, and we had a good climb up to the top of the ridge. A grass topped flat area makes for a nice picnic spot and there’s also a rock which Dirk used to showcase his rock-climbing skills. Weather permitting, we would have got our first view of the queen herself – Mt. Everest, but we’ll have to wait till tomorrow for that.

Group above Namche

Climbing up to Syangboche

On our way down, the clouds have cleared and we get to see some lovely views of Namche Bazar, which has a monastery, a hospital (which we visited on the way back – not out of necessity ofcourse), a school and couple of helipads.

Near Everest View Lodge

In the evening, few of us went into the bazaar which is a great place to spend some time – shops, coffee houses and some nice watering holes including the very swanky “The Irish pub”. We spent some time there playing foosball and a couple of rounds of pool. Before leaving, we made a solemn promise to the bartender that we are coming back for a full-fledged evening on our way back from EBC and get back to the lodge. Dinner and sleep now. Tengbouche awaits at 3800 m.

Happy holiday to everyone in India!!!!