October 24, Tengboche

It's November 2 and we are at an internet cafe downloading (slowly) photos from the past 10+ days. Our notes from are at the Sagamartha Guest House down the road so here goes...

We had a little bit of panic leaving KTM on 10/22. We couldn't find the digital camera which Liz thought was lifted during the firecracker throwing at the Tihar festival and Jeff thought possibly was left at the internet place while downloading. Fortunatley, we did leave it and Jeff insisted that we wait that morning for the internet place to open before rushing to the airport. We did have the camera, then raced to the airport agreeing to pay the cab driver more if he made it in 2/3 the time which meant an extra hairy ride, and then once we got to the airport found out that flights were 2-3+ hours delayed. We didn't care as we had the camera.

We flew from KTM to Lukla on 10/22 an then trekked to Phakding. 10/23 we made it to Namache and feeling aclimatized frpm Tibet only stayed one night and 10/24 we were in Tengboche which is where the Buddhist monastery is. The walk from Namche to Tengboche started out flat with our first views of Everest (apparently we should have been able to see Everest on the way up to Namche but with the snow/rain/thick clouds that was not possible). From there we went steeply down to a river, crossed a few bridges, and then had a 2+ hour trek back up. Just outside of Namche we ran into the Maoist extoritionists who we had heard were charging people 100 rupies (72 rs= $1) per person per day of hiking. Even though it wasn't a lot of money, we didn't want to pay it so negotiated and lied. We said we'd be hiking for 6 days only and since we were poor students wanted a 2 for 1 price. We paid 600 rupies and got a receipt which we planned to doctor to say, 1600 rs for 16 days. But we never saw them again, that is until leaving Lukla on the small tiny plane we learned that the 5 other Nepalis were actually Maoists and fairly vocal about their cause which didn't make the bumpy ride any more settling.

Namche is a fairly big town with a number of guest houses, internet, and at least 3 good bakeries. Tengboche in contrast is much smaller with 1 okay bakery and a few hotels. Hotel/tea houses charge 100 rupies per night which is about $1.25 but then require that all meals are eaten at the lodge. Beer is about 300 rs, a ramen noodle soup 150 rs, and a cup of bad coffee 50 rs. We actually got a discount on lodging in Tengboche, the two of us in a shed for 50 rs because the normal rooms were full. In the middle of the night we learned that it was actually one of the sherpas rooms as he came knocking for his bag and shoes that were under the bed.

Initially we decided to stay 2 nights in Tengboche to acclimatize, but by 11 AM the next day we were bored so decided to head off for Dingboche instead. Tengboche sits at 3870 meters in a small clearing surrounded by montains - Kwangde (6187 m), Tawachee (6542 m), Everest, Nuptse (7879 m), Lhotse (8501 m), Ama Dablam, Kantega and Thamserku.