Hello folks. Sorry it's taken me so long to write this blog. I returned back from my Nepal trip a week ago. I'm now here in India just relaxing and trying to remember all the great memories from my 25 days in Nepal. I just uploaded my photos from the trek and I really think you will enjoy them - sorry in advance that there are so many but I (and Vik) just couldn't stop pushing the trigger on our cameras. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and we were totally blessed with amazing weather throughout the entire journey so you can't complain at all about that.

 

I honestly don't even know where to begin telling you about this journey. The word I could use to sum it up is Triumph. It was a pretty grueling trek, my first in fact. There were many moments where I thought about turning back but in the end - Vik and I have a great story to tell.

 

I flew to Kathmandu (via Delhi) over a month ago on October 26th. Arriving in Kathmandu was beautiful as the scenery was immediately everywhere you looked. Mountain views from the plane ride in greeted us and well, the rest just gets better from there.

 

Niv, Atul and I were on the same flight to Kathmandu (1800m) and Vik arrived earlier that day so we all met at our swanky hotel - the Hyatt. It was a really nice and VERY expensive place but one good thing is that we managed to sneak all 4 of us into one room (much the hotel's chagrin) but there was no way we were paying for 2 rooms at that place!!! We had this palace as our home for less than 10 hours and in that time; we packed and re-packed, showered and tried to get a little sleep. Kathmandu is a nice city with quite friendly people. Nepal generally feels a lot like India but it isn't as crowded and the climate is a lot nicer. There are Indian looking people, Chinese looking people and a bunch of mixes (probably closely resembling Thai or Philipino people). That night at the hotel, we met the owner of our trekking company (Karma Lama) and also our Climbing Guide, Nima Sherpa. Nima has a lot of experience - he's summited Mera about 7 times, other peaks as well and has also made it to Everest Camp 6 as well. Overall, we all got a very good vibe from Nima and had confidence that he knew what to do and where to take us.

 

On October 27 we flew to Lukla (2600m) on a small plane (about a 15 - 20 seater). The ride was quite smooth and throughout it we were greeted with amazing views of the surrounding scenery including snow covered peaks on either side of the plane. The airport in Lukla is a site to be seen as the runway is quite small and angled up. This helps planes decelerate quickly when they land and accelerate quickly during take off. The planes fly in and out of the airport like clockwork, unloading goods and people so quickly and then re-loading and taking off just like that. These pilots navigate around the tightest corners and overall are very skilled (in my opinion, possibly more so that those that fly big commercial airlines).

 

We headed out along the way and started walking. Walking was going to be what we did for the next 25 days. Up, down, sideways, you name it. Walking, Walking and more Walking. Essentially that's what trekking is and in Nepal, it's also navigating around Yaks, other tourists and porters too. Our first 7 days of the trek was strictly for acclimatization and we were taking the Everest Base Camp route up to Tengboche. That route is VERY busy with tourists as well as commercial traffic. Porters are carrying heavy loads as are yaks and as a result, stretches of the track can be very slow and log jammed (especially the precarious bridges we had to cross to get over the slinking river throughout the terrain).

 

On day 2 in the afternoon, we arrived in Namche Bazaar, a bit of a tourist oasis (or trap) as there are multiple restaurants, shops, bars, internet, phones, etc. It's a lot more built up in Namche compared to other parts we saw and it seems to be pretty much the final place to buy supplies, gear, etc on your way to Everest. It's at an altitude of 3400m so for us, it was good to make that climb and definitely helped with our acclimatization. There is a museum in Namche that talks about the history of climbing - has plenty of stats about tourism, the environment, etc. The country who sends the largest number of tourists to Nepal is Germany, followed by England and then Japan. Canada is something like 7th I believe. From Namche, it was a one day walk to Tengboche (3800m) where there is a beautiful Buddhist Monastery that we were able to see and then go in for some prayers before dinner in the evening. The setting of this place is absolutely gorgeous and our campsite was nothing short of brilliant. Nestled on a little spot of land with mountains almost all around us for 360 degrees.

 

The next morning we started our way back to Namche and then eventually back to Lukla. The whole purpose of this first 7 days was to get our bodies, hearts, lungs, etc used to higher altitudes and used to the lower amount of oxygen. Overall, Vik and I were in pretty good shape (minus a mild cough and the odd headache). Unfortunately, Niv's knee wasn't doing too well and Atul was suffering from a bad case of AMS (Altitude Sickness). Upon returning back to Lukla, Niv and Atul decided that they would forego the rest of the trip and return back to Kathmandu.

 

Vik and I wanted to continue in hopes of reaching our final destination - Mera Peak.