Nepal - Everest Base Camp Trek

Flight to Istanbul

The first leg of my journey is finished and now I'm in the sunny and beautiful city of Istanbul. Now I have 3 hours of wait for my flight to Kathmandu and 6 more hours to get there.

On the flight I met Ali, who is from Iran. He told me a lot about that country and showed me some photos. Despite all the negative propaganda, the country is very safe and tourist-friendly, which I heard already a few times.

A couple of years ago I met a guy who is a director of a nuclear power plant in Brasilia, who also works as the UN inspector for nuclear disarmament and travelled a lot of times there. He confirmed that the country is safe and has no nuclear potencial whatsoever.

After several opinions from different sources I've decided to add Iran to my travel list.

That's it for now, but I will be back soon (if I have internet connectivity).

Arrival in Kathmandu

Well, I've just arrived in my hotel in Kathmandu and have to say that I already have a lot to write.

First of all, probably by mistake, I got a business class seat on the plane to Kathmandu, so I could play with my seat and even turn it into a bed. I practiced my poor German with the lady sitting next to me, who also got the business class seat by mistake :) Not to mention that we had our business class cook, a nicely covered table with plenty of food, drinks and large TV screens (not on the tables).

Just before landing we had our first glimpse of the Himalayas at sunrise, which was astounding. The orange and yellow colour of the summits waking for the day is something amazing.

After almost 7 hours I arrived in Kathmandu, where the time difference between the UK is exactly 4 hours... and 45 minutes, quikly applied for a Visa in the self-service machine that took me a picture, on which my face was NOT visible at all, but the officer told me that's no problem, then I queued to pay $40 for the visa just to queue in another line with the payment receipt to get the actual visa stamp.

Then I disovered a new profession - a "Document Sticher". There is a guy here, whose only duty is to walk around and stich all the documents together for the arriving passengers ;)

After getting the visa I went to collect my backpack from the belt, but on the way I had to get my handbag scanned. What surprised me was that you put whatever you want on the scanner and with the other things and a lot of other people you walk together through the gate that keeps beeping all the time and nobody seems to bother :)

At the luggage belt I waited for around an hour unitl the last bag only to find out that someone already took my bag and had put it on a huge pile of some bags lying in the other part of the room. Well, it's great I figured it out before I went to complain.

Well, what to say? Welcome to Nepal :)

Day 2: Kathmandu Durbar Square

Today, after very tasty lunch in Thamel I met with my friend Shiva and he brought me to Durbar Square, which is the the old town consisting of a lot of Hindu Temples and pagodas. Unfortunately most of them suffered very badly in the last year's earthquake and the ones that survived are now supported by wooden planks. Compared to what I saw here last year the view is now very depressing.
The government introduced the entrance fee of R$1000 (US$10) to collect the money needed for restorations. If you would like to help, I'm running a collection on my blog site at http://worldexplorers.blog

Passing by the big statue of the Monkey God we head into the Durbar Square Museum, which, not long time ago, was the King's palace. In 2001 the King, his son and his grandson were assasinated by the hand of his own brother, who took the power, but the people of Nepal revolted and pushed him away, so Nepal doesn't have a king anynore.

I was also explained what the name Kathmandu means. The word "kath" means wood, and "mandu" means temple. A lot of wooden temples were built here hence the name.

Afterwards we went to see Kumari, the living Goddess. This little girl, who stays virgin throughout her entire life, shows here in the window several times a day. Once she gets older she moves to a special facility for Kumaris and is replaced by another girl from the same cast.

In the evening, on the all-time beeping taxi, going against the traffic I'm going back to my hotel.

Day 3: Flight to Lukla - the most dangerous aiport in the World

Today we woke up at 5:45 am, which means we slept for 3 hours.

After breakfast we left our hotel and went to the domestic terminal at the airport to catch our flight to Lukla.

There is a huge queue to the entrance as they are checking passports and scan everyone's bags. Well, actually, I didn't even need to show my passport and again as yesterday, I had put some of my things and went through with the rest without any problem. The scanner gate alarms keep beeipng all the time, but nobody cares.

At the terminal there was chaos and it seems that nobody was able to control the situation. Nobody knew what was going on. Eventually we were told that due to the bad weather our flight will be an hour late. After the hour it seems like a few hundred people started queuing to the check in desk, but everything goes slow here and everyone has a lot of time, so it took another hour to get checked in and they had to delay the flight by another hour.

Once we got to the gate they started boarding another flight, scheduled to leave later than our plane, an then another one, so our flight has to be delayed by another half an hour.

Finally, 3 hours late we got on board of a tiny plane, which seemed to belong to some airplane club with 13 passengers and the plane is already full ;)

After 40 minutes we successfully landed in Lukla, breaking hard immediately, so we don't hit the mountain at the end of the very short runway.

Now we are waiting for lunch and for the other group, who are due to arrive soon.

Three hours later...

We are now in the village called Phakding after trekking from Lukla for 3 hours and we will stay overnight here. We passed through a lot of villages, from which most of them are Buddhist, so we saw a lot of stupas, shrines and prayer mills.

The hike was quite easy, but tomorrow will be harder.

Now it's time for the first cold shower during this trek, at the outside temperature of 15 C :)

Day 4: Phakding to Namche Bazar - the Gateway to Everest (3440m)

We are now in Namche Bazar. which is the largest village on the way to the Everest and is called "The Gateway to the Everest". We are at the altitude of 3440m and as for now, nobody is having any problems with the altitude apart from some little tension in the head. The plan is to stay here for two days to acclimatize.

It took us around five hours to hike here from Phakding and we got 800 metres higher passing through a lot of villages, hanging bridges high over the light green mountain rivers and 3 checkpoints, where we had to sign in, show our TIMS permits and declare all the electronics we are bringing with us.

I found out a lot about the Nepalese casts. Fot instance there is a cast called Gurung. These are usually people living in the lower Himalayas (around 2000m), in the past didn't have many prospects apart from serving for the Indian army, but now have more opportunities and a lot of them work as guides.

There are also Sadhus and Bramins, who are more privileged and usually are rich people. Usually they don't show off with their wealth. The Bramins are usually dressed in white and the Sadhus wear colourful clothes, have their faces painted and have long beards. They make money by praying to hindu Gods on behalf of the people who pay them.

Sherpas usually live in the higher Himalayas and work as porters. Today we saw some carrying several very heavy floor plates on their backs and the last time I was in Nepal I saw some even carrying wardrobes.

Day 5: Acclimatization

It was a rest day - for our guide Shiva, for whom today's hike was a short and easy walk only for 4 hours going a lot upwards and by Nepalese flats (lots of ups and downs) and a bit down on the way back to Namche.

We left Namche after 8 am and went up to the first Everest viewpoint, in the Sagarmatha National Park, at the altitude of 3880 m. From this place we get our first view of the famous Ama Dablam and Lhotse! Amazing! Unfortunately Everest was all covered by the clouds.

During lunch Shiva told us that the people from our group who will be climbing Island Peak with Keepa Sherpa - the most famous Sherpa who also climbed the Everest!

After lunch we started descending back to Namche, where we got some souvenirs and postcards to send out to our friends. Some in our group started to complain about some pressure and headaches due to altitude sickness.

Now we will have dinner. It has been a great day with lots of beautiful views of the Himalayas and learning about the Nepalese culture.

Day 6: Tengboche Monastery (3865m)

It took us 5 hours to hike and we are now in Tengboche at the altitude of 3865 m. Some people are starting to experience altitude sickness (tightness, buzzing in the head and headaches).

For the first half of the hike we walked down to the river bank only to pass through a large hanging bridge and go back up again in the second half.

We were able to see a lot of Himalayan flora, such as the Rhododendron trees, and the fauna, such as mountain goats and the Himalayan Tar, which looks like a bigger deer.

Now we are resting in our lodge before dinner.

Day 7 and 8: Puja in Tengboche and trek to Lobuje (4900m)

Yesterday we had no mobile connection, so I'm covering two days in one post.

First day in the morning we went to the Tengboche Monastery, where we met the Buddhist Guru, who is said to be the 15th incarnation of Sanga Lama, the founder of the Khumbu region.

We had a short meditation and a special Long Life Puja, during which he blessed us and gave us white pieces of cloth to take home. He was also able to tell who of us was married and who wasn't, which was a huge surprise to us. We paid R$4000 (40 $) for the Puja for the whole group, which can cost a lot more. There are also morning Pujas for free between 7 and 9am, but this one was a special Puja in our intention.

After the Puja we hiked for 5 hours to Dingboche at 4486m, where we stayed overnight. I felt quite strong symptoms of altitude sickness such as strong headache and minor fever and nausea, but thankfully in the morning I was fine.

Morning the following day…

Today we hiked for more than 5 hours to Lobuje at the altitude of over 4900m, passing through the Thukla village, where we had our lunch, and the Thukla Pass with the famous cemetary of the people who died climbing in the Himalayas.

Finally the clouds started clearing, so we were able to see Ama Dablam and Nuptse mountains.

Now it's time for deserved rest at the tea house in Lobuche before EBC tomorrow!

Day 9: Everest Base Camp (5464m)

We've made it - we reached Everest Base Camp at 5363m today around 9:30am UK time! It wasn't easy to get here after 3 hours of trekking to our lodge in Gorabche and another 2.5 to get EBC after lunch.

The way to EBC led up and down through a stony path, so we had to be careful not to fall down on the rocks. Going up was hard at this altitude, because I was getting short breaths every few steps and had to get some rest. Most of us experienced headaches and dizziness, but we all made it to EBC and back to our lodge.

We were able to see the glacier and the famous Icefall, where so many people died trying to climb the Everest.

On the way back we could see magnificent view of the Himalayas.

Day 10: Thukla Pass Mountain Cemetary

The morning was quite tough, because I woke up with fever and a headache, but as we started walking down the altitude sickness started to go away.

We left our lodge around 9am and walked back through the Thukla Pass (the cemetary), Thukla Village, where we split with the people who are going to climb Island Peak, down to Pheriche at 4310 m, where we are now enjoying the evening.

There is no mobile network and we are pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but the is WI-FI connectivity - R$350 (3.5 US$) for 100 MB and R$500 (5 US$) for 200 MB. It's pretty much available in every lodge on the way.

Finally there is a hot shower, too, that costs R$500 (5 US$), so now after taking it we feel like new

Day 11: Long trek down to Namche Bazar

It was another quite a tough day as three people from our group have a flight back to Poland very soon and they have only one spare day for Kathmandu, but because of bad weather most of the flights from Lukla to Kathmandu are cancelled these days, so we decided to take that flight one day sooner to increase their chances of flying to Kathmandu before their flight to Poland. Therefore, we have to walk down one day quicker, which resulted in 8 hours of hiking in the rain with quite a lot of going up and some parts going down.

We stopped for lunch in Tengboche and I had a Privilege of having a short audience with the Lama in the Monastery. He turned out to be a very wise and modest man.

On the way down from Tengboche to Namche we walked through the Rhododendron forests, on the ridge of the mountains and through a lot of Himalayan villages. I tried the Nepalese energy drink called "Red Ball", which had a very similar taste to Red Bull.

As we got to our hotel in Namche hoping to finally have a hot shower, we found out that the hotel uses solar panels to heat the water and because there was no sun at all today and a lot of rain, we had to enjoy another ... cold shower ;)

Tomorrow we have another 7-8 hours of walking to Lukla and hopefully the day after tomorrow we can catch the flight back.

Day 12: Eight hour trek to Lukla

Today was the last day of our trek. We walked for almost 8 hours and we are really tired after so many days of hiking, but we are finally here in Lukla and tomorrow morning at 7:30 we are flying back to Kathmandu if the weather is good.

Day 13: Adventureous return to Kathmandu

We had our breakfast in the hotel at 6:20am as we needed to be on time for our flight to Kathmandu, which was due for 7:30am. As we finished before 7 it turned our that we still had a lot of time to watch planes landing and taking off from outside the fence of the airport, where the runway starts. When the airplanes were taking off, we could feel enormous draft from their engines.

We checked in almost at 7:30, so only a few minutes before planned departure, which apparently was no problem. Unfortunately we had to pay R$500 each for overweight luggage, because Tara Air decreased the free checked-in luggage weight to 10kg and the handbag weight to only 5kg.

Then we had to take all the bags with us and hand them to the baggage inspector, who only asked us whether we had any electronics inside. Some of us had, some of us didn't, but regardless of that he didn't look inside any of them and just put all the checked-in bags against the wall. That meant the bags were checked in.

The flight was eventually an hour late and we managed not to fall down to the pit (the runway is only 300 metres long, so we had to go full throttle immediately).

The flight took 40 minutes, during which we were able to see everything inside the cockpit. We could see and record the entire landing procedure!

Once we landed, we were taken by a bus, which was approximately 40 years old. Then the baggage belt... I could hardly call it a belt... One person was unloading the bags directly from the car trailer. He asked me to go inside the building for a check-up, but I refused, he smiled and said "OK" with a smile, wishing me a good day ;)

We are going to our hotel in Thamel - the heart of the city. Now it's time for a short rest, a walk and some food, after which we will do some sightseing.

We got to Thamel in Kathmandu before noon and after a short rest, a shower and nice lunch (Butter Chicken Masala was heaven in the mouth!) we went to Durbar Square. The entrance fee is R$1000 for after-earthquake renovation purposes. For that fee one can see the main old city square with a lot of temples, the Palace Museum and the Kumari. Due to the festival, she didn't appear in the window, but people were allowed to meet her and receive her blessing, however - only hindus were allowed to see her. The festival now is a very special time when it's possible to meet her.

After 5pm the most important places, such as Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple), Boudhanath (Buddha Stupa) and Pashupatinath (hindu Temple, where they cremate bodies) are closed, so we are planning to go there tomorrow.

Day 14: Monkey Temple, ceremonial cremations and Buddha Stupa

Our plans for today were to go to Swayambhunath, also called The Monkey Temple, Pashupatinath to see the ritual cremations and Boudhanath, also called the Buddha Stupa.

Around 10am we left our hotel and walked to the Monkey Temple, which is about a 40 minute walk.

The Temple is built on a hill and you have to walk up a couple of hundred of steps to get to the top. On the way there is a lot o monkeys and even monkey families playing together.

On the top there in a huge Buddhist Stupa with a lot of ornaments and symbols made of brass, which is now shining in the sun. There are also some Hindu Temples here next to the Buddhist ones. Also, there has to be a lot of shops selling souvenirs.

Once we walked down from the hill we hailed some taxis and negotiated the fare to Pashupatinath, which went down from R$1000 to R$400, but to get that price we had to walk away a few minutes from the Monkey Temple.

Twenty minutes later we were in Pashupati, where we had to pay R$1000 and were told that we can walk everywhere apart from the main temple, which is allowed only for the Hindus.

Inside the complex you can see a lot of concrete platforms built along the river currently with stakes burning on two of them. There are some Brahmins in white praying, a lot of Saddhus walking around and asking for money for taking photographs with them, some girl is washing her hair in the river, where they dump the human remains, there is also a boy with a huge magnet fishing for the remains that he can sell, and last, but not least, there are some people at the lower part of the river fishing for whatever did not burn and putting everything on a huge pile. All this is accompanied by awkward silence occasionally interrupted by some groups and guides.

Around 1pm another cremation ceremony begins with someone signing from the balcony of the Pashupatinath Temple and the family starting to gather around a body laid next to the river. Some Brahmins in white start praying. Someone from the family is washing the face and the feet of the decreased and some people start crying. A few minutes later the body is taken to a platform, where a stake is already prepared, laid on it and more wood and straw is put on the body. A man with a torch makes three circles clockwise around the deceased and after the last circle puts fire under the stake. The final stage of the ceremony begins...

Once the stake is burnt, everything that's left is thrown using big wooden sticks into the river and another ceremony will soon begin.

After throwing the human remains into the water, young teenage boys with magnets come out to feast and fish for anything that contains metal and gold teeth, which can be sold for profit.

The view is rather depressing, but teaches us an important lesson about the Hindu culture.

We leave this place, take another taxi, which costs us R$300 and go to Boudhanath where we get in around 15 minutes. On the way we had the impression that the taxi will fall apart, the floor will collapse and with the back seat we will fall down to the road. Not to mention that it was really difficult for 3 people to fit in on the back seat :)

The Buddha Stupa, one of the biggest and important Buddhist landmarks in the World, is undergoing renovation after the earthquake last year as it seems to have suffered greatly.

After relaxing in a rooftop restaurant with a view of the Stupa from above, we decide to go back to Thamel.

Day 15: Patan

We decided to go to Patan. A one way taxi from the Thamel costs no more than R$400, but be prepared to bargain, because the initial price may be much higher.

Patan is a town located in Kathmandu Valley, around 7 kilometers from Kathmandu city and is also called by its old name Lolitpur.

Another city worth seeing in Kathmandu Valley is Bhaktapur, but this is not in our plans for today.

In Patan we went to Durbar Square (entrance fee R$1000), which is undergoing major renovation after the earthquake.

There are several landmarks worth to see, such as the famous Krishna Mandir, the Buddhist Golden Temple, the Ashoka Stupas and the Museum.

On our way to the taxi there were plenty of shops and restaurants. There was even a shop with chickens being killed on the spot, depending on the customer's choice.

Day 16: First farewells

Three people already on the way to Dubai and then back to Poland.

Five other people from the Island Peak group are now stuck in Lukla due to very bad weather there.

Relaxing and waiting for their arrival in the evening or tomorrow morning or... who knows when

Day 17: Cancelled flights from Lukla

Still waiting for my friends, who are still stuck in Lukla since yesterday. In the morning the airspace was closed due to the Nepali Prime Minister's flight to New Delhi. Now the weather in Lukla is fine, but in KTM still cloudy, so the flights are still not going.

Marcin has a flight to the UK tomorrow, but there is a chance he won't need to fly by a helicopter as he is due to go by an emergency flight.

Update: Marcin has landed in KTM.

Marcin luckily arrived from Lukla on an emergency flight as he has a flight home tomorrow morning, but the rest of the group is still stuck in Lukla and if there are still problems tomorrow, they may need to get to Kathmandu by a helikopter, which will cost them $200 each. Let's hope for the best tomorrow!

He arrived in the afternoon and he decided to go to Pashupatinath to see the controversial from our culture's point of view cremations, so I went with him to show him the place. As I was here three days ago and as his guide I negotiated at the entrance that I didn't need to pay the entrance fee this time. For $5 we also got a local guide to explain us the ritual.

He showed us the Pashupatinath Temple from the outside (non-hindus are not allowed inside). Next to the main temple, which is the biggest Hindu Temple in Nepal, there is a hospice for people who are going to die very soon.

We also saw the Kamasutra Temple, where people sacrifice animals, such as goats and chicken.

We were able to see the cremation ritual. Before burning the body is undressed and dressed in white and orange, which are the sacred Hindu colours, then the family members wash the person's face and feet and carry the body to the wooden stake. Then they make three clockwise circles around the body - one for Brahma, one for Shiva and one for Vishnu. Afterwards they set the stake on fire.

After, we came back to our hotel to małe arrangements for Marcin's departure and my trip to Maratika tomorrow morning.

Day 18: Long way to Maratika Cave

After 11 hours of going by jeep and a mini-bus on the ridges of the mountains where the road ended after the first two hours and the only road was a very narrow dirt road on the edge of a cliff (and sometimes in the water through the river) I arrived in the Khotang district and was able to see the Maratika Cave, where one of the Buddhas - Guru Padmasambhava practiced and meditated in the 8th centrury and supposedly got enlightened.

This is also a place where Buddhism and Hinduism crossed as the legend says that the Hindu God Shiva protected Guru Padmasambhava from negativities, which helped him get enlightened. That's why the Cave has both Buddhist and Hindu symbols.

The monks practice here since 6am to 6pm while the Cave is open to visitors. They chant the "Om Mani Padme Hum" mantra and the Long Life Mantra of the Dakini Mandrava, who was Guru Padmasambhava's partner and practiced here with him. They also sing and play on a special, very loud trumpets and the drums called Damaru - the rirual drum that gives the rhytm of the chanting.

Day 19 and 20: Meditations and Ritual Puja

Yesterday my connection was very poor and I was not able to post anything.

The Maratika Cave was only a 10-minute walk from the Padma Hotel, where I was staying. Due to the fact that I had running water and a private shower in my room, the hotel was quite expensive (R$1300 - 13 US$). It was a cold shower, of course. There is a huge problem with water here in Nepal, and a hot shower in most places is a luxury.

I went to the cave for the first time before noon and as I got there, there was a lot of people walking and taking photos. It was pretty quitet that time, so it was possible to relax. Only a couple of monks were reciting the mantra of Long Life.

A lot of local people wanted to take photos with me, which made me feel special :) I also met some really nice people, with whom I really enjoyed spending time.

When I went back to the cave after lunch in late afternoon, the monks and some practioners were doing the Long Life Puja, reciting the mantras and invocations to Guru Padmasambhava and Dakini Mandarava and offering food to the enlightened beings and hungry spirits. As I was also hungry, I was given a huge bag of sweets to take with me and to offer some to other people. Trumpets, drums were being played, bells were rang and mantras were sang. The practice was very loud and did not resemble anything that could be called a meditation in the Western world.

I was very lucky to witness this as according to the Tibetan calendar it was a special day and such Pujas are not done very often. Some people came here all the way from Kathmandu and from the neighbouring country called Sichhin between Nepal and Bhutan to take part in it.

During my dinner in the hotel I met more interesting people, such as the man who was recently in Poland giving teachings in a Buddhist center near Kraków! Small World! ;)

The second day was not easy at all as it took me 12 hours to get back to Kathmandu + one more to get by taxi through a massive traffic jam to the hotel.

I left the hotel by jeep at 7am and it took me two hours to get to the district border of Khotang, where I had to walk across the river to the other shore to get the bus to Kathmandu (R$300 for the jeep + R$700 for the bus, 10 US$ in total). The journey by bus took another 10 hours. Most of the way there was only a rocky dirt road. We drove through the mud, in the water crossing the rivers, on the edge of a cliff by the roads partly blocked by the rocks that fell down from the mountains, looking down into the pit and praying that we wouldn't fall down. The bus was tilting sideways and jumping up on the bumpy road so a few times I hit the sealing with my head. I was sitting in the last seat in the back, where on four seats there were... six people. Suddenly a glass window exploded only one row ahead of me due to the heat and glass particles were everywhere. That was some adventure! :)

Day 21: Drive to Chitwan

It took us 8 hours to get to Chitwan by a tourist bus. The road, again, was unpaved and not easy. There were road works being done, so instead of 4 to 5 hours it took us two times more.

Eventually we got there before 4pm, had our buffet lunch and went for an Elephant ride in the jungle. The only elephants here are the female ones as they are easier to control. The males can be quite agressive and are used mainly by the army to contol the jungle areas.

In Chitwan there are currently around 60 elephants owned mainly by the hotels. There is a breeding centre, where baby elephants are born after 22 months of pregnancy!

Then we went to the local village inhabited by the indigenous people called Tharu. The Tharu women who are married and are in their thirtees, tatoo their forearms and legs as a sign of maturity.

Day 22: Chitwan National Park

At 5:30 in the morning we went for a canoeing trip in the jungle to see the sunrise and the wildlife. We had a chance to see some alligators waiting for prey on the river bank and in the water, Kingfisher birds, deers and elephants. It was actually the best part of our Chitwan trip! The sunrise tranquility was astounding!

The rest of the day was not easy as we spent over 12 hours on the "tourist" bus going to Kathmandu. Due to very bad roads and road works on the way we lost of lot of time in the traffic jams and more unexpected surprises came in the afternoon when we got a flat tyre and our bus went to a garage with our belongings without telling anyone what happened. After an hour and a half of waiting and not knowing if the bus is ever going to come back the bus finally did come and we started moving again.

On the way we saw a bus and later some trucks that fell from a cliff into the river! That view came to us as a huge shock as we did not believe such accidents would be so common here.

The interesting thing that we found out that getting a ticket for a tourist bus to a Nepalese is practically impossible unless you know someone from the bus company.

We got back in Kathmandu after 6pm and had some little time to buy suvenirs.

Day 23: Flight home

The adventure is over. Time to get back into reality and to appreciate life and things we think we get for granted in Europe more, while in other parts of the World this is not as obvious.

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