Stunning views, mind the yak poop.

Here I am on a side hike to a monastery near Phak Ding, the first stop on the trek.
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Hello! I didn't think that I would get to update this until after the trip, but here I am in Namche Bazar sitting in front of a computer;)  What can I say about the Nepalese countryside?  Its absolutely jaw-dropping...just as long as you don't look down, or else you will be forced to come come to grips with the growing popularity of trekking in Nepal in the form of garbage EVERYWHERE. For a Canadian like me who is used to sparkling water and spotless forests this is a little disheartening.  But there are efforts being made to clean it up.  Here in Namche, which is the last large village with reliable power, the views are outstanding.  I'll have to add some photos later as this is considerably more expensive than Katmandu at 10 rupees per minute.  This is also the last update for a while as we'll be moving out of civilization shortly and into the backcountry.

I love the suspension bridges, especially the rickety wooden ones, loose boards and all.
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We had a doozy of a hike to get into Namche (which sits at about 10250 ft. above sea level) but the work was completely worth it.  Although one of our group ( the Austrian, Arne) got sick she still made it. I gave her some Azithromycin I had as she was getting a fever and upset stomach.  There is another group hiking parallel to ours and has a doctor in their midst who's looking after Arne.  He has quite the neat little toy, it measure heart rate and O2 saturation.  Here at 10000ft. my heart rate after the hike was 113 bpm and my O2 sat. was 88%.  Before the the hike it was 91%.

Personal favorite, a photo of a child at Namche Bazar, taken secretly from the waist.
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Also got my first views of Mt. Everest today, now I know thats its big, but to seeing truly is believing.  As the size even from a distance was very formidable.  It wasn't long before the clouds cleared and we got a better view, but several other groups showed up as well and soon there was a photo feeding frenzy.  I had to snap some pics of everybody clamoring for a good shot, we'll see it much closer soon enough.  I'm going shopping today to buy some wind pants and some gloves, and maybe a warm wooly hat.  It shouldn't cost  me more than 1500 rupees.  And the exchange is 6o rupees to one US dollar, so I'll be getting a good deal no matter what!  I'll update this on the way down in a few weeks, and try to add some pics once I'm back in KTM. Thanks for the emails and comments too, its great to hear from home!