Trek Day 2: Phakding to Namche Bazar

Prayer flags on a rooftop on Namche Bazar
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Time taken: 5 hours (incl. breaks)

Distance: Today: ~7 kms            Total to date: ~13 kms

Not sure I am going to make it up this hill!

Altitude: Phakding - 2650m, Namche Bazar - 3450m, Max ascent: ~1000m (1 km!)

A waterfall on the trail
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Today was a killer day.  Several times during the trek I wondered why I was doing it, since I thought there was no way that I was going to make it.  The weather was not cooperating, and several times when it was possible to see the mountains it was too cloudy to see anything.  Very demoralizing.  The only thing that really kept me going was passing a group of people coming back on the trail, who said it was absolutely worth it.  So my will power stayed up and I kept on.

Some of the steep steps leading up the trail
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The day started out pretty easy with similar scenery and terrain to the previous day - trail alongside the river, between densely-covered mountains looming over us on both sides.  When we got to the Sagamatha (Nepalese name for Everest) National Park, there was a sudden sharp descent to the river, and then a nice walk alongside the river for 15 mins or so.  Flat bits are always welcome, since the ascents are usually quite tough, and the descents feel like a waste of energy since you know the ascent is coming...

A little house that provided drinking water from a river (potable for locals only!)
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After a tiny village called Jorsale with a couple of tea houses, the population changed drastically.  There were no more tea houses until Namche Bazar, and the trend of tea house-every-15 mins changed to gaps of 1-2 hours of trekking between villages.

After stopping for tea, we continued a little further along the river, and then came to the biggest challenge to date.  ~1 km straight up the side of a mountain to get to Namche Bazar.  The climb was only a couple of kms long, so it was very steep.  The next 3 hours was probably the toughest time in the entire trek.  I had to stop and rest every 5 mins or so.  The only things burning more than my legs were my lungs.  As well, despite the cloudiness earlier in the day, the sun had decided to come out in the steepest portion of the climb.  I did have a little moment of reprieve when I came across 2 Canadians that offered me some chocolate (yum!) and a chance to chat for a little while.

Another view of the river valley
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By the time that we reached Namche, the clouds had again rolled back in, so what should have been great views were again obstructed.  Just my luck...  Namche is a quaint little hill town, literally formed in tiers (over 200 m high!) in a U-shaped bay at the crest of a mountain.  Quite nice, but that meant even more elevation to climb when we got there, and I was totally exhausted by that point.

We finally got to the tea house where we were staying at ~1 pm, so I had some lunch and then went to bed to rest for a while.  The tea house was one of my favourites on the trip, since it had nice accomodations, good food (including meat, which was hard to find up here!), and was in the process of renovations that made it more aesthetically pleasing.  Namche is pretty much the main village on the trail, with the park headquarters, biggest local market, and pretty much everything you would need.

This little girl came running out to see us as we passed. How cute!
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After my nap, Keisha dragged me (unwillingly) up to see the park museum at the top of the village.  The office is guarded as/more heavily than the airport, since I guess it is again seen a key point to lauch an offensive, so we had to wade through security checkpoints and razor wire to get to the museum.  Despite really only being a series of posters and pictures, it was a very good museum.  Very informative on all things relevant to the trek - the culture, animals, foliage, history, tourist traffic, etc. - well worth the 200m climb up to it.  Biggest down side was that it supposedly has a fabulous view of Everest and the other key mountains, but I was unable to see them due to the cloud.

These kids followed us and played with us for a while on the trail, on their way to school. They couldn't get enough pictures taken!
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In the evening, I met a Polish-American family that were also staying in the lodge.  Very nice people, with 2 kids (15 & 17 I think) and we ended up having a nice chat.  Not much to do in the evenings, so company is very nice...  They were going a slightly different route than us, but still on the same trail for the next day or two.  Funny thing is that I guess they were celebrating the birthday of one of the girls, and also their 25th wedding anniversary, so they treated themselves to hot showers at the tea house!  You had to pay 200R (~US $2.65) for a shower, since the rooms did not have them and the hot water used precious electricity in this place.  Later on down the trail the showers consisted of boiling water in a bucket, so this was a luxury...