Everest Kathmandu

I had a good nights sleep and awoke fresh and ready for the walk ahead. The weather was cloudy which was a pity because the guide made a habit of pointing out what views we could see if the weather had been better. Not altogether helpful really We crossed a few bridges over the river on the way up to our lunch stop. Most of these are well made steel constructions with side bracing. Terrific fun to jump up and down in the middle and watch the waves travel the length of the bridge. They are on...

We've now had our two weeks in Nepal and set off for China via India later today. The two weeks have been incredibly diverse. We started off with a few days exploring the Kathmandu valley and its variety of temples and old towns. Accompanied by the sounds of Buddhists chanting "Om mane padme hum" and the smells of Hindus cremating their dead we did a whistle-stop tour of the local temples: Bodnath, Pashupatinath and the "monkey temple" (so called because no one except Nepalis over the age of ...

DAY 2 Phakding (2652m) to Namche Bazaar(3420m) Firstly the reason a boiled egg is more expensive than a room is because of the distance that egg has traveled. It would have started life in a chicken farm near Kathmandu and then because everything has to be carried into this region, the egg will be carried on mules or some poor porters back, all the way from Jiri, a minimum ten day walk away. Astronomical transport costs. Today is a day of climbing with a 1000m ascent to tackle. It was a beaut...

DAY 3 Namche Bazaar (3420m) to Everest View Hotel (3880m) to Khumjung (3800m) and back to Namche Today was an acclimatisation day. Its easy to gain altitude too quickly on the Gokyo trek and suffer from AMS (Acute Mountain sickness), so we will walk on a side trip and return to Namche to sleep at the same altitude, which helps your body to adjust. Today, we plan to visit the Everest view Hotel and a couple of Sherpa villages. We climb up to 3800m and stopped for a cuppa at the Shjanboche hote...

DAY 9 Dole (4090m) to Namche Bazaar (3420m) A day of walking back over old ground. We had a steep 400m ascent to start off through pine forest. Up to the Mong La pass and we entered the cloud level, walking through the clouds meant the visibility was reduced to 20m and finished any hope of a view. We walked a quick pace, helped with the obvious downward leading path, and noticed the miles were disappearing under our feet. We passed a village selling weird masks and crossed a couple more valle...

We finally had to tear ourselves away from the idyll that was Gokyo. Tom headed off with Jason, David and the other Americans, who promised to feed his 13 addiction as they headed over the Cho La pass. They also bandaged my foot and gave me a supply of icepacks- easy to refreeze with nighttime temperatures of -10! As we left the lodge's yak train arrived, bringing the week's supply of honey and Toblerone purchased down in Namche. We plodded back to Luza, lured by the prospect of more amazing ...

Today after a breakfast for the trekkers the three of us start our trek up the steep path to Namche Bazar. As we ate our breakfast we ask our sherpas what was all the noise at midnight when we had gone to bed. They were all mistyfied and we explained than you could hear a horn being blown and chanting and it came from above the path and passed through the village. ( I thought the rebels were trying to see if anyone was about) Margets husband had watched from his bedroom and they were carrying...

Hi, I loved this tiny himalayan kingdom