Slowly to Dole

I woke up with a headache and chest pains from the bed so was happy to get up any moving... It was freaking freezing this morning & trying to wash yourself standing in your undies is hard work !    we are all still wearing a heap of layers in the morning (everyone is just wearing the same clothes over & over -- wouldnt like to be smelling us at the end!).

01 Our porters carrying our bags

We walked from Mon La all the way down the valley (about 400m down) close to the town of Phortse... easy down but heading back up the other side was a little tougher. We walked through snow and saw some great frozen waterfalls.  We all got that hot again that the majority of our clothes were stripped off ... then 100m down the trak we are all cold again... just cant seem to get it right!  hehe...The walk was definitely easier than yesterday as we are all acclimatizing well and our muscles are wearing in..

We arrived in Dole (4040m) around 11am and had lunch not long after ... The day definitely drags when we don't walk for long periods but we usually got for a walk around 2pm to help acclimatize.    Today it was a walk 100m up a hill where we were clouded in and it was freezing.    As much as the day drags when we dont do anything on this day we all could wait to get back to the lodge and have a hot drink, play cards and sit by the fire...the only thing wrong with sitting my the fire is that they dont burn wood (to preserve the environment). They burn dried yak poo ... and it stinks -- very smoky! 

Dinner was excellent, a tomato and garlic soup followed by noodles, rice and proper hot chips!!!  What a treat !   Desert was some tinned mango - the tastebuds got a great workout....