Everest Trek Day 4: Namche Bazaar to Tengboche

  Tengboche, Nepal
Saturday, December 1, 2007

Namche Bazaar (3440m) -> Tengboche (3860m)

So after spending a couple of nights in Namche Bazaar, it was time to move forward with our trek. Our destination today was Tengboche at 3860m.

But first we realized that we could visit the Saturday market here in Namche Bazaar as it just dawned on us the night before that this morning was a Saturday morning (it's easy to lose track of which day of the week it is when trekking).

Saturday market Namche Bazaar

So we stopped by there to pick up some fruit. Bargaining can some times be frustrating here in Nepal and this was the case at this market as well. Usually they would ask a higher price from us (being foreigners) as they figure they can make an easy buck at our expense. Fortunately, my friend Mazen is a good bargainer but he was finding it frustrating too so eventually we even tried to send our porter Noori to try to get stuff for us as maybe he could get it at a lower price. It proved challenging but we did manage to buy a few things before leaving Namche behind us.

We knew we would be trekking higher about 400m today what we did not fully comprehend was that we would have to descend far down into a valley before doing a sudden climb towards Tengboche. When trekking like this it's amazing how demoralizing it can be when you are trekking downhill but in the back of your mind you realize that all of this and more will have to be climbed up before the day is done. Well, it certainly was wearing on me.

Fortunately there were many good things about the trek today. Of course we were blessed with more fantastic views but what was especially great was that for a good part of the morning we trekked with Everest in sight.

Me and Everest

The double peak of Ama Dablam was readily visible as well.

There were other points of interest today. We actually spotted some wild mountain goats while we were at our lunch stop.

Wild mountain goat

I think the only animals we had seen before this were the yaks, etc that are used for transport. Another point of "interest" (although I think I use the term loosely here) was a dung drying farm. Yeah. So dung from yaks and cows are collected and then laid out in the sun to dry. They can then be used in the construction of houses and can also be used for fire. Actually, it is illegal to chop trees for firewood in the park so dung is quite popular to burn. And even while being burned it doesn't smell as bad as one would think. Or maybe it's an acquired smell that I had to acquire quickly or else freeze!

Actually, getting back to the illegal act of chopping trees in the park for firewood. Perhaps many of the local people missed a memo that this was illegal as we saw lots of wood (and it certainly looked like it was chopped) being carried by porters. To make it even more blatant, at one point we had witnessed some one actually whipping out an axe and chopping a small tree down in plain view of the path that we were on! Ok, maybe many of the people have switched to using dung for fire but it looks like they still have some work to do.

Ok, so the final part of our trek today was climbing the hill up to Tengboche. As usual, it was a grinder but with some perserverance and determination (oh, and some chocolate) we made it up. It was becoming quite evident that there was less oxygen in the air with each passing day as we got higher and higher. But for now, we can rest in Tengboche.

One of the attractions in Tengboche is a very nice monastery. It's quite a spectacular place to have a monastery with the mountains all around. We had good views around us when we arrived in Tengboche for maybe just a few minutes until the fog rolled in so it was lucky that we arrived there when we did.

I had never been in a monastery of this sort so I decided to have a look.

Monestary gates in Tengboche

They actually had a service (I'm not sure what else to call it) going on in the main room (I'm not sure what else to call this either) when we arrived. As is customary we removed our shoes and went in. We weren't allowed to take photos in here which is a bit unfortunate as the room was beautiful. Lots of colour especially red and gold. There was a huge golden statue of Bhudda at the front and the place was decorated from ceiling to walls, mostly with detailed paintings. There was of course a lot of chanting going on. I didn't understand what they were saying nor the significance but it was beautiful all the same.

After a day of trekking and especially the uphill battle to Tengboche, it was fantastic to experience the environment of this monastery and witness this service in person. For me that truly was a great way to cap of the day.