Journey to Everest Base Camp

DAY1-ARRIVAL DAY AT KATHMANDU

Arrival at Kathmandu was very uneventful. As expected, very crowded, old styled, small airport. One has to walk from the runway to come inside the terminal. Or in some cases, buses will bring you from the tarmac to the terminal like we used to see in the old movies.

We spent our day doing the remaining shopping for the trek. It didn’t take long with the help of our team. I showed them what all I had, and we discussed what else is needed and then we went to the shop and within 1-2 hours I had everything which I needed.

I woke up and was ready in the lobby by 5AM in the morning to be picked up by the hotel crew who drove us to the airport.We reached at the airport and there were folks from Himalayan wonders helping us with the luggage check-in and the boarding process.

However, visibility at Lukla was not enough, which delayed our flight by one hour. Visibility was still bad after one hour, hence flight was delayed by one more hour.

And then one more…..

Till it was 2PM.  And then it was cancelled for the whole day. And we had to get our luggage and come back home :(.

By the evening, Naomi – the other member of the group – had found out that her luggage is not in Delhi but still stuck in London. And she can’t continue without her gear. She decided to cancel her trek and rescheduled it for some other time.

I, on the other hand, decided to explore Kathmandu a little.

DAY3-KATHMANDU TO LUKLA – FLIGHT CANCELLED

Again, I woke up at 5AM. By now, I was alone in my group to the Base Camp. However, there was one more tour going on from Himalayan Wonders to the 3Way pass and there was also only one member. We both were going to Lukla in the morning.

What can go wrong with such a short journey? It turns out more than a few things.

First of all, the weather was still not clear. And flights were delayed to Lukla. Second, we both were flying through different flights and our luggage was swapped while checking in. So if he reaches to Lukla and my flight gets cancelled or vice-versa, we both will end up with each other’s luggage.

Fortunately, we both were called to board as the weather started showing some clarity. We were sent on the bus to the tarmac where our plane was ready.

Unfortunately, we were never allowed to board the plane as the  visibility became poor. We were stranded at the taxi for like 2 hours, and then the airline decided to call us back to the terminal.

Having nothing to do for the afternoon and evening, I decided to explore Thamel, Kathmandu.

And soon enough, I was calling the Seeing Hands Clinic.

Seeing Hands Clinic – Blinds Massage Clinic
I called up the clinic and was talking to Ramji Paudle to find out the direction to his clinic.

He did tell me the direction, and over our conversation I inquired if all the massage therapists over there are blind. He said yes, and also admitted that he himself was a blind person.

I was shocked for a moment. A man with eyes asking direction from a blind man.

I did meet Ramji Paudle, and listened to his wonderful story and got a Sports Remedial Massage for 90 minutes. If there is anything which will motivate me to go to Kathmandu that will be to meet Ramaji and interview him and share his story to the world. I am not a professional writer, but even if I can help him share his story with few more friends, that will be so much worthwhile.

DAY4-KATHMANDU TO LUKLA – FLIGHT CANCELLED, REACHED BY HELICOPTER

Third day in a row, I was ready in the lobby by 5AM. Reached airport by 6.30. Again the weather scenario was not clear, however Air Dynasty choppers were flying that day. HW guys asked if I want to pay extra and go by chopper. Without any hesitation, I accepted and boarded the chopper. Within the next 30 minutes, I was flying on my way to Lukla.

Also during my chopper ride, I got to see the first glimpse of some glorious mountains.

It was simply mesmerizing and tranquil.

DAY5-LUKLA TO PHAKDING (DISTANCE 5-6KM, TIME 3-4 HOURS)

After reaching Lukla, I met my tour guide and my porter.

Finally, after so many days our trekking started from Lukla to Phakding. As soon as we started, after having our breakfast at the Buddha lodge, we needed to get the trekking permit. As the trekking season was starting there were many people in the line from all over the globe. My guide, Ishwar had all the needed details and he completed the required paperwork soon after. 

Within an hour of our start, we came across our first suspension bridge. It looked very delicate and fragile, although it is very robust and sturdy.

Trek to Phakding was not very long, but it was still much different than walking on the pathways back at home.  It was a complete rocky, uneven, muddy in patches terrain with full of dirt. Many of times we had to go up for 50-100 uneven stairs

Finally, after around 3 hours, we reached to our first destination Tea House at Phakding. To my surprise, the tea house was a very good small motel with all the amenities.

And beneath the Tea house some 200 meters down was the Dudhkoshi river.  The name Dudhkoshi means river of milk as the stream was pristine white in color.

I comforted myself with some Masala Tea and gave the order for my lunch consisted of noodles and fried rice. After lunch and an hour of rest, my guide and I decided to trek downwards on some steep incline to the Dudhkoshi river.

One can just sit there, close his eyes and can easily attain Param Nirvana at the bank of Dudhkoshi !. I spent a few hours by the river, and then climbed up the tee house, had some light dinner and went back to sleep early.

DAY6-PHAKDING TO NAMCHE BAZAAR (DISTANCE 10-12KM, TIME 8-10 HOURS)

And then there were some nice views of waterfalls.

And then, we get to see Namache Bazaar from the top.

And not before long, I got to see the most beautiful mountain in the world – Ama Dablam.

And then finally, first glimpse of Everest. The peak in the top left. First view of Everest was a dream come true.  In my childhood, I read the story of Tenzing and Hillary, and since then I remember and dreamt of seeing Everest. And here it was, the mountain, in all its glory, standing tall, in front of us.

Around an hour more into the trek, came across the old man, who is working alone to clean up the trek to Everest for the trekkers.

And then an hour of downhill, to our lunch stop. By now, I learnt not to be happy when I see a downhill as soon after we will have to climb all that up and much more. And then an hour of downhill, to our lunch stop. By now, I learnt not to be happy when I see a downhill as soon after we will have to climb all that up and much more.And towards the last hour of our climb we reached the Tengboche Monastery.

Also made some friends at the monastery :).

Had a morning breakfast with toast, jam and my favorite masala tea. Today’s trek was same as yesterday. Today’s trek was also similar to yesterday, around 4 hours before lunch and then 4 hours after.

Morning first hour was a normal walk, till we came across our first and a new suspension bridge. As the old suspension bridge got broken by a landslide few months back.

All day today we kept on getting great views of Ama Dablam and Lhotse. Everest was behind our hill by now. Around 2 more hours of an uphill climb and we reached our destination for lunch.
Also, by now, we had lost the phone and data connectivity. So far, it was always taking pictures and sending it to family and friends. However, by lunch time we are completely off line. There was no phone or data connectivity anymore.

By now we are already more than 4000M. And we had an uphill 3 more hours of climbing.

After lunch, there was a flat trek for an hour before we started going down to the Dudhkoshi river to cross the bridge which takes us to the Dengboche Hill. One gets some great views of Ama Dablam along the way.

The hill behind me below on the left is the Dingboche hill. That means, we have to trek down to Dudhkoshi, cross the bridge, and climb up to reach Dingboche hill. Dingboche village was still an hour or so from the Dingboche hill.

And finally, this is the village of Dingboche.

It was a tough and trying day. But I was getting used to it. After today we were one more night away from Base Camp. I had an early dinner, along with some other folks who also were heading the same way. After that I bought a data card to talk to my family back home, and then decided to sleep. My phone was discharged, and the Tea house guys told me that I can charge it early in the morning. I went to sleep early by 9PM.

This was going to be my last night.

DAY9-DINGBOCHE TO LOBUCHE