Hello Fans.
I thought I had better hop to it and post about my trek to Base Camp before I completely lose guff and the whole magical experience is left undocumented. T'would be a shame. I am going to use a diary format so that you can feel the full effect. Haha.
Day 1: Kathmandu -> Lukla -> Ghat
Showers: 1
Even though we had a super early wake up call on the first day because we had to catch our flight, I was able to fit in the Last Shower. It was dope.
The 35 minute flight to Lukla from Kathmandu was rather spectacular with only a little bit of turbulence and insane views of the mountains. The landing was something else though. The beginning of the runway was perched on the edge of a cliff and was about 5.3m long!
On arrival in Lukla, all the kit got sorted out and our super human porters started off on the trek with our big red bags and us pansies followed along with our day packs. When I booked the tour I had thought that the bags would be carried by a combination of dzopko's (a yak-cow crossbreed) and porters but in the end EVERYTHING was carried by porters. Apparently this is preferred since employment is provided for more people but the guilt of seeing these poor guys struggling up the hills with our crap did take some getting used to. Anyway we took it slow the first day and only hiked about 2 hours to our first camp at Ghat, where we got better acquainted with our tents and the squat toilets, and started the team bonding process over a few games of UNO - before supper and bed.
Day 2: Ghat -> Lukla
Showers: 0
Wet wipes used: 12
The day started with what was to become our daily morning routine. We got woken up at 6.30 with a cup of black tea, followed half an hour later by a bowl of hot water which was for 'washy washy'. After we had packed all our stuff into our big red bags and day packs and our tents were taken down, we had breakfast and started off for the day. We hiked about 4 hours to our camp at Munjo and had lunch. Nix and I were hoping that with all the physical exercise and the cold and the altitude, the weight would just drop off but we soon found that being fed carbs with more carbs and a side of carbs didn't help our cause. Anyhooooooo.
After lunch we hiked 300m up a hill behind the camp to better help us acclimatise. Which is all well and good until I slipped going down and landed on my ass. Good times.
Day 3: Munjo -> Namche Bazaar
Showers: 0
Wet wipes used: 365
The hike to Namche was rather hectic and took us to over 3440m. But we took it very slow, with frequent stops and water breaks to make sure we didn't succumb to the dreaded altitude sickness. We saw our first views of Everest on the way to Namche - peaking out from behind the clouds. By now Nix and I had established ourselves as "the Zimbabweans" and were telling everyone that we were going to be the first Zimbabweans to Base Camp etc etc and even though that was complete bullshit, we sure as hell were the first in the team to see the first views of the mountain we had all come to Nepal to see.
In our team we had a father and daughter from Melbourne, another Aussie chick from Perth, an Englishman from NZ and an American, along with our guide, Harka, his team of 4 sherpa guides, the cook and the 20 porters (yes 20!).
To be continued ..... dum dum dum .....
I thought I had better hop to it and post about my trek to Base Camp before I completely lose guff and the whole magical experience is left undocumented. T'would be a shame. I am going to use a diary format so that you can feel the full effect. Haha.
Day 1: Kathmandu -> Lukla -> Ghat
Showers: 1
Even though we had a super early wake up call on the first day because we had to catch our flight, I was able to fit in the Last Shower. It was dope.
The 35 minute flight to Lukla from Kathmandu was rather spectacular with only a little bit of turbulence and insane views of the mountains. The landing was something else though. The beginning of the runway was perched on the edge of a cliff and was about 5.3m long!
 |
| Luckily we didn't need one of these for the flight since no-one was doing the vomiting. |
On arrival in Lukla, all the kit got sorted out and our super human porters started off on the trek with our big red bags and us pansies followed along with our day packs. When I booked the tour I had thought that the bags would be carried by a combination of dzopko's (a yak-cow crossbreed) and porters but in the end EVERYTHING was carried by porters. Apparently this is preferred since employment is provided for more people but the guilt of seeing these poor guys struggling up the hills with our crap did take some getting used to. Anyway we took it slow the first day and only hiked about 2 hours to our first camp at Ghat, where we got better acquainted with our tents and the squat toilets, and started the team bonding process over a few games of UNO - before supper and bed.
 |
| Our homes. |
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| This was how the porters carried our stuff. On their heads! Oh the shame! |
Showers: 0
Wet wipes used: 12
The day started with what was to become our daily morning routine. We got woken up at 6.30 with a cup of black tea, followed half an hour later by a bowl of hot water which was for 'washy washy'. After we had packed all our stuff into our big red bags and day packs and our tents were taken down, we had breakfast and started off for the day. We hiked about 4 hours to our camp at Munjo and had lunch. Nix and I were hoping that with all the physical exercise and the cold and the altitude, the weight would just drop off but we soon found that being fed carbs with more carbs and a side of carbs didn't help our cause. Anyhooooooo.
After lunch we hiked 300m up a hill behind the camp to better help us acclimatise. Which is all well and good until I slipped going down and landed on my ass. Good times.
Day 3: Munjo -> Namche Bazaar
Showers: 0
Wet wipes used: 365
The hike to Namche was rather hectic and took us to over 3440m. But we took it very slow, with frequent stops and water breaks to make sure we didn't succumb to the dreaded altitude sickness. We saw our first views of Everest on the way to Namche - peaking out from behind the clouds. By now Nix and I had established ourselves as "the Zimbabweans" and were telling everyone that we were going to be the first Zimbabweans to Base Camp etc etc and even though that was complete bullshit, we sure as hell were the first in the team to see the first views of the mountain we had all come to Nepal to see.
In our team we had a father and daughter from Melbourne, another Aussie chick from Perth, an Englishman from NZ and an American, along with our guide, Harka, his team of 4 sherpa guides, the cook and the 20 porters (yes 20!).
To be continued ..... dum dum dum .....
Am loving this! Please post some pics with you actually in them - thanks :)
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