Nepal: Part 3: Namche Bazaar (11,290 ft) to Lobuche (16,210ft)

Welcome back! This post will cover most of the trekking uphill. The next post will be Mt. Everest Base Camp.

Namche Bazaar
Thupten was kind enough to invite us inside his home when he's not trekking all over Nepal with REI folks. Thupten's father was also a trekking guide. His father won a medal for saving an American's life back in the 60's. They flew his father out to the US and I think Kennedy awarded him this medal.

Hand painted room by Thupten himself, 15 yr Monk

The REI Sherpa staff are so wonderful. They're so service oriented without a single complaint

The sherpas served us 4-5 meals a day, Breakfast, Lunch, Tea, Dinner every day.

The cooks even made us pizza with some pot-stickers and green beans. It tasted heavenly to be, not only be 7,000 miles away in another country but 13,000 feet above sea level and to have pizza.
They don't eat cows or have cows up here so it was "Yak Cheese" :D

Unfortunately, our filmography/camera man got sick due to having soup at a restaurant outside the REI cook's staff. Now, I think this is an important factor when choosing your outfitter. REI knows the trekkers are westerners and cook the food for westerners. They know that food made by Nepalese for the Nepalese might not sit well with westerners that are not used to the food yet. So, to be safe, don't eat other than what the cooks make for you. , .

The amazing Renzi had to carry one of our crew's pack bag down to a lower altitude

A scenic moment. Steep drop off, eh?

Here we are at 3,975 m or 13,041 feet above sea level. Even though we sat down at a restaurant, the REI staff cooked our meals.

Just a really cute Nepalese boy enjoying his meal. I don't know what it is about this country but all the children are really adorable. They all have such rosy cheeks. Unfortunately, rosy cheeks usually means they've been wind-burned :(

Another fine meal cooked by the REI cooks :)

This was an incredibly hard day. I don't know if I was just exhausted or if the elevation gain was VERY high or the weather made the atmosphere kind of dreary but it was just SO hard. Unfortunately for my fellow trekker, he caught a case of traveler's diarrhea. I think the only remedy was to take the antibiotics they require you to bring and to let it pass.

If anybody has watched Everest: Beyond the Limit (I watched it on netflix), you will know the name Russell Brice. I won't go into details other than you should watch it ESPECIALLY if you are planning to do the trek to base camp or everest itself. Well, we ran into the expedition yaks transporting the goods to go to Russell Brice's Himalayan Experience!!!!

Here's a Baby Yak. SO cute :)

Aw yeah! We got to see the hand of a yeti!

We passed by some Nepalese kids on our way trekking. I could imagine these kids were probably laughing at us with our big boots and trekking poles when they do this walk every day twice to go to school and back :P

Once in a lifetime trek for me, every day walking commute for these days :D

More baby yaks! :)

Helicopter rescue! At a certain altitude, helicopters won't be able to do any rescues. the injured trekker will have to descend by foot (or horse) as soon as possible.

The sherpas taught us a card game. Unfortunately for me, I have no aptitude for card games. I forget the names and forget how it was played i can tell you everybody had fun but don't remember anything else :(

Scott Fischer's memorial. I highly recommend reading "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer. It's a Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster is a 1997that claimed 11 lives.

Here we are in Lobuche. The last "city" before we hit the base camp. Everybody stays in this area before they ascend for base camp and Kala Patthar. It was COLD AS hell! Being a native southern california, I am not used to temperatures below 60. so... seeing 22 Fahrenheit with my own eyes was just baffling. My hands felt like they going to be frostbitten.

Mr. Nuri serving our dinner. I managed to crack a smile despite being FREEZING cold. When REI tells you to bring a down jacket, you best bring one! :)

Thanks to Diamox, I got up to pee in the middle of the night about every night since I started taking it at 14,000 feet. I really wanted to try to go the whole thing without but one of the trekkers played some joke on someone that startled me and started a series of head clamped massive headaches. Our guide said I should definitely start on the Diamox so I took his advice. Glad I did because other than having to pee a lot (because I was also drinking a lot of water), I made it strong to base camp.

I originally intended to keep this as one blog but because of all the photos and the amount of time it takes to actually write something, I have ONE more part... Base Camp of Mount Everest itself.
Till next time.