Welcome to yet another adventure...
The highest hike in the world - From Phaplu to Mt. Everest #1
The first meeting with Kathmandu was very short and crazy. We arrived at 5 pm., and the list of things to do was quite long. First of all, we had to rent warm sleeping bags and down jackets for the high altitude trek. We jumped into a rental place just before they closed. We got our warm garments and were ready to continue. The next thing to do was to find our hotel, repack our bulky backpacks and leave unnecessary things. Mission complete! Last thing – find a jeep which will take us to Salleri – our starting point. Everything went fine and at 5 am the day after we were already sitting in the jeep.
How long does a 300 km jeep journey take in Nepal? 11 hours! Eleven! With two short food breaks for breakfast and lunch (our first dhal bat, we didn’t know that it will become our main dish every day). We arrived in Salleri and walked 15 minutes to Phaplu. This is where our Himalayan adventure starts.
The distance ahead of us was roughly 60 km. Destination – Namche Bazaar is a town where the main Everest trek starts. Most of the tourists fly to Lukla which makes their journey to Namche as short as two days. For us it took five. But we don’t regret it as it was a picturesque, calm, and one-of-a-kind hike.
The landscape was changing rapidly. At one moment we would hike on a sandy road with views to the long, deep valleys. A half hour later we would crawl through the muddy, slippery forest. The big mountains would show up at the horizon from time to time to remind us of our destination.
We were overwhelmed by the variety of landscapes. One thing, though, stayed unchanged. The donkeys. Used to carry the supplies to the villages without the road connection. They carry gas bottles, rice bags, apples, everything which can be useful.
Gathered in groups of roughly 15, they are supposed to walk slowly, one by one. What does the reality look like? They are overtaking one another, blocking the whole road. Some of them seemed to be resistive. Sometimes we would find one, lonely donkey contemplating the sense of life. Their moment of freedom took as long as the person who takes care of them realizes that they’re missing something.
The higher we went, the more picturesque the landscape was. Snowy peaks started showing their faces. Down on the way though, we felt like in the summer. During the day sunscreen was a must. We couldn’t believe how warm it was! Nights were chilly and we were happy we rented warm sleeping bags.
On the fourth day, we passed by Lukla, the mentioned place where most of the tourists start their trek. We were afraid to bump into a huge crowd of people. But it wasn’t that bad! The day after, at the entrance to Sagramanthu National Park, which covers the whole trekking area, we met tons of other hikers. After the fee counter though, the way wasn’t packed.
From the very begging Sagramanthu showed its very beauty. The trek goes along the river called Dudh Koshi, meaning ‘Milky River’. The name is really accurate because that’s exactly how it looks. Every once in a while we were crossing a suspension bridge, each time higher above the river.
The way was steep, but every short look back was a prize for our work.
We arrived to Namche at lunch time. The town didn’t amaze us at all. It is filled with gear shops where you can do last minute shopping. You can literally get anything you need for the trek right here, hiking poles, down jackets, sleeping bags, toilet paper... The sellers, as they have hundreds of clients every day, are not even pretending to be nice. We were even kicked out of one shop for bargaining!
The fifth day of our trek was a rest day. As Namche is the first night above 3000m, a person should stay there for two nights to let the body acclimatized to the altitude. We spend this day hiking around and trying to spot out first view on Everest.
Even though we were not successful, we enjoyed what we saw and were ready for the upcoming days.
.... to be continued!
Thanks for joining our adventure! There will be more from Nepal, coming soon!
