Journey to Everest Base Camp Day 5-7: Dingboche-Loboche

This is part of a series of posts about traveling to Kathmandu and trekking to Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar in the summer of 2014.

Day 5-6: Dingboche
The trek to Dingboche was, again, in the clouds.  Every time I sweat, I felt it wick away from my body as soon as the drop reached the surface of my skin.  At least the elevation gain was mild (4400m, 1312 ft).

The good news is, we were now high enough in elevation to start seeing yaks.  Along the way, we went through a little valley that had many yaks grazing, both young and old.  I had a yak charge at me for getting too close (!) but luckily I got away fast enough and lived to tell the story.

Yaks!

Wondering what I ate every day?  You're in luck, it's pretty easy.

• Breakfast: Vegetable omelette and tea
• Lunch: Veg friend rice or veg fried potatoes
• Dinner: Nepali Set Dinner - lentil soup and rice ("Daal Bhaat"), vegetable curry and a crispy chip.

"Nepali Set Dinner" means the same thing everywhere

A quick note about the weather - it started to get cold in the evening, probably down to freezing (or close to it) in the night.  Luckily because it was the off-season, we were able to ask for two blankets instead of one!  Also I'm not sure if it was the altitude or the cold weather or both, but I started having some wacky dreams about my family, my friends, and my home.

The next day, Ben and I enjoyed our second rest day of the trek.  We went for a short hike, but spent most of the day sitting in the sun and enjoying the glorious views of Ama Dablam.  Ah yes, I must also note that I took a shower.  Glorious.

Day 7: Loboche
The terrain to Loboche was very different than anything we had seen before - Ben called it a "moon-scape."  True to the name, the hills around us had sweeping fields of little bushes evenly spaced with a brown grass covering in between.  We also started to see many glacier-carved rocks and boulders as we reached Loboche.  Another fun fact: I fell on a stone bridge (luckily onto the bridge and not into the water).  I was fine, but my leg had some pretty large and colorful bruises because of it.

In Loboche, I experienced my first real wave of fatigue due to the altitude.  I had been hyper-sensitive throughout the whole trek, trying to detect any signs of AMS early on, but so far both Ben and I were healthy.  At this point, I was drinking 4-5 L water per day!  When we arrived, I feel so tired, like the flu had knocked all the energy out of me.  More water and an afternoon nap helped, but this was a good reminder to me to be extra careful in the high altitudes.

I <3 prayer flags.  You wouldn't believe how many pictures I have with prayer flags

Our Tea House in Loboche

An example of our "glacier" landscape

Another yak

Onward!

Journey to Everest Base Camp Day 2-4: Namche Bazaar-Tengboche

This is part of a series of posts about traveling to Kathmandu and trekking to Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar in the summer of 2014.

Day 2 -3: Namche Bazaar
Our second day started with a difficult hike from Phakding to Namche Bazaar.  Looking back, this was one of the most challenging parts of the entire trek, due to the rapid elevation gain in a short amount of time.  Imagine climbing stairs made out of stone up 800 m for about 2 hours with only a couple of breaks in between to cross long suspension bridges.  Fun times.

Finally, we made it to Namche Bazaar at 3400 m (11,155 ft) - what a joy!  This village is the known as the "Sherpa Central" and proved to be most civilization we saw during the whole trek (note: "Sherpa" is the name of the ethnicity of those who are indigenous in this region of the Himalayas.  The term is also used to describe the natives who work on mountaineering trips).  Nestled on the side of a mountain, Namche Bazaar boasts a colorful display of hotels ranging from $2 to $200 per night, shops, a medical center, helipad, and school.  Usually the town is powered by hydro power from the river supplied by Everest glaciers, however because we arrived in the off-season, the main power grid was down due to maintenance.  We did not have light in our rooms, however we were able to get limited wifi and a hot shower (all for a cost, or course!).

Day 3 was the first rest day for Ben and me.  Rest days are essential in the EBC trek due to the high elevations - not including days to acclimate could lead to Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS).  We spent the day enjoying the views and going on a short hike to Hotel Everest View and a neighboring village named Kumjung.

Hotel Everest View is a very fancy hotel owned by a German man.  One night can range up to $300!

This is the entrance to the Khumjung Secondary School, founded by Sir Edmund Hilary (the first western climber to reach the summit of Mt. Everest)

Although we did not actually see Everest due to the clouds, we got a great view of Lhotse, a peak towering over 8000m.

Day 4: Tengboche

Time flies, time to go to Tengboche!  By this point in our trek, we had established a sleep schedule following the sunset and sunrise of 9pm to 5:30am.  No alarm necessary!  We made our way down about 300 m through a rhododendron forest, but then faced another steep elevation gain of 600m before reaching Tengboche.  This climb was difficult as well due to the fact that we were right in the middle of a cloud for most of the trek – I’ve ever felt that kind of chill before.

Stone artwork on the trail

A memorial for all trekkers and climbers

Tengboche is famous for a large monastery within the small village (one of the 7 buildings in the village).  The outside was plain, only showing off an ornately decorated gate and a large prayer wheel on either side.   However upon entering the main sanctuary, the scenery completely changed; colorful paintings covered every bit of wall space, gongs were placed by the rows at which the monks sit for the daily worship, and a 50 foot idol of Buddha sat at the head of the sanctuary. We were able stand and listen to some monks chant for a while, feeling the sounds resonating in our bodies.

An example of the artwork inside the sanctuary

Buddha!

Next stop on the trek: Dingboche!

Journey to Everest Base Camp Day 0-1: Kathmandu-Lukla-Phakding

This is part of a series of posts about traveling to Kathmandu and trekking to Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar in the summer of 2014.

Note: Keep on the lookout for an information post about the EBC trek coming soon.

Trekking Preparations
Taking our time in Kathmandu, Ben and I found a company and guide to accompany us on our trek. This is highly recommended, as the guides know the route, which tea houses to stay at, the permit stations, etc. We ended up choosing Ammonite Adventures and went on the trek with one of their guides named Durbar (we called him DB). Overall we had an excellent experience with Ammonite and I would recommend them to anyone going to Nepal.

Many people also bring porters, but we decided to carry our own belongings in packs (about 10 kgs). I had to do a fair amount of gear buying-before the trip, and we rented down jackets from a local shop for 60 cents a day. Not a bad price!

Armed with our backpacks, down jackets, and hiking boots, we were finally ready. Let the journey begin!

Day 0: False Start

Our first day of travel brought us delays in the Kathmandu Domestic Airport.  The first part of the EBC trek involves taking a tiny plane from Kathmandu to Lukla.  There are no roads to Lukla, so flying is the only option; however, Lukla is at 2680 m and the clouds tend to sit around the runway, causing the airport to shut down.  We waited from 5am to 11am and finally the flight was cancelled.  Bummer, but not a surprise.  We went back to the hotel in Thamel to do some more sightseeing in Kathmandu and made plans to try again the next day.

The best airline name I have ever seen

Day 1: Kathmandu - Lukla - Phakding

We made it on a flight to Lukla today - a helicopter!  The planes were not flying again due to bad weather, however our guide, DB, was able to negotiate so we did not have to pay anything extra for a helicopter ride. 

Ben's first time on a helicopter

 After arriving in Lukla (2860m) and eating veg fried rice for lunch, we made our way along the trail to Phakding (2600m) to spend the night.  For the rest of the trek, we planned to stay at "tea houses" (simple motel-type places - each room contained two beds with a pillow and blanket and a shared bathroom down the hall.  Simple, but comfortable.  For drinking water, we used a SteriPEN to sterilize the tap water - seriously the most magical thing I have ever seen.  Thank you, science.

Many of the trails are connected by suspension bridges

Spin the prayer wheels clockwise for good luck

Solar water heaters!  Get excited!

Nepal 2014: Starting the Journey in Kathmandu

This is part of a series of posts about Kathmandu and trekking to Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar in the summer of 2014.

Welcome to Nepal! Ever since I came to Nepal with my family in 2001, I have wanted to go trekking in the Himalayas. I didn't really have much of an idea of what that meant or what it would entail, but I was determined to go. Finally 13 years later, I happened mention the idea to my engineering friend Ben, who thought it was a great idea!  The more we started to plan, the more we realized it would be possible. I knew a lot about the culture and the language and he knew a lot about outdoors trips.  Teamwork!

View of Kathmandu

We first met in Kathmandu to start our journey and stayed at Hotel Nepalaya in Thamel, the tourist district of the city. Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is a medium sized city in a valley with about 700,000 people, beautiful Buddhist temples, and a pollution problem.

We had a great time sightseeing in the city before our trekking began!  Here are some of the hot spots:

Swayambhunath

(Monkey Temple)

Stupa - a temple-type structure in the Buddhism

Spin the prayer wheels clockwise for good luck!  We saw these EVERYWHERE in Nepal, small and large.  I religiously spun every prayer wheel I saw (pun intended)

Boudnath

(Largest stupa in Nepal and holiest Tibetian Buddhist temple outside of Tibet)

I went here when I was 10! 

Inside the monastery near the stupa.  The ornate work and paintings were stunning.

Patan Durbar Square

(UNESCO-protected ancient royal city)

Fun fact - I showed my Indian dual citizenship passport and got the lower entrance rate!

There was a lot of Japanese influence in this town square.

Fun facts

Language: Nepali, but most people know Hindi (which made my life easy)

Government: Democratic Republic (used to be a monarchy.  Actually here is a freaky story - I was in Kathmandu with my family in 2001 and only a month or so after we were there, a massacre in the royal palace occurred, very close to where we lived. Crazy!)

Currency: Nepali Rupee (96 NPR = 1 USD)

On our way to Everest Base Camp

Yes it is true, my friend Ben and I are on our way to Everest Base Camp in Nepal! WiFi is very limited, but we are in Namche Bazaar right now. Google the typical EBC trek, to find our route! More later hopefully!

Denali National Park

Michelle and I spent most of our time 4 hours north of Anchorage (on the same highway we took south to Whittier – I wasn’t kidding, there is only one highway in Alaska) in Denali National Park.  There are seven national parks in Alaska and Denali is not the biggest one, but this park boasts the mighty Alaska Range and Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America.

There are a couple of  places tourists can stay when visiting Denali, but most stay either one mile north of the park entrance (Canyon area) or10 miles north of the entrance (Healy area).  We decided to stay at a lodge-type place in the Canyon area; staying close to the entrance of the park turned out to be a great decision.  There is also a cluster of restaurants in that area, which we took advantage of after our long days of hiking.

Denali is setup in such a way that one road goes from the park entrance for about 100 miles into the park.  Visitors can drive or take a free shuttle up to mile 15, Savage River; after that, only park buses can drive on the road and visitors must pay a fee (the amount depends on the distance you want to go).  We ended up staying within the first 15 miles because this area contained most of the trailheads.

We got up every morning, ate a hearty breakfast at the hotel (breakfast buffet!), and went to the park to hike.  We explored the area and went on many hikes during our time in Denali!  Our two biggest ones were:

1. Savage River Alpine Trail (elevation: 1500 ft, very steep!)

2. Mount Healy (elevation: 1700 ft, we ended up going further than the set trail, so we probably went higher than that)

Don’t forget the animals!  We saw caribou, moose, birds, Dall sheep, and even two grizzly bears!

After our long days of hiking, we tried out some of the local restaurants.  Our favorite was Prospector’s, a pizza place (with gluten-free crust!!).  We even got adventurous with our food in addition to our reindeer and tried elk, yak, and Alaskan halibut.  Yum!

One more interesting note about Denali – we were one of the few younger people in the area.  Most of the activities cater to an older clientele, many on land/cruise tours.  Most people our age were seasonal workers at the restaurants and hotels from all over the world.  Michelle and I ended up making friends with a bunch of these younger people and they gave us good suggestions on hikes, where to eat, etc.  Get this: the server we met at breakfast in our hotel was from Ann Arbor – what a small world!

We also got a lot of attention from the older crowd, many of whom said that was “so cute” to see two young girls traveling all the way up here to hike and see the wildlife.  We even met a group of three fun couples from North Caroline at dinner one night and started chatting with them.  They called us “darling” and ended up giving us half of the ribs they ordered!  Score!

What an amazing experience! After a fun week, Michelle and I headed back to Seattle and then Boston and East Lansing, respectively.  I would love to learn how to backpack and go back up to Alaska someday.  Fun times!

Dog sled demo!

We saw many caribou

So happy to finish!

Me too!

Look at that food! Salmon halibut in the back and yak in the quesadilla in front. Yummy!

The Sights, Sounds, and Glaciers of Whittier

Picture this: A town that is about an hour south of Anchorage, right on the Prince William Sound, full of glaciers, a scenic highway (the one and only highway in Alaska) to get there, and the population is 220.  Surprise, it’s Whittier!  By the way, I’m not kidding about the population fact.  Ah yes, I forgot the most important detail – to get to Whittier, all cars and trains must go through a ONE-LANE tunnel through a mountain (you are in the tunnel for about 6 minutes), which is on a schedule because it can only handle one-way traffic.  That means if you miss the 15 minute period to go from the highway to Whittier, you have to wait until the next hour.  This also means if you miss the last opening out of Whittier at 11:30pm, you better start looking at the one hotel Whittier has.

We decided to go to this lovely little town to go on a glacier boat!  We were able to travel around the Prince William Sound for about 5 hours and see multiple glaciers, wildlife, and mountains.  We learned that glaciers look blue because the ice is so dense, only blue light has enough energy to get through. As for wildlife, we saw otters, porpoises, bald eagles (!), sea otters, and seagul-type birds.

If you ever get the chance to do something like this, DO IT!  The experience was worth every penny.  So was the Alaskan salmon they served for lunch, if I do say so myself.

The entrance to the Whittier tunnel

The Alaska state flag

Surprise Glacier

Go blue!