Return to Phadking
Trip Start
Feb 23, 2007
1
15
25
Trip End
Mar 18, 2007
Phadking, Nepal
Friday, March 9, 2007
Again I am allowed to take pictures in the kitchen. It is amazing that there was about 25 trekkers staying last night and they managed to feel us all with just a small amount of cooking area.
My trek is almost over and we take our time to get to Phadking. The trail is busier than a week ago, Easter is just around the corner and many people have taken advantage of extended holiday time to make the Everest trek.
Although I did not make it to Gokyo Ri and the fantastic views of those gigantic peaks I feel that I have still accomplished more than many of my age ( i'm almost 55). I achieved a height of nearly 4400 metres. I managed to trek for three consecutive days for nine hours for two of the days and seven for the third day mostly achieved in deep snow. I saw an eagle soring in flight, and celebrated one hundred years of scouting in the UK with a view of the highest peak in the world, yes I was on the top of my world at that point. I met some fantastic people along the way and became friends with my guide and sherpa without whom I would not have achieved any of this. I experienced a culture quite different from back home and a way of life that took me back to my childhood where we had no double glazing and central heating. Is our life better for all these modern conveniences I am not convinced but the younger generation seem to want to explore these mountains so perhaps they value what can be achieved with commitment. ( My daughter is envious of my trip and is thinking of altering her plans for her return from Oz) So I hope that it will inspire others to try it in the future. I worried amount being ill or suffering altitude sickness but stayed fit and healthy ( yes my knees ached on occasions but when you live in a flat area like Norfolk what do you expect.) I looked around their religious buildings and found that perhaps we should all take the idea of not doing any harm to anybody even if you do not agree to their ideas there would be less violence in the world.
But enough of my thoughts as we went towards Phadking we still saw some fantastic sights and interesting views of people planting potatoes by hand, (no combine harvesters up here). live stock was mainly yaks but we did see one horse and some cows ( no sheep though) One of the most oddest sights was an outside toilet and shower it looked so odd next to the hotel with the shower facing the footpath and the loo tucked to the side with a view of anyone approaching down the path.
We arrived at Phadking early afternoon and the guest house was full. Several of us were on our way down the mountain to Luckla in the morning and others on their way up. Those going up were eager to hear from us on our way down. Again they were nearly all going to Everest Base camp first and then to Gokyo ( no wonder the trail to EBC is so busy with everyone wanting to go there ( even though it is only a camp city at the best of times I am told) I still think the route we had to Gokyo was good because we had so few trekkers on the route and certainly at times felt that we did have the mountains to ourselves.
Once again the evening meal came and went with its usual speed and as we finnished we all again grouped around the fire. (Some to try to dry their socks - a frequent pass time of the sherpas) As the evening drew on we got to talking to a large group who had just completed the trip to Kalpatter but did not reach base camp as the route was too dangerous because of the risk of avalanches in that area and the guide told them it would not be safe. ( Glad we met a group who had achieved most of their plan but they still sounded enthusiastic for what they had achieved. At about 9 an english guy in the group and myself venture outside as we are told there will be another group comming down through like when we were here last week. The guy told be his name was Joe and where in the UK was I from. When I told him Cambridheshire/Norfolk boarder he said he knew the area as he lived in Kings Lynn ( about 20 miles from me) and he knew exactly where I was . It's certainly is a small world. We stayed talking till quite late ( like ten pm ) everyone else in his group had retired to bed. So we did too.
