Our journey...

A selection of pictures from our journey. The piece of music is by Third Day & is entitled Mountain of God, a choice very personal to me. Hope you enjoy it!

Tim, for SLS, back home in the UK!

28.01.10 - 1.05am (7.22pm UK), ref Kathmandu limbo. One sleep to go.

As I sit here writing, what I guess, will be the last blog before our return home, I’m struck by a feeling of deja vue. It seems like only a blink of an eye since I was sat here, in the early hours of the morning, having spent frustrating hours trying to get a minimum allowance of kit in to a small kit bag ready for ‘the off’ in the morning.

Well, I have spent a few hours getting everything packed up ready for ‘the off’, but this time it has been into a somewhat larger bag & has been way way short of the previous stress & frustration. Only a feeling of sadness. Not sadness at the prospect of heading home - no way - but at the final conclusion to this journey we have undertaken.

We’ve come a long way each of us. From the ‘not knowing trekker from tourist’ on the journey here, the gradual trust & sharing of some of our most personal life experiences, the growing friendships, the shared pain & endurance of the journey, the comfort of relaxing in each other’s ‘isms’, to the ultimate farewells. More than just a journey of height & distance, this has been a journey of time - a three week extract from the busyness of ordinary life to share in an experience that will stay with us forever.

In the words of Soul 2 Soul from way back when, “Back to life, back to reality”. & so we begin our last phase of the trek home.

Our alarm call is set for 6.00am tomorrow morning (well, in a few hours now), the bus comes at 7.30am to collect us & we should be at Kathmandu Airport at around 8.15am. After that the times go all over the place as we lose time K > Delhi, then Delhi to UK. I think ultimately we arrive at Heathrow around 6.00pm, but don’t quote me on that…!

I’ll see what the blog prospects are on the way home, but if they’re anything like the journey here they’ll be slim pickings & I’ll probably do a ‘we’re home’ on Friday. I’ll endeavour to upload some pics too [famous last words] as I’m sure my upload at home will be far better than here - it took me an hour to upload 5 pics last night, so I gave up… contrary to popular belief I do have a life you know! LOL.

Today was a good day. We breakfasted at our leisure around 8.00am & embarked upon, would you believe, a temple tour between 10.00am & 3.00pm. The temples were pretty much as we left them before heading off to Base Camp, but this time they were in the ‘crafty’ district of Kathmandu which enabled us to do a bit of gift shopping as well as take in the amazing surroundings. Although still ‘templed out’, to be walking the backstreets of Kathmandu & experiencing it ‘in your face’ remained, for me certainly, magical.

Again we lunched at rooftop height, able to take in yet more amazing views & perspectives, before heading back to the hotel around 2.30pm. En route we stopped off at the Tibetan refugee centre where around a thousand refugees resided, having sought refuge in Kathmandu back in the sixties. The project had been funded & supported by the Swiss but was now self-sufficient due to the high quality Tibetan rugs manufactured on site. We took photos to try & show the high quality, but rugs were incredible with an average time of 2 to 3 weeks to make a 4ft x 6ft rug.

We all wanted to buy one, but sadly the high quality meant that the weight was considerable & I, for one, knew I’d pushed the limit on the way here as it was!

In some ways it was sad to see these oppressed people in seemingly ‘slave labour’, but they were very happy & openly showed they were pleased to have us visit. I suppose the sadness is that they no longer feel safe in their home country, so are effectively strangers in a foreign land doing the best they can to survive. For us, visiting from such a privileged country, coming face to face with such a situation makes it a lot more real than just watching it on the news from the comfort of our homes. Hmm, real food for thought.

Anyway, bedtime beckons. Rob is snoring away as usual - in fact he’s just made the weirdest ‘whinny’ & laughed, so I can’t begin to imagine what he must be dreaming about!

Last sleep then - yippee! It’s goodnight from me, & it’s good night from him. Catch you in the UK. Sugar lump anyone?!

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

A taster... more to come when back in the UK

A shop at the Monkey Temple, Kathmandu

Abadabalam

Nous arrivons at Base Camp! We've only gone & bloomin' done it!

John, right, on top of the world... nearly!

Oh yes, the Big One! We were there - right there - in front of it!

Flight to Lukla - 'Hira, Diamond Geezer' in foreground.

26.01.10 - 4.20pm (10.41am UK), ref Return Trek Day Five. Two sleeps to go.

There’s a bang on the door. The cheery tones of ‘Hira, Diamond Geezer’ penetrate my consciousness with the words ‘morning tea’. I open one weary eye to see the pane of glass 6 inches away from the end of my nose has ice on the inside & my breath is a cloud. I struggle with my sleeping bag zip as usual, still requiring much thawing, as Rob gets his undone with the speed of an Olympic athlete & bounds to the door before the second [& increasingly irritating] bang & elated cry comes…

It’s the last trek day. The official last trek day. In the words of the song, this is it - this time I know it’s the real thing. I want to shout at the top of my voice “I’m a Christian, get me out of heeeeeeeeere!”… but I’m too cold to do anything. So I sit there, upright in my sleeping bag, feeling sorry for myself.

As usual, Rob’s good humour is infectious & before too long we’ve slipped into the comfortably chummy banter - John’s joined in through the wall, coughing along in time with our tunes, Bob joins in from the other end of the corridor too with his cough that has a remarkable likeness to the mating call of a cuckoo & Mike doesn’t do mornings. It turns out that all is good in our world today after all!

Breakfast at 6.45am & walk up to the airport about 8.00am. The usual tight security measures seem to be in place:

“Do you have a lighter in your pocket?”, reply “no”.
“Do you have a knife in your pocket?”, reply “no”.
“What country are you from?”, reply “Tim”.
“OK, you can go through.”

??!! Is it me? I actually didn’t hear him properly, but even so…

Squash onto the plane, various chairs arms & bits fall off as we clip ourselves in, pilot’s foot goes down, we collectively pray, the plane drops off the end of the runway &… phew, we’re airborne.

45 minute journey, flying at around 3500m. Pah! We’ve walked higher than that! Tee-hee.

Back to The Royal Singi &, well, it’s like we’ve never been away - except everything seems so mystical! Oooh… chair, oooh… bed, oooh… person without beard, oooh… hot drink, not luke warm! We’re opening our little plastic wallets of valuables left behind before the trek like they contain precious diamonds! I switch on my mobile & have a charge & reception - result! Being the considerate husband I am - & bearing in mind it’s 3.45am in the UK - I immediately text Polly! Sorry love x

We’re given back our passports too - I think this may be to remind us what we should look like. It seems to work for everyone as glimmers of recognition go around the group - except Mike of course, who was born with a beard. & Judith of course, who doesn’t have one. & Ruth of course, who also doesn’t have a beard, but she does have a Norman.

Anyway, after we have the customary welcome tea, it’s straight to the room for showers & clean clothes! Sadly, the shower was only luke warm as the sun hadn’t been up for long & the solar heater was still ‘working on it’. However, it was great to be able to have a good scrub - & be warm when I got out - & to have a shave!

With clean clothes on Rob, John, Mike, Bob & myself headed into Kathmandu town on foot for a ‘butcher’s hook’. Wow, what an experience. Not only is the whole place awash with colour, the richness of sounds is amazing! Sounds prick your consciousness from every angle - & your eyes just can’t keep up with what they’re seeing. I’ve tried to take some photos which I intend to upload, but I’ve no idea whether they’ll communicate the overwhelming ‘being there’ experience. I have some other photos too which I tried to upload at Namche by the way, but they kept failing - I’ll try these again now we have a stable internet connection at the hotel.

As we struggled to blend in with the locals, we were inevitably bombarded by street sellers. We could have bought just about anything I reckon, probably even a child - they’re everywhere. We even passed children & young teenagers lying on the pavement, full length, just asleep.

There’s litter everywhere - huge piles of it. John read that there is a litter collection strike at the moment, but the problem looks beyond this. It seems more like a way of life.

We walked to the buildings formerly occupied by the royal family here, before they fled - I can‘t remember why now... I think I got distracted while I was being told! The building would have been magnificent in its time, but for now looks derelict & unkempt. We had some lunch at a roof-top restaurant from which we were able to gain a far better view & it was still very impressive. From our position we could also see a whole barrage of activity from drills at the nearby army barracks, a bridal selection parade, the hubbub of street commerce & a cow [a sacred animal in these parts] causing havoc at a three point traffic junction because it refused to move & no-one was allowed to move it!

Back at the hotel now, I’ve blogged up to date & our plan is to meet downstairs at 6.30pm (about 1pm your time) where Psang will be taking us to a local Nepalese & Indian Restaurant. Looks like the eastern wind may be following us from the valleys… as it were!

Anyway, signing off for now. I’m looking forward to a real night’s sleep - the first for nearly 2 weeks. Let’s hope the weather doesn’t keep us awake…

Catch you tomorrow. 2 sleeps…

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

26.01.10 - 3.10pm (9.48am UK), ref Return Trek Day Four. Three sleeps to go.

Well, I have a confession to make. I’m writing this - as you’ll see by the date & time - after our return to the Royal Singi Hotel. I asked the SLS if they minded me having a day off from the blog & they very graciously agreed. ‘Today’ is/was a monumental day for us all (second to the EBC landing of course), so I wanted to be free to enjoy the elation of arriving at Lukla safely first hand. So, I write this blog entry retrospectively whilst my room-mate dozes fitfully in our room upstairs & I await the arrival of my pot of strong, black, freshly ground Nepalese coffee, in the Royal Singi foyer… in my shorts & a t-shirt, freshly shaved & feeling on top of the world…!

OK, back to yesterday… it seems so long ago now…

Early start today, earlier than the last few return trek days. The last leg of our return trek lay ahead & although we would ultimately end up at around the same altitude, it was to be a steep down one side of the valley followed by a hard steep up on the other side of the valley before we would reach Lukla.

We sweated, toiled, laughed, joked, tripped, trumped, burped, poked fun at each other, sang, quizzed, trumped & burped some more… then finished breakfast & departed! No, only joking, we did all this on the trek.

We stopped for a break at around 11am, had lunch around 2pm, & arrived in Lukla around 4.30pm. Ruth, who had hurt her ankle quite badly the day before, had started the last leg (no pun intended) on a horse we had managed to persuade her to travel back on due to her pain, but after about half an hour & several close calls with mountainside rocks, she decided she would brave it on foot.

She did incredibly well & as we stopped for lunch she was only about 45 minutes behind us & managed to keep up pretty much all the way after that.

We made good time, as we had become accustomed to, but today was different - nobody really seemed to want to ‘take the lead’. It was as though none of us wanted it to finish & by not being at the front it would make it last just that little bit longer. Finally though, there at the top of the path, was the gateway to Lukla. We each shuffled over it & stood the other side, waiting for each of our friends - & they all are - to come through themselves. As we stood there, snow started to very gently fall & everything all seemed very still. It was a very special moment.

One by one each arrived until we were all there. We walked through the town to our lodge - the same lodge we had arrived at to eat out ‘packed breakfast’ of boiled eggs, sandwich spread sandwiches & fruit 12 days earlier. It felt a lot longer than that!

Greeted with the now customary hot black tea on arrival, we all congratulated each other with varying levels of hysteria at the fact that “we’d only gone & blummin’ done it!” - hugging, kissing, dancing around… but we told Mike that he’d have to calm right down.

Our rooms were very nice - or they would have been if a little heat had introduced - but by this time we didn’t care. We were just fixated [well, a good few of us anyway] with the fact that (a) there was real meat on the menu for dinner in the form of chicken - we hadn’t had meat for nearly 2 weeks, (b) there was red wine on the menu & it was from Spain! Bingo!

Dinner couldn’t come quick enough & boy did it taste good. Rob & I ordered an extra plate of chips we were so hungry! It was great to be able to invite all the Sherpa team & helpers to join us for the meal & sitting opposite Yak Man made a real difference to the way my chicken tasted. It’s not a taste I think I’ll ever be able to replicate, but that’s probably not entirely a bad thing… sometimes some things are just left as a fond memory…

After we had eaten, John gave thanks to the Sherpa team on our behalf for all their sterling efforts throughout the trek. John was sort of co-opted into this as no-one else wanted to do it - too shy you see - but I have to say, a better man couldn’t have been chosen for the job. He did a great job not only of summing up the journey on which we had all been - & not just literally - but in also picking out little details from the personalities of each of the Sherpa team, having taken time to talk with them throughout the journey & get to know them as people. As indeed he had with all of the group.

It is a great quality, John, & on behalf of everyone, thank you for your words & indeed capturing the pleasure of the time we had spent in each other’s company throughout our journeys.

Well, after this, I think you know what came next… yep, Psang’s eclectic iPod mix! Yak Man, of course, reacted like he had just been plugged in & made a bee-line for Trev to dance, Bob decided he was then going to teach Yak Man to Jive - only stopping when Yak Man’s face went pale at the amount of times his arm had been twisted around in its socket… & so it continued.

I must admit to having a ‘wee bop’ myself, to Boney-M, but I was not alone. I had trusty Rob at my side, flailing his arms around in a similar manner, Mike was moving his arms in a way I would imagine was once very familiar during his vetnary career as he delivered calves, John & Bob were piggy-backing each other at one point I think, & Judith & Ruth were all out going for it! It was a beautiful beautiful vision which I fear sadly would loose too much in translation if filmed. You’ll just have to use your imaginations…

Mike, Rob & I wimped out at about 9pm while the rest of the divas went on until very very late & retired about 11pm. Our wake up call was due at 6am the following morning & none of wanted to miss it!

Tonight is officially the last sleeping bag sleep. Tomorrow night, although far from home still, will be warm & insulated, & far from what we have become accustomed. BRING IT ON!!!!!!

Nite nite. Catch you tomorrow. 3 sleeps…

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

24.01.10 - 8.10pm (2.28pm UK), ref Return Trek Day Three. Four sleeps to go.

It was great to get online earlier today & update the blog. I’ve just been typing away each day & hadn’t realised that the last blog upload was day four! No wonder there were some concerned comments & emails - sorry all. Thank you for your continued & faithful prayer support - it has been invaluable & certainly felt from even this far away. Despite earlier assurances, our lodge for this evening doesn’t have internet - guess where the man with the key is…?! Not here, that’s for sure!

A late blog tonight as today has been a long long day. We arrived at Monjo at around 5pm, sitting at 2840m (9372ft), giving us a total descent for the day of 3600ft. The walking took about 7 hours, but in addition to this we stopped at Namche Bazaar for lunch & a rest for 2 hours - & also to upload the blog!

Underfoot was really unpredictable - hidden ice, fine dust that travelled straight down your throat into your lungs, loose rocks, obscure angled rocks, boulders… it was hard going throughout. Not without its fair share of steep uphills either! Sadly the uneven surface eventually took a casualty - the first of the entire trek miraculously - & Ruth fell badly. Fortunately she didn’t break anything, but she’s left with a really swollen ankle which we’ll have a better idea on in the morning. Maybe we’ll have to take it in turns slinging her over our shoulders for the last bit of the return trek!

Psang had negotiated a good rate for us at the lodge in Monjo, so we have ‘en suite’ rooms tonight (don’t get excited - I’ll have a photo to upload tomorrow to show you the level of luxury…). Of course, with my track record on showers it wasn’t long before our room had slipped into calamity with a flood! Rob had managed his shower successfully, but not me… oh no. As the bedroom filled up with water, due to the shower not draining away quickly enough, Rob banged on the door & told me to switch it off. I did - with my eyes full of shampoo - & waited for the water to subside, which it did slowly.

I then finished the shower to a small trickle & waited while the lodge owners descended on the bedroom to mop up. My towel, of course, was in the bedroom. It took them about 15 minutes to mop up, meanwhile my body temperature was quickly dropping in the shower room as the window seemed to be fixed ajar… & so it went on.

Fortunately, all ended well & actually the outside temperature here seems considerably warmer than previous nights - I assume this is because we have dropped down in altitude so much now. It just feels very cold when you’re standing there in your birthday suit, wet! It was not a pretty sight!

We’re all fed & watered now, after another banquet of eggs, potatoes, cheese… you know the drill by now! The only addition tonight - & last night actually - has been the introduction of alcohol! It seems to be so much more concentrated than when we first ascended. When we went up, we’d think nothing of ‘a few pints’ & be fine - now, wow, how potent?! Amazing.

I’m certainly looking forward to getting back to the hotel the night after tomorrow & relaxing in a nice warm (unflooding) shower, a warm room, a comfy bed & a decent glass of red! I’ll save myself until then for the booze I think! Although Bob’s ‘hot toddy’ was warmly (no pun intended) received last night by the rest of the group - visitors included!

Normal wake up in the morning, with set-off by 8.00am. The aim is to be at Lukla, where the airstrip is for our return, for around 3.00pm. We’ll stop for lunch on the way. We’ll stay overnight at Lukla & fly back to Kathmandu the next day (Tuesday).

Lukla, our final stop of the trek, sits at 2866m (9458ft) which although is higher than Monjo takes a lot of ‘upping’ & ‘downing’ to get to & will no doubt be a tiring final trek for us to remember our adventure by. I’ll let you know…!

OK, signing off now. Most of the group are dancing around the dining room now in a more & more exaggerated way - even Yak Man is giving it large. One of the kitchen staff has just joined in & John seems to have very elastic hips (not Foss, although I’m sure his hips are very nice Brenda). Dr Jess has now joined & is swaying her blond locks from side to side. All this to the tunes on Psang’s iPod which currently seems to be running through ‘The Best of Bollywood’. I have my face buried in the blog so that I don’t get hauled up for a boogie, Mike, Rob, John & Bob are sitting in a line with their arms crossed looking on in fine spirits, & Judith is talking to Ruth’s ankle.

The latest development is that Yak Man seems to be trying to get Trevor to dance… oh, no, Yak Man is sitting on Trevor’s knee… no it’s not worked. Trev’s having none of it. Looks like it’s the yaks again for you Bhim!

Right, I really am going now. It’s a crazy crazy world in which we live… nite nite. 4 sleeps…

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

23.01.10 - 6.00pm (12.17pm UK), ref Return Trek Day Two. Five sleeps to go.

Despite what we thought, last night was actually the best night we have all had by far since we started the trek what seems like so many days ago. We were warm, headache less (for the first time), & fully rested by the time we awoke. We even got a lie-in until 7.30am which was very very welcome. We shipped out at about 9.00am in very good spirits.

It strikes me that I haven’t introduced our fantastic Sherpa troup:

Psang (meaning Friday, Sherpas are named after the day they are born) - Our magnificent Sherpa leader, which we all want to bring over to the UK & keep!
Hira (meaning Diamond). Hira is a Hindu.
Lapka (Wednesday)
Pemba (Saturday)
Dandi Sherpa
Bhim (the Yak man, & very good he is too! Bhim is the name of a god, meaning strength)

So from now, I’ll refer to them by name where relevant.

Our trek today wasn’t long - & to be honest, wasn’t very hard either comparatively speaking. There where a couple of challenging & hard uphill slopes, but none lasted for longer than 30-45 minutes each. We trekked out of the cold wind path too, so by half way we were de-layering down to base layer & a fleece.

We trekked to Tengboche which was a drop of around 385m (1270ft) - it’s also the place I suspect I picked up my food poisoning (although I can’t be sure obviously), so I’ll be choosing very carefully from the menu tonight! We arrived here around lunchtime, had lunch, ‘refreshed ourselves’ (in various ways!) & made ready for the afternoon’s ‘entertainment’… an afternoon at the village monastery hearing their prayer chants.

Well, nothing had prepared us for the spectacle. We walking into the ’outer sanctum’ where there was a list of does & don’ts. The last item on the list was strictly no kissing - I was reminiscent of the old sign in the swimming baths stating ’no heavy petting’… do they still have those? Anyway, that nearly set me off, but I managed not to look directly at Rob so was thus OK - for the moment.

We then entered ’the inner sanctum’ where we had to remove our shoes before entering. You can imagine how pleasant that was after so many days on the road… the matter was helped by the fact that there was no heat, whatsoever, so the fruitiness of any potential aroma was stemmed somewhat - a bit like chilling a red wine so you can drink it with fish, but I know which one I’d choose!

Anyway, we settled down to watch. Then we were moved because we’d sat in the wrong place. So we weaved in between chanting praying Buddhist monks to the other side, nodding apologies, before settling again on the other side of the room. The room was incredibly ornate & very large. The outskirts of the rooms were empty for visitors to sit & watch, sitting cross-legged on benches running vertically down the room sat the praying monks, & at the far end was like an alter area contain a huge Buddha statue & some other random statues either side.

The authenticity & age old tradition was made complete by the PA system being used to amplify the chantings of the ‘lead monk’ who had his own microphone. This was totally surreal as everything else we’d experienced since our trek began had been - & continues to be - so basic, yet here’s a praying monk with his own sound desk living it large at nearly 13000ft! Sorry, I should show more respect, but it was funny.

Each monk had an instrument - similar to the ones in the music room at Fernvale - which were also used in the prayers. The prayers went: mumble, mumble, cough sniff, mumble, cacophony of all instruments, bang on big bass drum, tinkle on little bells, mumble, mumble, break for sip of hot yak milk (monks, not us), & begin again.

So you can enter into the feel of the prayers, drop your voice as low as you can & say, in the words of Harry Seycombe, Spike Milligan & crew… “ying tong ying tong ying tong ying tong ying tong tiddle eye poh” very quickly, one after the other, 5 times. It’s very important to raise the inflection of your voice for “poh”. Then follow the list as above.

We each endured the bitter cold in out socked feet for as long as we could until we could bear it no more. The last of us came away to the nice warm dining room & reported that the only change to the prayer routine was that the buffet had come out & the monks had had a bite to eat during the proceedings. Thereafter the mumbles etc had continued.

We’re all still huddled in the dining room now & some other trekkers have joined the throng, although they’re only passing through & will be continuing their own Base Camp journey in the moring. One of them is wearing shorts & has been since landing at Lukla! It the lack of oxygen at these heights you know…

Tomorrow’s aim is Namche Bazaar for lunch & some shopping (3 hours), where I managed to knock myself unconscious in the shower last time we were there. I’ll be getting this blog uploaded up to date after lunch, so you guys will have a lot of reading to catch up on! After this the next will be Lukla where we stay on the last night of the trek before flying back to Kathmandu on Tuesday, so I’ll update it again there.

From Namche, we’ll walk to Monjo for our penultimate lodge stay. The day after being Lukla, the final port.

OK, signing off then. Catch you tomorrow. 5 sleeps…

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.