Day 6 (27/12/18) Namche - Pangboche
Breakfast (boring set breakfast) and we’re leaving Namche!
Different spelling, same destination
Hike out was rather easy but the clouds started to form and soon, snowfall (albeit light ones). Reached Tengboche monastery but it was closed; continued on to Deboche for lunch and surprise surprise - it’s Shin Ramyeon (too shiok, forgot to take a clear shot of it)!
Huge monastery
Super shiok and it never tasted so good, probably the highlight for the day. Pressed on to go abit further to Pangboche where we eventually got ourselves a room at Eco-Holiday Lodge. Found a Singapore flag with Chen Xiao, Reuben, and Haowei's sign off on it!
Empty dining hall is bad especially on a cold cold day...
Everything’s frozen over here and we had trouble getting water to wash our hands. Dinner was once again noodle soup (RaRa tomato noodle soup with eggs - which was actually not on the menu; ahzong got the WaiWai version, so we basically self-created our own dishes. We were contemplating telling Lakpa we want minced meat noodles the next lunch).
Cozy room for the night
The cold (-20 degrees!), the bells on the yaks, and the dogs barking relentlessly whole night combined to make it a bad enough sleep. But we survived nonetheless - sort of!
Hike out was rather easy but the clouds started to form and soon, snowfall (albeit light ones). Reached Tengboche monastery but it was closed; continued on to Deboche for lunch and surprise surprise - it’s Shin Ramyeon (too shiok, forgot to take a clear shot of it)!
Super shiok and it never tasted so good, probably the highlight for the day. Pressed on to go abit further to Pangboche where we eventually got ourselves a room at Eco-Holiday Lodge. Found a Singapore flag with Chen Xiao, Reuben, and Haowei's sign off on it!
Empty dining hall is bad especially on a cold cold day...
Everything’s frozen over here and we had trouble getting water to wash our hands. Dinner was once again noodle soup (RaRa tomato noodle soup with eggs - which was actually not on the menu; ahzong got the WaiWai version, so we basically self-created our own dishes. We were contemplating telling Lakpa we want minced meat noodles the next lunch).
The cold (-20 degrees!), the bells on the yaks, and the dogs barking relentlessly whole night combined to make it a bad enough sleep. But we survived nonetheless - sort of!
Day 7 (28/12/18) Pangboche - Dingboche
Breakfast (cinnamon porridge) and a relatively easy 2 hours hike later, we reached Dingboche! AMS also got to me with a slight headache - could really be because of the lack of sleep though.
Simple but good, especially in the cold
Overcast is here is stay it seems
Rested at our lodge (Moon Light Lodge), lunch (mixed pizza) and took a short nap after popping the anti-AMS pills.
Western lunch. Pizzas are quite common to be honest
Then we headed up for the acclimatization climb. Reached the height of almost 4800m with the help of Lakpa’s Nimes (painkiller I suppose) before coming back down to chill at Cafe 4410.
Dingboche at a glance
Up up we go
And we are amidst the snowcapped mountains
Wifi and charging points were all sold out (whuuuut!). But we managed to wait out till the charging ports and wifi were both available while we played Dumb and Snake-and-Ladder to past time. Pretty unique an experience where fellow trekkers just gathered at one spot to chill (or rather, warm up), play game, and chit chat.
Business really is good
Dinner was a simple fried noodle and we headed off early to bed for a sleep marathon in the cold -22 degrees night...
Rested at our lodge (Moon Light Lodge), lunch (mixed pizza) and took a short nap after popping the anti-AMS pills.
Then we headed up for the acclimatization climb. Reached the height of almost 4800m with the help of Lakpa’s Nimes (painkiller I suppose) before coming back down to chill at Cafe 4410.
Wifi and charging points were all sold out (whuuuut!). But we managed to wait out till the charging ports and wifi were both available while we played Dumb and Snake-and-Ladder to past time. Pretty unique an experience where fellow trekkers just gathered at one spot to chill (or rather, warm up), play game, and chit chat.
Dinner was a simple fried noodle and we headed off early to bed for a sleep marathon in the cold -22 degrees night...
Day 8 (29/12/18) Dingboche acclimatization
12 hour sleep was pretty torturous but shiok. Still woke up with a slight headache no matter, so we proceeded to have breakfast (Rara noodle soup once again) before deciding on our next step. Chilled at the Cafe 4410 for some Uno Stacko with Grant and Tess, our Australian neighbour, before heading back for lunch (Mixed Spring Roll). Decided to not proceed with our climb and just stay till my lightheaded-ness goes away so we went back to the cafe to find our neighbour. Two new card games, UNO, and taught them asshole Big 2 - was fun as time past much faster with their company. Phones and all other electronic devices got full my charged as well and the wifi (which we hacked so only one of us pays for it) came in handy during our time in the cafe. Was a nice and “warm” day until the sun sets and we rushed back to our lodge for a quick wipe down before dinner (mixed fried rice).
Guides and porters got a little too bored towards the end of the second day and started to gather for some gambling with cards
Gathering around the “fireplace” (mostly fuelled by yak dung), eating, laughing about random stuff and learning more about each other’s culture is absolutely one of the best part of this trip...
Gathering around the “fireplace” (mostly fuelled by yak dung), eating, laughing about random stuff and learning more about each other’s culture is absolutely one of the best part of this trip...
Day 9 (30/12/18) Dingboche - Lobuche
Woke up for breakfast (Chapati with two eggs) and packed up before bidding our host and Australian friends farewell.
And we're off!
Charging towards the sun!
Looking awesome and all under the sun
The not-so-awesome side/sight of mountain climbing
Headed towards Lobuche through the Memorial for all who had fallen during their climb to the mountains in the region.
Solace for the brave souls
A fitting backdrop for the final resting point for them
Felt slight effects of AMS after we finally reached Lobuche and chilled at the sunroom of our lodge (New EBC Lodge). Popped some pills after a satisfying lunch (Dal Baat with Egg Curry) where they have this spicy hot chilli sauce to go with.
Legen-wait-for-it-dary
Joined by the SMU gang for some chit chat where we found out that two of them got heli-evacuated back to Kathmandu the day before. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing what we do best: sleep and read; until it was finally time for dinner (vegetables fried potatoes with two eggs). Dinner was abit too heavy and that resulted in a minor indigestion through the night but all is well, still ready for the next big day!...
Headed towards Lobuche through the Memorial for all who had fallen during their climb to the mountains in the region.
Felt slight effects of AMS after we finally reached Lobuche and chilled at the sunroom of our lodge (New EBC Lodge). Popped some pills after a satisfying lunch (Dal Baat with Egg Curry) where they have this spicy hot chilli sauce to go with.
Joined by the SMU gang for some chit chat where we found out that two of them got heli-evacuated back to Kathmandu the day before. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing what we do best: sleep and read; until it was finally time for dinner (vegetables fried potatoes with two eggs). Dinner was abit too heavy and that resulted in a minor indigestion through the night but all is well, still ready for the next big day!...
Day 10 (31/12/18) Lobuche - Gorak Shep - EBC - Kala Patthar
It’s D-Day! Left our lodge early at 7:30am after breakfast (Korean noodle soup!) and made the 3-hour journey to Gorak Shep in just under 1.5 hour.
All time favourite this trip
And that, my friend, is Gorak Shep
Dumped our stuff in the room and left our lodge (Yeti Resort) for EBC!
Not that high on the grand scheme of things
We're closing in.... the anxiety is real...
Some random reminder (motivation?) just before we reach...
And we are here!!!!!!
This will forever be etched in my memories...
Till next time!
Once again, reached our objective in way below the time allocated and made it to EBC (5380m) in just under 1-hour! Was rewarded with a relatively empty base camp, spammed photos and headed back to our lodge for lunch (mixed mashed potatoes) before a short nap in our room.
Carried this thing all the way up just so that I can reward my (sick) self with this after conquering the base camp
2pm came and we headed up to Kala Patthar - the 2-hour hike up was rather torturous with the air getting thinner as we approach the 5545m summit.
But the view was definitely worth it, surrounded by mountains and having the other trekkers far far away like ants crawling slowly towards us.
This is, in fact, the highest point for our trip (and my life) - Ahzong went up a bit higher than this tho
Now spot Everest. Nope, not the one that appears to be taller (just by virtue of it being nearer)
And (noob) yogis gotta do what (noob) yogis do
Also saw a mini avalanche and landslide at the opposite mountain rock face. Chionged our way down in 50min, chilled in the dinning area, ordered dinner (Sherpa Stew), and then finally rest for the next challenge - descend.
And of course, to leave a little ink of our own (leeching on other people's flag)
Dumped our stuff in the room and left our lodge (Yeti Resort) for EBC!
Once again, reached our objective in way below the time allocated and made it to EBC (5380m) in just under 1-hour! Was rewarded with a relatively empty base camp, spammed photos and headed back to our lodge for lunch (mixed mashed potatoes) before a short nap in our room.
2pm came and we headed up to Kala Patthar - the 2-hour hike up was rather torturous with the air getting thinner as we approach the 5545m summit.
But the view was definitely worth it, surrounded by mountains and having the other trekkers far far away like ants crawling slowly towards us.
Also saw a mini avalanche and landslide at the opposite mountain rock face. Chionged our way down in 50min, chilled in the dinning area, ordered dinner (Sherpa Stew), and then finally rest for the next challenge - descend.
Day 11 (1/1/19) Gorak Shep - Namche
Happy 2019! Woke up early from the intermittent sleep and I finally succumbed to the cold and came down with slight fever/cough/flu. That wasn’t enough to deter us from our objective though: Chiong to Namche Bazaar! So after breakfast (rice pudding), we’re off. Left Gorak Shep, past Lobuche, Thukla, Periche, Pangboche, and finally reached Deboche for lunch (Korean noodle soup!) in 4 hours and 45 minutes. Moved on to Tengboche for the next major challenge - down the valley to the river, and finally a steep hike up towards Namche. And we did it! Finished the day of hike to reach our objective in just 8 hours and 45 minutes - probably a proud achievement comparable to reaching the peaks. Also saw Himalayan goats (which is supposedly rare) and Danphe (not a spelling error, it’s the Himalayan Monal, national bird of Nepal).
Spot the Danphe
And so, we came back to celebrate New Year at this place where we celebrated Christmas, just 7 days back. Connected to wifi and reconnected back to the world (and social media) before its dinner time (chicken sizzler - my motivation for trekking back at zooming speed). Chilled awhile with the wifi before we did a wipe down and rested for the night. Best sleep in awhile despite waking up from 12 to 1 - bonus: charging port was working!
And so, we came back to celebrate New Year at this place where we celebrated Christmas, just 7 days back. Connected to wifi and reconnected back to the world (and social media) before its dinner time (chicken sizzler - my motivation for trekking back at zooming speed). Chilled awhile with the wifi before we did a wipe down and rested for the night. Best sleep in awhile despite waking up from 12 to 1 - bonus: charging port was working!
Day 12 (2/1/19) Namche - Lukla
Final trekking day!
Our final roll-out
We more than compensated the early delay by making the descent in 2 days instead of the planned 4. Reached Lukla in exactly 4.5 hours for lunch (mixed pizza), but lost my right-eye contact lens and twisted my ankles thrice. Good job to the tired legs and back but the real MVP goes to Bagthan, our porter, who always seems to just be right behind us despite carrying few times our load. Credits also to Lakpa for lugging his 40+ year old body to Chiong up and down with us with his full pack!
We all went hysterical seeing this after 4.5 hours of endless trekking - the Lukla gate!
That's Lakpa with his tired legs
And our final check-out...
Dal Baat may be legendary, Ramen soup the all-time-favourite, but Pizza really is the MVP
Chilled at the dining area for abit before hearing the news that all flights were cancelled for that afternoon.
One more night of free stay I suppose... not the best case scenario but not the worse thankfully
We then headed out for a walk at the market and more chilling at one of the cafés - cos free wifi! Haha.
Streets were more empty than we expected but I guess people were still slowly strolling in from the nearest towns (they didn't chiong down like us), many were busy trying to change their air tickets for the next day, and perhaps, it really is just the off-peak season...
Bought some souvenirs and headed back for dinner (chicken sizzler) while we celebrated the end of our successful EBC/Kala Patthar trip with Lakpa and Bagthan - rounded it off with 6 cans of beer and 3 quater-litre bottles of local rum.
This photo sums up the night - a blur. They say don't drink/buy too much drinks because they will delay your return to make you spend more here. But we couldn't care less then.
Was a good good night indeed... ended off the night with a major wipe down (wet wipes are finally thawed!), cleaned the equipment used, and finally changed out of the one piece of t-shirt and set of thermals I’ve worn whole trip. Fresh and clean, and ready for our final night here in the mountains...
We more than compensated the early delay by making the descent in 2 days instead of the planned 4. Reached Lukla in exactly 4.5 hours for lunch (mixed pizza), but lost my right-eye contact lens and twisted my ankles thrice. Good job to the tired legs and back but the real MVP goes to Bagthan, our porter, who always seems to just be right behind us despite carrying few times our load. Credits also to Lakpa for lugging his 40+ year old body to Chiong up and down with us with his full pack!
Chilled at the dining area for abit before hearing the news that all flights were cancelled for that afternoon.
We then headed out for a walk at the market and more chilling at one of the cafés - cos free wifi! Haha.
Bought some souvenirs and headed back for dinner (chicken sizzler) while we celebrated the end of our successful EBC/Kala Patthar trip with Lakpa and Bagthan - rounded it off with 6 cans of beer and 3 quater-litre bottles of local rum.
Was a good good night indeed... ended off the night with a major wipe down (wet wipes are finally thawed!), cleaned the equipment used, and finally changed out of the one piece of t-shirt and set of thermals I’ve worn whole trip. Fresh and clean, and ready for our final night here in the mountains...
