Life on the road

Life on the acclimatization treks was basic but comfortable, we have been spending our evenings in Nepali teahouses.  The teahouses are charming little places, although some of the decor looks like it has come straight out of the Magic Roundabout.

Teahouse bedroom

Local artwork

But there are also some familiar names around and it was particularly nice to see that the Nepalis don't just support the winning teams!

Liverpool's favourite son

The diet is pretty standardized along the entire trek, meat is limited to Yak and Chicken and I haven't seen any sign of fish (probably a good thing in a landlocked country).  I have avoided meat so far as the level of meat hygiene over here is a bit different to that we are used to and seeing meat carried open on the trek was a pretty common sight that doesn't fill me with confidence.  So far I have avoided any significant problems but you always have to be very careful particualrly as running water is scarce and hot water is a luxury up there.

Local meat transportation "lorry"

The kitchens are basic and the contents of the menus are pretty uniform.  I have tended to stick to the same dishes - Dhal Bat (lentils, rice and veg), porridge, lots of eggs and rice and Mars bar pies.  I did attempt Pizza once, they used Yak cheese and it didn’t go well, so learnt my lesson and wasn’t so adventurous again.

Friendly "local"

Dorje helping in the kitchen

I did at first think that the Khumbu region was the first place in the world I had visited without an Irish pub.  Alas, when we returned to Lukla we found that even this part of the world has been inflitrated.

Probably the highest Irish pub in the world

While it was certainly much more enjoyable and a nice change from the Tibetan acclimatisation I followed last year and on Cho Oyu, I am still not convinced that the Nepalese acclimatisation route is as effective.  It is over ten days since I left the UK and while we have been over 5000m, we have only really touched this height and not actually spent a night above 5000m.  We will spend tonight in Kathmandu, tomorrow in Tibet (probably in Nylam at around 2900m above sea level) and then onto base camp at around 5200m.

We are a few days behind the schedule we followed last year, having said that there are still plenty of reserve days built in, we did spend a long time waiting at base camp last year and the team seems to be much healthier so hopefully it is just my natural tendency to compare to last year.

We did cover a fair distance but the trekking through the Khumbu region was straightforward and I felt strong throughout.  This is reassuring but I think it is difficult to tell anything until we get higher.  I have regularly measured my pulse and oxygen absorption levels and the readings are encouraging.

It still feels to me like we have not really started yet and that the expedition proper starts tomorrow (at about 0500 when leave the hotel).  Within the next week or so we will move up to base camp and then up to advanced base camp (6400m) but at least they gave me the "Everest" room in Lukla so hopefully that is a good omen for the coming weeks...

Cheesy picture of the Everest room