On our third day in the Himalaya Mountains, it was our first rest day to acclimatise at a height of 3,440m in Namche Bazaar before exceeding the height limit of 500m per day – the basic mountaineer rule when you reach above 3,000m. This day of relaxing ended up being a fun day with new friends in a spot with great views.
THE EXPERIENCE
Travel hacks in the mountains
For breakfast, I did the same as yesterday, sneakily ordered a mug of boiled water. Ha ha. We got ready while having a mountain shower (using wet tissues for underneath the arms and in some other parts) and then I said goodbye to the German lady, Renate, who we had met the night before at dinner. She was super nice and gave us some vitamins to mix with water for our next hiking days. We (Shay, Devin and I) then met the two Aussie girls (Ingrid and Ruby) and left for our daytrip to Namche Hill.
Hiking to Namche Hill
The weather was nice again, no clouds, and we all took it very easy today going up quite slowly. It was a perfect day because we got on with each other and had a lot of fun – I felt so blessed to have met these people and so lucky to have them around me. On the way to the top, we stopped to take some photos, quite a few actually, ha ha – some fun ones and crazy ones.
What I also really liked was that it didn’t seem so crowded with people – it was actually quiet compared to the standard trail up to the Mount Everest Base Camp, which was like a busy highway full of cars, but with trekkers obviously. On the journey up, we passed some Buddhist pillars, part of the culture, and so you usually turn around when walking past. It is supposed to be for good luck.
I might have mentioned it before that I have become scared of heights recently and to overcome this fear I always try (when I get the opportunity) to go up different heights and rocks. It’s the best way of overcoming your fear and why I push myself even further to the edge until I panic – I’m not as crazy as roofers but I loved getting a nice photo of the peaks.
When we got to the top, we shared some power bars and it felt so good being with such a great group of people. I think it gave all of us the feeling of safety; we all couldn’t have imagined beforehand that it would work out so well. We joked around and enjoyed these breathtaking views of Mount Everest again. Now you can see why it is so worth it going on a trek like this, especially the people, who, like anywhere else, make the time.
Got lost on the way back to Namche Bazaar
After some time, we headed back down to Namche Bazaar, but then all of a sudden, I realised that we had gotten off the trail so it became pretty steep and full of trees. Nothing stopped Devin and me from making our own way down, which was quite dangerous. Shay stayed in his comfort zone, of course, and was the first to say let’s go and find the trail. On our way down, there was a moment Devin when fell but luckily; he didn’t roll down (ha ha) and nothing bad happened. Oh well, as I found out after two months, Devin was still in pain lol.
Bakery visit in Namche Bazaar
We had our lunch break at the Namche Bazaar bakery. I do not recommend going there after my experience. To begin, they charged N350 Rupees (3,50 USD) for a simple raisin bread that wasn’t even good, but I had to buy it to use the Wi-Fi. However, it didn’t work and so I only paid N200 Rupees (2 USD) and left. I don’t think they appreciated this and I myself was thinking what a stupid thing to do; but trust me, it was fine as they are just ripping people off. My tip here is to always check out a place whether or whether not the Wi-Fi works before you get a drink or food, especially if this is the only reason you are going in.
More hiking equipment shopping
Later that night, I organised my stuff and went shopping with Ingrid, bought wind block trousers for N2,000 Rupees (20 USD), which I should have bought in Kathmandu for less than N1,500 Rupees (15 USD) – so annoying; I hate it when I spend unnecessary extra money. I also miscalculated my money, so I was lucky there was an ATM in Namche Bazaar so I could get some extra cash to pay for my flight back to Kathmandu instead of trekking all the way to Sallerie or Jiri, which would have taken an extra 3-5 days, and time was – in my case – of the essence.
Happy dinner in a very local place
We all met at the bar again to catch up and make plans for the coming days. Dorb and I planned our trip together, which would mean leaving the others tomorrow to go a different way – straight up towards Gokyo on the hunt for beautiful lakes in the mountains (we love lakes). Afterwards, we enjoyed a cup of tea and played the card game, shitheads – fun times.
For dinner we enjoyed just soup at our lodge because Shay found a cheap local place (Krant Momo Chowmin Restaurant) – good boy. When we were standing outside, I didn’t think it looked anything like a restaurant, but we had the time of our lives. I was not really hungry but still ate a lot even after I had already eaten some dinner because it was just so cheap and a nice way to finish our last evening together.
I TRAVEL FOREVER’s VIEW & RECOMMENDATION
The hike today was pretty exhausting and my legs felt quite heavy afterwards, but it was so much fun with my newly – made friends trekking in the Himalaya Mountains. We had an amazing time together sharing interesting stories and the mood was very happy. It was very fortunate to finish of the day with a dinner in a good local restaurant that Shay had randomly found. At night we packed our bags for the next day and went to sleep pretty early again to be fit for a long hiking day tomorrow.
#TW
