Namche

 Awakening was not easy given the chilly environment. As a rule, the tea houses did not seem to have much heat in the evenings, so my warm sleeping bag was a good friend. I went downstairs to get some breakfast. It was always fairly modest portions, so I hoped that I would have enough food to keep me going. After breakfast, I got all my gear together and headed out. The trail today climbs steeply going from 8500 feet to almost over 11000 feet. This is supposed to be a tough day, but the length is a little over 4.5 miles, so I could not see how this would be tough. I was still feeling great. The altitude had not affected me at all yet. The forests were nice and the trail was fairly busy. There were a lot of porters carrying loads. Many of these porters were boys in their teens with sandals on. I was doing pretty well keeping up with the locals at this point. I had my big pack on which was feeling heavier as the miles and elevation continued to mount. I often hike listening to headphones and this was no different. I was doing just that when I went past a checkpoint and entry into Sagarmatha National Park.

I read in the guidebook that I was supposed to pay for entry. It did not seem too hard to just pass that by as I did not know anywhere or anyone I was supposed to pay. Oh well, just continue on up the hill. What is the worst thing that could happen? The forest continued to recede as I climbed farther toward Namche Bazaar. My pace was slowing down, but I was still holding my own with the porters. Eventually, I popped out and there was Namche. It was a fairly large town and walking the streets there were lots of people hanging around. My dad having made the trip just recently allowed me to get good information on where to stay. I went to tea house up the hill. They treated me like royalty. It was weird as I was just a 22 year old kid really. I was able to drop my stuff off, get some lunch, and then head out to explore the town. I looked at the bookstore and prices were relatively reasonable. The way to go is to trade another book in and then you can get a reduced rate. I went up the hill to a sort of museum place where I read that I could also pay my entry fee. It seemed abandoned as it was empty there. I was able to wander around and look at the exhibits. I was not much of a shopper, so going around town lost interest for me pretty quick. I spent some time reading and hanging out in the common area of the tea house. There was a lot going on with expeditions coming through. I talked to most people I saw. Some were friendly, especially if they were not with a tour group. The tour group people tended to bond with one another. It was also interesting to me that here I was in the Himalayas and in the common area, there was a TV going with CNN playing on it. I got updates on how things were going in the Iraq War. It seemed like this was going to be over soon. That was good as I did not know how to deal with it being an American overseas. It definitely was not as lonely here as modern life made me feel a little more comfortable. There were lots of people around too. Still, I turned in rather early as usual. I figured this was going to be a good place to get some rest. It would be a quiet day tomorrow as I needed to let my body catch up to the change in altitude.