Journey to Thame

 If I had been a good tourist, I would have started my day going to the Saturday Market in Namche. This is where people from all around the area came to barter goods. I am not sure what I would have bought, but the cultural experience would have been good. Given that I am not a great shopper or even that interested in purchasing goods, I declined, but I could still see the massive gathering of people as I ascended the hill on my way to Thame. This was going to be a side trip today given that I had to let my body acclimatize. I was now over 11,000 feet, so anytime the altitude could start to get to me. So far, I was feeling pretty good.

The path out to Thame was a bit up and down, but relatively speaking there was only a little altitude change of about a 1000 foot climb. The view was great as it ran right next to the river with the usual sketchy bridges to cross. Sometimes I would pass by these monuments with intricate designs just right there in public for everyone to view. I would pass through and then be right back to a semi-wilderness environment. This area was a rough place to try to grow crops, but yet it had been inhabited before the tourists started to pour in. The path was easy to follow and it made for a pretty easy day of just walking with nowhere particular that I needed to go.
So far, the mountains had not shown their heads much. I, of course, could see Ama Dablam and the mountain that was in my view for most of today when I turned around was Thamserku. As I got closer to Thame, they peaked out more with the trail beginning to go more upward. Eventually I could see whole entire ranges of mountains and for the first time I could really feel that I was in the Himalayas. Still, it was a rather lonely day with it just being me to hike with on this day.
I arrived in Thame around 11 AM and really did not know what to do. I was here and I wandered around the town, but it was really quiet, likely because of the Saturday Market in Namche. So I sat down, enjoyed a snack, and took in the view. Thame had these huge mountains that seemed to come right down into town. You could look up and see the terminal moraine of the glaciers of these peaks almost touching the rudely constructed buildings. This place was famous being the birthplace of Tenzing Norgay, one of the first two mountaineers to summit Mt. Everest. It also was home to a school built by the other of the two, Sir Edmund Hillary. Well, I hung out for as long as it seemed interesting, but soon began my trek back down to Namche.
I had been following an itinerary suggested to me by my father. He had spent considerable time here just 3 years before in 2000. It really helped me to stay focused and know what was in store and where to go to maximize my time. I was surprised on my way down when I ran into a gentleman that had the same t-shirt as my father. I found this odd given that my dad does not have a wide variety of t-shirts. I asked him about it and it turned out that this was a t-shirt from the Everest Expedition that my dad was a part of 3 years earlier and when I gave this guy my dad's name, he knew who he was. He told someone else, whose name was Bob Hoffman, the trip leader. I talked to Bob for a little bit and he was just so thankful for all of the work that my dad had done for him. It was interesting to meet him and such a strange coincidence.

When I got back to the place that I was staying, they were staying there also. They told the people running the "teahouse" that my dad was Roger Drake and they showed me the water filter he built and were still using in the restaurant area. Bob introduced me to some other members of the expedition that knew my dad. Everyone was really friendly which was so much different from what I had experienced to this point. All the solo trekkers like me had been super friendly, while all the expedition people had been somewhat standoffish. I guess there is a bit of ego involved when you are here to climb the mountain and when you are here to just enjoy yourself. I guess they sort of included me as one of them after this and everyone was rather friendly. Still, I turned in nice and early given how much altitude can wear you out. The next day I would be up early again, but without a long day of travel.

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. 

Phakding

I awoke feeling excited, but a little overwhelmed also. I was going to be going out on my own for two weeks in the Khumbu. I was 22 years old (barely) and I was going to be out on my own half a world away from home. Not only that, but doing something that was going to be difficult, challenging, and with the unpredictability of altitude sickness, maybe not even entirely possible. But regardless, I was up early in the morning and said goodbye to Uncle Jim and Cousin Alanna, thanked Mr. Paudell, and was taking a taxi to the airport. I had a morning flight from Kathmandu into Lukla. Luckily, my dad had just been to the Khumbu three years previously, so he left me his travel book and his notes for places to stay. Without that, I could be in way over my head. He also warned me that the Lukla Airport was crazy. I could worry about that later. As of now, Mr. Paudell hooked me up with a $90 flight into the Khumbu. I had a window seat and was able to look out a small window in a smaller plane to see the most amazing mountains in the world. I was so lucky to be able to see these sights. As the short flight was coming to an end, I could see the runway coming up on us. It was a very short landing strip that was also angled uphill. It did not leave the pilot much room for error as they had to hit the landing strip and then quickly apply the breaks while letting the uphill help stop the plane. Everything went fine and soon I was departing to the baggage claim. I then was out on my own. Dad's first advice was to find a teahouse to stay in on the way back that would keep some of my stuff. I found a place that was more than happy to do that.
I dropped off my extra bag and a small bit of gear and clothes and then I hit the trail. I did not have far to go on this first day, just about 3 miles to the small village of Phakding. I made sure while I was hiking to keep a good pace and try to hike faster than the other trekkers and also even the porters who were carrying other people's stuff. These kids of anywhere from 12-15, would make money by hauling huge loads (50+ pounds) up the mountainsides for rich foreigners. I was definitely in the minority by not paying for a porter or having a guide. It was just me on my own. These porters were amazing though, as they would just do all this stuff with only a pair of flip flops on their feet. Phakding was there before I knew it and soon it was only early afternoon and I was checking into the first teahouse that was on my dad's list. The Sherpani was very nice and gave me an excellent room. I got my self situated in the room and then went down to the big room to hang out. It was empty. So empty and lonely. Finally I just went and walked around town. I crossed a crazy bridge that went over the Dudh Kosi,
 One of many that I was crossing in these first few miles of trekking. I wandered around on some local trails and found people working in the fields. Phakding was not officially in the Everest region and so this was still a more rural village where there were also terraced fields and people struggling to get by each day. I could see how their would be higher mountains eventually in this valley, but as of right now Phakding was not high on my list of lovely places because I wanted to see the Himalayas and I was stuck in this town alone, at least that is how it felt. When I went back to my teahouse it stayed lonely for a long time. Finally, in the evening a German trekker showed up. He had been hiking up from the beginning of the trail in the lower elevations and thus did not get a flight into Lukla. I talked his ear off and I could tell that he was not in need of company as much as I was. I was so happy for the company though and he and I were able to stay up hanging out for a while. I turned in rather early though as the conversation and my book "Sometimes a Great Notion" were not entirely appealing to me for long. I was ready for tomorrow anyway as I would have to hike up to Namche where all the action would be.

A Day in Kathmandu

I had one last day in Kathmandu before my morning flight out to the Khumbu. I was sad because I was going to be leaving behind my cousin and Uncle Jim. I was having such a fun time with them just hanging out. After today, it was going to be just me on my own and I could feel the loneliness of that affair starting to weigh down on me. We had one more day to hang around the city, though. On this day, Mr. Paudell was taking us to Bouddha, a very famous spot for Buddhism in Kathmandu.
 We awoke to find a wonderful breakfast prepared for us and we had another guest also. This was a general in the Nepali military. You see, Mr. Paudell was a very influential man and this was a common occurrence. They seemed to want to talk about the Iraq war and the common theme seemed to be, why wouldn't Nepal be the next target? My uncle Jim was staunchly against the war and seemed to have to apologize for the conflict throughout breakfast. I was still making up my mind as I had not been around war like other people. It just had not been a large part of my generation.
We then walked down to visit Alanna's school. She was teaching English at this school and we met the kids and some of the teachers. Afterwards, we took a taxi out to Bouddhanath referred to locally as Boudhha. This was a large spherical Buddhist temple with many different sites around. There were Tibetan prayer flags strung throughout and also the prayer wheels that you could spin. It was a similar site to the Swayambunath, except that there were not a bunch of monkeys throughout. We wandered around to find large statues, shrines, worshipers, and homeless sick people lying about.
 Mr. Paudell, who was Hindu rather than Buddhist, stayed with us through this part of the trip, but left us as we went to some shops and a restaurant for lunch. I was doing okay with the food in Nepal so far, but I already knew that I could not stand butter tea. This seemed to be the thing to drink as every meal. I was excited because beer prices were affordable and having a beer with lunch wasn't anymore expensive than having a coke. We were in Durbar Marg which was the old palace for the king. It was now kind of a tourist spot where we could wander around and look at the buildings and statues. At this time in my life, I found it tough to get into the history of these cultures, but I did find it intriguing just because of how other worldly it was.
 We did explore the shopping experience. Alanna did most of the negotiating. It was tricky. You had to be almost rude to people or else they would rip you off big time. We bought some pillow cases for family and I got a t-shirt because I was running low. Then it was back to the Paudell's home to prepare for the upcoming trip. I could feel the nerves building in me. I was going by myself to trek to Everest Base Camp. Crazy!

River Rafting in Nepal

We left Chitwan in the morning. My stomach sure felt better riding the bus then when we came to Chitwan. This was a bit of a bigger bus, but nonetheless excessively crazy. We sped through the winding roads dodging other buses as we honked the horn on blind corners listening to the Hindi music blasting on the radio. It was a holy day for the Hindus, so people came by and marked our foreheads with a red dot between our eyes. People seemed to be amused with this large white guy (me) with the red paint on his head. They were even more amused with me when the bus hit a big bump and I went sprawling on the seats in the back. We were driving back to Kathmandu, but we had a stop along the way. Along a river whose name escapes me after the years have passed we stopped in the late morning to do some river rafting. I felt good enough before the raft trip to buy some coconut cookies, so I was happy that I was getting my appetite back. We quickly got a brief orientation, through our cameras in a dry bag, and were given lifejackets and helmets. We were going river rafting!
 I was so excited. I had only been river rafting once and that was in the Grand Canyon. We got in the boat and had to do some paddling. There were about a dozen people going on the trip and Alanna, Uncle Jim, and I were the only Americans. There were some people from Great Britain, Australia, Germany, but no other Americans. The river quickly got interesting with big rapids that rocked the boat. We ran quite a few rapids before stopping for lunch. Uncle Jim asked lots of questions and everyone was very friendly as we sat around and talked about our travels. Many people were on long trips and we were definitely not the norm to only be traveling for a few weeks. After lunch they let us get out of the boat and float the river for some time. I was digging it as the water was a comfortable temperature with warm sun beating down on us. I was the last one to get in the boat again and barely made it back before the next big rapid. I could not believe that this river trip only cost us $25 each as it was incredibly fun. We turned in all our gear and then were back on the next bus that came by watching the terraced fields decrease slowly until we pulled into the crazy city of Kathmandu and back to Mr. Paudell's house for some rest and a day to chill out before the big, exciting part of the trip where I would get to spend two weeks in the Khumbu.