23.11.13 Tengboche 3680m – Namche Bazar 3440m. This morning is started by a visit to the monastery to listen to the monks at their morning prayers. The senior monk presides over a fairly relaxed process during which tea is served. Hilary stopped here on the way up to Everest and was impressed by the reception he was given by the monks. When he returned from his successful ascent of Everest the monks were reluctant to accept that he had reached the summit. You can stand on the edge of the spur here and look back up towards the Khumbu valley and look the other way towards Namche Bazar. In many ways this is a water shed between the two environments – the high Himalaya and the valleys of Nepal. You really need to take a moment to look both ways and appreciate that you are about to leave one of the most challenging environments on earth and entering one of the most scenic. For now when you look back you will see the most amazing views of the biggest and most dramatic mountains on earth that are better appreciated when not quite on top of them – if not literally then at least metaphorically. We descend down a steep valley side than crunches the sinews of your knees. At the bottom is another suspension bridge. We cross and sit in the sun drinking a coffee. The yaks seem reluctant to cross this bridge and their handlers nearly lose control and come close to getting trampled. The swirling dust kicked up and the shouting and whistling create an atmosphere where nothing is certain and the confusion only ends when older yaks are forced to the front to set an example to the more nervous beasts. The climb up from the bridge is a reminder that there is still some work to do. However the lower altitude and the relaxed last two days means that we have plenty in the tank to stomp up this climb and stop at the top. On the way we see mountain goats scampering up the hillside making our efforts look puny. It is late afternoon by the time we are contouring along the valley side that will take us into Namche Bazar. The weather seems to have changed since we passed this way two weeks ago. The clouds are forming and they swirl around the valley. The scenes are like the blue plates of Chinese porcelain – high clouds floating below even higher peaks. As we descend into Namche Bazar rthe temperature has dropped. I have decided thast I am going to stay in the best place in Namche – Adish thinks this is the Khumbu Lodge. I don’t know if it is, but we book in here. I have a room with attached bathroom which has running hot water. Room 19, the Edmund Hillary room, there is a photo on the wall of Hillary, probably when he was in his 50’s, but for me it is an evocative. I am told that he did not stay here, but that he was friends with the owner. Given what I have come to know about his relationship with the people here I tend to believe that these friendships are substantiated from the long term commitment that he showed in establishing help for the Nepalese people in the form of education and health.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 16:37:14 +0000
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