10th - Lukla (2860m) – Kathmandu

Oh God.

Let me elaborate a little.

Oh God I had absolutely way too much to drink at the goodbye-party last night. Damn you Nepali prices that are so much lower than the Danish.

Arriving in the dining hall at the lodge I was confronted by the last night’s bartender saying I owed money for drinks and pringles – I apparently didn’t have any more cash available at one point and as they didn’t do plastic cards we agreed that I could pay the following morning before departure. People were very happy for the pringles and Tashi was very happy with sharing shots of whisky with me. I am glad they enjoyed it because I have no memory what so ever of it!

The weather wasn’t optimal so the planes were delayed from Kathmandu which meant we had time for breakfast. Finally we were ordered to the airport (which was a 5 minute walk), and soon we were literally rolling down the runway towards the end of our trip.

The rest of the day was spent on walking around the area where the hotel was located, looking at numerous shops, having lunch and generally enjoying our downtime until evening when we gathered for dinner.

At this point not all of us would meet again afterwards due to different plans tomorrow so some goodbyes were done. A couple of us went out to have a couple of drinks (this time in an orderly fashion!) but it is clear that we will all be split up after this.

I will be meeting 3 others tomorrow morning to do some sightseeing, and in the evening we are 4 who will travel together to the airport to go home.

Soon this vacation will be over, and once again I will start planning my next trip. And getting back to work, of course.

Oh God!

Going back we were in an even smaller plane than last time!

Kathmandu at night.

9th - Phakding (2610) – Lukla (2860m)

I was struck by ambivalence this morning; while it will be good to get back home to normal conditions again (working toilets!) I will really miss the Himalayas and the magnificent views – despite the at times horrid toilet conditions (though one would rightfully argue that it’s all part of the experience). I could just sit down the entire day and take in the views.

There was another smaller group at the lodge this morning. One of the girls refused to use the toilets because she could see leftovers from the previous occupant. We are talking about these amazing toilets they have here and how well they work. Afterwards she came back down and put on lipstick. We didn’t give her many chances in completing the EBC trek. If she only knew what she will be facing the next couple of days…

We walked about 3-4 hours, ascending 150 meters before arriving in Lukla, our final stop in the trip before going back to Kathmandu. After lunch we had the rest of the day off – which almost was a curse as there is absolutely nothing to do in Lukla unless you are looking for copies of The North Face and Mammut or a café to have a drink at.

Arrived back in Lukla.

Yeah, Starbucks in Lukla. Fake. I was told it wasn't bad at all, but it was still fake.

One of the more sober shots from the party. Good times!

The shots of doom.

8th - Kyangjuma (3510m) – Phakding (2610)

When waking up the night hadn’t seemed colder than the previous, on the contrary. But to our surprise the curtains were frozen to the window glass…

After the breakfast we were on our way. The original plan was to stop in Chumoa, but to make our last day’s walk shorter it was decided to walk an extra hour and end up in Phakding at the same lodge which we spent our first night.

The day was relatively eventless; we stopped in Namche Bazaar for an hour after an hour’s walk where people could have a walk-around and relax. Lunch was had at the same place as the second day when going up, and app. 3 hours later we arrived in Phakding.

The plan is that later in the evening we are going to watch “Into thin air”, a movie based on a book by the same title by a climber involved in the 1996-disaster on Everest.

Ah, the views.

Some of the bridges didn't feel quite stable, but filling it completely with heavily loaded yaks proves there are more durable than they look and feel!

Whoa! We found water on Mars!

7th - Pheriche (4371m) – Kyangjuma (3510m)

Basically there is not much to say about today; going back towards Lukla brought us along the same path which we followed going up.

Right after lunch we came through Tengboche. This was the first time on the trek where we actually encountered clouds on our trek; during the afternoon the clouds started gathering and some of them looked quite dark, but luckily we never ended up getting any rain. Our guesthouse was located on a mountain/hill side overlooking a deep valley, but due to the clouds any view we might have had was completely obfuscated.

Oh, and via Tashi’s (our guide) smartphone we found out that Obama won the election. Everybody took this as good news, especially our 3 Americans in the group. One of them even said that she now wouldn’t mind going back home after the trip.

Power just got cut. Doesn’t matter much, though, as we all have headlamps or similar. OCD as I am about knowing exactly where all my stuff is packed finding mine wasn’t a problem. Others… well, it was easy to hear people getting frustrated through the thin walls. Cooking with gas is a great advantage in these situations – we will still be fed regardless!

Power came back after 10 minutes. During the power outage the kitchen crew would be using candle lights to light up the kitchen.

Sometimes it was worth remembering to look back when walking.

6th - Gorakshep (5164m) – Kala Patthar (5545m) – Gorakshep – Pheriche (4371m)

This was the first day on the way back to Kathmandu. Before departing, though, there was the small matter of Kala Patthar, a small summit which gives a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains. And to get the best view experience you should be at the top at sunrise. This meant that we had to leave the lodge at 0430 and ascending almost 400 meters before the sun came up from behind Everest. I arrived after a strenuous 2:15 walk and despite the climb at times was very tough the view from the top made it all worth it. It was voluntary if one wanted to go; we ended up going 7 people, all of us made it – some of us not as fast as others.

Back at the lodge at 0815-ish we quickly packed and had breakfast before leaving. The walk back took us almost a kilometer down, and despite some parts still going up it was a nice change of pace to finally be going down in a more consistent manner than before.

We had lunch at Lobuche, and afterwards we continued downwards until we ended up at Pheriche, located below Dingboche in a valley. On the way up we had passed Pheriche when leaving Dingboche, walking along the ridge looking down at the building in which we were now staying.

The view from Kala Patthar; Everest and Nupse can be easily seen.

Resting with a view!

The valley where we were spending the night.

5th - Lobuche (4940m) – Gorakshep (5164m) – EBC (5364m)

We left Lobuche early at 0700 and began the walk towards Gorakshep. The walk was relatively eventless and 3,5 hours later we arrived at our destination.

This was the place we were to spend the night, but the day was far from over. After an early lunch we departed to Everest Base Camp. EBC was not much higher than our lodge, but the path consisted of several steep ups and downs making it much harder than the walk initially sounded. Also add a nice wind cold wind, and what you had was a quite hard, but also rewarding, walk.

Arriving at BC we spent time on taking all the necessary photos at the banner that had been set up there, and having done this we returned to Gorakshep. During the walk back the sun began setting, putting several parts of the walk in the shade. Fortunately the winds had quieted down, so even though it did get colder, it was limited how much colder it actually got.

The landscape was amazing, very moonlike and vast; you’d almost get dizzy trying to think about how small you are in comparison.

The even have road signs up there!

Everest is up in the far right corner. The small orange speck to the left of the ice fall (the glacier that's left below the moutains) is EBC.

Zoomed in on EBC.

Reached EBC!

Group photo.

Quite a few of these very pink birds were hopping around at base camp.

Walking along the ridge of the moraine made by the previous location of the glacier reaching much further down than now from the present location of EBC.

4th - Dingboche (4530m) – Lobuche (4940m)

We started gently with a small 200-meter ascent which was spread out until lunch. There was nothing on this path with regards to shops and other buildings, only other tourists, guides, porters and yaks. It felt nice and felt like we finally were out in the middle of nowhere among the world’s highest mountains. The place we had lunch was a large lodge/restaurant, and because it was the only place of its kind for miles there was quite a lot going on. Despite being busy the entire group of 15 had received their food within less than 5 minutes after ordering. The kitchen didn’t even look that big – many restaurants could learn one thing or another!

The afternoon we had a steep ascent before the path evened out – 1 hour per part. People are beginning to get headaches, even I had it at one point but plenty of water solved the issue. The ascent was quite hard to get by, but finally we reached the top, a memorial for people dying on the mountains.

When arriving at our destination we had an hour’s rest before we did a 1 hour acclimatization hike that brought us above 5000 meters. This will hopefully make the next couple of days a little easier.

Just keep walking...

The memorial.

Reaching the top during the acclimatization walk.

3rd - Dingboche

As when spending time in Namche Bazaar we had an extra day here for acclimatization. This was very well timed as the place we are staying at is really nice; food is better than expected (especially considering the location and circumstances), and the rooms are clean and tidy. Only problem is the insulation – or rather the lack of it. But this has been the case at all the places and will hardly change until we get back to Kathmandu.

The morning was spend on a short walk bringing us up to 4700 meters where we could see, among others, Cho Oyu (8201m), Lhotse (8516m) and Makalu (8481m).

Back for lunch and the afternoon was spent on relaxing and getting a nice hot shower (which apparently, according to the Swedish girl, made me smell good so I must have done something right).

They have great breakfast pancakes at the places we have stayed at on the trek; radius might not be impressive but thickness has been amazing. Best one yet is here; I am not exaggerating when I say it was at least an inch thick. I am pretty sure I know what I am having for breakfast tomorrow.

2nd - Tengboche (3867m) – Dingboche (4530m)

Waking up we had a beautiful clear view (after wiping the condensation off the windows) of Everest and Lhotse. How many can say they have woken up to that kind of view?

We began the day with visiting the oldest monastery of the Sherpa Buddhists, where we had 15 minutes of serene peace before breakfast where we could watch the monks chant.

After breakfast we headed upwards towards our next lodge. This was located app. 400 meters above our original position, but most of the ascent was on the second half of the walk. Personally I was a little surprised; I had expected a horrible steep ascent, but while keeping pace with the fast group and feeling good about it we were informed that we were less than 10 from our destination. I must be better at this walking-thing than I thought.

They have real toilets here! Amazing how one’s priorities change during a trek like this.

I am walking around in one layer; pants and light t-shirt. I can feel the cold wind against me, but as long as I keep moving or stay in the sun it isn’t an issue. The group thinks I’m weird. I think they are weird; I am the only one dressed like this, the rest are wearing 3-4 layers. I have no idea how they are not cooking, just like they have no idea how I am not freezing. Oh, well – it means I still have more layers to go which means I (theoretically) have a better chance of handling the colder weather when we reach the higher parts of the trek.

The monastery in the morning.

Wow! A Danish bakery café. Wait, what?

Going past the tree line there is only one thing to fire with; yak dung. Here's a large portion laid out to dry (the round disks).

1st - Namche Bazaar (3440m) – Tengboche (3867m)

Today we left Namch Bazaar to continue on towards Tengboche. With the acclimatization yesterday we would have an advantage that we hadn’t had the previous days.

We started walking towards the hilltop we climbed yesterday, but instead of ascending we started circling it instead and slowly but steady distanced us from NB. This brought us along a path that followed the mountains at a relatively even level.

At one point we had a tea break where we met a group of 13 Norwegians. They were on their way to climb Island Peak, so while their final goal was different from ours, we would some of the way have a similar approach.

After the break we descended 200 meters before having lunch, after which we ascended 600 meters, finally bringing us to Tengboche and the same altitude as yesterday.

Nice small place with good food – in that sense no different from the other places we have been.

There wasn't much space to maneuver on when a pack of fully-loaded yaks came walking.

At Tengboche.

31st - Namche Bazaar

Today we had an acclimatization day in Namche. This meant that we in the morning left for a 4 hour walk to a nearby top, 400 meters above. It was a short walk which made the path extra steep. The weather was nice and warm, but working ourselves upwards we began getting hit by some chilly winds.

Reaching 3800m we had a great view of Everest and Lhotse (8501m), and even a couple of griffins were seen flying around.

Coming back down we passed by a monastery, and back in town we had lunch before the rest of the day was to our own disposal.

Everest to the left, Lhotse to the right.

Namche Bazaar seen from above.

30th - Phakding (2610m) – Namche Bazaar (3440m)

With breakfast served at 0730 we left the hotel at 0830 starting our walk towards Namche Bazaar.

Getting further up into the mountainous environment we began getting some great views of the distant peaks. With clear weather it was close to perfect. After 3-ish hours of walking of varying up and down we stopped for lunch. Up to this point we had passed several booths selling a broad selection of goods, but from after this point there wouldn’t be any until reaching Namche.

After walking the first bit after lunch it was easy to see why; narrow paths following the river and steep ascents gave little room for building anything along the way, and it did make navigation difficult at times when meeting groups going the opposite way. We ended up in the shade a lot of the time as we were walking around in valleys, and with the occasional wind it was without a doubt getting colder. During the afternoon walk we had our first view of Everest in the distance.

After almost 4 hours we arrived at Namche Bazaar. Built up the mountain side, it surprisingly had everything one would need; it’s basically Kathmandu at a smaller scale, no cars and better views. Pharmacies, restaurants, wifi, an Irish pub… Whatever you’d need on a trek, it’s here.

We’ll be staying here two nights, tomorrow we will do an acclimatization walk preparing us for the upcoming days.

Waiting for a pack of yaks to cross the bridge so there is room for us.

Entereing the national park. Sagarmatha is the original/local name for Everest.

What a view!

First view of Everest.

29th - Kathmandu (1400m) – Phakding (2610m)

The day started with departure from the hotel at 0800 and driving to the airport. Here the group (15 people (1 Dane, 1 Swede, 1 German, 1 Aussie, 2 Canadians, 3 Americans and 6 Brits), 2 guides and a stewardess (!)) were crammed into a small plane that took us to Lukla.

Lukla is generally considered as one of the most extreme airports in the world. The runway is 460m long and has a gradient of 10%. Down we came, quite rough, but otherwise fine. Probably the worst I have experienced in a motorized plane, but flying in a glider plane you do at times get rougher landings than this, so in the end it wasn’t as bad as I had been afraid of it would be.

We started off with having lunch in Lukla after which we started our trek. It was a relatively short day, 6,5km and app. 3 hours of walking before arriving in Phakding and checking into Hotel Shangrila.

On the day’s trek we basically passed a hotel, guest house or similar every 10-15 minutes and the same time also stores selling everything from soda and chocolate to backpacks and model cars (!). I assume that when going further there will be less choices, but right now it doesn’t feel much like walking around in the wild mountains of Himalaya due to the dense traffic and all the buildings.

Tomorrow is a 7-8 hour walk with an ascent of 600 meters to Namche Bazaar where we will spend two nights. The town is considered the main town for the sherpas so it will be quite large compared to everything else in the area.

Landing at Lukla.

Plane taking off at Lukla.

The group before leaving Lukla.

24th-27th - Tangalooma

Tangalooma is a resort on Moreton Island just outside Brisbane – a short one hour boat ride gets you there. The island is mostly national park so, with a few exceptions, the resort is the only thing built there.

The NP has a wide range of animals that generally are not afraid to get relatively close to humans, so you can get into some pretty close-up situations, even if they are all wild animals. The resort has a bunch of activities that covers most of the wildlife on the island; feeding, walks, presentations, cruises, whale watches, tours, etc. And there are facilities for snorkeling, diving, walking on your own on most of the island, ATV tours, helicopter rides, massages and so on. The big thing on the island is the nightly dolphin feed where a small group of wild dolphins come in at night to be fed by the tourists under strict supervision of the staff. A very popular activity which any visitor can only do once every visit (unless you know the right people… *cough*).

We spent three nights here; me taking in all the sights, Ina showing me around the first day before she had to work the last 3 days.

Due to low numbers in tourists there were no whale watches until the last day we were on the island. This was also the last day in the whale watch season which must have been why they chose to go out, even though they didn’t manage to fill up the ship at all. But lucky for us – I would have been sad if I came down there in whale territory and didn’t get to see a single one. Success!

Late the 27^th we went back to the main land as I was on a late flight out to Kathmandu. Big thanks to Ina for having me there and showing me around!

Looking down on the Tangalooma Wrecks from a ridge that goes behind the resort. The resort is right below us to the left.

A kookaburra ready for food during a feed. 

A cormorant.

A whistling kite.

A sea turtle.

Dugong.

Tinkerbell with her calf Tangles.

The dolphin feed.

Feeding Bella - and old, half-blind, almost toothless dolphin. This meant that you had to be prepared to be bumped into a lot while standing there trying to feed her.

Feeding Tinkerbell and Tangles (yup, two dolphin feeds in one visit... All about who you know... ;) ).

This parrot-things were seen quite alot.