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.