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Read about our Everest Trek  written by Jean Cooke.
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The major trip of 1998 returned us to Nepal and trekking the Everest region with a Thailand stopover. Jim, his brother Art and spouse Rita, along with my twin Joan and her two adult children, Nina and Jason went as a family group. Our previous trusted, humorous and faithful Nepali leader, K.P. Kafle, expertly led our trek telling stories about Sherpa culture and ecosystems.


Left to Right: Nina, Jason, Joan, Jean, Rita and Art.  Jim took the picture

Majestic, unearthly, wondrous, beautiful, spiritual, tranquil; these are just a few adjectives for the mountains of heaven, the roof of the world, the Himalayas.

The Everest area of Nepal, made famous of late in popular books and movies, is as stunningly beautiful as crown jewels on a Queen. Age is no barrier to trekking the Everest area where people in their 70's and 20's mingled in singles or groups for the chance to see the mountains of heaven. The ever present cohesive Japanese, all dressed in identical pink outfits, were easily identifiable along our trekking route.

The key to a successful Nepal trek is practice hikes prior to the trip and a slow steady pace on the trail. If in doubt on how to walk, watch the porter's or Sherpa's methodical manner of walking. The reward is uniting with the friendly, hospitable Sherpa people, their ancient culture and the daunting mountains.

Getting there requires strategy and decisions. The Asian monetary crisis made affordable our $1100 Asiana Airlines round-trip ticket. Departure was from San Francisco, with a plane change in Seoul, Korea. We stopped in Bangkok, Thailand, for 5 days of cultural adjustment, then on to Kathmandu, Nepal. Several other airlines fly to Kathmandu via Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Frankfurt, Bangkok or New Delhi.


The Olympia Hotel, Seoul, Korea

Asiana Airlines changed flight schedules so that our 3 hour Seoul, Korea, layover became 13 hours. Asiana, when asked, provided us and other passengers with a complimentary hotel room to clean up and nap. The one time use only per round trip ticket, made the difference from unhappy, irritable passengers to pleasant ones. We waited 1 hour for the 40 minute bus ride to the comfortable Olympia Hotel with complimentary lunch. After a nap we took a walk around the pleasant residential and commercial neighborhood and played with a young Korean boy on a tricycle.


 Jim with the Korean boys

THAILAND, BANGKOK

Booked as an internet super special, the Tower Inn, Bangkok, was a best value at $36 for two people per room per night. Our spacious bedroom flowed into a sitting and dining area with refrigerator and sink but no stove. The price included a bountiful American breakfast. Reasonably priced Thai cuisine, BBQ steak and sea food on the Tower Inn roof Beer Garden with city lights and warm breezes was a great way to recharge after sightseeing.  Leave the German food for Germany.

Short walks through busy old and new Bangkok brought us to shopping malls and the ferry dock next to the Oriental Hotel. For $15, four of us rented a two hour private long tailed boat for canal tours and a stop at a fascinating snake farm where snake charmers kissed snakes and brave tourists let pythons slither over shoulders and necks. With ferry excursions costing pennies, the ferry delivered us to the King's Grand Palace, a garish golden mosaic encrusted enclosure of temples and official buildings, capturing the essence of Thai architecture and reverence for the King.

Jean and the Snake Charmers

Within blocks of the Grand Palace are several Wats (temples), the Democracy Monument, a McDonald's serving familiar American fare plus a rather good pork set sandwich, and the Ratchadamnoen Stadium (Ratchadamnoen Nok Rd.).  For about $14, middle section seats brought us close enough to the kickboxing (muay thai) ring, but more expensive $27 ring side seats are better for photos.

The ritualistic relationship between the boxer and his trainer (guru) presented before every match (ram muay ceremony) usually lasts about five minutes. Through a series of gestures and body movements performed in rhythm to ringside Thai oboe and percussion instruments, the boxer demonstrates honor and obedience to trainer and the guardian spirit of Thai boxing. After the bout begins, the fighters bob, weave and fight while the musical rhythm rise and fall along with the events in the ring.  Action starts at 6 pm, but the crowds of ordinary people (mostly men) arrive for the main events around 8 pm to 10 pm. Thai police stationed close to the ring are supposed to stop gambling, the Thai pastime. If the police had just looked up to our section, they would see brokers with pen, paper and money bags busy taking bets and odds from the packed general admission section up top. Among ourselves, we wagered Thai Bhat on our favorites.

One of the Korean Champions

Being thirsty from the hot Thai climate, Thai beer is great and conveniently bought by circulating attendants at the kickboxing match. Jim risked disease and pestilence by trying every color of the other liquid refreshment from bright yellow, green and red, with no after effects.

Bangkok's traffic jams and pollution encouraged us to walk. When walking failed us, the local Tuk-Tuk's vied for our business. These three wheeled, fume spewing contraptions, basically motorcycles with a roof, dodged their way in and out of traffic, missing cars and pedestrians by mere millimeters. The misleading cheap fares bargained for by unwary tourists who expect a direct route to a particular destination find themselves instead at local businesses. When a customer makes a purchase,  the Tuk-Tuk driver gets a kick back. Our lesson: metered-cabs are cheap, fast, air-conditioned, roomy and direct.

Thailand's immigrant Indian and Chinese tailor's make cheap and good quality custom suits. Ask long time Thai residents for a recommendation. Have at least 2-3 fittings. Tony's Fashion Register, 12 Mahanakorn Rd., Bangkok, had my husband and my 2 each custom made suits ready in 3 days. We choose upper line Chinese silk and wool. Cost about $530 for 2 suits, including 7 custom men's dress shirts Tel. 2-361766:2361497

NEPAL, KATHMANDU

The Mandala hotel, in the busy tourist Thamel district, has a 24 hour guard to keep thieves and Tiger Balm peddlers away from guests. Outside the hotel gates, children played soccer in an alley near a small truck garden. The slow paced restaurant served wonderful chow mien and other dishes for under $4 including beer. We enjoyed the carpeted warm floors, indoor flush toilets and TV for two days before enjoying the Spartan basics of trekking.

SWAYAMBHUNATH BUDDHIST STUPA, MONKEY TEMPLE

Our Kathmandu city tour guide arrived promptly at 9 am, included in the trekking fee and provided by K. P. Kafle owner and guide of Himalayan Wonderland Treks. Katmandu's "Monkey Temple" (Swayambhunath Buddhist Stupa), named by hippies in the 1960's for the monk's practice of feeding and safeguarding a local monkey tribe. The monkey's are not that friendly and can harbor rabies, so we just took their pictures. Hundreds of stairs stretch skyward to the Buddhist temple on top and challenged our walking skills. K. P. Kafle used the stairway as a measurement of our fitness during our last visit. The younger and fitter you are, the faster the stair climb. I preferred to gawk at the multitude of vendors and people on the stairs and catch my breath.

The Monkey Temple

Traders selling bracelets, carvings and religious items lined the steps. Shops in the Tamel have similar items cheaper. Bartering between peddlers and tourists is normal business practice. Most peddlers speak or understand some English. My invaluable Lonely Planet Nepali phrase book helped in bargaining and conversations with the local people. As with most cultures, a tourist who attempts, even poorly, to speak the native language receives respect and broader experiences.  Climbing to the temple plaza, breathless and in awe, I watched the much photographed half lidded wise eyes of Buddha watch me from the top of the building.

PATAN

Our tour continued to the creative and artistic Patan district, known for industrial crafts and metallurgy factories producing Buddha, Vishnu, Ganesha and many armed and headed statues of mixed religious origin, where we bartered for some items.

The factories are open to watch the artisans design, construct, carve and polish their wonderful creations. Craftsmen sit on wooden platforms, crosslegged and bent over for hours in dim light using hand tools to create timeless gifts. OSHA does not exist in Nepal.

TIBETAN REFUGEE CAMP

Next was the Tibetan Refugee Camp that gives asylum and employs Tibetans fleeing Chinese Communist repression of their homeland’s Tibetan Buddhism.  On our trek, we met Tibetans on the Everest trail walking in tatters for weeks over cold snowy Himalayan passes to get to freedom in Nepal. My spouse, Jim made fast friends, no language necessary, with free cigarettes in exchange for small talk and pictures. The refugee camp trains Tibetans in hand wool rug weaving and dyeing giving the Tibetan's employment and housing. Traditional and modern designs on authentic Tibetan rugs enticed me into the huge Refugee camp showroom. We left American dollars in exchange for a few "best heirloom quality 100 knot per inch" rugs of various sizes.

BHAKTAPUR

Bhaktapur, the City of Devotees, and the third major town in the Kathmandu valley and, is in many ways, the most mediaeval. The town, restored with German money in the 1970's, has paved streets and sewers. An intelligent, English speaking Nepali boy, dressed in shirt, tie and slacks with book bag typical of a student, approached us to "practice English" and asked, not for rupees as is common, but a book to learn more of the world.  Suspecting something was not right, I sent the boy over to pester Jim. They discussed world history and capitals of the world until reaching "the book store," whereupon the proprietor brought out a thin cheap edition of a world atlas wanting $15 US dollars- totally outrageous. Be aware of this scam.

Bhaktapur, the City of Devotees

DURBAR SQUARE

After visiting Durbar Square with beautiful brick and wood temples, we arrived at the carving factories and houses of the Newari tribe, known for their elegant wood working skills. At an insignificant shop, I bought for $200 a delicately carved monk's table, open on one long side for seated monk's crossed legs. Deeply engraved into the top and three sides are magical dragons and lucky symbols. The artisan worked tediously for three months on this masterpiece. At dusk an interesting but long "short cut" through back alley's provided by our confused tour guide finally led out to the van.

LUKLA, START OF THE TREK

At 9 am the next day we headed to Tribhuvan people's Airport for the 35 minute flight to Lukla at 9300 feet.  After a delay for the usual morning fog, we were soon airborn. Below me, the terraced hills expanded to precipitous mountains. Like pinheads stuck in a vast pincushion, Lukkla's houses dot the only semi level land for miles around the steep Himalayas.  Only pilots with balls of steel can land on the uphill and incredibly short runway. Once committed, there is no second chance. Landing is more like a controlled crash. Stall speed happens precisely at touchdown, then the pilot and co-pilot stand on the brakes as the plane skids along the gravel runway, then slows and turns to the right barely stopping close to a stone wall. This was an E-ticket ride all the way, an adrenaline rush supreme.


Yeti Airways Headquarters, Lukla, Nepal

K. P. Kafle, our guide, greeted us with his usual smile and jokes. K. P left his partner in charge of another trekking group the night before and rock hopped miles down the treacherous trail to be with us as we landed.  Safely on the ground with our bags, our trekking party wound through the tourist-saturated, yak and chicken choked streets of Lukla, weaving among yak dung and refuse.

PHAKDING

With our duffels packed on yaks and a few porters, our 11 day trek began downhill, losing 1500 feet to our first night camp in the village of Phakding, at  8,700 feet. Tibetans and their descendants, the famous Sherpa's, populate this area. We crossed our first swaying foot bridge above the Dudh Kosi River to our campsite. Camped in tents, our toilet was a simple wooden outhouse, a hole cut in the floor with wooden footprints showing where to squat.


The trail bridge and load hauler our way out of Phakding

Roosters begin crowing by 5 am, rousing us whether we liked it or not. "Madam, your hot tea," brought to our tents at 6:30 am, reassured me of dawn's approach and a hot breakfast to come. After tea, we started packing sleeping bags and belongings not carried in a day pack. The loaded yaks left for Namche Bazaar while we ate a hot breakfast of cereal, eggs, coffee and toast.

Hiking under crystal blue skies, the wide valleys tightened to crags. We followed the rocky and precipitous trail through lovely forests of gnarled Rhododendron, Fir and Magnolia in the valley of the Dudh Kosi (River of Milk). Everyday life continued as we passed through picturesque villages.  Villagers fed their cows, tended gardens, while shop keepers opened ground level one-room businesses for tea, groceries and apparel.

SAGAMATHA (MT. EVEREST) NATIONAL PARK

At Sagamatha (Mt. Everest) National Park, the trail turned seriously upwards to Namche. We caught our first glimpse of Everest and the snowcapped panorama of Himalayan giants to come, circling our heads like diamonds in a tiara.

Everest, in Khumbu region of Nepal, is an ever popular trekking route and busy thoroughfare of tourists, natives and yak trains. Ambling yaks, heavy with wide loads, horns sharp from fighting, demand the right of way. Narrow rocky trails provide scarce scrambling room for unwary trekker's. Sharp ears for yak bells signaled us to climb up the mountain side. Being at a cliff edge when yaks are passing invites disaster.

Thanks to Swiss engineering and materials, a wonderful high bridge crosses the Dudh Kosi where picturesque vistas abound. Taking pictures of your friends and yak trains crossing is typically recognized as a scene right out of Nepal. Not your usual neighborhood vacation.

Sagamatha Valley

Slowly we progressed up the unrelenting shattered rocky trails that reached skyward towards Namche Bazaar at 11,300 feet. Even seasoned porters take breaks. Rebellious yaks go from reverse to first gear when hit in the rump with flying rocks from their cursing drivers.

ALTITUDE SICKNESS, FLU AND THE PORTER'S HOTEL

My twin sister, Joan and I slowly made our way up the steep trail. The porter's and Joan's kids were already far ahead, while Jim, Art, Rita and K. P brought up the rear. Jim plods slowly, while puffing cigarettes and enjoying the immense Himalayas, all the while knowing that he will make the goal, eventually. I had no idea how far behind they were, I just knew that as dusk approached, the trail cleared of people, yak trains and noise for the first time that day.

Joan's complexion turned from pink to ashen gray, as she complained that her head and neck hurt and she became more nauseous. This was the first I heard that she was not well and had felt sick for hours. I should have noticed her silence, but I was too involved in putting one foot in front of the other, hoping Namche was just around the corner. This is typical of hikers who minimize symptoms, not wanting to appear "weak," and  push beyond endurance and prudence. Knowing that dehydration and hunger from overexertion were the most common cause of her symptoms rather than altitude sickness, I encouraged her to slow down, drink sips of water from her Platypus hydration system and nibble M&M's.

Altitude sicknesss comes on FAST!!

Now the trail was completely deserted and I feared that Jim had succumbed to the altitude and K. P had stopped to put him up somewhere lower. Joan was looking more and more sick, so we stopped at a semi level area by a tree trunk and she laid down. Her head was throbbing, her speech slightly slurred and her stomach in turmoil. The wind had picked up as the temperature dropped with the coming of nightfall. I scanned our location for possible shelter for the night. Up the hill, among some trees were leaves that might provide some protection from the cold night. The extra clothes from our daypacks we layered on Joan who was now very cold and feeling worse. I sat next to Joan on her narrow ledge, trying to provide as much warmth and encouragement as possible.

It seemed an eternity until I heard of all things, laughter, and wondered who our saviors might be. I ran down the trail to greet Jim, Art, Rita and K. P. I tried not to sound panicked in between my joy, but was not successful, as I grabbed K. P to see Joan and figure out what to do. He massaged her, spoke softly, all the while his mind churned with alternatives. After 1/2 hour, Joan could stand. Taking baby steps, then stopping, with people on each side supporting her, we finally spotted shelter at a Porter's Lodge, the first house on the outskirts of Namchee Bazaar.

Tea houses may seem primitive to trekkers, providing the basics of bed and food but the porter's and Sherpa's hotels are even more basic. The lodges are built of hand hewn wood framework and flooring. The stone walls made of hand chipped and fitted stones and no mortar. There is no insulation and plenty of cracks for windy leaks. The glass windows are nice but the not precise fittings and settling of the foundation brings the inside and outside temperature closer together. Being inside with a stove is better than sleeping outside and we were delighted and grateful. And so, we learned what life is really like in Nepal

At the Porter's hotel, loose chickens mingled with young playful children and adults, all staring at the unexpected strangers. Joan lay down on a long board seat against the back wall. Being chilled, the owners provided some rather ripe but warm blankets. After an hour, Joan remained very nauseated and headachy so we stayed put while K. P made sleeping arrangements. After a bowl of warm noodle soup, K. P went up to our campground above Namchee, informed our group of Joan's condition, and brought back sleeping bags and medicine including diamox for altitude sickness.  The trip up took us an hour the next day, yet K. P made the round-trip in less than an hour that night.

Jim entertained the hotel's kids, adults and porters with his digital camera. They stared amazed at their portraits, calling over friends. Jim passed out cigarettes. Nepali music and news squawked from his short wave radio turned on for the crowd. Gesticulating and laughing, both sides had a great time.

The owner's gave up their Tibetan rug lined sleeping shelf in the back storeroom so Joan and I could sleep together for warmth. Opposite us, the family with 3 small children slept in blankets on the floor of their cramped storeroom. Porter's snuck in at intervals slugging down rokshi, a home brewed white lightning stored there.

With chickens imprisoned under a basket, the porter's settled to sleep onto the main room floor wrapped in blankets. Finally quiet loomed--but only for a brief interlude. In the storeroom, the 18 month old boy awoke cranky and feverish hourly, then half hourly whimpering and crying until dawn. Several times Joan and I got up, stepped cautiously over sleeping bodies and made our way outside in the freezing cold to the outhouse to answer nature's call. Getting back inside was a challenge as all the doors looked alike in the dark. I tried to open a non opening door disturbing everyone. I prayed not to be stuck outdoors where frozen water gleamed in the starlight. I finally found the right door.

Sleeping fitfully in the main room, Jim and K. P were ready to evacuate Joan to lower elevation if she did not improve with the diamox. Thankfully, she did. As we got up in the night, K. P checked Joan's symptoms and only when satisfied she was improving did he doze again. Twenty porters, lined like logs at Jim and K. P's feet on the floor, noisily hacked, spewed and coughed throughout the night making restful sleep elusive. At dawn an escaped rooster abruptly crowed in Jim's ear, startling him awake with the rest of the hotel. The porters stared intently like curious children, wondering what the foreigners would do. Sleep deprived, we drank tea, thanked and paid our hosts' $3 per person for lodging and food, and slowly started up the hill.


The local beasts of burden

Joan felt better but I shook with chills and nausea, worsening as we laboriously climbed the streets of Namche Bazaar. At our final campground, rejoined with the rest of our family trekking group, Joan and I snuggled in sleeping bags set out in the warm sun. By the afternoon, Joan was up and about but I was sick as a dog and could hardly keep fluids down. After a phone consultation with an MD in Kumjung, K. P and Jim felt confident in the doctor's diagnosis that I was the first American with the new Tibetan flu. Another MD trekking in the area and staying at our tea house, provided a strong suppository to stop the nausea. The 24 hour flu disappeared as predicted leaving me weak as a kitten.

NAMCHE BAZAAR

Namche Bazaar, the unofficial capital of the Khumbu region and local center for trading and supply, is beautifully situated in a terraced amphitheater facing the hanging glacier below Kwangde, 19,875 feet. Namche is a remarkable entrepreneurial town and used to be a trading center. Grain from the south was exchanged for salt from Tibet, and it remains a trading center even though the salt trade has ended. Sherpa's run the stores, hotels, and restaurants. Old expedition food and equipment are available in the shops. The weekly market, held on Saturday, is colorful and well worth seeing.

The views are spectacular!!

The Everest Bakery in Namche served delicious fresh baked apple pies, known throughout the region. We ate most meals in our tea house close to the stove fueled with yak dung and wood for warmth. Tasty dishes, cooked and served by K. P.'s cooks varied each day. Rice, bread or potatoes served with a meat or vegetable stew warmed our hearts and stomachs. French fries were a delightful treat, once even cooked in ghee- butter. The cooks practice meticulous hygiene. Hydro-electricity powers the few unreliable florescent lights by which we ate, talked, played cards or read books.

The postal office in Namchee is a drafty 2 story affair in a converted house. The bottom floor being used to stable the animals, left the second floor available to postal workers -- maybe two in all. The wall shelves held mail to be delivered in town. Other mail was scattered about a table in the middle of the room where locals came to rummage looking for their name. A letter knocked off, could sail through the 1/2 inch cracks in the floor boards to be lost to the animals below. We addressed and posted letters for the US, expecting none to arrive but all did within the month.

Namche Bazaar, our Base Camp

A hike up to Sagamantha Park headquarters on a hill behind Namchee, gave us spectacularly clear views of the same mountains seen from Thangboche just a few miles distant as the crow flies. Barracked Park rangers kept in shape daily with exercises, jogging, and galloping horse rides near our tents at dawn. Near the summit, a helicopter landing zone is marked off in stones--like a helicopter is an everyday event in Nepal.


Mt. Everest the far left hand snow covered peak

On four unprecedented cloudless days, Namchee's valley basked below some of the worlds most famous peaks; massive Ama Dablam, 24,494 feet, sacred Khumbila, 18,800 feet, Lhotse, 27,923 feet, and the tip of Mt. Everest, 29,028 feet. Awed and overwhelmed by my insignificance, I felt grateful just to be there.

Our luck ended as clouds built into freezing storms for 36 hours. Snow descended to within 500 feet of our tents. Clouds briefly lifted to reveal snow white mountain slopes, frozen water falls and immense creamy mountain peaks. Stars twinkled tantalizingly through the fog. Snow and rain need not stall outdoor activity, but we layed low in the tea house for a few days rest.

THAME, SYANGBOCHE AND THANGBOCHE

Namche was our base camp for day treks. One day our hike took us towards Thame, home to a small dam and hydroelectric plant, supplying underground half a megawatt of electricity to Namchee since 1975. Another day we trekked the road to Thangboche, home to a famous Buddhist Monastery and a photographer's favorite with its backdrop of Ama Dablam, Everest and other peaks. Joan, Jason and Nina trekked and camped in those villages. A Tibetan in colorful costume riding an equally colorful and magnificently muscled horse, galloped past us on his way to Namche.

K. P showed us the local wild shaggy mountain goat that blends into the steep terrain, ledges and canyons. Nepal's national bird, a colorful iridescent blue, red and yellow pheasant pecked and preened on distant farmer's terraces. Ravens and eagles circled above us on updrafts, and looked for prey. On our hikes, we were invited into a partially completed native house to see how a complete house can be built with axes, string and rock as plumb line and backbreaking human labor and skill.

Wonderful food at TheSyangboche Panorama Hotel

Straight up from Namche, at 12,400 feet, sits Syangboche airport. School kids bound up and over the hill, walking 2 hours one way to school, 6 days per week in all weather. We wheezed our way up for the incomparable views and great chow mien at Syangboche Panorama Hotel, (tel. 0977-1-478484), one of the few regional hotels with flush toilets, electric room heaters and hot showers. The  $180 US rate pays for porters to carry water on their backs from distant streams. A cistern is almost complete but until then, water must be packed in to the hotel.

NAMCHE TO PHAKDING

The next day, we started down to Phakding. The steep and now muddy trail differed from the choking trail dust we endured on the way in stirred by people and yaks. Several times we stayed in very basic tea house accommodations. Phakding's tea house room was more akin to a large packing crate. The bed was barely wide enough for a human body. Turning over at night was risky. Through our walls planking and cracks, I stared eye ball to eye ball with Jason in the next room. The usual outside outhouse was a test in the dark. After negotiating sleeping porters in the hall, I perilously descended half way down the second floor steps, hopped over a stone wall into the field, dodged three grazing yaks, jumped another stone wall into a different field wherein stood the outhouse. On the way, I paused to search the black velvet sky for meteors among the stars, but found none. I saw only my frozen breath.


Jean on the trail home

LUKLA

Our last night in Lukla found us sharing a small city camping plot with 2 other tents and a Nepali Army unit posted for possible Nepali Maoist guerrilla activity. Given the late night army pep talks and cheering, street noise, and dogs chasing between our tents, sleep proved sparse. The Nepali Army presence proved needless, since the Maoists were active much further west.

Due to the previous day's storms, incoming and outgoing flights vanished, stranding many trekker's. If a luckless passenger is scheduled out on a day of adverse weather and the flight is canceled, the passenger cannot bump others on the next good day, but must search for open seats, trek 5-7 days out on foot, or hope extra flights get scheduled. K. P.'s local knowledge and airline connections, secured our airline seats to Kathmandu with "no problem." Frustrated traveler's paid as much as $250 one way for a helicopter flight to Kathmandu.


This was our way home; without it, we walk another six days

At last our plane arrived several hours late. With boarding passes griped tightly, we elbowed our way in a crowd of other escapees to keep our coveted front place in line. A short taxi later, engines revved to maximum, the plane raced and bounced over the gravel runway, soaring into the air as the mountains dropped away. I watched eons of history and cultures disappear with the miles. Flying over the foothills of the Himalayas, I watched the forests melt into terraced cropland, the trickles of water off the hills merge into silver threads of canyon creeks to become raging rivers. Winding paths that followed every ridge and valley became dirt roads as we approached Kathmandu. What a relief to be safely in the air, flying out on our scheduled day and flight, to a warm shower, away from the hubbub of Lukla with adventures and memories for a lifetime.

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