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CJ at the end of the trek - exhausted, and dying for a hot shower

This is an outstanding trek, in terms of the magnificent scenery, the opportunity to see Everest, and as a window into Sherpa culture. But boy is it a punishing trek physically! Nothing could really eclipse the chance to see the highest mountain in the world, and trek by the most famous mountain range of all, the Himalayas. The trail is also very good, in the most part, apart from the trek to Base Camp itself, where it more resembles a gigantic park full of extremely large rocks. There are also a lack of donkeys here, which translates to a lack of donkey poo - a wonderful thing in itself!! You do come across yak trains transporting goods up and down the valley, but somehow these creatures don’t seem to excrete as much as the donkeys do.

This is, however, a high-altitude trek that requires strenuous physical effort consistently. Most people, like we did, fly into Lukla, at 2800m. When you get off the plane you may think that you are breathing fast because of the hair-raising plane ride, but after a while you realise it’s actually from the lack of oxygen! You then ascend higher and higher every day, and end up sleeping at phenomenally high altitudes - 5180m is the highest stop. This can cause huge problems with altitude sickness - tales of travellers getting sick, or even dying, from altitude sickness were common during dinnertime conversation.

Physically it’s a tough trek. It’s not impossible, it just takes a LOT of effort. The climbs can be very steep, and there are plenty of ups and downs - meaning that even on the way down, you end up climbing UP an awful lot! The fantastic scenery tends to make up for this though.

And it’s COLD. Even just before summer, it was sleeping bag and down jacket weather for a lot of the way. You’ll definitely need good warm gear for this trek - you’ll need it from Namche Bazaar onwards!!

Another feat of physical endurance is seeing how many days you can go without having a hot shower. For some reason, all lodge owners charge for hot showers here - ranging from AUD4 to AUD7. There is often no actual running water, and your hot shower consists of a large bucket of hot water, heated on the stove (quite eco-friendly really, as the lodges burn yak dung and not firewood for fuel), and then fed into a primitive “shower” system that trickles hot water over you from an improvised shower head. This can be quite delicious really, as the water is usually piping hot, but it gets expensive. I think our record was three days without a shower. Other tourists swear by using Wet Ones instead.

“Oh my god…. What was I thinking??? I won’t be able to walk tomorrow….”

This has the dubious honour of being “the highest marathon in the world” - I would say the most crazy marathon in the universe! The marathon covers the requisite 26 miles of a normal marathon, but the difference is the altitude and the terrain. Imagine beginning your run at 5300m - Higher than Mont Blanc, and 2.5 times higher than “Mount” Kosciusko. The air contains 50% less oxygen here than it does down at sea level! Then imagine that you have to run over giant rocks, much like picking your way over the rubble left by a humungous earthquake. This continues for about a quarter or a third of the way, the rest of the way involving steep ups and downs over an ever changing trail (often with uneven rocks and slippery gravel). The marathon starts at Everest Base Camp and ends at Namche Bazaar - a trek that took us THREE DAYS to complete!! The Nepalis, of course, all come in before the tourists do - the winner usually makes it within 4 hours. Foreigners take an average of 10-12 hours!!

We had the good timing to be able to be in Namche Bazaar on the day of the marathon. We watched the first runner come in triumphantly - a hotel cook who has the advantage of living at an altitude of 4900m, hence having the physique for the mountains. We heard that a blind man completed the marathon, with the help of two friends, and took 16 hours (He would have arrived at 1am!!) I am not sure if such feats arouse admiration in me, or a compulsion to check these people into a psychiatric ward?!?!

We actually finished our trek a couple of days early, and serendipitously managed to attend this spectacular Buddhist festival in the town of Thame, a 4 hour walk from Namche Bazaar. All along our trek we asked Sherpas when the festival would be, and we had vague replies such as “I think in eight days time” and “It will end by the full moon”. Our timing was such that we were in Thame on exactly the same day as the most interesting day of the festival - the Day of the Dances.

 The festival was held in the courtyard of the local monastery. Every local Sherpa, his baby and his dog seemed to be there. Sherpa families sat crowded along the perimeter of the courtyard. Kids ran amok everywhere. Wrinkled grannies cuddled their fat grandchildren. A few Sherpa men were in their best cowboy outfits.

 Two young monks in maroon robes and tall curved yellow hats sat playing these very very long wind/horn instruments that made a very deep low bass sound. Two other monks played a smaller and more plaintive sounding wind instrument, while another played the drum.

 There were fifteen different dances, each with its own elaborate costume - often silk brocade and with pictures of menacing skulls, and accompanied by awful masks meant to resemble the demons that Buddhism tamed. There were skeleton costumes and demon costumes, and there were even “comic interludes” where monks dressed up as old men and entertained the crowd with their brand of Sherpa humour, which I must say totally escaped us. It was something you would never expect to see apart from on television - and indeed, a film crew from Germany was there documenting the event.

In between dances we visited the little makeshift tea tents around the monastery and feasted on bowls of steaming thukpa noodles and plates of momos (Tibetan dumplings). V had some of the local homebrew but was disappointed to find that there wasn’t more merry making going on. We found out the next day that the real party started in the evening when the monks evidently all got plastered on chang, a Tibetan version of sake.

There was a quite distinctive atmosphere to this trek - V calls it “death and ambition”. The allure of Everest has led scores of people, from experienced mountaineers to rich tourists who wish to have a “guided climb” much like a package tour up the mountain, to attempt her slopes. Even blind people and amputees attempt Everest, and it sometimes feels like a bit of a rat race - to be the first something-or-other to climb Everest. The price for such lofty ambitions has been death for some 180 or more people. Every climbing season sees some deaths, and we heard about at least three during our 17 day trek. Two Korean climbing guides plunged to their deaths. One Nepali woman, a very famous mountaineer who was only 34 years old, fell while descending Lhotse (the mountain next to Everest). She was a national hero, and her funeral was a media circus held in Tengboche monastery. We didn’t stay for the funeral but we did witness the scene when her body was flown in by helicopter. The monks were waiting to receive her body at the monastery, and the plaintive music of the Buddhist horned instruments were playing in the background. Her family was waiting by a small stone monument, which we suspect was her tombstone, and they wept and sobbed when her body was dropped off.

Helicopters are used a lot in the valley to ferry supplies from Namche to Base camp, or rich mountaineers back to the airport, but also operate as rescue helicopters. Every time you hear the buzzing of a helicopter overhead you are never sure if they are just doing a cargo run or if someone has become seriously ill or died in the valley or on Everest.

At a solemn spot on the way to Base camp, one climbs up a steep hill to be greeted by a proliferation of stone cairns and monuments to those who have lost their lives on Everest. The scene is reminiscent of a graveyard, yet has a certain sad pride and dignity about it - like the monument to a 63 year old climber who died two years ago, his motto “Always Aim High”. It’s a slightly chilling but somewhat touching scene.

The jolly Malaysian team at Everest Base Camp - the gentleman on the left in the yellow jacket is a former Minister and the “oldest Malaysian to summit Everest”

CJ and Marina, our national heroine - the first Malaysian woman to summit Everest (and possibly the smallest?!)

This was definitely a highlight of our trip - meeting the Malaysian team who had come to summit Everest! They were housed in a large collection of yellow North Face tents at Everest Base camp, with a Malaysian flag flying proudly above. When we visited them on May 24 the team was in a celebratory mood, as six of their members had returned safely the day before after reaching the summit on May 21. The six summitters included a very energetic Datuk, given the honour of “The oldest Malaysian to climb Everest”, and the first Malaysian woman, Marina.

We poked our heads into the main tent and said “Selamat Pagi” and introduced ourselves as Malaysians from KL and Melaka, and there was a rousing cheer from inside the tent. They welcomed us so enthusiastically that one would have thought WE had just summitted Everest! We were invited inside for breakfast and Milo, and spent a wonderful hour with the jubilant team celebrating. They were incredibly laid back and friendly people, and of course Malaysians being Malaysians we mostly talked about what food we missed eating, and what we planned to have as our first meals when off the plane from Nepal! (One of the team members told me that once they talked about Malaysian food for more than five hours!)

After a delightful morning, they sent us away with ten packets of Kari flavour Maggi noodles, a flag of “Melaka”, and a warm sense of national pride. We were extremely blessed in being able to celebrate this triumphant moment in our mother country’s history - I believe that this is the third, and the largest Malaysian expedition to date, and of course there is no doubt that Marina, a tiny fragile-looking girl smaller than myself, will be a national heroine forever.

And Malaysians being Malaysians, they gave us a tip about where to find good mamak food in Kathmandu. We made a beeline for this restaurant as soon as we got off the plane in Kathmandu, and guess who we found there?? - the Malaysian team, having eaten up the restaurant’s supply of tandoori chicken, and leaving none for us!?!

Isn’t she stunning?? - Mount Everest looks good too. CJ (in pink hat) and Mt Everest (black peak on left)

CJ and V, finally in the shadow of Mt Everest

The Nepalese call her “Sagarmatha”, or “One whose head is in the sky”. The Tibetans believe she is Chomolongma, one of the five goddesses of long life. The British named her after Colonel George Everest, who began a project to determine the heights of the peaks in the Himalayas.

She is irresistible to many mountaineers, such is the romance, mystery and aloofness that she emanates. I think the most fascinating stories are those of the first ever expeditions, sent by the British, to try to climb the highest mountain in the world. This was way back in the 1920s, and the plucky British climbed to over 8000m without oxygen, and dressed in the most unlikely gear - looking more like they were going hunting rather than climbing a mountain. No doubt the challenges they faced were far greater in those times without the super techonological climbing gear that modern expeditions possess. Mallory and Irvine were the first, and definitely not the last, mountaineers to give their lives to the mountain - they disappeared in mysterious circumstances not far from the summit in 1924.

She refused to show herself to us, maddeningly, while we climbed up some 3000m on our little pilgrimage to cast our eyes on her slopes. All the “viewpoints” along the way were blanketed by thick fog and cloud. Then, after nine days of climbing, the morning of our final climb  to the highest viewpoint dawned crystal clear with blue skies and not a single cloud. We raced up a steep hill to Kala Pattar, a viewpoint at 5545m - higher than the Thorung Pass that we clambered over during our previous trek - for magnificent views. At first we could only see the dramatic peak of Nuptse (North Peak), which is closer to us hence appears to be more impressive. As we climbed, we saw a small black summit appear behind Nuptse, and then more and more of this splendid mountain became visible.

Mt Everest is notorious for bad weather and terrible winds (Some Sherpas believe this is a sign that she should not be climbed), and this makes for the black appearance of the mountain - as a lot of snow is blown off the slopes.

From Kala Pattar the views were excellent - some people with great eyesight have claimed to be able to see mountaineers reaching the summit.

Tengboche monastery at twilight

Apparently you should never ever get this close to a yak

This tiny hamlet consists of little more than a handful of lodges, but it boasts one of Nepal’s most important Buddhist monasteries. It’s situated in an idyllic spot on top of a hill at 3800m, and with panoramic views of the Himalayas.

The monastery has been recently rebuilt, as fire swept through it in 1996. The new monastery is an impressive white and maroon building, its entrance flanked by two creatures who look like a cross between a lion and a dragon, and the approach to the building is up a set of stone stairs. The monastery houses a rock with the embedded “footprints” of a Lama Sang Dorje, whom the Sherpas believe flew from Tibet in the 17th century to establish Tibetan Buddhism in the Khumbu valley. Inside, tourists can observe the daily ceremonies, performed at 3pm, during which monks in maroon robes chant mantras and take lots of breaks in between chanting to drink yak butter tea. Unfortunately, the breed of tourists who cannot resist snapping photos incessantly (despite polite pleas by the monastery not to take photos) turns this into a bizarre circus.

We are literally following in the footsteps of Tenzing and Hillary on this trek - or rather just the last 10-14 days or so (in 1953 they would have started from India by train, and walked from Kathmandu!) They stayed for several days in the famous Namche Bazaar to organise their expedition and get supplies. We stayed here for a couple of days too, ostensibly to acclimatise, but we also stayed for the little luxuries that trekkers crave - German bakeries!! To get to Namche from the previous village, there is a dreadfully steep and continuous uphill climb for almost 3 hours. I literally crawled up this hill, as a result of a combination of recovering from diarrhoea, the altitude, and the general physical effort this takes. I was reassured to find that Sir Ed Hillary, the first man to climb Everest, wrote in his memoirs that “We climbed slowly up this formidable hill”!! Once at Namche, an altitude of over 3400m, one has one’s head literally in the clouds - they roll in in the afternoon, and the scene is often a white-out in the evening. When the clouds part the scenery is quite amazing - Namche is located on the side of a steep hill, and when clear you can look right down the valley to the river some 800m below, and if it’s very clear you can see the snowy peaks of the Himalayas above.

“What… you mean I have to trek up THERE?!?”

Our Everest Base Camp trek takes place wholly within Sherpa territory. The word “Sherpa” means “People who come from the East”, and the Sherpas in Nepal are actually Tibetans who fled political unrest some 400 years ago and settled in this lovely but barren region, the Solu Khumbu valley.

Sherpas practise Tibetan Buddhism devoutly, as evidenced by the proliferation of massive “mani stones” (stones carved with the mantra “Om mani Padme Hom”) everywhere.

Sherpas became famous when Mount Everest was first climbed 54 years ago, as the first men to reach the summit were a New Zealander (Sir Edmund Hillary) and a Sherpa (Tenzing Norgay). Since then, Sherpas have profited greatly from tourism, and from earning a reasonable income by becoming porters and climbing guides. They are so proficient in mountaineering now that it is the Sherpas that race ahead on Mt Everest and set up all the fixed ropes that foreign climbers will then use to reach the summit.

Their villages are delightful - clean, neat and with huge well-constructed stone houses with roofs painted in cheerful greens or blues. All this in a setting of steep cliffs forested with pine trees, and with gorgeous alpine wildflowers in the spring (as it was during our trek). Higher up the scenery changes to a more barren and desolate but still wonderful landscape of rocks, stunted shrubs and wide open spaces. Of course, the most majestic peaks in the world tower over the villages all along the way - it’s sometimes quite unnerving and surreal to see a stunning snow covered peak suddenly reveal itself when the clouds part.

AAARGHHH!!!!!!!!!

The plane ride to the start of the Everest Base Camp trek is almost worth just flying for the experience! We flew Yeti airlines in a tiny Twin Otter plane that sat no more than 20 people. The plane ascends quickly through the thick cloud overlying Kathmandu, and all of a sudden there is the dramatic sight of the snow-covered Himalayan range towering above the clouds.

This is not the most dramatic part of the flight though - it’s the airstrip at Lukla, the tiny “airport” at the start of our trek. It’s a short airstrip that actually angles UP and straight towards a wall, after a distance of about 50 metres.  It’s a most disconcerting sight to be heading straight towards a wall very shortly after landing. Fortunately the planes are very manouverable and drive like a Toyota Echo. Taking off is just as adrenaline charged - imagine hurtling DOWN a sloping airstrip - it feels as though we are about to topple right into the deep valley beyond the end of the strip.