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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.