Everest trek - Day 5 - Tengboche to Pangboche

3860m to 4000m (+140m)
2.2km - 2 hours

Super-easy day today with only a 140m climb over 2.2km to aid acclimatisation. Had a good nights sleep, apart from the occasional rat scurrying noises, and some extremely vivid and surreal dreams (effects of high altitude). One I remember: I visited my friend Paulie who had moved to a huge cave in the mountains with his girlfriend. They were sitting on one sofa each, but they were surrounded by hundreds of other sofas of different shapes and sizes, none alike, and they all had the clear plastic wrapping on. Paulie told me that they were collecting them. That's all I remember.

Dave was feeling much better today and we all had Tibetan bread crowned with a fried egg. There was broken clouds about and this morning and Lhotse, Ama Dablam and possibly the tip of Everest revealed their massive selves - it's hard to explain or record how beautifully enormous they look!

The trail from Tengboche drops steep down into a cool, shady rhododendron forest - this place must be incredible in the spring. We saw two dogs, still joined after mating but facing opposite directions - quite a disturbing sight. The path then passes a nunnery and crosses a bridge over the river, then it's once again up, up, up. On this up I could really feel my lungs begging for the 38% missing oxygen! The sun was now fully out and I switched my trousers and waterproof for shorts and t-shirt. Here we met an Englishman called Tom, a German called Verena and a Swede called Martin.

We arrived at Pangboche at 10:30am and checked into a bright triple room at the Himalayan lodge - run by Nema and his friendly family. As the sun was out we did a little washing and put it out to dry on the wall outside, but of course as soon as we did this the rains quickly came! I had some powerful garlic soup and we spent the afternoon reading, lazing about, eating pringles (300 Rupees) and watching bad Indian soap operas on TV

Room 9 at the Himalayan lodge

Us!

Pangboche fields

Ama Dablam revealing her shoulder

Everest trek - Day 4 - Namche to Tengboche

3500 to 3860 (+410m)
6.75km - 7 hours

Departing a rainy Namche at 6am the route heads east then switches north following the river far below. Occasional breaks in the weather give more glimpses of huge piles of rock; just when you think you'd seen the summit, something else appears higher in your line of sight. I prefer it like this and liken it to a beautiful lady (or man in Helens case) teasing us; If there were no clouds it would be a full frontal - and where's the fun in that?! We stop at the Ama Dablan lodge and Dave, who's had rumblings all morning, has to make a swift visit to the outside long-drop squatter. Maybe those sausages weren't such a good idea. The lodge owners are very friendly, and this would be worth considering as a second acclimatisation day as it's the same altitude as Namche. There's a big outside seating area with views down the valley - we had a quick glimpse of the mighty Ama Dablam before the clouds moved over again.

Feeding the crows 

First view of Ama Dablam

The route then went steep down into the now-thickening clouds. This was where we encountered our first companion dog; they randomly walk about on the trails following tourists and Sherpas and are very friendly and healthy, and greatly appreciate a biscuit or two. I'm ashamed to say I forget the name we issued this particular canine, maybe Hector - I'm sure Helen will correct me in the comments! Eventually you get down to Phunki Tenga and the Evergreen lodge next to the river. There's a sign saying that this is your last chance for refreshment before a two hour climb; this is not the case, there's three or four better cafe's over the river. Also the toilet in Evergreen was bad... very bad! We had a cup of instant noodles each (I had seconds!). Just before the marathon climb is a TIMS army checkpoint but they wouldn't let me take a picture for this diary. Dave was feeling extremely rough and weak, so I carried Helens bag on my front and she carried Dave's, but he still had to stop often for a rest or be at one with nature. We arrived at the top around 1pm and had a welcome cup of sweet black tea - It took well over two hours to get there!

We checked into the Tengboche guest house, a cute little place with good food and friendly staff (one of the girls was particularly cheeky). I had a compact and cheerful single room (blankets provided). There's a bakery next door but it was closed until high-season. At 3pm every day you can go into the monastery and sit with the monks as they chant, occasionally stopping to slurp hot tea. This was the first time I felt the cold, and switched my shorts for trousers. The weather was wet in the afternoon. In the evening the lodge owners lit the stove and we sat in the cosy restaurant for hours talking and discussing statistics! I had a Nepali curry, which was delicious and enormous; the rice and vegetables just kept coming!

Up up up up up up up up...

Bakery - closed :'(