Nepal : Part 7 - EBC Trek (Day 3) - Acclimatisation - Everest View Hotel and Khumjung Monastery

Summary of Meal Expenses

	Breakfast		Lunch		Dinner
	Namche Bazaar		Khumjung		Namche Bazaar
	Meal	Price	Meal	Price	Meal	Price
Mine	Sherpa Porridge	300	Rara Noodle	Don’t know	Veg. Sizzler	480
	Hot Water	40	Hot Lemon Tea	Guide’s treat	Ginger Tea	60
Sister	Tibetan Bread	300	Rara Noodle	Don’t know	Sherpa Stew	400
	Hot Water	40	Hot Lemon Tea	Guide’s treat	Hot Lemon Cup of Hot Water 500ml Hot Water	75 40 60

The Story

17092013 - What a glorious morning! The skies were clear. I hurriedly pushed my sister away from her bed and took her spot to snap a panaromic view of the mountains. Good thing of going with your sister is that you do not need to apologize for pushing her away. Haha!

When I walked out from my room, I saw basins of hot water outside the doors of some trekkers. The trekkers are foreigners, as in the Caucasians. It's funny that they live in 4-seasoned countries, but they asked for hot water. Hmm. And there I was, not willing to spend the extra cent, splashed my face with cold water from the sink outside our room.

Day 4 in Nepal. Day 3 of our trek. Today, we acclimatise in Namche. For acclimatisation, we are trekking to Syangboche (3800m). Acclimatisation is important to adjust your body to the high altitude. To acclimatise, one treks high, and sleeps low. For breakfast, I tried Sherpa Porridge. Texture was like raw fishball paste. How I know it felt like raw fishball paste is because I mess around in the kitchen too. So, I know my stuff. Tasted nice. It is made from buckwheat and has butter and salt added inside. After breakfast, off we go to start our trek. We started at 8.30am, an hour later than our usual start.

So, here starts our 45 minute walk to the top. Huffing and puffing as we climb up higher. But as we kept walking, I got the rhythm of my steps and it was not too bad, except that we have to stop to drink water. It is compulsory. Every 15 minutes.

Syangboche we have reached. Yes, it is just a big empty land, but there is a village close by. We see a big empty airstrip where flights that carry cargo land. We continued our walk to see the view of Mount Everest. It will be our first glimpse of Mount Everest. We headed towards Everest View Hotel.

We are supposed to be able to see the view of Mount Everest from here. Mount Everest is the one on the left covered by the clouds. The mountains you see - Lhotse (in the middle) and Ama Dablam (on the right). We hoped we could see Mount Everest from Everest View Hotel. So, we continued the walk.

Everest View Hotel from afar. It is at 3,880m. We climbed up 440m from Namche Bazaar. It was 10 degrees but we did not feel the chill. We were hot from the walk up. Unfortunately, it was still misty and there was no view of the mountains. Lots of trekkers were at Everest View Hotel to stop and check the view. Our guide offered to buy us a drink. So, we had hot orange juice. Quite interesting. Hot orange juice. The price here is not cheap too. It costs Rs80 for a glass and this has not included 10% service charge and 13% VAT.

We continued our walk towards Khumjung where there is a famous monastery that houses a yeti scalp and a school built by Edmund Hillary. Khumjung means Hidden Green Valley. Not only because the roof of the houses are green (except for the Monastery which is red) but the land is rich. After a 20 minute walk down from Everest View Hotel, we have reached Khumjung. The place is quiet. Just us trekkers. Not many shops and lodges were opened because there were no trekkers. Not the peak season yet. Not our luck. Most of the locals were still in their homes which is not in Khumjung.

When we reached the monastery, it was locked. The problem if it is a non-peak season. So, the guide called up the monk in charge. The monk said he will be there to open up the monastery. I could not believe my ears that the monk was going to come out from his place just to open the monastery for us. I can sense my guide's popularity. When the monk came, we saw him with a trekking stick. He said that his legs hurt. We felt bad.

The monastery is famous because of the Yeti scalp locked inside this cupboard. One has to donate to see the scalp. The monk opened for us after we donated. 

We had lunch in the lodge opposite the monastery. Today was the first day they were opening the lodge for business, so there was not much furniture around. If you want to know how opposite it is, check the window in the photo. It was facing the monastery. So, we had the quickest lunch to be prepared - Rara Noodles with Egg and Vegetables. Rara is like a 5-minute ready to cook noodle. Rara is a brand by the way. It was really good because I was really hungry, and I like soupy stuff after walking in the cold dry air.

After lunch, the next place to visit - Hillary School!