It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves. - Edmund Hillary
Our first glimpse of Everest was in 2014 during the Sandakfu trek. Giri and I discussed at that time that we should do the Everest base camp (EBC) trek in Nepal soon. In 2015, I went to Beijing and finding a two-week slot became difficult. In 2019 October, I did a Tibet tour with Foreigners Cina (FCN) along with my wife and daughter. This tour included a visit to the EBC in Tibet (5200 m) where we stayed overnight and watched the marvel of sunshine on Everest in the morning (https://chinadiarysite.wordpress.com/2019/10/27/an-amazing-week-in-tibet-a-wonderful-trip-to-the-everest-base-camp/). Still the urge to trek the EBC trail was unrelenting and the opportunity came this year as I took retirement from my work and had two to three weeks to spare. Giri expressed the desire. We decided to go ahead and I did some home work about the companies that offered the EBC trek. Based on our friends Pratap and Ganesh’s recommendation, we booked with Laxman Thapa Magar of Dream Success Trek and Expedition (https://dreamsuccesstrek.com/) for 88K INR in the beginning of August. As Laxman had couple of other trekkers from Kerala doing it from 5th October 2025, we opted to join them. Giri had done Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek before, and it was the first time in Nepal for me. Giri booked the air tickets for both of us.
Everest base camp in Nepal gained distinction after the 1953
Everest summit by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. In the early 1950s,
climbers initially used the North Base Camp in Tibet, which was established by
a British expedition in 1921. While Everest seekers still use it as their base,
the trek to the base camp itself is like a pilgrimage for thousands of trekkers
who take the trail every year.
While I was eagerly looking for the travel, just three weeks
before the date, Nepal had major unrest in second week of September and things
came to stand still for almost a week. Added to that, I got a bad back spasm
around the same time, and found it very difficult to sit or stand, leave alone
walking! This came as a shocker. I saw an orthopaedic who treated me. With the
uncertainties, we were just hoping that things would improve. In a week’s time,
I was better and started walking while the pain was still there.
After discussion with Laxman, we decided to fly to Kathmandu on 3rd October and reach Ramechaap on the same day. We were supposed to reach Lukla on 4th and start the trek on 5th. We flew to Kathmandu via New Delhi and reached 16:00. Laxman and his son welcomed us by offering the ceremonial Khata and marigold garlands. From the airport, we were taken to Hotel Manang in an Alto. There we left some clothes for using when we return from the trek. From the hotel, a Creta picked us up and proceeded towards Ramechaap. It was raining and roads were bad. Around 18:45, we reached a check post just outside the city, where a long queue of vehicles was parked. There was a huge commotion as the cops were not letting the vehicles to go forward due to heavy rains and bad road conditions. After spending some time there, Laxman decided to put us in a hotel (North Pole Inn) at nearby Dhulikhel. At the restaurant there, the only person who was present cooked fresh dal bhat for us and we had the dinner at 22:00.
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| Kathmandu as seen from the aircraft |
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| Welcome to Nepal! |
Next morning Around 4:40, we left the place had breakfast on the way. A little ahead, on one side was the Tamkoshi river in full spate, and on the other side were thousands of mirrors of different sizes on the wall. These are offerings to the goddess Seti Devi Mata for protection against accidents on the dangerous road. Travelers can purchase and add their own mirrors to this display.
The driver dropped us at Ramechap
airport in Manthali at 8:30. There were some trekkers already there. Laxman had
shared our Summit Air tickets, but the Summit Air as well as other airline
counters had shown a notice that all flights were delayed due to bad weather.
As it didn’t look like any flight possibility that day, we took a hotel room
nearby. The room was neat and offered a great view of the small airport as well
as the beautiful greenery around. The owner Ajay is an ex-serviceman from the
Nepal army. It rained the whole day that day and most of the next day too. Next
day evening when the rain stopped a little, we walked to Manthali town centre
and had tea in a local restaurant. There was a group of people drinking and
singing retro Hindi songs who offered us to join them. I just sang along a bit
and we returned back to the hotel. At the airport we met Mohan, a solo trekker
from Bangalore.
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| Ramechaap airport |
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| Near Ramechaap airport |
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| Ramechaap airport |
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| Long-tailed Shrike |
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| Manthali |
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| With Mohan |
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| Common evening brown |
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| Notice at the airline counter |
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| Nag Panchami poster at the airport |
It was our third day in Manthali. Though it has been raining the past two days, we didn’t feel bored. At 6:00, we went to the airport and checked at the Summit Air counter, and were told that they didn’t have any information yet. The flight has to come from Kathmandu, and it was important that the weather had to be conducive and Kathmandu, Ramechaap as well as Lukla. We went for breakfast and returned to the counter, where they said they were looking for us! Three airlines – Sita, Tara and Summit were operating with small 19-seater aircrafts. They weighed our bags. The limit was 15 kg per head, while we had together 6 kilos more. We paid excess baggage Rs 130/- NPR per kg. At 10:40, or flight took off and flew over the beautiful terrain of the green fields, rivers and hills.
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| Our flight |
At 15:00, we started our trek, passed through the Pasang Lhamu gate, named after the first Nepalese woman to climb the summit of Mount Everest. Then we went through the town and proceeded along the Dudh Koshi River. The trail was initially
downhill and uphill at places with cobbled stones in certain stretches. En
route were several waterfalls, stupas, manis (stacked stones with prayers), couple
of villages and suspension bridges. The five colour prayer flags were seen in
various places. Many people were trekking along and some were also returning.
There were porters, horses, mules and dzo (cross breed of Yak and Cow) carrying
essentials. The trail also offered views of Kong De peak. We had taken around 3.5
hours for about 7 kms. It was a good trek for the first day. Around 18:15, we
reached the Green Village Guest house where we had dinner and stayed that night.
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| Ready to go! |
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| Mani stone |
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| Pasang Lhamu gate |
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| Phakding in the evening |
Day 2, 7 October 2025 – Phakding (2610m) to Namche Bazaar (3440m):
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| View from the room at Namche Bazaar |
We had our breakfast and left the hotel at 7:35. Nima
suggested that we can visit the local museum and then hike, and we set out for
it. Giri felt it would be good to finish the hike and then visit the museum.
That was certainly a better idea and we changed our direction. While hike was
steep, it offered great views of many peaks including Everest. The trail also
had excellent views if wild flowers. At 9:45 we reached the hotel Everest View. As the weather was good, most people were sitting in the open terrace outside the building. We also found a place there. This part offered great views of the Everest range. I had a glass of milk. While we were
there, we met a solo trekker from Italy and had a good conversation. At 11:30
we started to come down and reached the museum -Tenzing Norgay Sherpa Heritage
center at 13:00.
The museum has a statue of Tenzing and shows displays about
the life of Sherpas and Tenzing's and other’s expeditions. The museum also showcases posters about tall
peaks around the world and climate change effects. We returned to the hotel,
had lunch and rested. In the evening, we again went around the shopping street.
I bought a waist pouch and a cap. There are many shops that sell trekking
gears. Namche Bazaar is considered as the gateway to Mount Everest. It is a
cultural and trading hub, and is a crucial acclimatization stop for EBC trekkers.
It is surrounded by major peaks like Kongde, Kusum Kangaru, Thamserku, and
Kangetega, with stunning views available from many sites.
Day 4, 9 October 2025 – Namche Bazaar (3440m) to Debuche (3820m) via Tengboche monastery (3,885m):
We left the hotel at 7:10 and via the Tashi Delek Monastery
proceeded towards the trail that had cobbled path of steep ascent. It led to winding
trail through forests of pine and rhododendron. At places the trail offered
great views of multiple peaks, mainly Amadablam and sometimes Everest. The
trail had stupas and manis, and one is supposed to pass them from the left
side. In about three hours we reached Sanasa village (3600m). There were many
restaurants and shops here. At 11:15, we stopped for lunch at Gora Tapting Fast
food restaurant in the village Phungi Tenga. Once again, I had Dal Bhat. Just
after lunch, we crossed a bridge and arrived at a check post. Here there were
many prayer wheels. It took three hours steep hike to reach Tengboche
Monastery.
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| Trash bins |
Tengboche Monastery, also known as Dawa Choling Gompa, is the largest gompa in the Khumbu region of Nepal. It is located on a hill at the confluence of the Dudh Koshi and the Imja Khola rivers. It was built in 1916 by Lama Gulu as a daughter monastery of the Rongbuk Monastery in Tibet. We visited the monastery that has typical Tibetan Buddhist features at a large Sakyamuni Buddha flanked by Manjushri, the deity of wisdom and Maitreya. The monastery has been renovated several times, notably by Edmund Hillary after the 1989 fire. It has a newer annex that has a highly ornate central pagoda. Around 15:30 we came out of the monastery and enjoyed the Everest view for some time. The trek from here to Debuche took about an hour of downhill walk. At 16:30 we reached Paradise Lodge at Debuche where we were going to stay. We had walked 11 kms from Namche Bazaar to here.
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| Room at Debuche |
We went around the lodge to explore. There is a nunnery
nearby. We met a travel agent old man from Bolivia who has been bringing
trekkers to this region. That night I had pizza for dinner.
Day 5, 10 October 2025 – Debuche (3820m) to
Dingboche (4410m):
In the morning, I did some photography around the hotel. After breakfast, we left at 7:20. Very soon we crossed two major stupas. The stupas have Buddha faces with compassionate eyes drawn on the tower that reassure the trekkers. The trail was walking through the rhododendron forest and crossing a bridge over the raging Imja Khol River. There is a check post near which a booth to leave your excess luggage is available. The highlight of this trail is Amadablam. We get to see it all along, in different forms from different angles. Amadablam means mother and daughter. There are two peaks with 6812m and 6170m heights. The view of Amadablam was breathtaking from most parts of the trail. We also see Everest at places from this trail.
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| With Nima |
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| Amadablam seen from Pangboche |
The
major village we get early on the way is Pangboche (3,985m). This is the base
camp for Amadablam hikes. There is an upper and a lower Pangboche and both have
considerable Sherpa population. Our lunch stop was Panorama Restaurant at
Shomare (4010m). The dining hall had Tibetan Buddhist figures and from the windows
we could see many major peaks. After lunch the ascent was steeper. We passed
Chura (4145m) and continued through juniper shrubs along the river and reached
our hotel, Moonlight lodge and restaurant at Dingboche at 14:00. The rooms were
cosy considering the low temperature outside, and offered a great view of the
mountains.
That
afternoon we visited the “Café 4410” in front of our hotel. The café is a
buzzing place with lot of activities. They have a great variety of snacks and
beverages and one can charge mobile phones if one buys anything for 500 NPR. I
took a latte and charged my phone. On the trail, we had mat a group of people
from Bangalore who connected very well. They were here watching a 2015 movie
‘Sherpa’ that discussed about tough lives of Sherpas. We joined them in
watching the movie. At 19:00, as Nima was calling us for dinner, we left the
café and came back to our hotel. That evening, I had dal bhat with egg curry.
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| Cafe 4410 |
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| With the Bangalore group at Cafe 4410 |
Day 6, 11 October 2025 – Acclimatization hike to Nagarjung hill from Dingboche (5120m):
Nagarjung Dada, also known as Nagarjuna peak or Nangkartshang
Peak is a popular acclimatization hike near Dingboche. This hike provides great
views of the surrounding mountains such as Amadablam, Lhotse, and Island Peak
are seen. It was 7:10 when we started from our hotel. We crossed a large stupa
and started climbing up. It seems the showers few days ago led to early snowing
in this region and the whole trail had soft fresh snow. The climb was also
steep. While the air got thinner and the climb not easier, the view of the
mountains around was wonderful. Around 10:00, Nima gave us an option to stop,
but Giri and I decided to continue. Nima came with us and Rahul Sr and Jr
decided to go back. At 11:30, we reached the top of Nagarjun peak. It was a
wonderful feeling. For me, this was certainly the highest altitude so far. We
also met our Italian friend Pedro on the trail. All along the trail we see many
peaks, and more prominently see Makalu.
Coming down was a real challenge. Not expecting this much snow, I had left my crampons at home and the trail was extremely slippery and I fell a few times in spite of being highly careful! I also saw that the other trekkers were also falling and rolling. Giri tried sliding over the snow for some time. We returned to the hotel at 14:30 and had our lunch.
That evening we went to Café 4410 again and this time watched some part of the 2015 movie ‘Everest’. Our Bangalore friends had already left in the morning. The café certainly is a very happening place, and mobile charging by selling snacks and drinks is a great idea!
That evening, Giri and I brought crampons at a nearby shop for 2700 NPR each. At our hotel, I bought WiFi subscription for 500 NPR so that I could speak to family and share some photos and videos. For a change, I had pizza for dinner.
Day 7, 12 October 2025 – Dingboche (4410m)
to Pyramid Institute in Lobuche (5050m):
Morning view from the hotel was beautiful with sunshine
falling on the peaks. Nima said Lobuche is full and he couldn’t find a place. I
requested Laxman to find a better alternative after Lobuche, and indeed he
could arrange a stay at the Pyramid institute. We left the hotel at 7:10 and
went via the same Stupa, that seemed like a junction for different trails. The
initial path was gentle and we saw large meadows of snow with stone sheds in
them. There was no more vegetation, no long suspension bridges and it was all snow-,
and snow-covered peaks. The view of Amadablam was staggering. There were
smaller bridges over steams. Around 11:00, we were at Thukla (Dugla, 4620m). It
is a small village with few small buildings. We had lunch at Yak Lodge. I tried
egg fried rice. Post lunch was a steep hike through Thukla pass that hosts
memorials for the hikers who have lost their lives to summit Mt. Everest including
a legendary climber Babuchiri Sherpa. Around 100 small and big memorials were
built at different times. They have photos of the hikers as well as
prayers inscribed on the tombs. On some tombs, the circumstances leading to the
death of the hikers are mentioned.
We climbed through a zig zag path in the middle of snow to
reach Lobuche at 14:30. This village is named after a prominent peak in the
region. This village has few hotels and has a helipad too. A chopper landed and
took off when we were passing by. A new hotel was being built and carpentry was
in progress. Continuing further for 20 minutes, we saw the board of the Pyramid
International Laboratory-observatory. Five minutes from there we arrived at the
place.
The centre began as a joint venture between the Italian and
Nepali Governments, although the former no longer sponsors the site. It
consists of a stone building as the base, and on top there's a transparent
observatory shaped like a pyramid covered by solar panels. The lodge that
operates in this building is called 8000 Inn. We were given a dorm with five
beds. The package here included hot shower, that was very refreshing! They also
had a good variety of dishes and I had noodles for dinner. It seemed like the
place was designed for delegates attending meetings and is being used as a
lodge now.
Day 8, 13 October 2025 – Lobuche to
Gorakshep (5180m) to EBC (5364m):
This was the day we were looking forward to for a long time!
Morning was beautiful with sunshine falling on the mountains. We started
earlier than normal, at 6:00, returned to the same spot where we had seen the
board yesterday, and joined the trail. It was freezing in the morning, but we
warmed up as we moved. The crampons were useful as the path was all through
snow. The view of all the major peaks around us was stunning. Around 8:40, we
met our Bangalore friends who were returning after EBC. The movement was slow
as there were many people slowly hiking through a tricky trail. At 9:50, we
were at the Himalaya Lodge and Restaurant at Gorakshep (also called as
Gorakshe, 5180m).
The lodge has a Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue. While Rahul and Rahul had their lunch, we packed the sandwich. At 10:35, we stated from the lodge and hit the trail. Giri went ahead with Arjun, and I followed. The uneven path was rocky and had moraine, with lot of snow. It was 12:30 when I reached the base camp. There were many people. Unlike the Everest basecamp in Tibet, there are no sheds or permanent structures here. It is disappointing that there is not even a proper board that shows the name and the altitude! There is a large rock that has a graffiti of Everest Base Camp, on which, and in front of which people pose for photographs. But the same rock also has unwanted graffiti! Nevertheless, EBC in Nepal is a very large area surrounded by tall mountains and Khumbu glacier. The photos or videos don’t do justice to the beauty of this place! We could also see avalanches breaking in distant mountains. There was a competition among people to get on to the big rock. A large group from Taiwan had arranged a lady’s birthday there and the whole group got on to the the rock!
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| Rock marking the altitude at EBC |
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| With a cairn at EBC |
Once our teammates came, we also posed for photographs both solo as
well as in group. I borrowed an India flag from a co-trekker from Mumbai and
posed for a photograph. He is an IT professional, trekking EBC with his 11th
grade daughter. Their group had a 65-year-old lady doctor, Swarna from the US,
originally from Mysore. There were also many westerners who were quite aged.
There was a Chinese old lady solo hiker, hiking without poles!
We started from coming down from EBC at 14:00 and reached Gorakshep at 16:00. We had walked around 12 kms that day. The Himalaya Lodge at Gorakshep was filled with people, some who had finished EBC and others who were yet to finish. The view from our room was amazing with the sunset hues. Nima said that we had to book the dinner time slot as there were more people. The large dining hall was full. We had an early dinner at 17:30.
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| View from the room |
Day 9, 14 October 2025 – Gorakshep (5180m) to Pheriche (4371m):
Next morning at 4:00, Giri and Junior Rahul went to
Kalapatthar. Senior Rahul and I decided to skip the Kalapatthar trek. I wanted
to finish the rest of the trek without any issues and didn’t want to take more
risks. I couldn’t sleep and went around clicking pictures around our lodge. We
had breakfast after they returned from Kalapatthar and left the place at 9:30.
Nima said Laxman wanted the stop to be at Pangboche, but he felt Pheriche will
be a better option.
The downhill trail was the same that we had taken while
coming and the first major village was Lobuche where we reached at noon. Saw
one more helicopter taking off from Lobuche. The hotel that was being built
with wooden planks was almost ready.
Further down, we crossed the memorial park and Thukla pass,
and at 14:00 reached Kalapatthar Lodge at Thukla where we had lunch. The trail
was beautiful offering views of Mount Everest, Nuptse, Pumori, Ama dablam,
Thamserku, Lobuche, Cholatse, Taboche and other many Himalayan peaks. We were
also walking next to roaring Imja Khola river which is a tributary of the Dudh
Koshi river. We reached Himalayan Lodge at Pheriche at 16:25. The lodge was
very impressive, with a large dining hall. It was also ideally placed with a
large open space to its left followed by the views of Amadablam and other
mountains.
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| Pheriche valley |
I spent time outside photographing the nature. The cloud covered on Amadablam cleared and the peaks turned gold with the evening sunshine. We had dinner at 18:30. The restaurant showed advertisements of many trek companies, including ours-Dream success. They also had great collection of wines and whiskies.
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| Amadablam turned into gold |
Day 10, 15 October 2025 – Pheriche (4371m)
to Namche Bazaar (3440m):
I did some photography in the morning. The sight of sunrise was beautiful. I had Tibetan bread with omelette for breakfast. We started our trek at 8:00. We knew that it was going to be a long day. Soon we crossed a suspension bridge. Unusually, the trail didn’t have much crowd. In an hour we were at Chura, on the same trail that comes from Dingboche. Next was Shomare village. Views were amazing. Around 11:00, we crossed a suspension bridge and then Debuche village. Around noon we were near the Tengboche monastery and enjoyed the Everest view. Here we had lunch at Tashi Delek restaurant that is right in front if the monastery. I had soup noodles. At 13:30, we left Tengboche and proceeded further. We got another suspension bridge neat Phunki Tenga at 14:45. Next we crossed the Gora Tapting restaurant where we had eaten our lunch a week ago. Next was Tashinga (Lawishasa) at 15:30.
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| Potato, the staple diet |
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| Heating water with solar energy |
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| Room |
Around 16:00 we saw a glimpse of a Himalayan Thar, but couldn’t capture the photo well enough. Around 16:20, we crossed Sanasa village. A little later, we met Mohan on the trail near Kynajuma. Mohan had tanned considerably since we had met him at Ramechaap. He said he couldn’t get a lodge at Gorakshep and had to stay in porter’s shed. A little further we witnessed amazing sunset on Everest, turning the mountains in to gold! Nima and Rahuls were already ahead and Nima returned looking for us. We reached out hotel Snowland at Namche Bazaar at 18:30. We were on the trail for almost 10.5 hours and had walked 21 kms.
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| Happiness upon swinging |
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| Himalayan Thar |
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| Everest turned to gold! |
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| Namche Bazaar in the evening |
Day 11, 16 October 2025 – Namche Bazaar (3440m)
to Lukla (2860m):
This was the last day of our trek. One more long walk expected. We started from our hotel at 6:45 after breakfast, passed the big stupa and took the downward trail. View of Kongde peak was remarkable. In an hour’s time I met Lenin and his team. They were all expat Indians from different parts of US. We kept meeting on the trail on different days and had great connect. Next was the suspension bridge over Dudh Koshi near Larcha Dovan (2935m). After the bridge we walked along the river and crossed another bridge near Jorsalle. At 9:15 we crossed the Sagarmatha National Park gate and the check post, and at 9:30 we were at Monjo village. The houses here are surrounded by colourful flowers that make the atmosphere even more beautiful.
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| With Lenin |
After that was Benkar
village which has a prominent stupa and a big waterfall. Next was Toktok
village that looked fairly big and also has a waterfall. At 12:15 the
suspension bridge was just before Phakding. At 12:30 we reached Green Village
guest house at Phakding where we had stayed during our onward trek. Now this
was our lunch stop. After a good rest, we continued at 14:00 and reached our
hotel “Hiker’s Inn” at Lukla at 17:00. This was the place where we had lunch on
the first day. The owner lady is quite enterprising. She also helped up with our
flight the next day.
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| Thanks for candy, but no photo! |
As it was our last day, we had dinner with our porters Arjun and Davachiri. We also gave tips to Nima and the two porters thanking them for their help during the long trek. Later we visited a nearby pub that had mostly western crowd celebrating. The pub also had a pool table.
Day 12, Lukla to Katmandu via Ramechaap:
Next morning at 6:30
we were at the Tenzing Hillary airport in Lukla. Nima and the porters bid us
farewell by offering the ceremonial Khata. We went in only to realize that the
airport was a big mess and several people were waiting to catch the flight. We had
seen that several of our friends flew from Lukla to Kathmandu, and at the airport
Kathmandu flights were having priority. We requested Laxman to try and get us
tickets for Kathmandu, but he said it was not possible. We were dreading about
the journey from Ramechaap to Kathmandu!
In spite of all the uncertainties, our turn came and our
Summit Air flight took off at 8:45. We landed at Raamechap at 9:10 and were received
by Bobby, Laxman’s son with Khata yet again. We then moved to Kathmandu in a Scorpio.
This wasn’t as comfortable as the Creta we had during onward journey. The road
was non motorable in several stretches. It seems last years floods destroyed
the highway. We had lunch on the way and reached Hotel Manang in Kathmandu at 16:10.
Our return flight to Bangalore was on 21st, that I asked Giri to
cancel and booked a flight for 18th afternoon. Rahuls were also
traveling by the same flight. Giri wanted to meet friends at Kathmandu and
booked flight for 20th. That evening we went around the streets of
Kathmandu, did some shopping and had dinned at a pure veg restaurant ‘Tulasi’.
I requested Laxman to let us visit Pashupatinath temple before catching the
flight and he agreed.
Next morning at 9:00 Bobby came with a large van. His cousin
Rishal was also with him. All of us went to the temple.
Pashupatinath Temple is a revered Shiva temple located on
the banks of the sacred Bagmati River in Kathmandu, Nepal. The temple is one of
the oldest and most significant religious complexes in South Asia. The art and
architecture of the temple are amazing. It is large complex and there are smaller
temples representing 12 jyotirlingas. The entry ticket for foreigners is 1000
NPR, while for Indians it is free. There are ghats in the complex on the river
bank where creation is done. Across the river the ghats are for rituals. Entrance
of the temple is impressive and inside is huge gold-plated Nandi. The main deity
is Shivling with four faces - Sadyojata, Vamadeva, Tatpurusha, and Aghora.
There seems to be an invisible fifth face - Ishana. The boys gave us a good
tour before dropping us at the airport. Once again at the airport, they saw us
off with Khata. The Nepal airlines flight was comfortable and I reached
Bangalore in the evening.
While I had my doubts about my fitness before the hike,
fortunately there were no major niggles other than some burning of shoulders
due to the backpack. Also, I didn’t really see any altitude issues. I am really
happy to have completed EBC and having witnessed the wonder of so many Himalayan
peaks along with the famed Everest. Some of my thoughts here:
- With so many foreign visitors coming, the foreign exchange earned must be really high. That doesn’t reflect in the infrastructure or working conditions of the porters. There is also a good income for the helicopters as many people trek one way and return by helicopters. Some people also do partial or whole trail on horseback.
- Porters are the soul of the trails. They carry so much weight on a trail that is not easy even to walk without any luggage. Most of the essentials, building materials are all carried by the porters. Sometime they carry 80-90 kgs of weight at a time. Other than the porters there are horses and dzo (male) or dzomo (female) that are cross between cow and yaks. Many times, the trekkers have to wait for the caravan of these animals to go through. Things go on becoming expensive as we go up. A water bottle which is 20 NPR in Katmandu becomes 500 NPR at Gorakshep.
- The whole trail is generally clean in spite of so much traffic. Trash bins are kept in many places.
- Dogs do follow you sometimes. The instruction is not to take them along. If you ignore them and stop for some time, they will return to their original places.
I wish to thank my family for the support, thanks to Giri
for making this happen, thanks to Mr Laxman and Dream Success expedition.
Thanks to Nima, a very good guide, and porters Arjun and Davachiri. Thanks to
Rahul senior and junior for nice company. I met many people on the trail who
left a lasting impression. Thanks to all of them.
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