Phakding to Namche

We woke up early today to start our hike from Phakding to Namche.  The hike takes about 6 hours and it goes from 8,661ft (2640m) to 11,319ft (3450m).  The hike starts with beautiful views of the mountains, hiking next to fields of potatoes and garlic.   During the first half of the hike, the trail follows Dudh Kosi (the milky river) and it crosses it on suspension bridges 7 times.  These are excellent bridges used both by people and animals.  Unfortunately, the weather was worsening, so the views of the mountains were quickly disappearing.

By midday, we arrived to the entrance of Sagamartha National Park.  Sagamartha is the modern name given to Everest by Nepali people (it's newer than Everest) and translate to "forehead touching the sky".  At the park entrance, our trekking permit was checked and we visited the small museum.  An interesting chart shows that 30,599 people visited the park last year (most of them in March, 3588, April, 4661, September, 2135, October, 9260, and November, 4830).  It also shows a 15% drop this year for the March/April season.

From the entrance of the park, it was a short walk to the village of Jorsale (2,775m) where we had lunch.  This village is the last one before Namche.  After Jorsale, the trail crosses the river one more time and heads on a heavily eroded river bank to the high suspension bridge at the confluence of the Bhote Kosi and the Imja Khola (that makes the Dudh Kosi). 

This is an amazing suspension bridge built by the Swiss in 1989.  It's incredibly high above the river with incredibly large anchors.  Definitely built to last.  From there it was a long uphill walk to Namche.  The following day was market day in the town, so the trail was very busy with porters carrying amazing loads.

There were also a number of herders getting goats and cows to the market.  The trail was very crowded so we were moving slowly as we had to step aside to let cows pass many times or we had to walk slowly behind porters until the trail was wide enough to pass.  By that time, the weather has worsen and it started to rain a little bit which unfortunately meant that the Everest viewpoint, our first opportunity to see the mountain, was viewless.  After passing a view of a faraway waterfall, we finally arrived at Namche.  A very nice city built around a bowl with amazing views of the mountains around it.

The city caters to both tourists and locals.  With many store selling "North Face" and "Everest Mountain Hardwear" gear at incredible prices.  A "North Face" labeled down jacket goes for about $20.  A synthetic shirt for about $5.  Buyer beware, the zipper of a North Face fleece bought in Kathmandu by one of the people in our group disintegrated in just one day.  Not the usual North Face quality.

After checking in the lodge, I went for a walk around the city.  The streets tend to be confusing as everything is built in a semi circle (following the natural bowl in which the city was built) and many streets don't connect.  Eventually, I was able to make it back to my lodge where I had a nice dinner of garlic soup (believed by Nepali to help with acclimatization) and fried potatoes with vegetables.  Nepali food is not particularly sophisticated but it's filling and provides the carbs needed at this altitude.  I also discovered that candy bars are readily available so I stocked up for the rest of the trip (a Bounty or Snicker bar goes for about $0.65 for foreigners).

Tomorrow is an acclimatization day.  We are doing a day hike higher up where we are hoping to get a view of Everest if the weather cooperates.