EBC Day 2&3: Phakding to Namche Bazaar & Acclimatisation

After crossing the swing bridge, overlooking the river we walked along earlier in the day. We still had hours of up to go!

Right before the up and up and up started - we went all the way to the top of the back peak, and on the way crossed the top swing bridge in the background

After a rough night with a very unhappy tummy (thank goodness this room had our own toilet), and being so uncomfortable in my sleeping bag, we were up early to start the walk to Namche Bazaar. Everything I'd read and hard said this was one of the biggest and hardest days, and they were right for us, but for possibly quite different reasons.

The morning lead us along the river and through lots of villages, and I was starting to feel a lot better. The afternoon consisted of over 2 hours of up and up and up, along several switchbacks, and across a very high swing bridge. I wasn't allowed to bounce this one! In many places you could see shortcut tracks off the side where the porters went to avoid people or because it was easier for the to head straight up. I took one of these at one stage, and don't know how on earch they managed it with their 30+kgs on their backs! There were also some beautiful views back down to the river - we'd come a long way!

Poor Greg started feeling very unwell with food poisoning around lunch time and had a really tough afternoon. We were soon dropped off the back of our group, but luckily had the fantastic and very attentive main guide Uttam with us who kept us headed in the right direction. We finally came around the last bend and into Namche - a very welcome sight. Greg had a moment, and threw up off the edge of the path in the village, and this lovely lady came out of her shop with toilet paper for him, and proceed to pray for him while he was throwing up. So sweet!

We both headed straight for bed on arrival (they gave us the room with the double!), only getting up for dinner.

Namche Bazaar, set in a natural ampitheatre

The next day was an acclimatisation day, which means you stay in the same place for the night, but you still go for a "little" (3hours!) walk up to get more acclimatised. Greg and a few others who were not well stayed in bed while the rest of us headed out. We went to the museum which was quite interesting, and should have had a view of Everest, but it was too cloudy. Then we headed up to the airstrip above Namche. It was a pretty intense climb, and we passed several porters coming the other way with crazy loads, and wearing just jandals! The airstrip was just a clear patch of dirt that we all strolled across and right up to a huge helicoptor. We were then asked to move back a little, and watched the heli take off, before heading back down through some bush into the back of Namche. I was feeling pretty good, and actually really enjoyed the walk.

We were pretty high already, and I was maybe starting to feel the altitude a little, being a bit headachy. Our guides had a check list to run through each morning and night where we had to rate any symptoms like headaches and nausea etc. They were very good and keeping an eye on us and making sure we were all ok.

In the afternoon we explored Namche a little and visited the bakery for some yummy food that was different to the vege fried rice and noodles that we were already getting very sick of!

Our guides had found out the Chola Pass was quite snowy and we'd need crampons to get across, so we all went and bought those before getting an early night for our walk to Dole tomorrow.

The real walking begins!

Prayer flags and shrines

Made it to the National Park entry where our wonderful guides sorted out our entry fees 

Walking along the river

Looking down from the bridge

One of the many little farms we walked past

Cute little farms and villages

Lots of the lower paths were well defined and had stone walls

Waiting for the donkeys to pass

Getting out of the way of the donkeys

Almost to Namche!

Looking back down on the river from the museum

The airstrip...

This guy was coming down backwards carrying a massive load, and yes, he is just wearing jandals...

The fields up above Namche

Dad and I above Namche

Greg made it out of bed for a short walk through the very colourful Bazaar

Day 2 Hiking: Phakding 2,610m to Namche Bazaar 3,440m ~8hrs to cover 830m ascent - long hard day with incredible swing bridge and views, and LOTS of uphill
Day 3 Hiking: ~3hrs acclimatisation hike to the museum (would have had a peek of Everest if the weather was favourable) then climb up to the airstrip above Namche
Day 2 & 3 Accommodation: Hotel Holiday Inn - the last place we had for a free showers and free phone charging

This trip was done with the Healthfix Adventure Club, in conjunction with Cold Feet Adventure
Read more about our 2018 Everest Base Camp Trip