04/14--Day 2-- Phakding to Namche Bazar--22/9/2022

 When we got up as dawn broke on the 2nd day of our trek, little did we know what lay in store for us.

Tenzing, our Chief Guide, had commenced the practice of briefing all of us at dinner time, and while taking orders for the next day's breakfast in the Mountain Resort, Phakding, he did tell us that tomorrow would be a hard trek. The thing was, he did not tell us exactly how hard.

We tanked up with our respective breakfasts (toasts, omlettes, porridge, hot chocolate) and set off for the next destination. Namche Bazar, located at 3440 meters, is the highest continually inhabited trading point in the world. An altitude gain of 800m , to be covered in 10 hours, was what lay ahead of us.

The trek started off pleasantly enough, as we followed the Dudhkosi river, which, true to its name, was milky white with water from the Khumbu glacier. We kept walking, sometimes going high over the hills and sometimes coming down to the river bed. The morning saw us cross a couple of suspension bridges-- at the first one, we respectfully waited for a train of 35 mules to cross the swaying bridge, and at the second, another train of mules did us the courtesy of waiting for us to cross. The weather was pleasant and we passed through the lovely countryside of Jorsalle and Monjo, meeting chubby cheeked kids on the way.

A word about these villages. Trekkers can use the toilets of homes as they pass through the villages. Sometimes, the homeowner lets you use the toilets free of cost, at others a tip box is placed in the restroom, and in yet others, the owners levy a charge of NPR 50. For the most part, the toilets are reasonably clean, and Indian commodes are the norm. At one such home, we saw a red faced boy of 5 years or so, in school uniform ready to go to the Monjo School. He was to get his COVID vaccination in school that day. Having played with him for a bit, we set off. Three hours of trekking later, we encountered  the same kid coming back from school, while we had hardly progressed any great distance!

We broke for lunch at a Tea House in Monjo and after the by now familiar fare of dal bhaat, thukpa, omlettes and stuff, we set off again. Post lunch, we entered the portals of the Sagarmatha National Park; Sagarmatha is the Nepali name for Mt Everest and it is within this National Park that the mountain is located. This second half proved extremely taxing as we had to walk up steep steps and paths that never seemed to end. Getting down a slope was as difficult as getting up the next one. Plus, with our group comprising of people with varying degrees of fitness, we soon strung out far, and one of the assistant guides had to drop back to ensure that he was behind the last individuals.

At about 3 pm, we came to the Hillary Bridge. This is a set of double suspension bridges, and the upper one. said to have been sponsored by Sir Edmund Hillary and named after him, is said to be the highest suspension bridge in the world. Beneath us, the mighty Dudhkosi raged, and we felt that the swaying bridges were held up as much by the hundreds of prayer flags tied on them, as by marvellous engineering! While we waited for the last members of our group to cross over, we caught our breath at the other end of the bridge.

 As evening approached, we came upon Topdanda at 3140 meters, which had a viewpoint of Mt Everest. However, it was quite cloudy when we reached there, and we would have to wait till the next day for our first view of the mountain. We purchased some pretty insipid oranges at NPR300 a piece from a vendor there, rested for a while, and then set off on the final leg to Namche Bazar.

This final leg was the most killing one, and we began questioning our wisdom in undertaking this entire trek. I mean, if day 2 was going to be so bad, what would the rest of the trek be like? Only Jeeva's humour kept us going those last steep steps and climbs. 

Finally, with darkness descending, we came upon Namche Bazar. In our tired condition, we hardly took in the view as dusk fell rapidly, and instead concentrated on locating

Kamal Guest House, our destination for the night. The last members came in at least 30 minutes later, such was the distance the group had split into.

Distance in terms of kilometeres maybe, but this day brought us all together. Even those of us who were members of the same running group, (Babu, Jayashree, Captain-Malthy, Jeeva, Rathika-myself) could not claim to know each other all that well till we signed up for the EBC Trek. The other four, as I mentioned in an earlier post, were friends of friends. The travails that we faced this day made us all one team, each member helping someone who was having difficulties--- and all of us did struggle at some point of the time or the other on this day.

As we  thankfully sank into the chairs in the dining hall, Captain passed around Diamox tablets, which trekkers took to combat altitude sickness. All members of the group, barring Raj and myself, took those tablets each day. The two of us decided to take them only in case we felt the effects of AMS.

Dinner on the 2nd day was a weary affair, with a couple  of members feeling the effects of altitude, not wanting to eat anything. It was worrying because we did not know whether it was just tiredness or AMS setting in, and we could see Tenzing looking worried as he assessed the condition of the people concerned. However, he carried out his usual briefing as we had dinner and told us about the next day-- the Rest Day.