We might have left our hearts in San Francisco but I'm pretty sure we both left our lungs in Phakding after todays tough 17km walk to Namche Bazaar that gained us over 800 metres in altitude !
After last night's entertainment (reading a book and going to bed at 8.00p m) we look to the trail after fuelling up on a breakfast of cardboard like porridge a partly cooked boiled egg and some singed toast (yummy!) - we both knew this was going to be a tough day based on our previous experience and the blogs of just about every base camp trekker ever read !
On the plus side unlike November (our last trek here) where you'd be reluctant to remove any of your 12 layers of clothing until the sun was well in the sky, April / May brings much warmer conditions which meant we were peeling our layers after only 30 minutes on the trail !
Today was going to be the day of bridges as we crossed backwards and forwards across the fast flowing Dudh Khosi (Milky River) trying not to count the missing bolts on the suspension bridges and trying to avoid an Olympic high dive when caught up in one large Indian group who delighted in taking selfies mid bridge while jumping up and down to test the bridges suspect construction.
In between our aerial escapades we glimpsed first hand the effect of Nepal's 2014 Earthquake with a no of buildings in ruins and many others only recently rebuilt !
Todays offering also included some stunning albeit hazy views of towering mtns and valley sides i.e. if you were game enough to look up long enough and risk plummeting down a ravine !
Our real test came at the Two bridges (the opening scene for the Movie Everest) where one suspension bridge towers over another - while spectacular what you don't see in the movie is the precipitous climb needed to get to this point and beyond avoiding numerous packs of yak like creatures / mules !
While Monika struggled in parts on the ascent I excelled going at least 40 metres before needing another refill of that 02 stuff !
The climb though provided one highlight with our first view of Everest with its distinctive peak weather pattern - knowing that at the time of print there are 200 climbers at base camp making their final preparations for the first summit on Everest for over 2 years made this even more exciting !
Finally after 7 hours and 23,500 fit bit steps we made it into Namche at 3440 metres with self now an honourary Indian after spending time with the large Indian group we were following
Despite its Isolation Namche provides for a number of luxuries and so it was as we headed to one of the many cafes for coffee and cake - as you would do we when trekking to Everest Base Camp !
Tomorrow we get a sleep in till 7.00a.m. before an acclimatisation trek and some more coffee before the serious sections start !
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