EBC part 1:

Kathmandu Airport

We woke up long before the sun to get ready for our 5am pick up. Ganga was there and waiting right on time. Together, we drove to the airport. When we arrived and were walking towards the entrance, he received a phone call from Narayan. He was also on his way, so we waited for him to arrive and all walked together. Side note: we had been told repeatedly that we needed to take the first flight out to Lukla, where we would be starting our trek. We asked Narayan to get us on the first flight of the day, he said we were booked, hence being at the airport by 0530. There was a large group of people at the entrance of the domestic terminal. They hadn’t oped the doors yet, and we waited outside with everyone else. When it was time, we entered and Ganga went to the counter. He told us to wait with off to the side with our stuff. We were told that we were on the 0615 flight. As we waited, we saw many people walking through security, but we were just sitting there. Javier went to Ganga, who was standing by the counter, and asked what was going on. He said that the flight was delayed. For how long? 30 minutes. Okay, no problem. 30 minutes comes and goes and we have no update. Ganga is still standing at the counter, and we are still sitting off to the side watching people go through security.

Waiting under the plane.

We wait for a while and finally ask again, and are told it’s delayed another 20 minutes. We are both a little irritated, but what can we do? So at this point, it’s a little after 7am, and we have been waiting for 1.5 hours. We wait another 20-30 minutes, and it’s the same story. I walked up to Ganga and asked what was going on. We were told we had the first flight and we have been waiting for quite a long time. He said that we were not on the first flight, we were on the second. Now, I’m upset. Why were we here at the crack of dawn if we weren’t on the first flight? He had no answer. I asked to see the tickets. Now, I’ve never seen handwritten tickets before, but it sure looked like our departure time was 0615 KTM and 0700 Lukla. When I pointed this out, he didn’t answer me, but instead went back to his same story that it was delayed. I asked why. He said because of weather. I didn’t buy it. So I asked why all of the other companies are flying out if the weather was so bad. This went on and on, and I was too tired and angry to let him off the hook. What I finally found out was that we missed the first flight, and quite possibly the second. I don’t know why we were bumped, and Ganga wasn’t helping. We finally made it through security and waited some more on the other side. When they finally called our flight, we boarded the little shuttle bus to take us to our plane. They pulled up to an open space, and guess what??? we had to wait some more. Finally the plane arrives. Everyone from Lukla deplanes, we are told to get off the the shuttle, and watched it drive away as we were denied entry to the plane. We stood around and watched as they refueled and loaded some cargo including massive bags of frozen chickens. They finished refueling, everyone was standing around, but we still couldn’t get on the plane. We’ve been waiting outside now for almost an hour. We are fuming. No one else is as upset as we are because all of their tickets say that their flight is at 10am!!! Ganga is useless at this point, and there’s no use in getting upset with him. So Javier asks him to call Narayan. As Javier is talking to Narayan and telling him how upset we are that we have now been waiting over 4 hours for our flight, when we were told we were on the first, all Narayan keeps saying is, “It’s not my fault!!” Talk about customer service. Maybe it’s not his fault, but as the tour operator, and the person who purchased our ticket with this company, he should probably say something other than, “It’s not my fault.” Javier remained very calm, which is more than I can say for myself. He also told Narayan, that maybe he should look into using a more reliable company , as there was no way we would ever recommend this to anyone. I think that scared him a little. At this point, there’s nothing Narayan could do either, and we knew it, but we felt he needed to know what we were dealing with. 

Cotton and candy.

FINALLY! We are on the plane, and I am instantly regretting this decision. The plane is small. There are 11 seats on board including the captain and co-captain. There are four rows of two seats each with a tiny isle for the itty-bitty flight attendant to squeeze through. She had a small tray with hard candy and cotton. I didn’t understand what the cotton was for, so I just grabbed a candy. Javier asked, and she told him it was for the noise, so I quickly grabbed some. It took us about 5 seconds to get off the ground, and there we were, 8 passengers and a whole load of frozen chickens bumping along. The beginning of the flight was nice. We could see Katmandu, the surrounding areas, and the mountains all around. As we entered the mountains, I started getting really nervous. I could feel every little gust of wind and it looked like the tips of our wings were going to clip the mountains they were so close. My palms were sweating, my heart racing, and my blood pressure sky high, I’m sure. I could see the co-pilot from where I was sitting, and I kept looking at him for signs of distress. He was laughing and chatting away with the pilot, so that gave me some peace of mind. When I looked back at Javier to see how he was doing…he was asleep. We hit airpockets, and I could picture our plane blowing all over the place, including into the mountain. As we approached Lukla, I could see the runway through the windshield. It was directly in front of us, and…is that thing at an angle??? Indeed. The runway slopes, and is therefore uphill when landing. When taking off, you basically get dumped off the mountain. As soon as we landed, we had about 10 seconds to slow down and make a hard right to avoid slamming into the mountain wall in front of us. I guess it’s not called the most dangerous airport in the world for nothing. I know people do this everyday, but for me, once in my lifetime was plenty, this is something I will gladly avoid for the rest of my days. 

When we deplaned, I asked Javier what he thought of that landing. He slept through the whole thing. I couldn’t see how that was possibe since we had hit a huge airpocket just minutes before, which was so sudden and scary that a couple people yelped. But not my Javier, he slept through it all. I think he was lucky, he was upset that he missed it. 

Ganga at “Starbucks”

We grabbed our packs, which were a little wet from the chickens, and made our way to the nearest lodge for some lunch. When we arrived, we immediately noticed the difference in price between Annapurna and EBC. Everything was significantly more expensive here than Annapurna. As we started our walk, we noticed all of the little shops along with Lukla’s very own “Starbucks.” We passed under an arch with a monument to the first woman Sherpa to summit Everest. As we walked, there were many people walking in the opposite direction-all finishing up their treks. We instantly appreciated the scenery. We shared the path with students walking home from school, porters carrying their extremely heavy loads up the mountain, donkeys, and other hikers.

We liked how the towns we were passing we actual communities rather than towns created for trekkers. Everything felt more lively and authentic. We greeted everyone with the usual, “Namaste” and Ganga corrected us and told us that since we were now in Sherpa territory, we should greet everyone with, “Tashi Delek.” We noticed that the children were especially tickled to hear us greet them in their language. Another thing we noticed right away, was that we had gone from mixed Hindu/Buddihst communities in Annapurna, to strictly Buddhist. With Prem, we typically took the path of least resistance, but with Ganga, we passed every stupa on the left (even if it took longer), and spun all prayer wheels. 

Phakding. first night of EBC.

We stayed our first night in Phakding. We only hiked for 3 hours, and didn’t gain much elevation. We had dinner and walked around the town with Ganga. In the morning, we met a family from San Fransicso while eating breakfast. The man works at the US embassy in Kathmandu, and had three daughters under the age of 10, each born in a different country. We chatted with him and his wife. They were just finishing up a week-long trek through the surrounding areas. We all agreed that their daughters are living an amazing experience, the girls on the other hand, thought the most amazing thing in their lives at that moment, were the pancakes in front of them.

Namche

Our next stop was Namche. There we would be staying at a teahouse owned by Ganga’s sister. Ganga had been carrying a plastic shopping bag half-filled with vegetables that he picked up in Kathmandu and was taking to his sister. Javier HATES carrying bags in his hands. He will plan his shopping so that he has to carry bags as little as possible. So to watch Ganga carry this bag in his hand for two days, drove Javier crazy. 🙂 The hike to Namche was about 5 hours. We gained a little over 800 meters in altitude and walked 12km. We passed by some hikers that were having a fairly difficult time. We were now realizing just how well our Annapurna hike had prepared us. We noticed that we would get winded going uphill, but the difference between us and them, we recovered very quickly. At one point, Ganga took us on the “old trail.” The only other people on this trail were porters. All of the other hikers were walking below us. When we stopped for a rest, there was a local woman who stopped as well. She was carrying over 100lbs worth of rice on her back. She was old- gray hair, sun-tanned wrinkled face, wearing an old long skirt, sweater, and sandals. We were at a rest stop with a handful of other young male trekkers. She, like the rest of the porters, carried the rice in a bamboo-woven basket with straps. The basket is shaped like an inverted triangle, with a flat bottom to set it on the ground. It has woven-in straps like a backpack, and another long strap on top. Once their arms are through the straps, they take the long strap on top and place in on their foreheads. They crane their necks and entire body forward in order to carry these incredible loads. The really large loads have additional straps that are thrown over the top of the load and the porter grabs the ropes with each hand and pulls forward so the load doesn’t fall backward. It’s incredible to see and incredibly sad at the same time. Most of the porters are young men, some women. Those that carry larger loads have a portable seat they carry with them. It’s actually just a couple pieces of wood in the shape of a “T.” It’s just tall enough so that they can place it behind them and rest the bottom of their basket down to take a much needed break.

Porter at the gate to EBC

These guys can carry these loads all day long, for several days, maybe even weeks depending on their destination and speed. We saw one young man carrying this enormous load. It towered over him by about 6ft. and the width at the top was probably another 6ft. Ganga asked him how heavy it was, he said, 102kg. That’s about 225lbs! And as for his size…they are small people. He was shorter than me (maybe 5’5), and probably weighed 125lbs. 

But I digress! The point of all this was the little grandma who was carrying about 100lbs of rice on her back, arrived at the rest area after everyone, and was the first to leave and resume her walk, while we all continued to catch our breath. 

Namche

We arrived in Namche nice and early. Javier and I were in need of a shower, so we shelled out $3 a piece for a hot one. Ganga told us that he was going to take us to the museum. Once we were fresh and clean, we met and started our walk. I wish he would have told us that the museum was a 30 minute uphill walk. I would have waited to take my shower! Instead, I walked really slowly. I’m glad we went to the museum. I found it very interesting. It was all about climbing and the first climbers to summit Everest back in 1955, Sherpa Tenzig Norgay and Edmund Hillary. The also have a wonderful statue in honor of Tenzig Norgay.

Tenzig Norgay

I enjoyed the walk down. There were kids running around, yaks, donkeys, and other animals. That night during dinner, Ganga recognized a duo that he had met a couple weeks earlier. He was guiding a girl, and she had made friends with this duo. They were doing a different trek, so they went their separate ways. Ganga was really happy to see them and kept saying what nice people they were. So, the four of us had dinner together. 

The next day we did an acclimatization hike. Namche is at 3440 meters. The recommendation when ascending is to spend a day acclimatizing once you hit 3500 meters. You’re supposed to stop at increments as you go higher, but I forget what they are now. Since we were sleeping in Namche again that night, we hiked up the hill to Khumjung. On the walk up, we were joined by many students. Namche has their own elementary school, but after that, the kids have to go to Khumjung. It was an easy hike up, but really cold and windy at the top. We stopped for tea at a lookout, but it was too cloudy to see Everest. We walked into town and had lunch. I bought a piece of bone jewelry from a woman. What kind of bone?? No idea.

School in khumjung

The school in Khumjung has been built with foreign aid. As you walk through, the buildings all have plaques: “A gift from our Belgium friends.” There are several countries that have donated to build the school. It was really neat to see. As we took the roundabout way back down, it started to rain. We weren’t prepared for rain, so we sped up and returned fairly wet. We had heard that there was a coffee shop in town that showed a movie every afternoon. We walked down, ordered a drink and watched a documentary called, ‘Sherpas- the True Heroes of Mount Everest. The film delved into the lives of the Sherpa, the hardships, and specifically, their job, and just how incredibly dangerous it is. This documentary followed a Swiss expedition. I had no idea how people climbed Everest. I thought the climbers did all of the work and the Sherpas help carry their load. Not true at all. The Sherpas are in charge of every aspect of the trek. THEY DO EVERYTHING. Set up ladders, ropes, anchors, tents, and carry most of the weight. While the climbers no doubt have to be in excellent condition and know what they’re doing, their only job is to climb. It was so informative, and incredibly good.

During dinner that night, we met another lodger-a German guy named Michael. Ganga was very friendly with him, and over the next couple days, Michael was absorbed into our group. 

EBC

We started hiking early the next morning. For the most part, it was a pleasant, flat walk for the first few hours, and the weather was very nice. At the end of this flat portion, we had to go down- and down we went. I could feel my knee joints jarring with every step. We had to cross a suspension bridge and walk along the other side of the valley, and as we walked, we saw the remains of another suspension bridge that was the victim of a large landslide. I had asked Ganga on our first day, which day would be the hardest. He said the 5th. We were currently on the 3rd. I can now say, having done this trek, the hardest day is the 3rd. You are basically on a stairclimber for 2 hours straight. It was horrible. It would be horrible on its own, add 30-40lbs to that, it was truly miserable. Since most of the hike was flat, this portion contained just about all of our elevation gain. It felt like an eternity by the time we reached Tengboche at 3870m. We sat down for lunch, and wandered over to the monestary. Unfortunately for us, they were closed at the moment, and we didn’t feel like waiting around for an hour for them to reopen. We figured we would catch it on the way back. 

Tengboche

We walked another hour to Deboche. Ganga said that while there are many places to stay in Tengboche, and many people do, it is also much more expensive. We spent the afternoon reading outside. Javier didn’t have a book with him, so he had to find one wherever we went. At this particular location he found “Yeti Tales from Bhutan.” He was intrigued and read me a few stories. We think it was a children’s book, but it was quite scary. At one point, both he and Michael were vying to read the book. I guess it was pretty good. We found that unlike Annapurna, we arrive very early and therefore had lots of daylight left.

Lunch in Tengboche

The difference was that with Annapurna, you start low and slowly make your way up. With EBC, you already start a little high, and gain altitude quickly, so we basically stop trekking once we reached our safe altitude gain for the day. This makes for 4-5 hour trekking days instead of 8-10 like in Annapurna. There was a really loud British group celebrating. They were on their way down, and by the time we went to bed, they left behind a mountain of beer cans.  

Our next destination was Dingboche at 4360m. We crossed paths with Michael again during the hike. It was an easy day, and we arrived at our destination again, with plenty of daylight. We dropped our stuff at our teahouse, and walked with Ganga to the stupa on the top of the hill.

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Dingboche

Dingboche has a bakery, so we planned on walking over once we were showered. When we were ready to shower, we told the guesthouse owners, who turned on the propane for our hot water. Javier took the first shower. When it was my turn, there was a voice on the other side of the make-shift wall asking if I was done. I said no, and that I had just started. Within 10 seconds my water turned ice cold. There I was soapy and freezing. I started yelling, “Hello!!” No answer. I knew Javier was just down the hall, so I started yelling for him hoping he could hear me, otherwise I would have had to wipe all the soap off, get dressed, and find someone. Thankfully, he heard and came to the door, I explained what happened, that I was freezing, and he ran downstairs to have them open up the propane tank. He said later that he was a little excited when he went downstairs, and scared the workers 🙂 We typically try to conserve hot water when we shower. It means a little bit of discomfort for us-we usually get pretty cold while soaping, but we want to conserve gas when we can. By the time they turned the gas back on, I was squatting on the ground, folded up in a little ball to conserve heat. I ran that hot water until I was warm again, which probably meant I emptied the tank. I mean, when you’re paying $5 for a hot shower, and you only run the hot water for maybe 2 minutes total, the least they can do is leave the propane open and not try to cut you off early. 

Dingboche bakery.

We attempted to walk to the bakery. All of the land in-between our teahouse and the bakery was allotted and fenced off with stone walls. There’s no path. Not a single one. After going one way, then another, and another, we finally climbed over the walls, all the while keeping an eye on the yaks staring at us while we walked through their territory. The bakery didn’t disappoint. We shared a slice of chocolate/apple pie. It hit the spot. After, we walked next door to a small street shop whose prices were extremely reasonable. We bought snacks, prayer flags, and other necessities.  That evening at dinner, we met a couple of American guys. They were in the middle of med school and took a trip during their break- must be nice. We also saw a girl who was trekking alone and spent the evening talking with her guide. There was a Japanese couple, and Javier told them that we would be in Japan soon, and asked for hiking opportunities there. Dingboche is another town that most people stay an extra day to acclimatize. There is a day hike that helps you adjust, but we decided to forego the extra day and moved forward. 

Enjoying the view by the Stupa. Jackie and Gangese

After the little hike back up to the stupa, the next few hours of the hike was flat. There was nothing around and we covered ground quickly. We came to our lunch stop. It was noticeably colder and started to rain a bit. This next portion of the hike is what Ganga considers the most difficult. I was preparing for the incredible uphill we had undertaken two days prior plus an extra helping of unpleasantness. It was sprinkling, but we started anyway. I can see why Ganga thought this was the most difficult for trekkers. We saw many people stopped and sitting trying to catch their breath. Two days prior, it was crazy uphill for hours, but people were slowly but surely making it. Today, it was only crazy uphill for 45 minutes, but we were significantly higher. It’s not the climb that makes it truly difficult. It’s the altitude. While both Javier and I felt it, it was by no means even a fraction of the unpleasantness that we experienced already. At the top of the hill it was snowing. It was freezing, and snowing.

Cemetery

There is a cemetery at the top. You enter through a gate covered in prayer flags. We had seen it in the documentary. We asked Ganga about it, and I don’t think he knew that it was where all of the deceased trekkers were buried. He said it was where the local people buried their dead. According to the documentary, when the sherpas and climbers are on their way to EBC, they stop at this place, and put up new prayer flags to honor the sherpas that have lost their lives to Everest. As we walked around, we saw many plaques on the stupas. There were, in fact, several plaques in remembrance of the foreigners who had died on Everest. I was shocked at how many people died on the way down because they chose to climb without oxygen. It was surreal to be there. The place felt very sacred and powerful. 

Read the placard.

More snow and slipping and sliding on the road to Lobuche (4940m). When we arrived, the teahouse was already pretty packed and the people were constantly coming in. Turns out, Lobuche is another place where people stop to acclimatize. It is the final town until Gorak Shep and ultimately base camp, so it gets a bit crowded as people wait. It also seems like the place where people have to spend more than a day to acclimatize. I don’t know if it is the final push that gets them, or if it is a buildup from previous days, but more people were feeling the effects of altitude sickness and therefore needed more time to rest.

Snow. EBC.

We spent the evening with Michael playing cards. We saw the same girl from the previous night. This time she was sitting by herself. After a while, I walked over and introduced myself. I told her that while we weren’t very exciting (after all, there was a large British group having a great time), she was more than welcomed to come and sit with us. She thanked me, and sure enough gathered up her things and came over. We all chatted with her and found out that she too had attempted the Annapurna trek. She was with a big group, and paid a lot of money. Their guide didn’t feel comfortable taking them over, so they had to turn back. We compared timelines, and she would have tried to pass only a couple days after us. She said that she learned a lot from that trek, most importantly, how much she had paid versus what she could have paid. She found her own guide for EBC and decided to go for it. We spent the rest of the evening together, and went to bed early.

Hike to Base Camp

We started early. The trek to Gorak Shep (5160m) was fairly easy. We passed many people coming down, with quite a few wearing crampons. We arrived at around 10am. Ganga told us that our hike to base camp would take around 3 hours up and back. Javier and Michael both ate full lunches. I opted for a small sandwich, since I was still full from breakfast and thought I could easily wait three hours to eat again. While we ate, we saw this woman and man walking up a hill just outside of the guesthouse. We were all wondering where they were going. They stopped at the top and were waiting. We noticed that the woman needed plenty of help to get up this little hill, and we all remarked how she didn’t look good. After a few minutes, we heard a rumbling overhead. The helicopter appeared and landed near to the couple. The man helped the woman on, and off she went! We had seen so many helicopters flying over us as we trekked, but this was the first time we saw them picking someone up.

We hiked to base camp. We had a few close calls. There are many opportunities for landslides, and the little animals above weren’t helping. We could hear avalanches occurring on the other side of the mountains.

Ganga lighting his incense.

Ganga took us off the main path, as he said most of the injuries from falling rocks happen during this last part. Instead we hopped from boulder to boulder to get back on the trail away from the side of the mountain and towards base camp. At one point, Javier was in front, with Ganga in between us. We heard the rocks and turned around. There was a big one coming our way. I backtracked to the boulder behind me. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I figured if I stood against a boulder that was bigger than me, hopefully the rock would sail overhead. Either way, within a second, Ganga was at my side with a death grip on my arm. Javier was far enough away to be our of harms way. Thankfully, the mini-boulder fell into a space before reaching us, so all was well. A short while later, we reached base camp. Unlike Annapurna, we could actually see and appreciate the prayer flags and signs. Ganga brought incense, which he lit and placed around the small monument. There were rocks that people had written on, as well as pictures, letters, small animal statues, and of course, many many prayer flags. It was interesting, not only were there items celebrating the accomplishment, but also memorials. People making the hike “in honor” of someone else. It was really something to see and experience.

The Everest Base Camp.

We could see the tents that were being set up for the Everest climbers. Season was just beginning, and the sherpas and other workers were all there getting everything ready. We could also see the Khumbu icefall from our vantage point. This is a treacherous glacier area at the beginning of the Everest climb. The men who make the path here have been dubbed the “Icefall doctors” by previous climbers who have actually watched them work, and realized the precision at which they operate. The icefalls are extremely dangerous. The “doctors” secure ropes along the path, without which, the climbers would be at a loss. They have numerous ladders that they lay down and secure across this terrain, for the climbers to crawl across.

Ladders for the climbers.

Every year after climbing season, everything is removed. Everything that goes in must come out. So these guys risk their lives every year to find the best route to Everest based on the weather and any changes in the terrain that have occurred during the past year. We couldn’t see if there were ropes or ladders yet, but we could see the jagged glacier that looked like a death trap with its thousands of deadly spikes. We would actually see a young man a few days later carrying these ladders to EBC. They were tied together and of course, on his back. He was carrying 16 of them. 

JandJ at EBC

We took loads of pictures and just enjoyed our destination. It was pretty surreal just to be there. We had snacks while at the top, and I realized that this hike was going to take a lot longer than the 3 hours we were quoted. I was hungry, and we still had to go back. On the hike back, we could hear more landslides. It was interesting to watch the yaks. They are much smarter than the people. One of the rockslides was happening ahead of them and the whole pack stopped and waited while the people just started running, not even noticing where the rocks were coming from. Thankfully, no one was hurt. We heard more avalanches. We would spin around to look in the direction of the noise, but couldn’t see anything. It is such a powerful and menacing sound. 

Water. cloudy water.

When we finally returned, I was famished. It was late afternoon, and our 3 hour hike had taken about 5. I ordered dal bhat, as I knew I would get the most bang for my buck. Javier ordered and ate his food, and while he may have had a few bites of mine, I refilled my plate two times. I had three platefuls of dal bhat, and wasn’t even stuffed. Normally, half a serving of dal bhat can fill me up just nicely. The rest of the day was spent trying to keep warm in the dining room. The owners had a sign stating that they did not have water to fill empty bottles. You had to buy bottled water at $3 a pop. Pretty steep, but what could you do. At one point, we watched an interesting interaction. A guide had taken all of the bottles from his group up to the kitchen window. He asked the guy on the other side to fill them, which he did, no problem. There was a trekking couple without a guide. The guy became very upset that he was charged to buy bottled water, when he could have just had his bottles refilled as well. There was an argument, nothing the trekker could do, so he gathered up his things very loudly and left huffing and puffing. We had already bought one bottle of water with our first lunch, so we asked Ganga to see if he could refill for us. He did. We had brought plenty of chlorine tabs this time around, and didn’t even bother with the steri-pen. We noticed that the water in Gorak Shep was noticeably cloudy…hmmm… We drank it, but decided to bite the bullet and pay for the rest. 

Sunrise. 3rd peak is Mount Everest.

That night was terribly cold. Even I needed to use the extra blanket provided. We were up before the sun to hike up to Kala Pattar (5545m). On the way there, my hands froze. They were burning, they were so cold. Ganga tried to warm them up for me, but they were just too cold. Michael walked up about half-way, but didn’t feel good, so decided to stop right where he was to enjoy the sunrise. Truth be told, his view was no different than ours. Ganga told us this beforehand; that we only needed to go up halfway to enjoy the view, but we were too eager. The sunrise behind Everest was really beautiful. Truth is, Everest is always beautiful. The whole area is- sunrise, sunset, midday, it’s always so majestic and gorgeous. 

Sunrise view from Kala Pattar

When we returned, we had a quick breakfast of pancakes smothered in generic nutella and started on our way. Javier and I had decided that we wanted to walk further than we had come. Most people (like us) fly to and from Lukla to trek EBC, but you can technically walk all the way from Kathmandu, if you wanted. The next most popular option is to take a bus from Kathmandu to Jiri and start trekking from there. This is actually a really good option, and one that we probably would have opted for, had we known. Jiri is at 1905m, and you slowly climb to Lukla (2860m), with plenty of peaks and valleys on the way to get you ready. Our new travel companion had come this way. He would be flying from Lukla, but Javier and I wanted to hike to Jiri, which would extend our trek by a week. Ganga lives in Jiri, so this was a good option for him as well. We called Narayan to let him know. We tried to tell Ganga that we would pay him directly, but he’s too honest. 🙂

On the way back we ran into the Japanese couple from Dingboche, as well as the two American students making the final push to high camp and EBC. We only stopped at Lobuche so that Michael could have a cup of tea. We needed to cover a lot ground. Normally, the hike from EBC to Jiri takes 8-9 days. Ganga said we could do it in 6 if we pushed it. We didn’t have much of a choice, after 6 days, we would only have one day in Kathmandu before we set off to Tibet. We had to make it in 6 days. 

To be continued…

To see more pictures of Everest Base Camp, click HERE.