Everest Base Camp Trek – Day 2
Date: 13 November 2017
Walked to: Namche
Distance: 9.1 miles
Altitude: Sleeping at 3,440
Today was all about the suspension bridges and gaining height while hopefully acclimatising to the altitude, and our first glimpse of the top of Everest, the highest mountain in the world, in the distance. Oh, and on a more mundane level, traffic jams on the mountainside – except unlike the London variety, this congestion was made up of donkeys and yaks (or yakxis as I like to call them) carrying supplies between the settlements on the trail.
Walking wise it was another colour saturated day, with pray flags strung up across the mountainsides like fairy lights around a Christmas tree. And of course my fellow walkers and the guides are a brightly-hued bunch as well. The contrast with the natural beauty of the surrounding mountainside makes for some great photos.
Tonight I’m staying in Namche Bazaar, known as the Sherpa ‘Capital’ of Nepal. It’s packed full of tea houses, lined up in rows along the hillside, and shops selling a mixture of tourist tat (purple statuette of Ganesh, anyone?) and knockoff walking paraphernalia for any hikers needing a last minute pair of walking sticks or the promise of a warmer down jacket. You are expected to eat and drink in the tea house you spend the night in, which was fine with me because (oh my god) it is cold when the sun goes in and I would rather sit by the fire in the dining room (the only area that is heated) than spend even more time outside.
