Nepal : Part 17 - EBC Trek (Day 10) - Extra Day in Namche

Summary of Meal Expenses

	Breakfast		Lunch		Dinner
	Namche Bazaar		Namche Bazaar		Namche Bazaar
	Meal	Price	Meal	Price	Meal	Price
Mine	French Toast with Cinnamon	350	Mushroom Momo	500	Mushroom Soup	220
	Hot Water	30	Black Tea	50	Hot Chocolate	85
Sister	Chapati with Fried Eggs	450	Fried Rice with Vegetable & Egg	470	Fried Potato with Vegetable & Egg	470
	Hot Water	30	Hot Lemon	75	Milk Coffee	95

My Story

24092013 - Day 11 in Nepal. Day 10 on the EBC Trek. So, my friends have been wondering how do I paint my nails when I reached Day 11. Well, I did not think of how until I was on the trek. Seriously, I even considered removing my socks and shoes to paint the nails. Eureka! I found the answer. To halve the colour. So, I can still count the number of days by looking at my fingers.

Today morning, my breakfast is French Toast with Cinnamon. The bread crumbles easily. Today is free and easy day in Namche Bazaar. We have an extra day because we skipped the acclimatisation day in Dingboche on route to EBC, as we were all in good health to move ahead to Lobuche. Therefore, the extra day on our descending trail. The plan for today is to visit the Conservation Memorial where it displays the history and anything you need to know about Everest Region. After the Memorial, it is a walk around Namche Bazaar. We left the lodge at 8.40am. Off we go to more stairs towards the Memorial which is located in an Army Camp.

It was a very slow walk towards the Memorial. For one main reason - we have so much time to spare. I saw black pine cones. I saw many along the EBC route but I am taking a photo because it is very much within my camera's sight. One can see Mount Everest in this Conservation Area but unfortunately, the mountain was covered by the clouds. Tough luck for visitors who come till Namche Bazaar only.

We can truly appreciate the scenery in here after returning from Everest Base Camp. I know what is on the route, and to go to the Base Camp is not a simple feat. We appreciate once we have experienced hardship.

There was a sculpture by an Israeli. These are stones from the Dead Sea in Israel. It shows the relationship between the two countries, and the exchange of stones from the highest point on earth (the stones in Mount Everest are placed in the shore of the Dead Sea) to the lowest point.

We entered inside a Museum that is in the Conservation Memorial. It has everything from the history of Mount Everest to the life of a Sherpa and to the conservation awareness for the Himalayan region.

There was another museum below but one needed to pay to enter. So, we gave it a pass. We proceeded to walk around Namche Bazaar.

In Namche Bazaar, there were signs of reminding people to go slow as you trekked higher. My guide, on the other hand, was one of the rare who was concerned of time management when I told him that I did not want to take the risk of high altitude as we were slower approaching the altitude of 4930m in Lobuche.

We see a helicopter rescue at Namche Bazaar too. The helicopter landed and flew off within 5 minutes.

We saw the house where porters stay in Namche Bazaar.

We entered inside a bakery. It was quite pricey but it would reflect the effort taken by the porters to carry the raw materials up. I requested a sample of a chocolate cake. The owner cut a small slice for me and I shared with everyone. It was a bit crumbly and did not have much of a chocolate taste. But when you are up on the mountains, you do not complain on whatever food you have.

We went back to our lodge for lunch. Outside the lodge, we saw the owner placed a pot of burnt juniper leaves. It smells good. I did not notice how gorgeous the flowers are in the dining room when I stayed there in Day 2 and Day 3. Seeing that we are at the end of the trek, I am more relaxed and able to enjoy the surroundings in the dining room. 

While we were having lunch, a guide of another group took out a huge bag. It was a portable altitude bag. He was going to demonstrate on first aid to his group. When one suffers from altitude sickness, the person is placed inside the bag, zipped up, and pressure is pumped into the bag. The pressure will match a lower altitude pressure. Apparently, it takes about 15 minutes to blow this thing up. So, while the trekker waits to go in, the trekker gets an oxygen can.They also brought oxygen cans. One can rent oxygen can to bring to the Base Camp. It costs about USD700.

From lunch till dinner, I was so bored. I did not wonder in Namche Bazaar. I was comfortable in the lodge, and I did wondered around the bazaar in the morning. My sister and I stayed in, and watched 'Into Thin Air' and 'Caravan' midway, edit photos, video a bit, ponder in the room for a while. I could not believe I was free. Very soon, it was dinner. We had mushroom soup and fried potato. It was not too filling for the both of us.

Tomorrow, we head back to Lukla. Back to where we started. Wow, can't believe that everything is finally coming to an end.