Namche to Deboche

I'm back and recovered from the trek but will post on a "day-by-day" basis as if i was still in the mountains. Mostly because I'm exhausted and overwhelmed at the mo' and also because I have ~500 pics to sift through.

So, there I was in Namche. A beaten and broken woman and yet only a few days into the misery that was this trek. Fortunately I had the foresight to buy myself a loaf of bread at the konditorie as there turned out to be no bread further up the valley.

 At this point we started hiking about 8 hours per day so the pace really increased. We travelled to Deboche this day via the Thangboche monastery which was shut for their annual mediation from August 14 - Sept. 28th. Or in the language of Discowrld, the Listening Monks were busy listening. I know this because when I passed a bit of wind at the gate they all came rushing out at which point I slipped in some yak shit and it all got a bit messy.

BTW, the gas thing was unintentioanl but a result of a nasty combo of immodium and high altitude flatulence.

Anyway, once past the monastery we descended into the rhododendron forests which were lovely. There we saw both mountain goats and musk deer.

When we finally got to Deboche I was utterly shattered. You know that  Four Yorkshiremen sketch? Well i honestly did go uphill both ways in the rain and the cold. Started off at 3450m, went up to 3600m then down to 3350m then up to 3850m then down to 3750m. 'Nuff said.

I also discovered that we had left the land of western flushing toilets and entered the land of either using a hole in the floor or using normal porcelain that was "flushed" by dint of dipping a large can into a cistern of water and pouring water down the bowl. Still, at least the Paradise Lodge in Deboche was clean. And i met a lovely but utterly mad couple from Louven in Belgium who had been yak herding for the previous 3 weeks. And y'all thought I was bonkers!