Days 215 – 218: Return from Nepal Trek
Well, it was bound to happen at some point…after almost two weeks on the Everest Base Camp Trail, sleeping in uninsulated rooms and eating dinner in teahouses full of coughing Millennials, Lindsay finally woke up with a sore throat. “I told you to use more hand sani!!!” Igor admonished. Well, if it had to happen, at least we were already on the way back – the trail would be easier and each night we would be sleeping in a warmer elevation.
After leaving Panboche, we had a relatively easy morning hike back to Namche Bazaar, stopping for a quick visit to the Tengboche Monastery along the way. We had a good rest (and another *fabulous* veggie burger) in Namche before the final slog to Lukla. It was a long day, bringing us all the way down to the riverbanks on the valley floor before climbing back up 330m to Lukla. In her weakened state, Lindsay was dreading the final ascent, but the incline was much more gradual than she remembered. All in all, it wasn’t that bad.
Our final days on the Everest Base Camp Trail, hiking back towards Namche Bazaar, then Lukla
Someone must be doing some post-earthquake construction outside Namche, as we passed many porters carrying back-breakingly large materials up and down the mountainside
“You OK?” A local cow outside the Tengboche Monastery seems concerned when Lindsay finally arrives, out of breath. “Just gimme a sec…WHEW!”
The Tengboche Monastery has a killer view of the Himalayan Mountains
Another “miracle of Buddhism” on display in a monastery – at least this one doesn’t charge $5 like the Yeti Scull
No pictures inside and no kissing! Following the rules of the Tengboche Monastery
Scenes of monastery life – a local painter defies gravity to give the eaves a fresh coat of paint, and a young monk gets a hair cut outside
As we head down the trail, a flock of alpine pheasants cross our path
Saying farewell to the Himalayan mountains – Everest shows its face between the trees one last time before we descend to the valley floor
Yakky, yak – don’t talk back!
All signs point to Namche!
Return to Namche Bazaar! First stop: lunch at the Everest Bakery – YUM!
A hearty, cheese covered pizza and a LARGE pot of tea are just what Lindsay needs to kick her cold
Trekker style! We’re both so fashion-forward!
Waiting for the Yak X-ing at the bridge
Our final days hiking the EBC Trail also happened to coincide with Diwali – the Hindu “Festival of Lights”. It’s like a mash-up of Christmas and Halloween – as we walked past the small villages, groups of young girls were dancing – some in formal traditional costumes, and some just wearing regular street clothes jamming to a boom box (one ramdon little girl hiding in the bushes scared the sh*t out of us when she started blasting gangster hip-hop as we passed by her on the trail). Traditionally, small gifts or small money donations are given to the dancers (kinda like door-to-door carol singers).
There were more festivites during the evening, but sadly we missed out on them as Lindsay went to bed early because of her cold. When we arrived in Kathmandu on Nov. 1st, we had one night to see the decorations before the festival came to an end – every doorway had multi-colored Rangolis (mandela-like patterns made out of colored powders) in front, and buildings were drapped with holiday lights. Though the mountainous area of Nepal is more Buddhist then Hindu, apparently some sects of Buddhists observe Diwali and worship the Hindu goddess Lakshmi as well.
Boys in masks and girls dancing in the streets – open your wallets for Diwali donations!
Gathering energy for the last uphill section of the trail – we finally made it back to Lukla!
Igor has fun shaving off his 2-week stubble at the teahouse (Lindsay threatened divorce if he kept the mustache) before we head down to the diningroom for our LAST serving of dal bhat!
The morning of our departure day from Lukla was calm, beautiful, and cloudless – perfect flying weather! Despite the (seemingly) chaotic mess of lines at the airport, our flight was on time (Imma call 15min late “on time” for Nepal). Since Lindsay was no longer afraid of dying in a fiery crash (well, less afraid than the arrival at least), she actually had a chance to look out the window and enjoy the view!
We walk out of the teahouse just before sunrise and check-in to the Lukla Airport
Organized chaos at work – our luggage is dumped in a pile after the “security check” (a guy literally looked at it and immediately stuck a “Security Checked” sticker on it) and we file in two separate lines (male and female) for the human “security screening” (which is literally just an agent asking each person, one at a time, which country they are from and, “Are you carrying a lighter?”)
Once inside the “terminal,” all the tourists stand plastered against the windows, watching in awe as the propeller planes land and take off, while all the guides congregate at the tea stand, clearly bored by the air traffic
*cue the Indiana Jones theme song*
Igor is all grins while Lindsay is barely tolerating this flying sardine can
Since Lindsay was only deathly afraid of the *landing* at Lukla, she is in pretty good spirits for our take-off and actually semi-enjoys the flight back (hey – at least she wasn’t crying, and consented to look out the window a few times)
High in the sky, we see a “river” of clouds snaking through the valley below before we start our descent into Kathmandu
When we arrived in Kathmandu, we had long list of chores to take care of before our bus ride to Chitwan the next day – most of important was which to get our dirty laundry washed! After two weeks on the trail, we were completely out of clean clothes and had to use our bathing suits as underwear as we walked through the streets of Kathmandu carry a huge plastic bag of our laundry. Unfortunately for us, the day after the last day of Diwali is like New Years Day in the US – everything was closed! After schlepping our dirty things around Thamel for about an hour we concluded that we would have to stay in Kathmandu an extra night. As a result, we spent two lazy days in Kathmandu hiding out in the hotel until the evenings when we emerged from our Junior Suite oasis for dinner. The people of Chitwan better appreciate our machine-fresh smell!
Enjoying a delicious Indian food dinner and nearly deserted, quiet streets of Thamel on the last day of Dawali