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Wednesday 17th January Day Six Acclimatization Day: Namche - Everest View Hotel - Namche Today we had an acclimatization day to help our body adapt to the elevation, so we had a lie in until 7:00 am when we were woken up by a nice cup of tea and a bowl of hot water to have a wash. Ater breakfast we went for a walk to the Everest View Hotel which is at 3800m, so it took us a couple of hours of walking up a very steep track to get there, during this you could really notice the lack of oxygen in the air which meant that we had to make regular short stops and drink lots of water to combat altitude sickness and dehydration. Along the way we saw some of the most breathtaking scenery yet including the spectacular Mount Ama Dablam, which has to be one of the most beautiful mountains on the planet. We also saw a massive bird called a Bearded Vulture which was circling above us looking for prey (hopefully not us). Before we got to the hotel we passed a small airstrip which was only about 200m long with a big drop at the end of it, it looked like the one from the opening sequence from the James Bond film "Golden Eye". We arrived at the hotel and make our way through the building to the cafe on the outside balcony. The views from here were breathtaking with peaks such as Everest, Lhotse, Lhotse Shar, Nuptse and Ama Dablam to name but a few. We stayed at the hotel for a couple of hours, and of course had the obligatory photographs taken of ourselves in front of the great peaks. The decent back to Namche was steep and took a lot out of the knees but took little time at all compared to the accent. Back at Namche we were able to take a shower with hot water, WOW! We then went for a stroll around and ended up at the bakery, I had the apple pie which was the size of a door stop which went down nicely. I then went for a short walk by myself around the village on a quest for cheap mountaineering equipment, but alas, to no avail. I then went back to the lodge to chill out. Later on that night we watched the film "Midnight Express 2" staring Treat Williams about the true story of a man who was not allowed to leave Saudi Arabia so he needed to sneak out in a parcel addressed to Amsterdam, the film was pants. When it was over it was off to bed.
Thursday 18th January Day Seven Namche - Tenboche - Deboche I awoke at 4:00 dying for the toilet but there was no chance that I was going to get out of my warm sleeping bag and venture outside in the cold to use the facilities. I decided to wait until 6:30 when our Sherpas brought our tea and then made a mad dash to the loo. We set off after breakfast towards Tengpoche, along the way we passed some amazing sights, as we have come to expect from trekking in this area. The first part of the day we spent descending, which meant that later that day we would have a steep accent, I was right. After lunch, which we spent at a small lodge along the trail, we had to cross one of the most unsafe bridges of my life, it was strung across the river and the planks of wood and holes and cracks all over them, crossing this made my heart beat faster than it has done on the trek so far even though I was not exerting any energy. After the bridge we started our 3 hour accent to Tengpoche, this was very steep, with the sun constantly on our backs so we had to make sure we drank lots of fluids. When we finally made it to Tengpoche we went inside the Monastery and watched the Monks during their prayer ceremony which lasted about 30 minutes. Outside the monastery we had some great views of such peaks as Ama Dablam, Everest, Nuptse and Lhotse. We then descended down the track to our lodge for the night, along the way we passed our first snow and ice fields, is this a sign of things to come? At the lodge we were able to catch the sunset over Everest which was spectacular. As a treat to Mikael, as it was his birthday the Sherpas presented him with a chocolate cake to celebrate. We all had a piece and made sure the Sherpas did as well, it was delicious.
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