The sky was amazing this morning! The clouds that had covered the village the day before had completely lifted and we could see snow-capped mountains all around us. We had no idea we were surrounded by such beauty. First up was a gentle walk up to Gorak Shep. On the way we passed glaciers and [...]

I was surprised to find there was no pain this morning and my face was back to normal. Hurrah!!!
Overnight, Andy had slept downstairs in the dining room being unable to walk up the rickety stairs to the bedrooms. He couldn’t keep walking with the group so guides had arranged for a helicopter to evacuate him [...]

I woke up this morning and my face was feeling swollen so I took some ibuprofen. I decided to ignore the pain though because, knowing the benefits, I really wanted to do the acclimatisation walk.
Breakfast was at the more student-friendly hour of 9am and we left at 10 for the walk. Only about half of [...]

Hi.
This is a video I found showing what we can expect Rosanna and David to be seeing and doing between Day 8 and Day 10 of the Everest Base Camp trek.

This video was posted on Youtube by wwwcelticvideocom. I quite like the narrator’s accent.

I woke up feeling so much better. This morning’s walk was gentle and was followed by a lunch of Tibetan bread (deep fried bread) and macaroni cheese; it was really pasta with ketchup and grated (partially mouldy) yak cheese, but we were all very grateful all the same.
After lunch my throat started to feel rather [...]

Thyangboche is absolutely tiny. It’s quite desolate and there’s not much here apart from a large, striking monastery. A prayer ceremony began at 3 and we were able to sit and watch. In front of the monastery is a beautifully impressive archway covered in vibrant colours and carvings of Buddhist gods.

I had a veggie fry up this morning which was a great start to the day - even though the baked beans were strangely spicy and tangy. After the rest day, I felt much more energised and happy to walk up the mountain. The first half of the day wasn’t too difficult and we saw [...]

When I woke up and looked out of the window I was speechless. I couldn’t see a thing out of the window; the whole of Namche was enveloped in a cloud! For this reason the gallery below shows photos from the day before; our approach to Namche Bazaar.
Today was an acclimatisation day AKA “the rest [...]

After a week, Rosanna and David and all the others on the Childreach trek will be well on their way now. Everest Base Camp Trek routes. The latter stages show the Kala Pattar variation of the Everest trek where you climb to the summit of the neighbouring mountain to overlook Everest base camp. I just [...]

It’s morning. Already, we had grown accustomed to hearing the retching/coughing sound of the locals, where they would quite literally cough up muck from their lungs. This is due to the dust/thin air of the mountain. At first we were slightly put off by it, but now it’s a familiar sound! After a porridge breakfast, [...]

Today’s walk was a gentle amble to get used to the terrain and walking. One of the first things we went past was a Starbucks on the side of a mountain - I was disgusted!!
However, after that the sights became incredible. We passed Buddhist good luck symbols everywhere! Across the suspension bridges were colourful prayer [...]

We had a very early start, waking up at 4.30am to get the early morning flight to Lukla. When we got off the mini bus our luggage was carried off by unknown porters that were waiting around at the airport. They scrambled in and grabbed some of our luggage and even though we were perfectly capable of [...]

Here are a couple more photos of our Childreach Charity trek group.

This one is of Hannah sporting the dhauni on our way into Kathmandu.
Next, on Day 6, we prepared ourselves for the famous air flight to Lukla airport, where our Everest Base Camp trek would finally get under way!
x
R

After a lie-in and a fantastic breakfast we went to meet the tour guides. We had a briefing which outlined exactly what we were going to do on the Everest Base Camp trek. After this, we went in to Kathmandu to explore and do some last minute essential shopping for the trek.

On the way in, [...]

traditional-nepali-music-kathmandu
Here’s a quick video of the Nepali musicians performing some traditional music for us as part of our big night out in Kathmandu.

After the shopping, we went to a bar called “Buddha Bar” which served traditional food and drinks, and sheesha. You had to take your shoes off before entering the bar.

Later in the evening, we were treated to a Traditional Nepali evening of festivities. We went to a beautiful, ancient building. Outside in the courtyard we [...]

Sweating and tired, we heaved our belongings off the roof of the bus and schlepped to the boarder to meet the tour company. We had our passports and visas checked both at the Indian side, and over the road in Nepal. It was surreal walking from one country to the next, momentarily crossing “no man’s [...]

We went to Delhi train station to catch a train to Gorakhpur. We were told to keep watch of our belongings as anything hanging loose from any pocket would be pinched. In the station, chains were being sold along the platform as it is not uncommon for bags to “wander off” while you’re sleeping.
The station [...]

Two more pictures from the train. To read about this journey, check out my last Everest trek post. Cheers, R 

Day 2 of my Everest Base Camp Trek adventure began with a much needed lie-in before we went to breakfast at the Smile Foundation’s office - the partner charity in Delhi. We had spicy crackers, biscuits and a MacDonald’s veggie burger … interesting! We were then given a briefing about their partnership with Childreach and [...]