Nepal. 6 April--Mom's birthday

I was much too tired to write tonight, so as usual I am up early writing. I do keep sleeping in later (5), but this time I even went to bed early 8:30-9. My "easy" day wasn't so easy. I was expecting a day to myself to wander Namche and maybe hike up to the Everest View Lodge--a 5 star hotel.

At 7:30 Kagi and I left however. First we stopped at a gompa behind our lodge and then continued up the steep trail past prayer flags. After an hour we'd already climbed 1000 ft and had views of Thami which is a mountain to the west. Past that is Tibet. We continued up past a yak farm (with no yaks) and a stupa until we got to Shyangboche where they have a tiny airport, really just a dirt landing strip. That did explain how there were ale to bring up all the milled wood I saw (you can not cut trees in Sagarmatha Park) and even tractors.

After that it got easier. We went through a valley and up to Everest View Hotel. We had tea on their deck which has clear views of Everest, Nuptse and Ama Dablam. I'd actually got my first glimpse of these at the stupa near Shyangboche and was very excited.

We then went down through a potato farming town called Khumjung. It was a very quiet town. We did pass some yaks. These are now different than the dzopkyo we've seen plenty of. Those can only go up to 10l. These yaks can deal with the higher altitude better (but not the lower alt.) They are also much hairier. This is used for clothing.

We then continued through another small town called Khunde. The hospital seems to be famous, but I'm not sure why--maybe just because it exists. We stopped for a bit, but it was really just like waiting in an outside waiting room.

We started to head back to Namche for lunch, but Kagi immediately stopped and we went in to someone's house. They were all watching tv--a really bad Nepalese movie. It was like a bad 70's action flick with sound effects. The entire area has electricity from the hydro power nearby. You can even charge your cell or electronics at many lodges for a fee.

(New Zealand Room)
Kagi seemed to know these people so we had tea. This was Sherpa tea thought (yak butter). It was ok, but very salty. If they didn't add salt it would be fine. This was now the 4th kind of tea I've had. Throughout the day I usually drink black tea. I had lemon tea once by mistake (I'd asked for hot lemon). In the morning's I usually have milk tea, which is just tea brewed in hot milk. Actually, I finally realized from the lumps at the bottom, that is' powdered milk. So milk tea is really just black tea with cream. It's good.

We took off the small climb back to Shyangboche and then the big descent to town. In the end we'd done 2k ft of elevation--not quite what I'd had in mind for my easy day.

After we had lunch at the lodge, I changed and went to town. I first picked up some more postcards and then found the tiny little one shack post office. I sat down and finished the cards and mailed all 11 off. Not before I was joined by a troupe of 15 French kids all doing the same thing.

I then started looking around for gifts and ended up at a bar playing the Police and drinking a San Miguel. Despite its name it is a German style beer, which was just ok. I then went downstairs bargained with the guy and bought a shawl for Lisa and a prayer tapestry for Dawn. That was all I had with me, so I went back to the lodge to get some more $, but kept my eyes open.

By the time I was back it had started raining pretty hard, so I was limited to what the one shop I was holed up in had to offer. Fortunately, they all basically have the same things. I bought a different kind of shawl for Denise, some goofy yak socks for my mom, and a backpack cover for me. I was also going to get some yak cheese, but they were out.

It was still raining, even snowing a bit briefly. I watched a yak go for refuge in a lodge, then a minute later shooed out by the owner. I took refuge next door and checked email. It was still raining. So I darted to the lodge the yak liked and had some cocoa. It turns out, this is the lodge Jimmy Carter supposedly stayed in. I finally got tired of waiting, so I wan to my lodge. My socks were a little wet, but I didn't make out too bad.

It was only about 4 but I was cold so I crawled in my sleeping bad and started a crossword. A few minutes later Kagi knocked on my door. The monks next door were praying and we could go watch. So I changed back into my rain gear and left.

There were about 30 monks from 10-70 crowded in a room chanting from their prayer books. These are the same books that are in the prayer wheels. They also bleated their horns (oboe-ish, but brass mouthpieces) seeming at random, joined by some cymbals and drum It was quite smokey with all the incense, but I wanted to stay until the big horns came out. These are about 5' long, but collapsed up for storage. Finally they played. Sure enough--that was the sound I'd been hearing in the morning. We passed by the women monks in a separate on the way out.

We chatted with a 70 yr old Russian tightrope walker married to a German for a bit. Then went in and ate. I was tired, so I went upstairs and to sleep without reading or writing.