4th May, 2016
The next morning, we left Namche and reached the same junction with sign boards pointing to two different routes. We headed towards Tengboche/Gokyo. The path left the outskirts of Namche and moved through the forests of Rhododendron with blooming flowers of different colors. Their season was coming to an end and their numbers were on the decline but it was still a treat to our eyes.
Colors of purple, yellow and white were abundant. The path moved up and down but the slope was gradual. Walking is always easier when you have forest cover. It’s tranquil, with ample shade and oxygen. Porters passed by with loads on their backs. Some others led a gang of yaks ferrying loads to the higher reaches of the region. They are the backbones of this route. Every comfort you enjoy, has to be carried to great heights from lower plains. No wonder, every item gains in price by leaps and bounds with altitude. We reached another junction. The straight one led to Tengboche, while the one on the left went to Gokyo along the higher slopes. On our return journey, we’d be coming back by that route to meet with the main route to Namche. Mt Ama Dablam kept company along the route. Dudhkoshi flowed through the gorges down below. The path gradually started to move down towards its banks. As in every other day on the mountains, though we started together, we got divided into groups, some of us even on our own. Walking in the Himalayas often leads to phases where you’re just alone with the mountains. You are responsible for your own decisions (how fast you walk, how often you rest) – very similar to life, where you own your decisions and their consequences. There’s no one else to turn to. I was walking with Niladri. Dhananjoy, normally an avid walker, was behind. That told me he was facing problems with his sprained knee. At around 1 PM, we reached a lodge near the banks of Dudhkoshi for lunch. We ordered tea and sat down in the bright sun to rest and enjoy the surroundings.
Dhananjoy reached a bit later, followed by Sidhhartha da. Ranjan da was the last to reach with Raju. He looked okay with no apparent signs of tiredness. Herds of yaks, carrying loads on their backs were crossing a hanging bridge (the last of them on this trail) heading towards Tengboche.
With the sun shining bright, we spent time sitting outside, sipping lemon tea. All our tiredness seemed to go away. Some trekkers went for hot showers to rejuvenate. It crossed my mind too, but the cost forbade it. The route that lay ahead after lunch was steep and that’s the last hike before Tengboche. It started right after the end of the suspension bridge on the other banks of the river. After completing the lunch, I, Niladri and Dhananjoy resumed walking, while others spent some more time at the lodge. After the bridge, the trail moved upwards, which wasn’t comfortable at all after lunch. Porters carried loads that included items ranging from food items to large plywood chunks. They were bent by the loads they carried. The sight overwhelmed us but as we passed by, we heard songs from their pocket transistors! What we deemed as adventure, was routine for them. We still walked through the forests, but the density of trees gradually thinned as we gained height. We were nearing end of the tree line. Asking one of the passing porters about the remaining distance, we heard “5 more minutes”. We couldn’t believe it since we’re accustomed to such “5 minutes” actually translating to hours (assessment of time by people from the hills normally doesn’t take the speed and stamina of us, from the plains, into account). But when we saw the stupas after a bend, we realized that we were almost there. The revered Himalayan traveler Uma Prasad’s description didn’t hold relevance to us (he saw a magnificent amphitheater surrounded by majestic Himalayan peaks of the region as soon as he arrived at Tengboche). The sky was overcast and it was drizzling. After the stupas, we saw the gates of the famous Tengboche monastery, the largest in the Solu Khumbu region.
It is also called Dawa Choling Gompa. In 1916, Gulu Lama built this monastery and it has links with its mother monastery, the Rongbuk monastery that resides on the northern flanks of Mt Everest in Tibet. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1934, but was rebuilt. In 1989, fire destroyed it once again, but the hard-working locals rebuilt it again with international assistance though it lost much of its old scriptures, murals, statues and wooden carvings. It gained prominence in the world because of its location on the Everest Base Camp route. Members of all Everest expeditions visit the monastery on their way up to light candles and perform rituals to seek blessings from the Lama for their successful and safe ascent. John Hunt, the leader of the first successful expedition in 1953 was no exception to this tradition and this is what he had to say:
Thyangboche must be one of the most beautiful places in the world. The height is well over 12,000 feet. The Monastery buildings stand upon a knoll at the end of a big spur, which is flung out across the direct axis of the Imja river. Surrounded by satellite dwellings, all quaintly constructed and oddly medieval in appearance, it provides a grandstand beyond comparison for the finest mountain scenery that I have ever seen, whether in the Himalaya or elsewhere.
Beyond it, there was the Tashi Delek (it means welcome, in the Sherpa language) lodge. We headed to our allotted rooms with tired steps. We were now at 3850 m, an ascent of 410 m from Namche. This was the last site where one could see trees. Beyond this, they’d disappear drastically. I had an unpleasant experience in the evening when one of the employees of the lodge tumbled a bowl of hot simmering soup on my lap. I was enraged. Clothes were limited and washing them wasn’t an option due to scarcity of water. However, I had to control myself as after all, it was an honest mistake. The kind of comforts we get in these altitudes, is made possible by immense hard work done by the locals and we saw some of that while crossing the trail.
5th May, 2016
Skies weren’t clear the next day as well. A hearty breakfast, hot ginger-lemon-honey tea got us going. We walked through ever depleting forests of Rhododendron and were now moving gradually above the tree line. The walk led us to a roaring river. An older metallic bridge lay broken and we had to work our way around by the banks of the river to travel some distance ahead downstream and cross it by another newly built bridge to reach the other bank. The sky was overcast which was good in a way as walking was comfortable without the sun’s dominant presence. As the trail moved along the left bank of the river, trees gave way to shrubs, greenery was replaced by shades of brown and black. Mani stones often came across our way and we kept crossing them keeping them to our right.
The terrain wasn’t steep. In fact, at places, we were almost walking on level grounds but I noted that the speed didn’t match the slope, at least in my case. After every 3-4 steps, I had to breathe in mouthfuls of air. That told me that the air was getting thinner by every step. We were now walking through a valley, wide open with the river flowing through it with its trail visible for a long distance up and downstream.
Our path gradually descended towards the banks of the river, where another river came down the slopes of the mountains in leaps and bounds eager to meet it from the opposite side. There was a wooden bridge near the confluence.
After crossing the bridge, there was a steep ascent along the slopes. That would take us to Dingboche. The slopes were covered with boulders and pebbles that had come down from the top in the form of landslides. After moving up a steep slope, the trail gradually dipped into a valley only to move up again to the top of a hill. Standing on it, we saw the lodges of Dingboche spread across the left banks of the river. It was just about 2 PM.
We were pleased as we had the entire afternoon at our disposal to rest at the lodge. After keeping our backpacks at the rooms, we changed our trekking gears to casuals and came to the lawn for some tea. It was a bright, sunny afternoon on the ground, but the mountain peaks were all hidden behind thick clouds. There were patches of snow scattered on the ground from last night’s snowfall. We sat around a table to reminisce about the day’s walk. Suddenly we saw white patches through the clouds that hid the mountains. The patches widened as the clouds cleared and a majestic peak began to take shape.
The rays of the fading sun gave a yellow tinge to the snow, which gradually started to turn golden. Just when we were preparing for a colorful sunset, our first on this trip, clouds gathered steam and covered all. Nevertheless, nature was kind enough for us to capture some frames in that short window. After heading back to our room, I found the room keys missing. There ensued a search in the room, the adjoining areas and dining room but it couldn’t be found. We informed the lodge owner. Preparations were almost on to break the door, when we suddenly found them on the seat where we were having our tea earlier. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief!
Dingboche has some interesting side treks and hikes. One such hike takes you up to Chukhung Ri, from where you can get a magnificent view of Mt Makalu, the 4th highest peak in the world. This is the only place on this route where one can get a glimpse of it. However, that’d take an extra 2 days, so we abandoned the idea. Our initial plan included an extra acclimatization day here (the 2nd one on this trip). However, guide Raju felt our progress was good enough. With none of us showing any signs of altitude sickness, he felt we should move on. That’d carve out an extra day, which could be utilized later in Kathmandu (or so we thought!).
As night bore on, we entered the dining space which was filled with tourists from all over the world, as was the case for any lodge on this route. Different groups were into discussions, some planning for their next day’s trek, others simply relaxing. A Russian group started to sing accompanied by guitars. I was amazed to see that they could manage space for guitars on this trail where everyone trims down luggage to the bare minimum just enough to sustain them. But, as they say, it all depends on priority. Niladri has been trying out different cuisines at the lodges. I kept myself contained with mashed potatoes sprinkled with black pepper. The dining space was kept warm by a chimney in the middle. It was constantly being fed with burning yak dung. After dinner, I retired into my room that I shared with Niladri, while Dhananjoy and Siddhartha da subsided into another (a pattern that would repeat for the rest of the trip till we were to reach Namche on our comeback trail). We would be sleeping at 4400 m tonight.
Break shackles 
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