We got up to the museum just before 6 AM and went in to visit it. It is a museum devoted to the Sherpa people. It had a typical Sherpa dwelling (before the Serpa culture was exposed to the outside world), filled with cooking ware, eating utensils and a prayer room. Next door was a photograph exhibit of Sherpa people and their culture and many photos of local Sherpa men and women that have climbed Mt. Everest. Quite a few of them have climbed Everest 5, 10, even 15 times. Amazing people. High altitude climbing doesn't bother them, but many have lost their lives on Everest in climbing accidents.
Luckily, when we finished with the museum about 7 AM it had started to clear. We climbed further up the hill to where there was an army barracks and we followed a path over to a spot from which we could see Mt. Everest, Lhotse, Ama Dablam and some other high peaks. Very thrilling to actually look at Mt. Everest. It was kind of hazy but I took pictures anyhow (they will be dated today, 5/22 and should be somewhere between photos 10 and 20 when viewing on the photoworks.com website). The mountains are off in the distance across a long valley and Everest in on the left at 29,028 feet, the highest place on earth, and Lhotse is on the right at 27,890 feet, the fourth highest mountain in the world.
We came back down to the tea house about 8:30 and had a great breakfast and then read our books until 11. Today is our rest day in Namche but we wanted to do an acclimatization hike, so Shari, Nar and I trekked up almost to the airport in Syangboche, above Namche at 12,795 feet. It was quite overcast and started raining when we got to Syangboche just after noon, so we started right down and we got back to the tea house before we got too wet. We have our own attached bathroom, so the 3 of us all got to take nice hot showers before we went off to lunch - pizza and cappacino at the Everest Bakery and it was quite good.
Nar told us today that the army made all the people from Tibet leave Namche. A few weeks ago they closed the border to Tibet because of SARS and Namche is a significant area for Tibetan traders, so there are a lot of Tibetan people here. Nar said about 300 Tibetans were sent home. Many Nepalis are concerned that SARS is going to hurt their tourist industry even more than it already has.
Nar ended up getting a room last night because there were some vacancies, but he leaves his bags in our room when he thinks he might have to sleep in the dining room. We all wanted to take a nap so we told Nar he could take a nap in our room because his stuff was already there. So the 3 of us napped til about 5 PM. Dinner was good. I had garlic steak which was probably yak meat. After dinner I went for a short walk and then sat outside on a rock listening to my MP3 player from 7 to 8:30. Then I went in the dining room and sat with Nar for a while. We both listened to my MP3 player for about 15 minutes (we each had one earphone). I played a sampling of music for him - jazz, opera, old standards, country, but I don't think he liked any of it. He said he didn't understand it and I told him I didn't understand Nepali music either.
Nar and the other guides need to wait until all the guests eat before they are served, so he didn't get to eat until close to 9:30. The tea house was quite crowded because a lot of trekkers stop at the Hotel Namche on their way down from Everest Base Camp because it's a nice place, and they can take a showeer. We told Nar he could stay in our room for the night, but he decided to sleep in the dining room instead. He told us the next morning he didn't like it because there were too many Nepalis sleeping there and it was too stinky. Nar is extremely clean and he likes to keep his clothes clean and take showers whenever he can.
5/23: We were supposed to eat breakfast at 7 AM but we knew that Nar would be down early to get his stuff and he showed up at 5:45. So Shari and I ended up getting up just after 6 and we had breakfast before 7. We had never asked the price of the room and we knew it would cost more than we were used to, but what a surprise when we got our bill. 1,125 Rupees for a double room and we stayed 2 nights. Now granted, that's still only about US$7.50 each a night, but when you're used to paying about US$1 a night it seems like a lot.
Today was a beautiful trek. We climbed up a bit and then trekked along a somewhat level trail looking at Mt. Everest and Lhotse for quite a while. We then went down about 700 feet and then up 2,000 feet to Tengboche at 12,664 feet. We got here about 12:30 (5 hours of trekking) which wasn't too bad for me, given the last two hour climb up to Tengboche.
No luxury tonight, but then again our room cost only 100 Rupees. We are staying at the Checker Lodge and it is very basic - a tiny room and a toilet outside the main building that is just a pit toilet. The Tengboche Monastery (it is also called a Gompa) is up here and we will go over to the Monastery at 4 PM to see a prayer ceremony. We can also see a half hour video on the monastery life. Tengboche is the cultural and religious center for the people of the Khumba (Everest) region.
Tengboche is also the spot where the trails diverge for Everest Base Camp and Gokyo Ri. Some people we've met are doing both Gokyo and Base Camp. They will go up the trail from here to either Gokyo or Base Camp and then over a pass to the other. They aren't sure they will be able to go over the pass though, because there is supposed to be a lot of snow up at the higher altitudes.
We went to the Visitor Center at 3 PM but we couldn't see the video until 3:30 so we looked around at the things for sale and the information on the history of the monastery. We bought a few things, watched the video and then went to the monastery for the ceremony. Unfortunately, it was at 3 PM not 4 PM so we will have to get up early and go see the 6 AM ceremony. Nar wants us to get up early (5:15) to take pictures anyhow, so it will be a nice way to start our day.
The Tengaboche Gompa is spectacularly situated under the mighty Kangtaiga (22,254 feet) and Thamserku (21,713 feet) mountains, with superb views up and down the surrounding valleys. It is just amazing to be able to see so many big mountains at once - Kangtaiga, Thamserku, Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam.
Our tea house is set up on the edge of a cliff (the door to our room is probably 3 feet from the edge) and the owner's have a young daughter not quite 2 years old. She was in the dining room, smiling and "talking" with Shari and me. We can never figure out how these little kids avoid getting hurt. There was a big wood stove in the dining room that the little girl kept walking by. Then she would go outside by herself sometimes near the drop-off. We see little kids all the time while we are trekking, playing by themselves in potentially dangerous areas but they never seem to get hurt. It's like they have an innate sense of how to avoid danger.
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