Graham, Sam and I had a gentle walk further down the track today with time to stop at some of the sights. A large Budha statue in a big greenhouse and a monastery containing the ancient remains of a yeti. We were not allowed to photograph this important artefact so my picture below is a photo of a photo. We understand that the A team managed the ascent of Kalapathha last night and the visit to Base Camp today. They are now following us down the mountain and we will all be reunited tomorrow night.
Now we are starting return down the mountain and therefore staying in the same places we used on the way up there are no new surprises in the food or toilets we are going to encounter. As I am sure you are all keen to know about these important aspects of our trip I have dedicated this entry toilets and food.

Toilets - We have encountered four types of toilet; 
European style cisterns - these are the same as we have at home except the water is nearly always frozen. In the better places the management put large 20 gallon drums of water in the bathroom so you can flush them with a ladle of water. You must not put the paper down the loo, this goes in a basket next to the toilet.
Indoor squat - these are the toilets you get in Muslim countries, never very clean and not very comfortable, they don't have a flushing system, you just pour water down from a bucket.
Outside Long drop - As the name suggests these are a hole in the floor over which you squat. Everything then disappears into the darkness, you can throw the paper tissue down after it as well as a few leaves or sand which are in a tub close by. Whilst not what we are used to these work quite well in fact Gill and I have come across them in quite posh (but green) hotels in Africa.
Outside Short Drop - those with a weak disposition look away now. Short drop toilets are long drop toilets that have not been emptied. This means that you can see what the last customer left and there is a danger of being splashed when you add your contribution. These toilets also smell.
All except one of the guest houses we stayed in had cisterns but the long and short toilets were encountered at the tea houses where we had morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. No toilet since Kathmandu has had loo paper or a working sink to wash you hands, we all carried our own paper and hand cleaning gel. 

Food
The food has been surprisingly good. Almost every tea house and guest house has the same menu with local rice dishes, curries (chicken, yak or veg), mo mo which are filled dumplings, eggs in any variety, spring rolls (much bigger than we get at home, a meal in themselves) and strangely pizza, spaghetti, pancakes and macaroni. Whilst none of this food is very high standard it is always edible.  
What is even more amazing is that we turn up for lunch without booking, order 10 meals and they are all cooked straight away without, as far as we can see, the use of a microwave. We are never told something is "off".
Every meal on the way up started with garlic soup on the insistence of our guide who believes it prevents altitude sickness, Graham and I proved this theory wrong. 

Tomorrow we will do a local walk whilst waiting for the A team to catch up .