Having read through the blog I have realised I have failed to describe what the trek is really like as I have just concentrated on certain aspects of it like toilets and scenery so I hope the following gives a better idea of a day on the trail;
Sometime between 6 and 6.30 we are awoken by the noise of other guests. At this point I put my iPad into my sleeping bag to warm the batteries whilst judging the balance between needing a wee, the time we have to get up and the temperature in the room which will be between -10 and -20C. The sleeping bag is nice and cosy especially as I am wearing the essential wooly hat so all parts of my body are warm. Eventually one of the factors above take precedence and you dress as much as you can in the sleeping bag and then climb out. A quick visit to the frozen loo (it won't flush) after which you pack you main bag which will be loaded onto the yaks during breakfast. It is then down to the main room where Pashan and Surnam have all the packets of coffee, tea, lemon drink and chocolate laid out on the table together with flasks of hot water and the cafetière, which is carefully carried by Pashan everywhere, and hand sanitizer. During the next hour I typically drink 6 mugs of tea or coffee.
We have ordered breakfast the night before and at the agreed time (7.00, 7.30 or 8.00) it is served, bang on time, if you are not there it will be left to go cold. At first I tried hash browns, omelettes and fried eggs for breakfast but after a while decided porridge was the best bet, I think they soak it overnight which makes it taste good with honey of which there is an abundant supply. During breakfast we all take the oxygen saturation test.
We all carry day packs which hold extra outside layers in case it gets colder, energy bars / Mars bars and water, this is a mixture of bottled water and boiled water from a flask so it is warm enough not to freeze.
Breakfast out of the way we start the walk, it is brilliant sunshine but cold. Normally Pashan leads with Kinner (the main man) at the rear. Although Pashan is young and fit he is under strict control from his dad to keep us moving slowly, slowly, high rate of climb equals altitude sickness. The path is quite wide and is mostly random stone blocks which are fairly easy to walk on, it is surprisingly dusty as everything is very dry. Apparently at the hight of the season there are hundreds of walkers but we mostly met porters, yaks or mules carrying goods up the valley to the towns and villages. After about an hour we have to have a break to remove clothes as once the sun gets up the temperature increases. After two hours we stop at a tea house for lemon tea. This is almost always taken outside and we sit in the sunshine for about half an hour. Some brave souls try the toilets and wish they hadn't.
The scenery along the way is absolutely stunning so there are lots of photo stops, Kinner encourages us to take our time, it was only on the downhill return that we had to keep the pace up so as not to finish in the dark.
After another 90 minutes we arrive at another tea house for lunch. The menu is presented whilst the boxes of tea bags, chocolate and lemon drink are spread out with the flasks of hot water, cafetière and hand sanitizer. We all pick something different from the menu and half an hour later our meals arrive, during the ascent we had compulsory garlic soup to start, there are never any mistakes in the order which I find amazing considering it is all done in a foreign language. All the waiting on is done by Pashan and Surnam, we very rarely see the owner of the tea house. They also keep us supplied with strepcils (for Everest throat), snickers, toilet paper and bottled water. At one stop Pashan spotted me cleaning out my ears with a hanky, within 30 seconds he presented me with cotton buds.
Lunch takes an hour then back on the trail till tea, another half hour in a tea house although by now it may well be getting colder so we go inside.
Finally we arrive at the guest house we are staying that night. We go to the main room where again the boxes of tea etc are set out and flasks of water delivered by Pashan and Surnam. We are also given the dinner menu and make our choices and we decide if we need to pay for Wi Fi, battery charging or, if we are very lucky, a hot shower (it only happened three times). The room is cold, the woodburner is not lit and the front door is wide open. Everyone is in thick clothes as it is well below freezing.
Our bags have been delivered to our rooms, I mostly shared with John 2 sticks, and we unpack our sleeping bags and set out everything we need for the night in it's rightful place, water bottle, paracetamol, wooly hat, reading material, wash kit (washing was only done on the three nights we had hot water, brushing of teeth was also quite difficult as the toothpaste became very hard to extract in the cold) and a head torch.
Then we go down to dinner, on some nights the woodburner would be lit between 18.00 and 20.00 and we crowd round, none of the main rooms was ever warm. Dinner was inevitably garlic soup followed by your own choice. The food was OK, not great but always edible. We never had sweet course. During dinner the ceremonial oxygen and pulse readings were taken again and carefully logged by John 2 sticks. The menu was passed round so we could order breakfast. Ian had a quiz on his phone so after dinner had a few rounds to confirm our ignorance then between 7.30 and 8.00 we would go from the cold main room to the very cold bedrooms, climb into our sleeping bags, read for a bit then go to sleep.
Was it worth it? All will be revealed in the next exciting instalment of this blog.