Dunia Kecil: More on the Trail to Everest

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

Mr. John Muir said it well; I definitely felt nature’s peace flowing through me as I found myself in the Himalaya. I feel like a half dozen more posts are necessary to really do justice to documenting my Nepal travels and experiences amongst the Earth’s tallest mountains. But alas, another adventure beckons at my door tomorrow as I head to Bangkok for the Rotary International Convention. So I we’ll see what I can do to share a bit more through photos.

Here are a few photos of the crew that I trekked with. 14 people total, 12 Malaysians, one Singaporean, and me! Some Rotarians, some relatives of Rotarians, and some non-Rotarians.

The Crew.

A selection of the colorful women in our trekking group.

Myself and another team member with the wonderful porters that carried some of our gear.
They sure made our trekking days a lot easier.

It was amazing to see the symbols of Sherpa culture and religion during out time on the trail. The Sherpa people are very devout Buddhists and you can see this woven into the fabric of their lifestyles. They believe in numerous deities and demons that inhabit every mountain, cave, and forest amongst other things.

Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom.
It is thought that prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread goodwill and
compassion into all the pervading space and bring benefit to all.

On of many many of stupas along the way.

We stayed in about nine different villages along the way and trekked through many more. I loved the names of the villages such as Namche Bazaar, Tengboche, Dingboche, Gorakshep, Phortse, etc.

Dingboche from above.

First light on Namche Bazaar (the largest village in the region) as seen from our bedroom lodge window.

Of course I can’t say enough about the yaks and other pack animals. Although they made the trail quite dusty at times, I couldn’t help but take photo after photo of them in magnificent settings. At higher elevations about tree line, they also provide another valuable resource, poo! Where there is no wood to burn to cook or keep warm, locals collect dung from the animals and dry it out to use as fuel.

Yak dung drying for fuel.

Pack animals near Everest Base Camp.

Another aspect of the trail that I found quite fascinating was the numerous suspension bridges. It was amazing to see a train of yaks with full packs crossing hundreds of feet about a raging river. Just thinking of how they get all the supplies there to build the bridges is mind boggling.

A big concern on the trail is avoiding acute mountain sickness (AMS) commonly known as altitude sickness. Symptoms can include anything from general fatigue, headache, shortness of breath, nausea, lightheadedness/dizziness, insomnia, etc. This is one of the main challenges of mountaineering, climbing and trekking above 8,000ft (2,400m). It effects everyone differently, and some people not at all! I’m happy that felt great for most of my time on the trail with just two noticeable headaches and some lightheadedness. I felt like the lightheadedness actually enhanced my trekking at one point as I felt like I was floating across the trail surrounded by an amphitheater of glorious peaks. There is a medication you can take to reduce symptoms called Diamox, but it has many side effects that I didn’t want to deal with including tingling fingers/hands and the incessant need to urinate as you must drink tons of water if you take it. I found that consumption of Ibuprofen did the trick and it was convenient that a study came out right before I left verifying that it is shown to prevent altitude sickness. We took two layover days on the way up to acclimatize.

The joy and beauty of being in the mountains was overwhelming. As you climb higher and higher the scenery just gets better and better and better until you come around a corner towards the last village and are presented with an amphitheater of unimaginable mountains in every direction. It was hard to keep your eyes on the trail to prevent tripping (as we were hiking across a glacial moraine at that point) when there were so many majestic mountains to witness including Everest (29,029 ft), Lhotse (27,940 ft), and Nuptse (25,791 ft).