Everest Base Camp Trek Part 7 ~ Back to Kathmandu for R&R

Part 7 ~ Kathmandu at last.  And a lovely tour of Swayambunath Temple.

Swayambaunath Temple, Kathmandu.

Somehow, connections of the boss of Namaste Lodge gotten us a second flight out of Lukla despite the huge backlog of passengers from a whole day of delayed flights.  Those of us on the second flight managed to make it back to Kathmandu early.  But the other half of our group who were scheduled for the third flight were delayed and left on cold Lukla for another four hours because of poor weather in both Lukla and Kathmandu.

Everest Base Camp Trek Part 6 ~ Back to Lukla!

Part 6 ~ Our last assault on Lukla was well-coordinated by General Adrian.  The Airforce would take its first flights in and the infantries would trudge in later..

On a mission!

So it was.  The very last day of our trek.  Our hearts were in a dilemma.  As much as we were glad to be back to Lukla soon, we knew that our journey was coming to an end.  None of us wanted it to end.  Despite the hardship, we all had so much adventure in the past twelve days.  Many of us wanted more.

Everest Base Camp Trek Part 5 ~ The return of the Jedi from Gorak Shep all the way to Namche Bazaar.

Part 5 ~ The story of how the Jedis willed themselves onwards in a half-dazed state from Gorak Shep to Pheriche, and how the same knights gallantly drove themslves by sheer determination on foot back to Namche Bazaar.

[Photo: Fann]

This was finally the turn back towards home.  Everyone knew the end was drawing near.  Near, but not that near yet.  Three more days separated us from the comfort of Kathmandu.  In many ways, our objectives had been accomplished.  And the victorious members just only needed to be patient and continue their walk, which by now was already in rhythmic automatic mode.  The Jedis were finally returning home.

Everest Base Camp Trek Part 4 ~ The highest point. Kala Patthar 5545m.. and EBC second-attempt!

Part 4 ~ The one vantage point that can allow one to have a full view of Everest is this mount called Kala Patthar.  

Kala Patthar [Photo: KC Tng]

Sometimes in life, it was like this.  Would one come all the way to London for the very first time and not visit London Bridge or the Big Ben?  In the same vein, although EBC was the pinnacle of the trek,  but to me, and to the girls, we held in our hearts the wish to summit Kala Patthar the highest point, even way before our trip.  To us, it was a MUST climb.  And we'd stop at nothing to achieve that.
Without being disrespectful to all my fellow trekkers, to myself, climbing to the top of Kala Patthar was even more important than arriving at EBC.  The magic figure of 5545m was too strong a draw.

Everest Base Camp Trek 2017 Part 3 ~ Lobuche to Gorak Shep & EBC!

Part 3 ~ The going got tougher, slower and more challenging as the altitude went skywards- Lobuche at 4900,  Gorak Shep 5160m, and the final last push towards EBC at 5350m.

The final push!

At 5000m, the oxygen level dropped to 53% of sea level.  We only knew this in hindsight.  But with this knowledge, in retrospect, we now could explain everything that happened on this third quarter of our trek.  It was really a last push, a burst of fire towards our destination.  This was what we came here for.  And hopefully nothing would stop us.  Hopefully.

Everest Base Camp Trek 2017 Part 2 -From Namche to Dingboche.

Part 2 ~ After the acclimatisation at Namche, it was time for some thinner air.

We knew that we were going to enter a realm of higher altitude and it was time for some real action.
This was time for our bodies to really start adapting.  Little did we realise that the transition from 3400m to 4400m would be that great.  This second quarter part of our trek was a period of reckoning. And time was not on our side. We needed to keep pushing, keep going. AMS and illnesses started hitting us. But the team spirit was still strong.

Everest Base Camp Trek 2017 ~ an epic adventure

The whole group at Gorak Shep. [Photo: SgTrekker]

Everest Base Camp Trek

 18 November - 2 December 2017

"   ....The only noise audible was my own heavy panting as my lungs laboured to suck in as much oxygen in the rarefied air at 5190m.  My footsteps were tiny shuffles, weighed down by my pair of trekking boots which, merely a couple of days ago felt as light as feathers, but now behaved like tonnes of Himalayan rocks bound to my feet.    

My eyes never lifted off from the ground as rocks after rocks appeared in haphazard fashion, threatening to trip my trailing foot should I be just so careless to lift it a little less high.  A few steps.  And another long pause to catch my breath.  Peering in front, the ridge led straight to Everest Base Camp.  We were not far, but time was running out for us...  "

A Family's Trekking Travellogue to Nepal ~ Day 8

Day 8 .. flying back to Kathmandu

No surprise.
Often in Nepal, when the weather turned bad, the planes get delayed.
And our flight back to Kathmandu from Pokhara was no exception.
The morning visibility at 9am was like that... couldn't fly.

A Family's Trekking Travellogue to Nepal ~ Day 7

Day 7: Our 6th day of trekking~ Ghandruk all the way back to Nayapul

Yes, we had passed through the most difficult part of our trek.
Today would see us coming back down all the way to Nayapul.
The distance is not short. But the terrain is relatively gentle, though downwards.

Waking up int the morning and having a last look around in Ghandruk.

Video of the morning scene.. birds chirping, roosters crowing...

A Family's Trekking Travellogue to Nepal ~ Day 6

Day 6: Our forth day of trekking- From Tadapani (2660m) to Ghandruk (2060m)
*Yawn.... an easy easy trek...*
[Haha... that's what most would think...]

Yupe. So it had come to Day 4.
Somehow, after my deep slumber, and after awakening to a fresh cold mountain morning,
I couldn't believe that the family had done three days of pretty tough (read, in our family term lah, but in real mountaineering terms, it's 'easy') trekking.

A Family's Trekking Travellogue to Nepal ~ Day 5

Day 5: The third day of Trekking
To Poon Hill and to Tadapani

This third day saw us moving out at 5:15am from our guest lodge
to move in the dark to Poon Hill.
And after the return to Ghorepani,
we set out towards our destination for the day - Tadapani.
What a trek this day brought.
What a trek.

A Family's Trekking Travellogue to Nepal ~ Day 4

Day 4 - The second day of trekking

6:30am. I took this shot out of my window.
The sun was just about rising.
Another new day. Another new adventure.

A Family's Trekking Travellogue to Nepal ~ Day 3

Day 3.. finally, we are starting to trek..

Overwhelmed with excitement, we all woke up at 6am to get ready for the one and a half hour ride to Nayapul.
Nayapul is a small little village where the actual trekking will start.
Located at an altitude of 1000m, Nayapul is the gateway village to Annapurna Base Camp.

A Family's Trekking Travellogue to Nepal ~ Day 2

Day 2 morning!

Sleep came easy for most of us.
And we woke to a cooooold morning.
Looking forward to a nice flight to Pokhara, was my Rudy Project and my newly-acquired Nepali topi..

A Family's Trekking Travellogue to Nepal ~ Day 1

^Prologue

Serene and I did our first Nepal trek in March 2011 to Lukla and Namche Bazaar.
But recently, a family of my patients went trekking to Lantang, with young adults children.
And when finally, a few weeks ago, a good friend of mine Gerard brought his 10 year old son to Pokhara for trekking, I was totally inspired.
And we decided to bring all our 5 children, age ranging from 12 years to 24 years, for their first real trek in Nepal.

Everest Panorama Trek ~ Day 10. Bye Bye Nepal.

T R A V E L O G U E

Day 10: Bye Bye, Nepal...



It was not without a sense of unbearable yearning for the thin air up in the mountains, that we made our way to Kathmandu's Tribhuvan Airport for our final flight back home to Singapore. From the look of all the trekking poles sticking out of every one's backpack, it seemed that every single one of us in the team was keeping his and her poles, either for memory's sake, or for future use back here in this lovely country.

Everest Panorama Trek ~ Day 9. Flying back from Lukla to Kathmandu

T R A V E L O G U E

Day 9: Back to the yellow waters and congested air of the city...

Whatever was the case, a great trek must come to an end. As we all sat down for a very early breakfast in Namaste Lodge, in several of our hearts, the seeds for a repeat trip were sowed. Perhaps some would describe this trek as a love-hate relationship, and others would see it as simply exhilarating a break from the monotony of city-living. But what I saw that morning sitting on my breakfast table was a unique specimen of expanded dough called Tibetan bread. Hmmm... Sherpa-ian Tibetan bread, I told myself.

Everest Panorama Trek ~ Day 8: Monjo back to Lukla.. and receiving our trekking certificates!

T R A V E L O G U E

Day 8: The trek back to Lukla...


Monjo gave all of us a real good rest, er... except some who still found the muscle aching and the cold hard to bear, and thus suffer from some interrupted sleep.

Everest Panorama Trek ~ Day 7. Sunrise shot of Everest, and bye bye Namche Bazaar.

T R A V E L O G U E

Day 7: Insanely Early Morning Rise to shoot Star Trail, Milky Way and Sunrise with Mount Everest as Background...


Sometimes I really could not understand photographers.
We trekked all the way up here to 3400m the whole of the day, by the time we finished dinner it was about 9pm, and we all still got to go up and unpack and repack our luggage for the descend the next day... and yet, these hardcore shooters were still enthusiastic enough to wake up at 2:30am to gather at the lobby of the lodge at 3am so that we may brave the freezing cold of the unearthly hours of Namche Bazaar to walk 40 minutes up to a vantage point to see Mount Everest, shoot star trails, shoot milky way and wait for sunrise to shoot again...

Everest Panorama Trek ~ Day 6. Phakding to Namche Bazaar.

T R A V E L O G U E

Day 6: Phakding to Namche Bazaar... Siong ah...

Adrian told us the night before:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, tomorrow is the toughest trek on the whole trail. Our trek would take us from 6 to 8 hours and we will be doing plenty of ascending an descending. Ultimately we will gain in altitude from where we are at 2600m here at Phakding to 3440m at Namche Bazaar. The last stretch of the trek before we hit Namche Bazaar will be the killer - it will be a non-stop zig zag climb all the way up to the end. So I want you all to sleep early tonight and rest well.
Fall in at the parade square at 6:30am for breakfast!"

Rest well we did. And an early rise we had.
SgTrekker would of course show their customers the beautiful, neat and attractive photos of the lodge rooms. Keke... Let me show our audiences how the REAL room looked like.
Simple. Basic. Cold.