EBC Day 12: Namche Bazaar to Phakding...

Another bad night for me like two nights before: woke up feeling ill but didn’t vomit, and then woke up again and did. Luckily managed to then sleep for a solid 5.5 hours. On a nicer note, our dining room had a wonderful collection of copper pots, none of which I needed to use as a bucket. Sorry to be sharing these less than pleasant details, but it’s a fact of life for trekkers that they need to be prepared to face illnesses in Nepal. And I was relieved to only be mildly sick, which didn’t stop me from enjoying the trek.

We had an early wake-up call in hopes that we’d have good enough weather for a helicopter ride. Although there was some sunshine at 7:30 a.m., by 8 a.m. the clouds had moved in and we couldn’t see the surrounding hills. By 9 a.m. the decision had been made for us to start hiking.

Namche by far had the best prayer wheels.

Life in the mountains is definitely not easy. Compared to the other villages, this would likely be considered a very modern laundromat.

We knew it would be a long day, but we were stronger and less afraid, so it wasn’t too bad. At one point I remembered that on the uphill trip, I had asked Ishor how much of the trail was rocky and I dreaded it when he answered “50%.” I was much more sure of myself, but still slow, especially on the wet stones.