Thursday, April 13. 2006
Kumjung to Kathmandu
Thursday, April 13. 2006
Dear friends & followers; you will have to wait for the full trekking report (I did the 17 days Lukla-Chukhung-Khumbu-ChoLa-Gokyo trek in about 11 days) as we have been to busy the past few days with preparations to write a decent report.
But I want to share a small photo report from the last section before completing the circle at Namche: Khumjung. A nice little town, made ‘famous’ as Sit Edmund Hillary built his school here (and the hospital is close by as well).
Ang Furba was clearly tired as we had no rest days in 11 days of hiking and today we had come from Machermo, over the steep hill at Phortse Tenga (with a brilliant view of Ama Dablam
Only then Ang Furba said that he knew a man who was the one of the cooks or kitchen boys on the 1953 Everest expedition and that we could try to find him. After a nice welcome by one of his other friends, Mrs Minga Sherpa (who immediately served us very tasty potatoes and milk tea) we went looking for him. But first we had to go to the famous monastery.
inside! Hidden in a steel cabinet and guarded by an old man, it was
only shown to me for a few seconds before the cabinet was locked again.
But it looked quite new ?
Funnier was the cement that was in the monastery’s courtyard, they are
rebuilding, likely from the donations in the Yeti box…
We found the old man’s house, but had to wait as his wife told us he was not feeling well. After several milk teas in the kitchen, we could go in.
The old man was not happy as he was in pain; In his head and lower back, he said. But when I came closer to shake his hand I immediately noticed the strong smell of Chang, the favorite alcoholic drink of many Sherpas. I dug into my bag and gave him some Ibuprofen.
He did not want to be photographed and soon we left. Still it was an impressive feeling to know that this man was one of the few people alive that was in the Khumbu in May 1953…
Namche. I had spoken to them a few weeks before in Holland, but had not expected them here. Apparently Katja (the first and only Dutch woman to summit Everest) had not be feeling well the week before and so they changed their Langtang hike to the Khumbu. But now she was feeling
strong again and ready for the upcoming climb: Dhaulagiri! A dangerous beautiful mountain, I wish them all the best and a safe climb.
