Early riser as usual. Oh well, cos I couldn't really sleep. Sleepless nights is becoming normal for me here. Can you imagine my frustration? I was tired from the day's hike and really wanted to sleep but I could not sleep. Thankfully, I didn't feel weak or fall sick from the lack of rest. Occasionally, I got mild headache but it is still bearable.
Quickly put on my shoes and grabbed my camera to join some early birds outside. Tengboche has a panoramic view of the snow-covered Himalayan mountains so I wanted to enjoy it before leaving later.
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Everest and Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world at 8,516 metres
But it was too cold, I couldn't be out for long. Went back inside the teahouse for toast and honey, and hot chocolate.
By 8am, Dinesh and I was ready to start our trekking for the day. From Tengboche, it is a long down hill through the woods, past a collapsed bridge, before crossing the river.
I lost count of the suspension bridge
crossing the river again
Crossing a river means it's time to climb up again. Oh yeahhh! Up and down.. up and down. But it's a good day cos the weather was spectacular. Clear blue sky.
Passing through the village of Pangboche, the trek now runs along mountain slope parallel to the river providing beautiful vistas of the valley. Soon I catched up with Debbie and Ken, and their porter Amin. The view was amazing. We were high over the river valley and off in the distance, Lhotse and Ama Dablam makes a perfect background.
After lunch break at Somare (4,010 metres), our climb to Dingboche continued. Elevation gain for today is 540 metres and at this altitude, it was getting really exhausting.
The higher we are, the landscape is changing with less trees and progressively becoming barren. The trail is also more rugged and less maintained. We walked on seemingly endless rocky paths along the edge of mountains, climbing stone steps, dodging yaks and porters on the trail.
Dingboche, we are here! Debbie, Ken and I stayed at the same teahouse tonight, at Mountain Paradise Lodge.
As it was still early, I walked around the village taking photos and checking out shops. There's a few shops here but unless it's necessary, better get your things at Namche Bazaar cos remember, things are more expensive the higher you are.
For the first time on the trek, I ordered dhal bhat for dinner. I thought I won't like it but it was delicious so happily, I ordered refill. Yesss.. the best thing about this traditional Nepalese meal is that it's refillable. You can have unlimited refills of the dhal bhat.
Elevation at Tengboche: 3,870 m
Elevation at Dingboche: 4,410 m
Elevation change: +540 m
Distance: 11 km
Duration: 6 hours
Amount spent:
Breakfast - Rs 550
Lunch - Rs 660
Dinner - Rs 1150
Night stay at Mountain Paradise Lodge, double room - Rs 500
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