Epic Everest Expedition – Namche Bazaar
We arrive at Namche Bazaar, one of my favourite places.
Namche is the service centre for the Khumbu Valley which leads to Everest and is essentially the “Sherpa capital”. It is like a medieval town with narrow cobbled streets and ornately decorated buildings and is relatively sophisticated with numerous good cafes and restaurants not to mention a plethora of guest houses. The coffee here is not far short of home. Namche also houses a raft of gear shops with all the top brands. It’s like a kid in a lolly shop for the adventurous!
We start the day at “gentleman’s hours” with breakfast at 7.30 and a departure just after 8.
The route to Namche is pretty much all up with an elevation gain of 600 metres give or take. The undoubted highlight is the super high suspension bridge midway. For those that have watched “Everest”, this is the bridge featured. It is awesome but not for those with height issues. We start to cross but quickly retreat when a train of yaks came across in the opposite direction.
The walk up only took us a couple of hours at a leisurely pace. We are rewarded at the end with double espressos all round and a pizza for lunch on arrival at Namche.
The plan is to spend 2 nights here to aid with acclimatisation.
Tomorrow we embark on a walk up what’s known as the Kunde Loop, to the Everest View Hotel to gain about 400 metres, and then through the village of Kumjung before getting back to the Lodge we will stay at for an afternoon of relaxation.
Hopefully (cloud depending) we will get our first views of Everest.
Brad
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