As has been my habit, I rise when the
first faint light of dawn illuminates the mountains and go for a walk
before breakfast. Everest looks lovely in morning light.
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| Everest is on the left just peeking over a closer ridge |
Thyangboche is the site of an
impressive Buddhist monastery. As I walked about, I could hear gongs
during the morning prayer service.
After breakfast, we retraced our route
of yesterday.
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| The way we came and the way back |
Down the steep slope to the river,
across the suspension bridge and up the far side we trek. The ascents
this day were only about 1/3 the time and effort as the previous day.
It is the last serious uphill effort remaining on this trip.
The trail is dusty—a mix of granite
dust and powdered dung. My nose runs continuously. Much of the dust
comes from the many yak trains going up and down.
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| Yak up close |
I take my time. I am trying to spot
birds and mammals. My guide Pasang and porter Davess have good eyes
and point out birds. They know the names of just two; so I make field
notes. I will use the Web or a book later to get their names. Pasang
spotted several monal pheasants, the national bird of Nepal. He also
located a herd of Himalayan Tahr, a type of mountain goat.
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| Monal pheasant |
We reach Namche by 12:30 and wolf down
our lunch. After that I head over to the Namche Cyber Cafe. I've been
here three times. They let me work on my blog and recharge the
notebook's battery as I sip good coffee. When I have my posts
ready and pictures edited, I rent some Wifi connect time to post the
stories. They have a Canadian flag in the window.
I had several coffees today. I do not
care if it inhibits acclamation. We are heading back tomorrow and
it's mostly downhill. I may even have a beer.
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