Day 9: Khumjung, Thamel, Namche
This morning we awoke to the sounds of a pissed off yak mooing at some farmer off in the distance. Not sure what that was about. As with most teahouses here, the windows don’t really shut so you hear the sounds of the world around you and feel the cold midnight air.
After another breakfast of some sort of potato variant and tea, we set off back towards Shyangboche en route to Thamel, a very small village west of Namche. We were taking the scenic route through Thamel and then to Namche because the direct route is mostly downhill, and as such, pretty easy. The clouds had parted a bit during breakfast to provide us with a great view of Ama Dablam but quickly returned as we made our way back up the hill. Soon we were trekking in a thick fog.
Three or four hours later we arrived in Thamel for lunch. A nice local sherpa family owned the only teahouse there and served up some tasty momos and soup. The husband of the family was a high altitude expedition climber and the daughter a high altitude marathon runner. There was a 2nd place tshirt on the wall for the recent Everest Base Camp to Namche marathon. Running a marathon at sea level is one thing. I can’t imagine trying to run one at 15,000 feet.
A heavy rainstorm had set in as we sat and ate lunch and it was still sprinkling when we set off for Namche. After working our way through the terraced hill trails for a couple of hours we started to hear the familiar sounds of Namche even though we couldn’t yet see it. Yaks mooing. Hammers clanking as the stoneworkers chipped away. The occasional rooster.
Back in Namche, we decided to check out the Friday market which consisted of 25 to 30 vendors hawking their various wares that had been toted in by yak or porter. Pencils, Pringles, rice, eggs, live chickens or goats, or perhaps an unrefridgerated side of buffalo meat. If you wanted it, they had it. I thought about getting a goat but the shipping was a bit steep.
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