Scott was ill in the evening , shivering but with a slightly high temperature. Much to everybody's relief, he recovered through the night and was back to normal this morning, determined to go for a walk with the rest of us.
Today we seemed to be behind schedule all the time, late for breakfast, late for our briefing by the Park Warden, late for lunch and so late for the tree planting that we had scheduled in that we had to cancel it. Ho hum. Sometimes things just have to go more slowly.
The mists had cleared overnight and we had a great view of Tham Serku, the huge mountain that towers over the cwm of Namche Bazaar. Awsome. The only word that I can think of to adequately describe it.
After a breakfast which was either delicious or disgusting depending on to whom you were speaking (Tibetan bread, eggs and cornflakes with hot milk), we set off in to the chill mountain air for an acclimatization walk. By this time the clouds had come in and wisps of white cloud swirled around the mountain chaotically, wrapping us in a surprisingly cold embrace.
The National Park Warden might not be the most popular person in town. He is responsible for stopping people logging and hunting in the National Park. His office is closely surrounded by trenches and razor wire. I think it is better protected than the US Consulate in Al Khobar. The warden gave us a welcome talk and told us something about the National Park's work in the region. His English was good, but fortunately not good enough to understand one student's question about the rare snow leopard - 'Is it eatable?'
From the Park headquarters we climbed up to the airport - actually just a dirt runway now used solely for helicopters. We had tea in a lodge there to escape the bitter wind and Dambar, our guide, told us stories about how the people of Namche rid themselves of yeti. The yeti used to copy everything the people of Namche did, so eventually the people of Namche played all day with wooden kukri - the Ghurka knives. In the evening they put out sharp knives. Sure enough the Yeti copied the humans but of course killed each other.
We returned to the Lodge for lunch, but too late to go to plant trees as we had planned. Instead we gave the kids some free time and I went for a run. It is amazing how much difference the altitude makes when you haven't yet fully adjusted. Then I had a shower and changed my clothes - the first time since leaving Saudi! I will let you use your own imagination to determine how often your kids have been changing their clothes and taking a shower. Really it is just too cold you know.
Tomorrow we head of again for the wonderful monastery of Tengboche. I can't post photographs from here in Namche, but if you check out my website www.hobnail.com you should be able to find photographs from the trip I made in December.
We will be out of email and blog contact for a while now, but I will update the blog as soon as I get chance.
Nick
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