For the whole trek, with the exception of eggs, both Sara and I were vegetarians. There is "yak" steak available, and some other meat, but we decided to not partake of it. The meat comes from below Namche (and is unlikely to be yak, more likely water buffalo). It is portered up, and well, after seeing that, it kind of takes your desire for meat away.Up early for breakfast. Sara had a massive bowl of porridge and I had a huge apple pancake (I told you the food was good here). Then we were off at a cracking pace...Phakding in less than an hour and a half..as we had fun passing the Lukla groups. Where we had had 10 days to acclimatise to the altitude and build up our endurance, the poor folks coming off a plane from Europe, then a plane from Kathmandu, were no match. Of course we over did it and went a bit too fast up the steep climb to Namche, or at least I did. Sara was fine but with my cold, I was stuffed. I had to send Sara and our porter/guide to find the lodge that had been recommended to us, while I tried to regain my breath.
We stayed at a wonderful small place (4 rooms) called SunSite. It is the way Namche (3,440m) used to be, homey, cozy, friendly, and small scale. A lovely older lady looks after the place and she is so sweet, and a good cook too. She also seems not to have raised her prices like everyone else.
2 comments:
Thank you for the post and photos. I stayed in a similar family-owned teahouse in Phakding last March 2008, and a more primitive one 1/2-way between Namche and Tengbuche that was usually a popular lunch stop, where the Sherpa dialect was spoken by everyone else besides the three of us; my guide and porter could not understand their conversation. It was so good to be immersed in the real Sherpa culture.
Very Nice posting.
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