Lobuche

Lobuche, 4940 metres, -5 degrees celcius, 22 November

-Endless exhausting climb up a steep, stony hill left me exhausted. My appetite failed and I was out-of-sorts.

-The "chortens" scattered on the top of the desolate hill serve as a memorial to the Sherpas and others who've died on Everest, a grim reminder of the risks involved in high altitude adventures but a dramatic and beautiful scene with colourful prayer flags flapping in the cold wind (the photo is not of the chortens, but the mist-ridden Tengboche).