Day 3: Namche Bazaar

13 April 2007
Namche Bazaar, 3440 metres, 1630 hours.

Although it's my rest/acclimatisation day, I didn't stay in the lodge. Instead I had quite an adventure. I thought I'd go to the Everest View hotel (3,900metres), the world's highest 4-star hotel, just over the mountain from Namche. But someone directed me to a really steep route up. By the time I was a hundred metres up the narrow ridge, I was too scared to climb down so I just carried on. I wasn't tired in the least but too afraid to move fast. In the end I did make it to the hotel, where I had a pot of tea in the verendah overlooking Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam.

Mount Everest seems to have had more snow this year and no longer looks the black pyramid jutting over the Lhotse-Nuptse wall. The clouds, as I sat sipping my tea, streamed past barely 50 metres above my head and I couldn't help thinking how dramatic the scene would have looked on video.

On the way down I decided to detour to Shyangboche, which has an airstrip. It's a longer route but less steep. Unfortunately, the last part of the descent to Namche was over rocks and stone steps. Still, I was back in the lodge before 1400hours, enjoying a hearty meal.

Despite my initial scare, I had a great day and I asked myself if I'd like to live and work here for an year. The answer was a resounding yes.