We woke up refreshed and eager to continue upwards on Day 4. The destination was Tengboche (3860m). The path from Namche to Tengboche was a gradual incline, a path that gently snaked around the mountains. Whether it was the less arduous uphills or the fact that we were getting used to our walking legs, the walk was relatively easier. I was still slow, counting each step to a steady rhythm, but having made it to Namche, I was more confident.
In my opinion, day 4 offered some of the best views of the entire trek. Everywhere we turned, there were layers and layers of mountains. There appeared to be an infinite amount of mountains, you can make out the faint outlines of more mountains even in the furthest of distance. I loved the fact that I was completely surrounded.
We passed by many small villages and potato farms. The only thing that can be grown at such high altitudes are potatoes, making it a staple of the Himalayan diet. Potatoes make for healthy, sturdy and robust Nepalese.
We passed by many children, all with round tawny faces and dirty ruddy cheeks; Raggedy Ann’s blush must have been inspired by these children. I loved each child we saw; they were all so beautiful (and believe me, I am not one to think all children are beautiful/cute). As soon as are able to sit upright, the children are basically left to their own devices. They sat in front of dwellings and played with the dirt and rocks. Those who could walk, ran around the village, playing with the animals, other village children and… dirt and rocks. It reminded me of the Mongolian and African children of the documentary Babies; it amazed me how simple their lives were, and how little it took to entertain them. At our teahouse in Tengboche, we watched the little girl of the owner play with a plastic water bottle for almost an hour; she sat on table and put it in and out of her shirt, pretend to drink out of it, roll it around.
We arrived in Tengboche at around 4 in the afternoon. With light still out, we roamed around the 5 teahouse village; it took all of five minutes to explore Tengboche. We wandered into the Tengboche Gompa, a Buddhist monastery established since the early 1900s. Daniel found some monks playing soccer and joined in. When it grew too cold to be outside, we ventured back into the teahouse for an evening of chatting with other trekkers.
Now, when we left home, we thought of ourselves to be quite adventurous, but we soon discovered how tame our travels were. With each passing person we met, we found them to be more adventurous than the next. In India, we met a young girl in her late teens, travelling the country for at least three months on her own. We shared a train cabin with a Canadian couple spent three months every other year in Southeast Asia; they had done the EBC trek in their 60s. Then, they told us of a French gentleman who was travelling across India on his motorbike; he too was in his 60s. All these travellers we met made our trip look so tame, but their adventures even compare to that of Charlie Whittmak.
Charles Whitmak is a self proclaimed explorer. Self-proclaimed or not, isn’t there something so poetic about being an explorer. It automatically conjures up images of maps and globes and Christopher Columbus and Alexander the Great. I digress.
Charlie sat at the table next to us during dinner and we noticed he was using his ipad to surf the internet. Only seasonal trekkers would bring such an electronic up to the mountains, we thought, and out of curiosity, we inquired about the purpose of the laptop. Turns out he wasn’t just a trekker, but a mountaineer on his way to summit the mighty Mount Everest… for, like, the third time (or something like that). This time around, he was doing it as part of a world triathlon. Climbing Mount Everest was the last leg of the triathlon where he already "swam the River Thames in England to the icy North Atlantic Sea and across the English Channel to France", completed "a 9000-mile bicycle ride across Europe and Asia, passing over many of the world’s most rugged and remote mountain ranges, and crossing hundreds of miles of barren sand desert, before climbing over the Himalaya to the Indian Ocean and Calcutta". The "running" part of the world triathlon was "950-mile run from sea level at the Bay of Bengal, up into the Himalaya, to the top of the world and the summit of Mount Everest".
And he was doing all for a social cause, to raise awareness of and funds for a global health program in Nepal. An explorer and a humanitarian. I was in complete awe of him.
Meeting people, whether it’s the porters with super human strength or children with unassuming and unaffected airs or “regular” people with passion and purpose, is one of the greatest things about travelling. It leaves you inspired to be like them, moved with compassion to do something for people, and encouraged to pursue aspirations.
- Emily
Now, when we left home, we thought of ourselves to be quite adventurous, but we soon discovered how tame our travels were. With each passing person we met, we found them to be more adventurous than the next. In India, we met a young girl in her late teens, travelling the country for at least three months on her own. We shared a train cabin with a Canadian couple spent three months every other year in Southeast Asia; they had done the EBC trek in their 60s. Then, they told us of a French gentleman who was travelling across India on his motorbike; he too was in his 60s. All these travellers we met made our trip look so tame, but their adventures even compare to that of Charlie Whittmak.
Charles Whitmak is a self proclaimed explorer. Self-proclaimed or not, isn’t there something so poetic about being an explorer. It automatically conjures up images of maps and globes and Christopher Columbus and Alexander the Great. I digress.
Charlie sat at the table next to us during dinner and we noticed he was using his ipad to surf the internet. Only seasonal trekkers would bring such an electronic up to the mountains, we thought, and out of curiosity, we inquired about the purpose of the laptop. Turns out he wasn’t just a trekker, but a mountaineer on his way to summit the mighty Mount Everest… for, like, the third time (or something like that). This time around, he was doing it as part of a world triathlon. Climbing Mount Everest was the last leg of the triathlon where he already "swam the River Thames in England to the icy North Atlantic Sea and across the English Channel to France", completed "a 9000-mile bicycle ride across Europe and Asia, passing over many of the world’s most rugged and remote mountain ranges, and crossing hundreds of miles of barren sand desert, before climbing over the Himalaya to the Indian Ocean and Calcutta". The "running" part of the world triathlon was "950-mile run from sea level at the Bay of Bengal, up into the Himalaya, to the top of the world and the summit of Mount Everest".
And he was doing all for a social cause, to raise awareness of and funds for a global health program in Nepal. An explorer and a humanitarian. I was in complete awe of him.
Meeting people, whether it’s the porters with super human strength or children with unassuming and unaffected airs or “regular” people with passion and purpose, is one of the greatest things about travelling. It leaves you inspired to be like them, moved with compassion to do something for people, and encouraged to pursue aspirations.
- Emily
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