I’ve decided not to do a blow by blow account of the trek in. Basically it consists of me following in Tshering’s footsteps. Doesn’t really make for interesting reading. So I thought for the trek to Base Camp I’d try and describe the people, places and the atmosphere.
Unlike on previous trips I’m staying in lodges rather than camping. I’m not a lover of camping, although for some reason I seem to have done a fair amount over the last few years, It can be uncomfortable, noisy, wet, cold, need I go on!
Back in 2007 on my first trip to the Himalaya, I went with a company called CatTreks and we camped in the grounds of the tea houses, I have to say I wondered why. After the first night I knew, the tea houses were extremely basic and the company wanted to be able to control all aspects of hygiene and food… remember we are all pampered Westerners and very few of us are able to tolerate the locally sourced and cooked food and especially the water. I know that’s a grave generalisation , but Dheli Belly is not something that anyone of us wants.
So since that first trip I’ve camped. This is the first trip that I haven’t, we’re using tea houses and lodges all the way to Base Camp, so this experience is new to me. Our walk in started at a little known place near Bung in the Makalu National Park along paths very rarely used by trekkers. So I was expecting the lodges to be very basic.
Firstly I’ll try and explain what you get at an average lodge/tea house. There’s the kitchen, which is the tradesmen’s entrance, always warm as there’s always a fire on, so that’s where all the Sherpas and porters seem to migrate to. The main entrance generally leads to the dining room, which has bench seating along with the tables around the outside and the most important thing, the log or Yak dung burner in the centre of the room. Probably not the safest log burner you’ll ever see but definitely one of the most appreciative that you’ll ever find. Upstairs, often using outside steep stone or wooden steps, to gain entry are the totally unsound proofed bedrooms and I mean you can could probably even hear someone pick their nose! But that’s what you get. The food is a local take on a Western menu… you can have a plate of chips, for example, but you’ll get nothing else! So you have to remember to order, another dish, such as fried eggs, separately and these will come on a separate plate, as there wouldn’t be room on the plate of chips as it would be literally piled high.
What I forgot is that they are all very dark. Most are powered by solar power, with very small windows. So all in all they’re not the most welcoming of places. Having said all of that the people are extremely welcoming. Hospitality doesn’t come with wealth and possessions, it comes with a smile that’s both genuine and sincere, which the Nepalese appear to have in abundance.
So, after a lot of waffle, I’ll briefly describe the tea houses/lodges that we’ve been staying in. The first night was certainly a grand entrance into the dining area, with satellite TV, the downside the remote was in the hands of a 16 year old! The sleeping area was up some open stone stairs fixed into the outside of the building. I’ve been told that steps are designed to be an optimal height, any slight change in that causes people to trip, well as you’ve probably already guessed, these were not of uniform height, width or even flat, with no handrail and at the top of the Stairs laid a dog, curled up fast asleep. The top, probably about two foot square was open on all sides except for the entrance into the building and the dog claimed most of that space and wasn’t in any hurry to move! The bedroom was like all the the bedrooms 2m x 3m with two single beds, with pretty solid mattress’s. I won’t bother describing them as they are all a variation on that theme. I was the only guest and was mothered and fussed over by the lady in charge. That also appears to be a similar theme that the wife runs the lodge, where the husbands are I’ve no idea?
The second lodge came into view very suddenly and wow it looked brand new, I had a smile from ear to ear. There has to be a bit, when I say looked brand new, it was, in fact only 70% complete. We’ve all heard these horror stories of unfinished hotels and the noise of the building work. Apparently the old lodge was accidentally burned down and was being rebuilt and the building work went on while ever there was light. The owner insisted on giving me a tour of where the new toilets and shower would be and the private rooms with wonderful views. From the previous sentence you have made the obvious assumption that the old toilet’s were still in use. They, of course, were nowhere near the original building that was burned down, in fact they were on the edge of a ‘long drop’ hence the name ‘long drop toilet’. In the morning I found out why I had the tour, he asked for a contribution towards the rebuilding costs.
It’s here that I met the first group of trekkers and low and behold they were British. They were on their way to climb Mera Peak, not the normal route, but certainly one that is a more interesting trail than the normal route and far quieter. A great group and we were to follow each other for the next few days. Now the third lodge was very different. Probably it was originally built as a place to summer pasture the animals and now run by two young ladies as more tourists start to use this particular trail. They were very, very welcoming and led me into the dining area, which was nearly pitch black, with a doorway considerably lower than my 6’ and I have the bruise to prove it. I do wonder if its previous use was to shelter the animals in bad weather. This camp was at 4,250m a place I was going to spend two nights to acclimatise… but I decided as all was going well I’d carry on the next day into the Mera valley and as it turned out PEOPLE.
