- By Monika Paris
- Posted October 27, 2016
Day 11: From Dingboche to Namche Bazaar
We woke up early and left Dingboche at 7:00 am. It was still quite chilly as the sun was not hitting the trail yet. However, we were excited to be leaving the high altitude of 4400 meters and climbing down to 3800 meters at Namche Bazaar.
As we were climbing down, the landscape changed dramatically. We left the barren, raw landscape of rocks and shades of grey to a friendlier environment of trees, shrubs and greens. It was refreshing to smell the scent of juniper trees and it was also becoming apparent that we were once again enjoying air that was more saturated with oxygen; that made the nearly 13 miles of hiking more effortless.
About 3 hours into the hike, we stopped at a teahouse to enjoy the a cup of tea with a clear view onto Everest. It does not get much better than that. We enjoyed the moment as long as possible as we knew that this moment will not present itself so soon again. As we were heading down towards Namche Bazar, we had lunch at the Tengboche Monestary, a spirutal place where many Everest climbers stop to receive blessings before heading into the unknown of climbing the tallest mountain in the world.
It seemed that Everest stayed with us all day. We continued to enjoy its majestic presence during a lunch of Sherpa Stew and Momos.
The hike was very steep at times and we were glad to arrive at Namche Bazar just before dark. We stayed at our favorite tea house, Panorama Lodge, the best place in town. We enjoyed a hot shower, the first in what seemed like forever, and had big dinner to refuel and slept for at least 8 hours!
