Pangka - Gokyo (19 Oct 2006)

The temperature dropped to -5 degree Celsius in the room yesterday night. Forcing ourselves out of the sleeping bag and changing clothes was quite torturing. I woke up at 5.30am, seeing thin layer of snow had covered the roof and the land. We started the trek to Gokyo at 7.45am. At 9.00am, I saw the first lake of Gokyo. Half an hour later, second lake came into view. The first lake is quite small and the second lake is bigger. I stopped to photograph this beautiful turquoise colored lake. (photo on left)

However, the 3rd lake is even more beautiful than the 2nd. Gokyo(4800m) is just beside the 3rd lake. I reached Gokyo Resort at 10.40am. We had the room facing the lake, the view was fantastic. Photo on right is taken from the room.

12.00pm sharp, we would like to climb up Gokyo Ri(5400m) as planned. It was a chilly afternoon. The weather was not good. When we just started the journey, we saw the England trekker who we met at Dole, went down from Gokyo Ri. She told us that the visibility at the summit was poor due to the cloudy weather. So, we abandoned the trek to Gokyo Ri. Teck Long, Hai Poh and I decided to go back to the lodge for rest. Peng Meng, Foung Yee, Kok Ming, Dee and Sui Jing proceed to trek to 4th lake.

1.30pm, it started to snow. We wondered when the others will be back. Around 2.30pm, Sui Jing, Dee and Peng Meng came back to the lodge. Foung Yee and Kok Ming didn’t come back with them. They had decided to go further to 5th lake. For the next few hours, it snowed heavily. The restaurant was crowded. We sat at a corner and watching the world outside turn white.

3.30pm, we still didn’t see Kok Ming and Foung Yee. The snow was getting heavier. Hai Poh was very worried and nearly set up a rescue team to look for them. He had no mood to do anything, kept on looking out the window anxiously. An hour later, I went outside with Hai Poh and Dee. It was still snowing. But we ignored it as we were too excited with our first few inches of snow. We took pictures and played with the snow balls. Teck Long joined us after a while. Suddenly, Hai Poh spotted 3 persons from far and he quickly ran to them. Guess who? It’s Kok Ming, Foung Yee and Man (trekking guide). When asking about their journey back, Man said he’s dying. Kok Ming said it’s fun and exciting. Foung Yee said the snow kept on flying in her mouth, poor visibility and can only recognize the trail by mani stones. We were glad that they had returned safely.

Back to story of Kok Yuen, we couldn’t find him at Gokyo. The owner of the Gokyo Resort claimed that he was here 2 days ago. Foung Yee made a call to Everest Hotel at Namche Bazaar. The hotel told us that Kok Yuen stayed there but was not in the hotel at the moment. Around 7.30pm, the lodge owner told us that there was a call for Foung Yee. It was from Kok Yuen. The line was unclear, they didn’t talk much. We will meet him at Lhabarma tomorrow. Kok Yuen was separated from team for a week. Where had he been? We were very eager to find out.

Dole - Machhermo - Pangka (18 Oct 2006)

18 Oct 2006, we stayed at Pangka (4548m) for overnight. This wasn’t in our plan. We would like to go up to Gokyo today. However, the change of weather had made us stopped and stayed at the Fanga View Point Hotel which runs by a young and pretty Sherpa lady.

The day started with climb up a steep hill. Dole looks very beautiful from the hilltop. The trail is quite flat after the steep hill. Moving towards above 4000m, the scenery was changing once again. We had left the forest behind and came across the place with large patch of white cotton grass (photo on right). I enjoyed today’s journey very much. I am seeing the white cotton flying into the wind and admiring the beautiful valley scenery. Stones houses, walled fields, snow capped mountains made up a beautiful picture. It was like scenes in the fairy tales.

We reached Luza at 10.20pm. Then, we climbed up the hill beyond Luza and reached Machhermo around 11.00am. I ordered Ra Ra noodle and hot lemon for lunch. Later, the 3 Japanese women were also arrived. We had funny chat with them this morning. They could speak very little English and we knew very little Japanese words. So, we speak English and they speak Japanese. We don’t understand each other and most of the time can only guess the meaning via the gesture. But they were friendly persons and I think the incident yesterday night was only the misunderstanding.

After lunch, we started to climb uphill. Wind blew strongly. I heard Kok Ming shouted:” Look! It’s snowing!”. Snow flurries started. Our guide suggested us to stop at the next village due to sudden change of the weather. That’s how we ended up in Pangka.

Along the way, we kept on asking for Kok Yuen news. As of now, only Kok Yuen was not yet back to the team. At Machhermo, someone said that Kok Yuen stayed there for 2 days and went up to Gokyo yesterday. If this is true, then most probably he will descend from Gokyo today and we might meet him when we trek up. However, we did not see him. His whereabouts was unknown.......

Pangboche - Phortse - Dole (17 Oct 2006)

We took off at 8 something in the morning, trekked towards upper Pangboche, and followed the trail that contours high above the river. The trail was quite scary at some point. Narrow rock trail cuts across a vertical cliff face. 2.5 hours later, we saw the village of Phortse, perched on the edge of a deep valley. We went downhill, to the river and stopped for lunch. It was about 12pm when we reached Phortse Thyaga.

We continue the journey around 1.30pm. The trail uphill was very steep but the continually changing scenery drove us onwards. We were entering the beautiful forest of juniper, pine and rhododendron. The view is very spectacular in the autumn months when the leaves turn to yellow and red color. The scenery is totally different from the previous days.

I reached Dole (4048m) at 4.00pm. We checked in Namaste Lodge. “Namaste” is Nepali greetings. Along the trail, regardless of the nationality, trekkers always greet each other with “Namaste”. We got news of Kok Yuen; our guide told us that he was at Dole 2 days ago. We hope we could meet him on the way up tomorrow.

The tea-house is modest. We met a trekker from England. She was traveled alone without hiring porter and guide. There were also 3 Japanese in the restaurant. Contrary to that England trekker, they hired 3 guides and 4 porters. They reached quite late. There was no room for 3 of them. So, 2 of them have to sleep in the restaurant. After dinner, we played cards, chess and chit-chat as usual. Via their guide, they asked us to lower down our voice or go back to our room as they would like to rest. Some of us were not happy as it’s still too early for sleep. So, we moved to a corner and continue the activities.

It’s very cold at night, around 2-3 degree Celsius. I hold the bottle that filled with hot water and fall asleep.

Rest Days at Pangboche (15 - 16 Oct 2006)

7am in the morning, the temperature in the restaurant is very low, 2 degree Celsius. I am freezing. Hai Poh brought his sleeping bag up to cover his legs. He decided to stay in the lodge to write his articles. Teck Long, Sui Jing, Dee and I decided to explore the places around Pangboche.

There is a small river not far away from the tea-house. We followed the trail beside the river to go upper Pangboche. There are mani stones along with the prayer flags at the hill. The colorful prayer flags are blowing in the wind, spreading the blessings to all human beings.

We went up higher, overlooking the Pangboche village. Then only we found out that Pangboche is a big village. There are a lot of houses which located a bit far away from the main trail. The day was pleasant and relaxing. We visited the monastery, stroll in the village, and then slowly retrace our steps to the lodge.

Teck Long and Hai Poh tried to call up Everest Hotel to look for Kok Yuen. However, the line cannot get through. They had tried it for few times, but not successful. Then, we decided to send a porter to Namche Bazaar to look for him. We pretty sure that he will be at Namche Bazaar to wait for us. Anyway, we knew that we were wrong on the following day.

The next day morning, we woke up very late. Our mission today is looking for the primary school at Pangboche. These 2 days, we saw a lot of school kids went down from the hill but we did not see any school yesterday. So, we went uphill followed different trail. Still we couldn’t see any building on the hill except the mani stones.

A young lady carried a sling bag and books in her hand walked towards Sui Jing and me. She asked us the time. It was 10.40am and she told us that she has class at 11.00pm. We beckoned Dee and Teck Long, followed that young lady to school. We went uphill. We can only see that we are heading to a small green hut.(Later, we found out that this green hut is the toilet in the school.) But once we climbed up that hill and reached that green hut, the school can be clearly seen.

This primary school consists of an old building and 2 new buildings. They have 4 classes - standard 1, standard 2& 3, standard 4 and standard 5. We met the headmaster and found out that there are 4 teachers in this school. The staff office is very simple, with only 3-4 tables in the room.

Students are very cute and playful. At first, they don’t like us to take their photos. But when we let them view the photos taken on the digicam, they were excited and kept on asking us to take their photos. They also sing and dance for us.
Mission accomplished. ;)

Before lunch, we went to the river to wash the hair. The water was as cold as ice. It really took us a lot of courage to rinse our hair with water. We shouted for coldness, at the same time, put the shampoo and wash the hair. Then, we ran back to the tea-house. I felt so refresh after the hair wash.

Foung Yee, Peng Meng and Kok Ming arrived at Pangboche around 1.30pm. They had made it to Kalapattar 2 days ago. Our flight from Lukla to Kathmandu had been successfully rescheduled to 23rd Oct. This means we could continue our trek to west part of Khumbu Region. However, we got the news that Kok Yuen had went to Gokyo alone. The porter that we sent to Namche Bazaar had returned and confirmed the news. We had a lot of questions in our mind. We don’t know what is happening and why he’s trekking alone. Where is the porter going? Why he’s not following Kok Yuen? Anyway, this also means that Kok Yuen had recovered. So, we are not too worried as we know that he could take care of himself.

Duglha - Pheriche - Pangboche (14 Oct 2006)

The sun was rising. The surrounding mountains are visible and clear.

After Kok Ming, Foung Yee and Peng Meng took off to Gorak Shep, we also began our journey to Pheriche. I saw the rescue helicopter make flights several times these few days. Is that possible that Kok Yuen already flying out by the helicopter?
It was around 10.00am when we reached Pheriche. We met Lisa and Stephen from Hong Kong. They will descend to Tengboche today. We took the photos with them before they left. (Photo from left to right: Stephen, Jing Yee, Dee, Lisa and Teck Long).

We were asking around for Kok Yuen’s news. One of the lodge owners told us that he was staying at Pheriche yesterday and had only checked out about an hour ago. Without wasting any time, we moved towards Pangboche to chase for him. We checked every tea-house on the way, didn’t stop for rest all the way from Pheriche to Somare. We stopped at Moon Light Restaurant – the restaurant that we had lunch 6 days ago on the way up to Dingboche. The boss told us that Kok Yuen was there 3 hours ago. 3 hours? We were confused. 3 hours ago means 9am. But we had been told that Kok Yuen just left Pheriche at 9am. How can he at 2 places for the same time?

It was almost 1pm after the lunch at Somare. We continue the journey to Pangboche (3985m) as plan. We can see Pangboche from Somare. It was only half and hour journey. Stephen and Lisa were having lunch at the tea house that we checked in. Hai Poh asked Stephen to pass message to Kok Yuen if he saw Kok Yuen at Tengboche. Although we knew that possibility was low, no harm to try it.

The restaurant of this tea-house is very special. It is at the 3rd floor. The wall is made of glass. We sat at the corner and admire the scenic surrounding. Pangboche offers fantastic view of Ama Dablam (Photo on right) and Tawoche Peak (The above photo on left). The tea house has nice restaurant but the toilet is quite bad. The toilet is simple with leaves and almost “full”.

Behind the lodge, a group of workers are building a new house. That’s why we could hear the non-stop “Dik Dik Dik” sound, the sound was made when they carve the stones into bricks for the house. Houses here are made of stone, with wooden frame window. I found that almost all the tea-house painted their window frame with blue, green, or brown color. Is it the co-incidence? Anyway, the stone wall, color window frame had made them unique and harmonize with the nature.

We ordered our dinner before 5.30pm. After 14 days, we started to feel bored with the foods. The menu for every tea house is almost the same. Our budget for every meal is 200 Rupees (about RM 10). Teck Long came out with the “combo set” idea where 2 or more persons can combine their budget, order different food and shared. Look at the one of “combo set” (photo on left). It consists of vegetables fried noodles, egg fried rice, fried potatoes and spring rolls. Only Hai Poh was not interested with the “combo set”. He said the portion was not enough for him. He’s the die-hard supporter for Dal-Bhat. ;)

Kalapattar (13 Oct 2006)

13 Oct 2006, we woke up at 4.30am. After having some simple breakfast, we started our trekking to Kalapattar(5545m) around 6.00am. It was very cold early in the morning. Hai Poh told us that the temperature drops to -7 degree Celsius last night. The ascent was very steep. The weather was extremely cold. My body was shivering. I almost can’t feel my fingers. Dee also felt the same but she still gave me another pair of gloves and shawl to keep me warm. She is a very kind girl.

Mt. Pumori was clearly seen from the Kalapattar trail. On the way up, I looked at the mountains that slowly brighten up by the sun. The view was wonderful. However, I still have half way to go. I was hoping that I can trek faster to the ground that had received the morning light. The coldness demoralized me. I was extremely slow. It took me 2.5 hours to reach summit. Usually, others will only take 1.5 – 2 hours to reach.

The sky was clear. No cloud is hanging there. We get the most magnificent mountain panorama. We are very excited. We shout, laugh, and keep on pressing shutter of the digicam. When playback the photos taken, they seems unreal. It’s like those in the postcard or magazine. I couldn’t believe that I am seeing it with my eyes.

Kalapattar is a peak in the centre of snowcapped mountains like Everest, Nutpse, Lhortse, Pumori as well as hundreds of other beautiful peaks. We were amazed by the majestic view surrounding Kalapattar. We stayed in the summit for almost an hour before made the way back to Gorak Shep. It was almost 10.00am when I reached the lodge.

Hai Poh and Teck Long started to complain headache. Teck Long wanted to get down and out of Gorak Shep as soon as possible. He describes it as “escape from 5180”. (Gorak Shep is at height 5180m). We packed our things and trekked down to Lobuche after lunch. Teck Long disappeared in just a short while. I think he really afraid that AMS will hit him.

1.30pm, we arrived Lobuche(4930m). Hai Poh and Teck Long seem better. We saw the message left by Peng Meng, told us that they descended to Dhuglha(4620m). After having the most expensive Vege + Egg Nara noodles (240 Rupees = RM 12.50), we trekked down to Dhuglha. Nara noodle in other word is instant noodles. We were regret that we didn’t bring Maggie mee cups from Malaysia.

After half an hour trekking, I saw a familiar face from far. It was Kok Ming! We are so glad to hear that Foung Yee was recovered after a day rest. Kok Ming was very “busy” today. He went down to Pheriche(4243m) with Peng Meng to ask about Kok Yuen’s condition. He was told that Kok Yuen had descended to Pangboche (3985m). Then, he trekked towards Lobuche to find us.
We continue to go downhill, to the steep hill behind Dhuglha. I refresh the memory of the difficult climb 2 days ago. The descent is much easier. Photo on right is the lodge that we stayed at Dhuglha. I reached there around 4.30pm.

A meeting is carried out to discuss about our schedule on the following day. Team mates are considering of crossing Cho-La pass. The pass is very steep and involves glacier crossing. It required us to hike up faster to height 5400m, and then go down. According to the guide, the pass is quite dangerous at some point and will trek on the barren area. There will be no village for rest between Zongla and Thagna. It will be at least 7 hours trek.

Since some of us are not doing well, we had made the decision of not crossing the Cho-La pass. We will separate into 2 groups. Foung Yee, Peng Meng and Kok Ming will made their attempt to Gorak Shep and Kalapattar again. Hai Poh, Dee, Teck Long, Sui Jing and I will go down to look for Kok Yuen. We will then meet up again after 2 days at Pangboche. After that, we will continue the trek to Gokyo - the west part of Khumbu region via Pangboche.

However, there are 2 things that still bothering us :
1) Our flight from Lukla to Kathmandu is scheduled at 21st Oct. We need to re-schedule it in order to have time to go Gokyo. Our guide told us that he will try but couldn't promise anything.
2) We have no idea how's Kok Yuen doing and the exact location of him. Hopefully will be able to locate him tomorrow.


This is definitely unforgettable day for me. All the way up, my stamina is the weakest among the team. I couldn’t believe that I was able to make it to Kalapattar. I am very tired but also excited and satisfied.

Lobuche to Gorak Shep (12 Oct 2006)

12 Oct 2006 3.30am, our guide Man knocked the door and told us that Kok Yuen was sick. He got fever, felt dizzy and not able to walk in straight line. Foung Yee and Dee went out to take a look at him. We were then back to sleep and hope that his condition will be better in the morning. Early in the morning, Kok Yuen was not recovered. So, he descended to Pheriche(4243m) with a porter. There is a hospital in Pheriche where he can get the treatment. If he has recovered, then he will hike up and meet us at Lobuche after 2 days. Else he will go down and meet us at Namche Bazaar after 10 days. We thought that porters should be immune to the altitude sickness. But we were wrong, one of our porters was not feeling well but he insisted to continue the journey with us. So, 8 of us follow the original plan to Gorak Shep (5180m) with our guide and 4 porters.

Kok Ming, Dee, Peng Meng, Foung Yee, Hai Poh and Teck Long were ahead of Sui Jing and me. But after certain distance, Hai Poh will stop and wait for Sui Jing and me. The trek to Gorak Shep was a subtle set of ascents and descents. The ascent was not steep but at this point, trek on the flat trail was also tiring. We trekked in a barren area where only rocks, sand, glaciers and mountains were around us.

Around 1.30pm, valley with several lodges came into sight. I pointed the valley and asked a Sherpa “ Gorak Shep ? “. He nodded his head and said “Yes, yes, Gorak Shep”. Eventually, I had reached the last village of our trekking in east part of Khumbu Region. Gorak Shep is the highest / last village that provides tea house accommodation for Everest trek. We checked in Snow Land Inn. The tea-house was quite nice, have inside toilet and big restaurant.

Foung Yee looks tired when I met her at the lodge. She had arrived earlier. She sat on the bed with her eyes closed. Then, she lay down on the bed. I thought she only needs some rest, so didn’t disturb her and went down to restaurant to meet with others. Due to altitude, afternoon sleep is not good, so team mates wake her up and brought her to the restaurant downstairs. She told us that she felt very cold. Even after taking the hot garlic soup, she doesn’t seem to get better. Hai Poh and Teck Long hold her and could feel that she was shivering. Her condition seems to get worse. She went back to the room for rest and had become nearly unconscious in a short while. After consult the lodge’s owner, from his experience, he told us that Foung Yee condition was very serious. He suggested giving her oxygen for half an hour to temporarily relieve symptoms of altitude sickness and then descend immediately. At this moment, we had to take his advice. After taking the oxygen, she told us that she felt better and she doesn’t want to descent. Team mates advice her accordingly and finally she agreed to go down. Porter carried Foung Yee on his back and descended together with Peng Meng, Kok Ming, our guide and another porter that carried their backpacks. It was nearly 3.30pm when they descended. We were worried about them as the sky will get dark around 5.30pm and the temperature will drop very soon.
In a day time, 2 of our friends got AMS and descended. Our team had separated into 3 groups - Kok Yuen descended to Pheriche, Kok Ming, Peng Meng and Foung Yee descended to Lobuche and only left 5 of us (Hai Poh, Dee, Teck Long, Sui Jing and I) stayed at Gorak Shep. It really made us sad.

After some discussion, we decided to continue the trek to Kalapattar(5545m) the next morning and then descend to Lobuche to meet with others. But if anyone of us is not feeling well, we will not go to Kalapattar and will descend immediately. We have to cancel the plan to Everest Base Camp as it takes longer time (at least 3 hours from Gorak Shep to EBC).

Our mood was down. What happened to Kok Yuen and Foung Yee now? Will the remaining 5 of us able to go up Kalapattar? I can only pray everything will be fine the next day.

Dingboche to Lobuche (11 Oct 2006)

11 Oct 2006, the day started off with hiking up the ridge, and then trekked on the flat trail. Pheriche that located in the wide valley can be seen clearly. From now on, the area is desolate, with only some grasses and some small flowers. Foliage is hard to grow at this height. We met the two trekkers - Lisa and Stephen, from Hong Kong again. We first met them at the day we wait for flight at domestic airport. They have the same schedule as us.

About 11am, we reached Dhuglha(4620m) where we stopped for lunch. At 12pm, we started to climb up the very steep hill just behind Dhuglha. I felt exhausted after hike for half an hour, have to stop for rest every 50 steps. I let a group of yaks by passed me, even the yaks that carried the supplies go faster than me. Kok Yuen offered to carry my backpack. He said even with 2 backpacks, he can walk faster than me. Well…..it’s true, without backpack, I still walk as slow as tortoise. Finally, I reached the hilltop, feeling half-dead. At hilltop, there are a lot of mani stones that served as the direction for trekkers. Besides, there are stone monuments that built to memorize those climbers that died in their expedition to Everest.

After some rest, I got back the backpack from Kok Yuen and continue the trek to Lobuche(4910m). I can feel the thin air when the altitude slowly gains towards Lobuche. There are no more steep ascents, but gradually going up. We reached Lobuche around 2pm.

As usual, after unpacking the luggage and changed the clothes, we gathered at the restaurant. Our guide asked us to teach him Mandarin and Dee also learned Nepali from him. Lobuche is 700m higher than Dingboche. Because of the coldness of the weather, we can only stay indoors. The restaurant is small. The heater made the restaurant stuffy. I can’t stand with it, so will open the window once in a while to let the fresh air come in. Tomorrow we will trek to Gorak Shep, step nearer to our target Kalapattar and Everest Base Camp. No one expect that things go beyond our control the next day.

Day trip to Chukung (10 Oct 2006)

We trekked to Chukung(4730m) for acclimatization purpose. The initial plan is trek to Chukung and then goes up Chukung Ri (5500m). It was sunny day. We had good view of snow capped peaks of Ama Dablam, Island Peak and Lhortse. The trek is gradual. It’s supposed to be quite easy but I still not able to walk fast. It took us about 3 hours to reach Chukung. Chukung is a small village with only 5-6 lodges. I guess it’s mostly catered for those that would like to climb up Island Peak.

I wasn’t doing well, so decided not to go up Chukung Ri after lunch. Foung Yee, Kok Ming, Peng Meng and Sui Jing decided to go up Chukung Ri. However, considering the time needed for going up and trek back to Dingboche, they couldn’t aim for the peak. They gave themselves 1-1.5 hours for Chukung Ri trekking. For the rest of us, we rested for half and hour and trekked back to the lodge.

The sun disappeared and the sky was cloudy. The wind was blowing strongly. The chilly wind made everyone walked faster and dare not stop. Before 2pm, we had reached the lodge, only took 1.5 hours from Chukung back to Dingboche. Foung Yee, Ming, Sui Jing and Peng Meng came back to lodge around 3.30pm.

Almost every lodge provides hot shower service. At Sonam Friendship Lodge, hot shower can be provided for 200 Rupees (around RM 10). The hot shower bathroom was a small hut outside the lodge. Once you let the lodge knows that you would like to take the shower, they will heat a kettle of water and poured into a bucket with hose and water tap that is on the roof of the bathroom. Kok Yuen and Foung Yee had tried out the hot shower here. Their advice is always test the water temperature when the lodge informs you that the hot shower is ready. The reason is if the water is too hot, then you can ask the lodge to adjust it before taking bath.

At altitude 4260m, I didn’t sweat much although had trekked for few hours. The last time I took the shower was 4 days ago when I was at Namche Bazaar. I planned to take shower only when I was back to Namche again. Although the water is hot, the weather is very cold outside. There is risk of catching fever. I couldn’t take the risk as I had only completed 30% of the entire route. The challenges are still ahead.

Tengboche to Dingboche (9 Oct 2006)

9 Oct 2006 , the sky was clear early in the morning. We get an amazing view of the Himalayas around us. Peng Meng is the one that get very excited. Early in the morning when I just woke up, I had heard his voice outside the room saying that the view is spectacular. We started the trek to Dingboche at 8.00am. We went downhill, passed the small village of Debuche, crossed the river (Imja Khola), and ascending gradually.

We passed by Pangboche(photo on right), with beautiful view of Ama Dablam ahead. After Pangboche, the landscape changed, very few trees and a lot of rocks.



We stopped for lunch at Somare. After lunch, we slept for a while before continue the journey. It was about 2.30pm when I reached Dingboche.



Dingboche is a village between two ridges. We spent 2 nights here for acclimatization at altitude more than 4000m. Our guide told us to avoid sleep in the afternoon as it may cause AMS. So, we spent the rest of the day in the restaurant. A few of us felt headache. To prevent the altitude sickness, we keep on drinking the hot water. We played chess or cards for pass time. I will spend time to write diary everyday. Other trekkers in the restaurant are doing the same, either reading a book, writing diary or playing cards.

For these days, our daily routine is wake up at 5.30am, pack our luggage, have breakfast, and then start trekking. Usually, we will stop for lunch around 11am. Food will be served an hour later. After lunch, trek to the destination. Every lodge has a restaurant and there is heater in the restaurant. We will spend the time in the restaurant and have our dinner around 6.00-6.30pm. Before go to sleep, our guide will brief us on next day itinerary. We will then look at the map and find out where we will go the next day. The last thing is order the breakfast for tomorrow and refills our water bottle with hot water. Usually, we will go to bed before 9pm.