Phakding to Namche Bazaar (6 Oct 2006)

I woke up at 5.30am. After packing my backpack, I went down for breakfast at 6.30am. I carried a 35 liter backpack and let porters to carry another heavy bag. Our guide – Man, sent one of the porters that only carried a small bag to go off earlier to book the accommodation for us at Namche Bazaar (3440m). We started our journey around 7.30am. It’s only less than an hour trekking from Phakding, we were blocked by Maoists. They demanded Rupee 2500 from every trekker. It was equivalent to RM 130 or USD 35. This is a lot, especially when I had limited budget. I felt angry but couldn’t do anything. After paying the “tax”, they gave each of us a receipt. According to our guide, if this receipt is shown to other Maoist group, they will not ask for more money.

We passed the village called Benker and reached Sagamartha National Park entrance (photo on left) about 10.30am. After getting the trekking permit (cost each of us USD 16), we proceed to Jorsale where we had our lunch. To save time, we ordered the same food - Dal-Bhat. Dal-Bhat is the local food that served with rice, fried vegetables and Dal soup. We can ask the restaurant for Dal-bhat refill (yes, refill the rice, vege and soup). Peng Meng had missed the restaurant that we stopped. We couldn’t find him along the way from Jorsale to Namche Bazaar.

After lunch, we rest for a while and continue the journey at about 12.30pm. The trail goes steeply after crossing a bridge. Photo on right showed the bridge. It was 4 hours trekking on the steep trail and just before I collapse, I saw Namche Bazaar. We met Peng Meng. He had arrived few hours ago.

When I reached my room at Everest Hotel, I was very tired. Foung Yee and Dee were in the room. I sat on the bed, not even have energy to say a word. Today, I had trekked for nearly 8 hours.

According to Chinese calendar, 6 Oct is the mid-autumn festival or some of us called it moon cake festival. After dinner, we light the candles and hang up the lantern in front of the hotel. Then, we shared the moon cake and dragon fruit enzyme (taste a bit like alcohol) brought by Hai Poh and Kok Yuen. It was cold at night. But we still preferred to stay outside to look at the moon and chit-chat. Once in a lifetime experience – the moon cake festival celebration at Namche Bazaar.