Into the New Yonder - in style - Namche Bazaar, Nepal

1-1-2012 Namche Bazaar, Alt 3400 m.
Sagarmatha Natl Park, Nepal

Just as the python-esque path brought me to Namche Bazaar, it has also brought me a hotel that contained [miraculously!] a hot shower in the room [!] and – oh wonder of wonders – an electric blanket. All of it – a luxury one hardly imagines at 3500m in the heart of the Himalayas.

A vew from my room [Hotel Namche] on the first day of the year

For the New Year's eve, I was setting my sights upon some garlic soup, the usual high altitude fare, but the mountain gods have sent me yet another surprise gift. Two charismatic, well-traveled Dutchmen walking up to Gokyo. It turned out that staying up past midnight was not an issue after all. Their exotic journey stories of the many years of intense world exploration – from Arctic to the Himalayas and Patagonia – were more entertainment than I could wish for. Not to mention – all the “off the wall” ideas of the beautiful sights to behold.

To our great surprise, John, one of my serendipitous companions, produced a bottle of the finest Champagne I've seen! He carried it all the way from Denmark - “just in case.” “I couldn't really imagine facing my friend on the NY eve without it,” - he said. We've added mandarins from a local market [yaks carried these up] and some candles. Need I say this beat garlic soup by a mile?

My serendipitous friends - John [right] & Paul [left] on NY eve

In good holiday cheer, the first day of the New Year met us with a white canvas of fresh snow – the first real snow of the season. The mountain gods, it turns out, did a great favour arranging that I not be allowed into Arunachal Pradesh/Tawang in India. Only because of that did I arrive here 3 weeks earlier, had impeccable visibility during all of my trek....and came down from the glaciers by the first snow! Shakespeare had a point - “There is a tide in the affairs of men” indeed.

See a bunch of patterns in the snow? The snow wouldn't stick, so I figured, it's the closest to making an abominable snowman.... The blizzard and the fog were so thick that a helicopter actually landed in our courtyard, although a helipad was just 100 m up the hill!

The "snow company" - we were awaiting a flight out of Lukla due to the snow storms for 3 days. So, our serendipitous company has gathered around the stove every night for story-telling and tea drinking, with Pringles [that none of us normally would touch] going around the "campfire." 

Two Polish trekkers - Adam & Adam - who also trekked alone. The Adam on the right actually went over the Cho-La pass [between Gokyo and Ghorakshep, at ~5340 m] and got off the path ON PURPOSE to test his survival skills in the cold. He ended up sleeping in a cave in the open - yes, at 5000 m. I met him with a seriously frost-bit nose. Off-season trekkers are truly an eccentric, curious bunch.

Jeff - the tireless storyteller. He is on a 4 year-long journey. A retired photojournalist, a life-long traveler we were lucky to have around the fire for 3 days. He had stories saved up for every night and, boy, did he know how to tell them! We were like a bunch of scout kids listening to a charismatic leader, waiting for every word. He reminded me of the way my Dad told stories when I was little. Now, the concoction in his cup - that's chocolate pudding. However, alas, our naughty bunch teased him to no end calling it "yak diarrhea." Terrible - I know. The yaks are an unending theme here indeed!