busy body

alas alas its been one hectic week after another.

sorry for the long downtime.. i know an update (and conclusion to my sagarmatha series) is waaaay overdue.

will try to bang out sometime soon.. i promise!

in search of Sagarmatha - blizzard of '77

up up and away!

from Namche Bazaar onwards the altitude begins to tell. Tengboche, Pangboche, Dingboche, Lobuche, and finally Gorak Shep; everyday the path leads further upward. the result? less oxygen and more cold.

and it also meant that while at lower heights we would get rain, it began to snow.

usually snow conjures up images of fun and christmas: snowmen, snowball fights and what not; we rarely think about the destructive side of it. and it is certainly not fun when you are snowed in with no form of heating at night and nowhere to go and nothing to do.

like what i experienced at Dingboche.

day before

day after

i had never seen so much snow in my life, and especially not so much snowfall in such a short period of time! well, the outcome was that i was forced to stay put at Dingboche for 2 nights extra freezing my ass off. what a holiday.

- to be continued -

in search of Sagarmatha - to bazaar we go

for trekkers in the Khumbu region, it is quite a shock to enter into the village of Namche Bazaar after days of walking in relative desolateness.

at 3440m, Namche Bazaar is the gateway into the high Himalayas, and almost everyone who is heading to the high peaks beyond will undoubtedly pass through it. unlike the villages located before and after it, Namche Bazaar - as the name suggests - is the Great Himalayan Sale. for the shopaholic trekker, this is your Everest. for those who packed too lightly, this is the place to stock up on supplies. camera broken? no worries, there are camera repair shops at Namche! indeed, such was the range and availability of "luxury" items at Namche Bazaar that i thought that i had returned to Orchard Road in Singapore!

needless to say, i loved Namche. it was like Club Med to me; my spiritual chicken soup for the entire trek. when i was cold and tired i tried to think of Namche with its huge yak steaks, beer at decent prices, and hot showers. what was supposed to be a 1 night stay became 2 nights, then stretched into 3. i was drunk on the high of civilisation and the creature comforts it offered.

yak steak!

the addiction was dangerous; i almost did not make it up to EBC, if not for

my first view of Everest from somewhere near Namche

- to be continued -

david vs goliath

the giant is slain.

and my heart is broken. =(

quel ironie que nadal ait été battu hier à roland garros. le roi s'est trouvé à la mauvaise côté pour la première fois; c'est dommage aussi qu'il n'a pas pu maintenir son record. mais pas grave, on va surement reverser ce resultat à wimbledon! vamos rafa!