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NEPAL - TREK TO EVEREST BASE CAMP |
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On April 23rd, I flew to Beijing where Ying met me at the airport and took me to the Marriott Courtyard at New World Center where we would stay for three nights. I had terrible jetlag but eventually adjusted to the time difference. Ying just moved back to Beijing from France but has not been able to get into her apartment yet as her tenant will not vacate until the end of the month. She has been staying with a girlfriend who is recently married so giving them a three-day break from each other proved to be good.
Wednesday evening I had arranged to take Ying, her friend who had visited us
in Nice, and Lilly & Tao, the couple she is living with out to dinner at
Maxims, which was just around the corner from our hotel. As it turned
out, I have not been to a better restaurant in all of China.
Thursday, Ying took me to the Sandalwood Furniture Museum, a private enterprise built by the wealthiest woman on the Chinese mainland. Sandalwood is an extremely hard wood which is carved into reproductions of Ming and Qing Dynasty furniture. It is often combined with other woods such as ebony to create contrasts. It is primarily imported to China from Nepal. In the
afternoon, we went shopping for a few items I still needed for my trip.
Ying wanted a pedicure and at $3 I could hardly pass up the opportunity
myself.
I had decided to take a somewhat roundabout route to Katmandu as I really wanted to fly in over Mt. Everest. This entailed a flight to Chengdu, three hours southwest of Beijing, an overnight in Chengdu, then an early morning flight through Lhasa, Tibet and then on to Katmandu. Ying took me out to the airport and helped me secure seats on the correct side of the plane to get the best views. We said goodbye, and she volunteered to keep the clothes which I would not need and wash them for my return. The flight left at 9:15 AM and arrived in Chengdu around noon. I had arranged a hotel nearby the airport but still had to pay four times the proper cab fare to get there. I checked into the Tang Hu Hotel and then spent an hour walking around Tang Lake and some of the town. I could find no one who could speak English so I decided to return to my room and sleep. I checked out at 5:00 AM the next morning and took a taxi back to the airport, this time paying the correct fare. I was so happy the driver did not rip me off; I tipped him twice the fare. I had taken 250mg of Diamox the previous evening as Lhasa is about 3900 meters and we needed to deplane to go through Chinese customs. I could see that many passengers had headaches, but I felt fine. We had about an hour on the ground in Lhasa and just as we were reboarding, I spotted Wally Berg (the guy who put this trip together) getting on the same plane. He had been in Lhasa for a few days making contacts for some future exhibitions. This
final leg of my trip was only an hour, but there is a 2 ¼ hour time
difference between
Lhasa and
Katmandu
so you actually arrive 75 minutes before you take off. There was a great
view of Everest on the right side of the plane (I was sitting on the left),
but Wally was able to take a couple pictures for me from where he was
sitting.
After checking into my room, I went for lunch in the hotel restaurant. Wally and Wangchu Sherpa, owner of Peak Promotions, Berg’s partner in Nepal, joined me and we talked about Wangchu’s interest in expanding his business for Chinese clientele. Two of the people who work for him are flying to Beijing next week to attend a convention of travel agents so I will see if I can arrange for them to get together with Ying who may be able to assist. I visited the Casino Royal in the afternoon and then took a nap. I did not wake up until after 7:00 PM and was not hungry so I decided to skip dinner. Sunday I woke up early, ate breakfast and then walked around the city for awhile. The rest of our group arrived on the same plane from Bangkok in the afternoon and I went down to meet them in the lobby when they checked-in. Our group includes Ben & Cam from Sarasota, Mike from Kansas City, Brad from Nantucket, Jay & David from the Bay Area and Dan from Los Angeles. Temba Sherpa will be Wally’s right hand man on the trek. Wally gave the group a couple hours to get settled, and then we regrouped to walk to dinner at Kilroy’s, a popular restaurant in the old section of Kathmandu. Joining us for dinner were Wangchu Sherpa’s two employees who are going to Beijing next week. I spent most of my time talking with Mahadev and Shital while everyone else got to know one another. The dinner was very enjoyable and we walked back to the Yak & Yeti in the dark. Monday we met for breakfast at 6:30 AM and then headed out for a tour of Kathmandu’s three major temples. Wally had arranged for Krishna Dhakal, a former professor at Kathmandu University and religious scholar to be our guide for the morning. We started out at Swoyambhu also known as The Monkey Temple. There was a lot of activity at the temple as they prepared to celebrate Bhudda’s birthday in two days. At
Pashupatinath Temple we observed funeral pyres burning
Wally
had arranged for us to meet a longtime acquaintance of his whose family owns
a couple hotels and a large rug business in Nepal. After lunch, she
showed us her carpet business and offered to take us on a tour of the
factory. I eagerly accepted, but the rest of the group were tired and
headed back to the hotel with Wally. The rug factory tour was
fascinating.
Tsening gave me a quick tour of The Hotel Tibet which she manages before sending me back to the Yak & Yeti with her driver. I spent some time on the internet, spoke with Wally in the restaruant for an hour and then decided to have dinner there myself. We need to check-out tomorrow by 5:30 AM so I decided to go back to my room and pack. I
never got my 4:30 AM wake up call, but was up well before that anyway. We
checked-out and headed to the old airport which serves domestic flights just
after 5:30 AM.
Today is May Day and mass rallies are planned by the communists so our early
start will avoid any delays. The airport was surprisingly crowded, but
Wangchu Sherpa escorted us to the front of every line, shepherding us
through security with embarrassing speed. Within 15 minutes we had boarded
a bus which took us out to the tarmac where our 16-passanger, twin-engine,
Russian built Sita Airways plane awaited.
The flight was spectacular. The runway at Lukla appeared as the town’s main street as we approached. Lukla is built on the side of a mountain, as is everything out here, and the runway inclines about 15 degrees which helps us stop before hitting the wall of granite at the end. Takeoffs are downhill and you are airborne when you run out of ground.
We walked over to Paradise Lodge which is owned by a friend of Wally’s where we had breakfast and waited for the remainder of our gear to arrive on a second plane. Just before 10 AM we started up the trail towards Phakding, where we will spend our first night. It was a relaxed hike, mostly downhill, and we stopped for tea a couple times. After a few hours we crossed the river and arrived at Jo’s Garden Lodge where we were served lunch and then checked into our rooms. There was an hour between lunch and tea, and only 15 minutes between tea and dinner. Most of us were tired and went to sleep right after dinner. Wednesday morning bed tea arrived at 6:00 AM, but I was already packed and ready to go by then. We met for breakfast and then started hiking at 7:45 AM. We continued to follow the river, crossing on metal suspension bridges which have replace the old yak hair bridges which I was forced to use back in 1988. By 11:00 AM we had arrived at Jorsala where we stopped at The Greenview Restaurant for lunch. The
proprietor had a 3-year old daughter named Serjhano and I decided this would
be a good opportunity to give the group a lesson in making balloon animals.
Serjhano was thrilled to collect half a dozen cats, dogs, mice and yaks.
Our
base for the next two days will be
The Panorama Lodge, a beautiful building owned by Sherab Jangbu and
Lhakpa Doma Sherpa. Perched high on the amphitheater wall which forms the
town, we have a great view of Namche Bazar
and surrounding mountains. The
11,000 foot altitude was slowing us all down a bit. After tea, we checked
into our rooms. I was able to take a hot shower and ever recharge my
electronic devices. We ate dinner at 6:30 PM and went to bed immediately
following. Thursday at 6:00 AM we hiked 15 minutes up to the top of the hill where a Nepalese Army base offers a great view of Ama Dablam, Nuptse, Everest, Lhotse and numerous other named peaks. The base is surrounded by barbed wire and foxholes dug during Nepal’s civil war which only just ended last year. During the war rebel Maoists attacked numerous army and police stations like this, killing 16,000 servicemen. We returned to the lodge for breakfast. Today is a rest day and we are free to explore the town, which is the largest in the area and a major supply point. I walked into town twice, first to use the Internet and browse the shops and again for lunch. Mike treated Jay, Dave and I to yak steak at The Khumbu Lodge. I returned back up the hill in time for tea at 4:00 PM, followed by dinner shortly thereafter. Wally told stories of his ascents up Everest and surrounding peaks. We are indeed fortunate to have a guide with such an encyclopedic knowledge of mountaineering and the area where we are hiking. Friday morning I took a hot shower and then went down to use the Internet before breakfast. Brad was having some trouble with his asthmas so he decided he would stay at the lodge for two days while we hiked out to Thame. I checked out of the lodge after breakfast and walked to the town where I bought a rain cover for my backpack, and typed the last couple days of journal entries which I sent to uplink to my website. We started hiking at 9:00 AM heading west for two hours to Thamu where we stopped for lunch. Along the way, Jyapyang Sherpa, who was leading, spotted a Danfe, the national bird of Nepal. During the hike we also learned the names of our yaks; Rocpu, Kakay, Dolay, Sawo and another Kakay. The yaks are owned by Nynfoote who is assisted by Phooba, both women. After
lunch, we continued along the Bhote Kosi (river), crossing it at a very
narrow gorge where the river constricts to just a few meters.
After
tea and dinner, we were joined by another friend of Wally’s, Passang Sherpa,
who lost all ten of his fingers to frostbite on Everest a number of years
ago, and now makes his living as a painter of Thanga, painting on cloth.
He
had several scenes of mountains and monasteries, two of which I purchased. I had not slept well Friday night and awoke with a headache which would last most of the day. Saturday morning we hiked up to the Thame Monastery where we met the Rinpoche, one of only two reincarnate lamas in Nepal. The Rinpoche blessed khatas which we had brought for the purpose and gave us each a sunde which are meant to be worn around your neck indefinitely. After our half-hour visit, we started hiking back towards Khunde. We visited a small hydro-electric plant and stopped for a picnic lunch along the river. In the afternoon we climbed a 1000-foot hill and met many people who were returning with huge loads from Namche Bazar’s Saturday market. I passed out several balloon animals along the way after deciding to stick with the simpler dog figure as opposed to the ram which would pop most of the time before I finished it. We passed through Temba’s home town of Khunde where he pointed out his grandma who seemed to scold him for his climbing activities as we passed by. We stopped at Temba’s brothers’ home and lodge for tea and met his father and two nieces. We also saw the only hospital in the area, built and operated by the Hilary Trust, and invited the doctor, whose lodge we stayed in last night, to join us for dinner. It started to rain in the afternoon, but we squeezed in one more visit to the Khunde Gompa where the skull of a yeti is kept under lock & key, but available to see for a small donation. We arrived at our destination, The Konchechumbe Lodge in Khumjung around 3:30 PM. We learned that Brad had decided that his asthma was too much for him to continue the trek and will return to Kathmandu and probably fly home. Wally went to Namche Bazar to make the necessary arrangements and then returned in time for dinner at 6:30 PM. Dr. Kami joined us for dinner and talked to us about how much the area has changed. He has been working at this 8-bed hospital for 31 years, initially as a nurse and then as a doctor when the Himalayan Trust sent him to medical school. The hospital serves a large area; yesterday, for example, was the one day of the month they offer inoculations and some mothers walked for three days to enable their children to get the shots. Another interesting conversation was about wildlife and particularly the snow leopard. Although few people have ever seen this huge cat, evidence of its increasing presence in the form of dead or half-eaten carcasses abound. Last year, Temba’s horse was attacked by a snow leopard, received deep incisor wounds to its throat, but escaped and was nurtured back to health. Sunday
morning I awoke feeling much better. Ama Dablam, at 6856 meters, looms
at the end of the valley and I was able to get a photograph of it
We ate
a picnic lunch in the clearing with views of Everest and Lhotse.
We continued hiking in the afternoon up to Pangboche where we checked into The Highland Sherpa Resort, owned by Ang Temba Sherpa, our guide. I was able to take a hot shower and then spent the afternoon reading. There was a large group from Taiwan staying at the lodge who were celebrating their successful summiting of Island Peak. Monday morning we hiked up to Upper Pangboche where we visited Lama Geshe in his home. He blessed our katras and prayed for our safe journey. Lama Geshe is a teaching lama at Tengboche and is popular amongst climbers for his cheerful disposition. We also visited the Pangboche Gomba which is over 400 years old. We ate lunch back at the Highland Lodge before starting our hike up to Pheriche. We are hiking along the route of the Everest Marathon, a full 26.2 mile annual event which will take place on May 29th this year. Runners start at Everest Base Camp, run to Namche Bazar, out to Thamu and then back to Namche. There are about 200 participants and the winning time will be about 3 ½ hours. The same route will take us ten days. We arrived at Pheriche around 2:30 PM and checked into The Himalayan Lodge. There are scores of climbers in Pheriche, many of whom have been living at base camp and are now resting at a lower altitude to gain strength for their summit attempt. Wally introduced us to several of his famous friends, including Will Cross, a diabetic who has climbed the highest mountain on each continent and hiked to the north and south poles. The dining room of the lodge is very comfortable and we spent all afternoon being warmed by the yak-dung fire. I had a hard time sleeping Monday night, but was pleased that I was able to drink and pee two full liters during the night. Tuesday is a rest day so we did not have to race to pack our duffel bags which the yaks carry. After breakfast, we climbed up over a 500 foot hill to the town of Dengboche where we had lemon tea at The Snow Lion Lodge before hiking back for lunch. After lunch, we walked over to The Himalayan Rescue Clinic where Dr. Richard Struge gave us a 30-minute introduction to the symptoms and remedies of HAPE and HACE. The clinic is the first line of defense for people who are injured or taken sick on many area mountains including Everest. The doctor said they see an average of one person per day. This morning during our hike we observed one patient being evacuated to Kathmandu by helicopter. Tea and dinner were at 4:00 PM and 6:30 PM as usual. Although we always eat in the lodge’s dining room, we have our own staff that carry a camp kitchen and prepare all of our meals outside. Kitchen staff is up at 5:00 AM, bringing us bed tea and preparing breakfast. After cleanup, they move the whole kitchen several miles where they set up, prepare and serve our lunch. Then they break down the kitchen tent again and move it several more miles to wherever we are staying for the night, and serve tea and dinner. By the time they clean up, it is usually after 8:00 PM. There is always plenty to eat and the variety of food is impressive. Wednesday, May 9th, we woke up to snow. This is the first time Cam has ever seen falling snow. It had warmed up a bit by the time we finished breakfast, but it appeared as if it would drizzle for awhile so I put on my rain gear to hike. We headed up the Khumbu Valley for two hours until we reached the terminal moraine of the Khumbu Glacier. We stopped for lunch at a place called Dughia. In the afternoon, the trail ascended a large hill to a place where there are many memorials to climbers and Sherpas who have lost their lives in climbing accidents. We reached Lobuche just after 2:00 PM where we checked into the Eco Lodge for the night. The altitude here is 4950 meters. Mike, Cam and I hiked a few hundred feet up to the top of the lateral moraine and got a spectacular view of the glacier which extends for miles. Unfortunately it is covered with rock and dirt and only appears as blue ice occasionally. I am surprised at how good I feel and our whole group which has had some problems on the way up seems to be doing well. Tea and dinner were served as usual and I went to bed before 9:00 PM. Thursday morning the weather was spectacular. Our plan today is to hike up to Gorak Shep where we will have lunch and then, hopefully, climb Kala Patthar which will give us great views of Everest as the sun hits the western face. We hiked very slow and spent almost three hours climbing 1000 feet to the last outpost before Everest Base Camp. We had great views of Nupse the whole way and as we rounded the last bend, Kala Pattar rose over Gorek Shep. Kala Patthar is really a ridge of Pumori, but it offers wonderful views of Everest and is often used as a spotting point for teams climbing Everest. At 5545 meters, I will consider it a mountain. We
left after lunch and took two hours to climb to the summit. It was quite
hard, but I felt better than I have on any of my previous four climbs to
this altitude. The best part of the climb was the hot lemon drink and
cookies which two of our kitchen boys had hiked up with to serve as we
relaxed on the summit. We took numerous photos of Everest
Ben is not feeling well and had only climbed part of the way up Kala Patthar. He and Cam (his son) will return to Periche in the morning. The rest of us will hike up to Everest Base Camp and then return the same day. During the night I could hear many people struggling with terrible coughs. Oftentimes climbers will descend from Base Camp to the lower altitudes of the lodges to try and cure themselves of various illnesses. Once a climber is at Base Camp and in good health, the main concern is staying healthy. Trekkers such as us are looked at as germ carriers and avoided at all cost. We woke up and left early for Base Camp. There was a light snow falling so we bundled-up. The six-mile round trip was one of the worst trails I have ever hiked. In many places the trail disappears completely into boulder fields. Having not slept for several days, the hike was not too much fun.
Everest Base Camp is deposited at the foot of the Everest Ice Fall where
surrounding mountains force it to turn left and become the Khumbu Glacier.
There are hundreds of tents
We
took a photo of our group with the Icefall in the background, and then
visited Wangchu in his Peak Promotions camp before heading back. The hike
back was not any better than the hike out and we returned to the lodge
around 2:30 PM. I immediately went to bed but still could not sleep.
Dinner was at 6:30 PM. Saturday we checked-out of The Himalayan Lodge and started out trek back to civilization. It was snowing but we made good time as we headed back to Periche where we planned to meet Cam and Ben and have lunch. As Ben had hiked down yesterday, his symptoms had become progressively worse so he had been rushed by horse-ambulance to the one-room hospital at Periche where Dr. Richard Sturge had treated him for Acute Mountain Sickness and kept him overnight. He has been released now and will hike out with us, on horseback for another day or so. There is a huge research project being conducted at Everest this year by a British Group known as Xtreme Everest. In addition to measuring the affect of altitude on some 400 trekkers as they hike from Lukla to Everest Base Camp, the group will attempt to put a team on the summit and measure the affect of altitude during exercise as they climb. After lunch we continued down to Temba’s Highland Sherpa Lodge in Lower Pangboche where we checked in for the night. We were very lucky with weather while in the Gorek Shep area so we had an extra day which we decided to spend at a lower altitude. Sunday the sky was clear and some of us elected to take a day-hike 2000-feet up to Ama Dublam Base Camp. It took three hours to hike up to a large flat plain where three climbing teams had erected a dozen tents. There is a huge serac (an outcropping of ice) on the face of Ama Dublam, a portion of which broke off last year burying two climbers and three Sherpas from Pangboche last year. Wally’s company had an expedition on the mountain at the time, but they were unhurt – although they quickly decided to go home. After a short rest we headed back down. Jyapyang Sherpa and I left first and covered the three-mile return trip in about 40 minutes. We ate a late lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon reading in Temba’s comfortable dining area. Monday morning, we were on the move again, descending to Temboche Monastery where we entered to see the huge statue of Buddha and listen to a monk chanting and beating a drum. Wally took us around the back of the monastery to see the memorial erected for some of the climbers of the first American Expedition in 1963, only one of whom actually lost his life on the mountain. Views from the Monastery grounds of Everest, Ama Dublam and surrounding peaks were spectacular. We continued descending Temboche Hill, then climbed back up to Lhosisha where we ate lunch. Two hours later, we arrived at Namche Bazar where we checked back into The Panorama Lodge. Most of us headed down into town to check email and see what has been going on in the world for the last two weeks. Tea and dinner were served at the regular time and we played a card game named Knucklehead which Dave had learned from his friend ‘G’. Tuesday, Wally suggested several possible day hikes around the Namche area, but we were all somewhat ‘hiked-out’ and elected to stay to complete some shopping and do local sightseeing.
Wednesday we got up early, packed and started out last day of hiking back to
Lukla. We descended Namche Hill and hiked 3 ½ hours to Phakding where we
ate lunch at Sunrise Lodge. I decided to pass on the usual after meal
siesta and started back alone towards Lukla. Along the way, I passed scores
of porters carrying enormous loads from the airport in Lukla up the valley
as far as 30 miles to any one of a dozen towns along the way. Among them, I
saw three porters
I stopped to make half a dozen balloon animals for children I met along the way but still arrived at Lukla by 2:30 PM. I spent some time on the Internet, emailing photos, but gave up after an hour as it was too slow. The rest of the group arrived around 3:30 PM and we went to The Paradise Inn where we had tea and waited for the yaks to arrive with our duffel bags. Dinner on the 16th was a farewell party with our staff as most of them will return home when we fly out tomorrow. The staff consists of three yak drivers, five kitchen boys, a cook, four Sherpas whom we know best as we had hiked with them every day, and Wally – fourteen total for the seven of us. Wally did a great job of personally recognizing each person’s efforts as he handed out the tips we had pooled. We were scheduled to be on the first flight back to Kathmandu on Thursday morning. There had been no flights Wednesday due to fog so there were a lot of people trying to get out of Lukla. At 5:00 AM, the sky was clear, but an hour later, a large bank of clouds moved up the valley and we started preparing for another day in Lukla. We ate
breakfast and took a group photo with all the staff.
We took a bus back to The Yak & Yeti where we were able to check-in at 10:00 AM. My luggage did not arrive until after lunch so I went across the street and got a haircut, shave, and scalp massage for $9US. Back at the hotel, I saw a newspaper headline stating that Ang Appa Sherpa, who Wally had introduced us to at Everest Base Camp, and who holds the world record for most successful ascents of Everest, had summated again, bringing his total to 17! Yesterday he climbed to the top of the world’s highest mountain in just over ten hours, missing the speed ascent record by 90 minutes. I
relaxed in the afternoon but we met again at 6:00 PM in the lobby to go to
The Rum Doodle for dinner. The Rum Doodle is a favorite restaurant of
climbers in the Thamel section of Kathmandu. If you reach the summit of Mt.
Everest, you get to sign the wall and they issue you a card
Friday was our last full day in Kathmandu. Dan had been able to change his flights to get out early, but the rest of us met for breakfast. I mentioned where I had gotten my shave and haircut yesterday and most of the guys headed there after breakfast for the treatment. We regrouped at night and walked over to Thamel where we ate dinner at one of Kathmandu’s oldest restaurants, K.C.’s. From there we walked across the street and listened to a live band for a while at The Four Seasons. We returned to the hotel by 9:30 PM and decided to play cards in the lounge. I checked out Saturday morning and everyone got up to have breakfast with me even though their flights were not until later in the day. Min and Temba came by to say goodbye and present me with a farewell khatra. The Peak Promotions people gave me a ride to the airport where I caught the first of three flights back to Beijing. Tsening and her father from the carpet business were on the same flight to Lhasa and we visited while we waited for the flight. I arrived in Beijing after midnight, due to a 1-½ hour delay in Chengdu. Ying was waiting to greet me along with her friends Tao & Lilly. We drove back to Ying’s apartment and made plans to meet the next night for dinner. Sunday Ying and I moved over to The Ascott Hotel where I usually stay in Beijing. They are undergoing some renovation, but there was no noise in the room. Tao & Lilly picked us up in the afternoon and we went to see a couple of apartments they are considering buying as an investment. The first was over an hour away, past the Sixth Ring Road, but the second one was closer to the city and very nice. We went to a popular Chinese restaurant where we had hotpot for dinner. They had the most delicious peanuts, which I kept asking our server to replenish. As we were leaving I slipped her a tip, which she will remember for a long time. Ying had wanted me to meet her parents during this trip, but with only a few days in town, it was too difficult to fly to her hometown south of Shanghai, so it will have to wait until I return in August. Ying’s friend Iola Chen met us for dinner Monday night and we went for Japanese food at a restaurant in the Ascott complex. I had come down with a cold so decided to stay in on Tuesday as it was raining. For dinner, we had thought about going to a fancy restaurant, which specializes in abalone, shark fin soup and bird’s nest dishes, but decided instead to go back to the Japanese restaurant where we had eaten Monday. Wednesday we checked out and took a taxi to the airport. Ying could not go through security so I said goodbye and she left to run errands before she returns to work tomorrow. After she left, I learned that my flight was delayed five hours, so China Air took us to the Airport Hotel where we each got a day room to rest for a few hours. The flight finally left at 8:30 PM. I had a good seat on the 747 but the 11-hour flight seemed like it would never end. We arrived in San Francisco at 4:30 PM Wednesday, local time, and I took the Marin Airporter back up to Novato. |
and spent another day with my sister Carolyn and two friends Josie & Kate
hiking up the World’s Smallest Mountain Range near Yuba City.
Both food and service was on a par with their Paris namesake. Although
neither Lilly nor Tao spoke much English, we had a great time communicating
through an interpreter. Tao sells kidney dialysis machines and is also a
doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. Between our appetizer and main
course, he gave me a medical examination by placing three fingers on each of
my wrists for a couple minutes and pronounced me in excellent health. I
hope we can meet again when I return to Beijing in a few weeks.
When we returned to the hotel, I packed and prepared for my flight to
Chengdu Friday morning.
and
each other, and then headed down.
each carrying four 4x8 sheets of plywood on their backs.
Then the fog
disappeared as quickly as it had arrived and we walked over to the airport.
The first flight left at 8:00 AM and thirty minutes later we were touching
down back in the capital.
entitling you to
eat and drink free for life. Wally’s meal was on the house, but Dave picked
up the tab for the rest of us. The name comes from the book ‘The Ascent of
Rum Doodle’ by W.E. Bowman, a spoof about the ascent of a 40,000 ½- foot
imaginary peak named Rum Doodle which I am currently reading. After dinner,
we walked back to the hotel. We were able to narrowly escape being run over
by Kathmandu’s gaggle of vehicles, but Jay did fall into the sewer. We
played cards back at the hotel while the gin worked its way down to Jay’s
injured legs and then went to bed.