Namche Bazaar – A gateway to Mt. Everest
Every step you take on a mountain is a step closer to realizing your own potential.
Tenzing Norgay
Welcome to the land of Sherpa, Namche Bazaar.
Namche Bazaar is considered a gateway for Mt. Everest. It is situated at 11,290 feet above sea level and is the official capital of the Khumbu District which governs the administrations of Sagarmatha National Park. Like it has ‘Bazaar’ in its name, you will find many Sherpa-owned shops selling all kinds of hiking gear at almost every corner of the town. One can also buy Yak cheese as well from the locals here. Every trekker for the Everest Base Camp trek must do one extra night stay here to get themselves acclimatized.
Namche Bazaar – A gateway to Mt. Everest
After our Lukla flight, we hiked to Phakding and spent one night in a tea house. The next day, we started our trek for Namche Bazaar. Now, since we had already lost a day because of the delay in Lukla’s flight, the group decided not to have one extra night stay (which is must recommended) at Namche Bazaar to avoid the delay and to meet the schedule of our trek. This decision became one of the biggest misfortunes of my trek, which I will share in my further blogs.
Phakding to Namche bazaar is around 11 km as per the Google map, but in real, you will cover around 14-15 km because of the ascend and the descent. (TIP: On mountains never trust Google map for distance :P). Throughout the trail you will feel like the Dhudh Kosi River is walking along with you and the water streaming sound of the river is so calming and peaceful. After around 6 km we stopped at one café called Friendship Lodge Restaurant & Bar. This cafe was located on the riverbank of Dhudh Kosi and had an amazing vibe. Mamta and I were not very hungry so we decided to only have a garlic soup.
After lunch, we crossed the most famous and beautiful Hillary Bridge which is above the Dhudh Kosi River. This bridge is named after Sir Edmund Hillary. This bridge is well decorated with colourful prayer flags and Khada (Buddhist shawl) which tempts every hiker to stop by to take some amazing photos. Throughout the EBC trail, you will cross a lot of suspension bridges. One has to be very careful while crossing these bridges because of the heavy winds.
After crossing the Hillary Bridge the trail was a steep zigzag ascent. The total distance of the trail left was around 3.5 km, which took us to cover around 3 hours. Because Mamta and I both started feeling fatigued as we just had soup for lunch. Somehow we pushed each other mentally and managed to reach Namche Bazaar around 4:30 PM. By the time I started having a headache. By the way, headache is quite normal when you go to a higher altitude. No need to panic in such a situation.
We took a hot shower and started exploring the lovely streets of Namche Bazaar, it was a different vibe I would say. Colourful prayer flags flattering almost all the street. The cafes, the bars, the restaurants, everything was just amazing.
When things started getting worse:
While roaming around I felt like a little vomiting, but this was a normal feeling so I just ignored it. One of my trek mates shared his incident from one of the shops. The shopkeeper lady might have told them, that if they are having a headache and vomit together, just do not continue your journey towards Everest Base Camp, and immediately descend to Lukla. It could be dangerous for your body to climb up. Being cautious at this altitude is very important because you will never get proper medical supplies when anything gets serious.
After hearing this, I started getting a little worried. Because I already had a headache, and now a little bit I am feeling like vomiting. Somehow, I diverted my mind from negative thoughts and we went to grab dinner. After the evening briefing for the next day from Mingmar Sherpa we all headed to bed.
At first, I got to sleep for an hour, and at around 11 PM, I puked all the dinner I had. Mamta was sleeping so I did not disturb her. And now, that shopkeeper lady’s words kept on coming back to my mind. I was trying to sleep, but negative thoughts had completely occupied my mind. What if I had to go back to Lukla in the middle of the trek?! Will I be able to make it to the top?! I got this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Mt. Everest, and I was gonna fail in that. At one point, I convinced myself that I’d let Mamta go ahead and I would descend to Lukla. I was feeling depressed all night.
Somehow, I got a sleep for an hour. But, I got up at 4:30 AM and puked all the water I drank after the first vomit at 11 PM. Now, my despair deepened, I was feeling weak. Mamta was awake by then, and she also started getting worried. We tried calling our Sherpa to update the situation but he was not answering. Mamta started knocking on the doors of fellow trekkers. A couple of them came to me and consoled me that I would be okay, nothing to worry about.
Luckily, we had a doctor couple in our group. Dr Amit checked my condition and gave me a couple of medicines. I rested for an hour after taking the medicine. It was around 8 AM when I started feeling a little normal. By the time Mingmar arrived, he checked my condition, since I was coming back to normal, he gave me the go-ahead for the ascent. That was such a relief for every one of us. Mamta was relieved a lot after seeing me back to normal.
All my dinner went into puke, I just had a soup for lunch the previous day. And because of my current medical situation, I did not have breakfast as well. I was feeling a little weak physically, but I strengthened myself mentally. And we started our trail to our next campsite i.e. Debuche.