After a few relaxing days in Gokyo we braved the Renjo La Pass at 5340m. On the way down to Namche Tije and Cory (the Diamox-Team) left our Group because Tije was meeting with his sister in Kathmandu and Cory was already off to his next adventure. On the way down we noticed the difference in seasons from the way everything was blooming and the flowers were coming out.
Also, down was a lot faster than up. After reaching Namche we got a message from Tije that he had already reached Lukla and that his sister was waiting for him in Kathmandu.
Since Paula still had problems with the altitude she prefered not to go over the pass but to walk around with another girl from the group. Since descending was easier it took three days to walk around. They spend the night in Deboche and hiked up the valley to Gokyo the next day where they spent the next night.
It was nearing the end of hiking season so every day in the afternoon there was a snow storm where everyone had to take care to be inside.
Max stayed with the group and successfully climbed the pass. They stayed first in the lodge in Dughla, then another night in Dzongla and finally on the third day went over the Cho La Pass at 5420m. The last part of the trip they followed a guided tour through the stone- and icefield next to Gokyo since it had already started snowing for the day and reaching Gokyo was getting difficult.
When arriving in Gokyo the girl with Paula was sick because of the altitude and had to be transported out. Thanks to (very expensive) internet at the lodges, we all met up again at one of the lodges.
We stayed at Gokyo for a few days to relax and even had a hot shower in one of the lodges. We hiked up to Gokyo Ri at 5480m and took a day trip to the lakes around Gokyo. Since Paula was getting used to the altitude there were no problems reaching the top. Of course Max and Alejandro had to do some yoga at the top of Gokyo Ri.
After arriving in Chukhung we made our way up to Chukhung Ri at 5546m. On the way there Paula the altitude got to Paula and she had to descend back to the lodge. After taking diamox to offset the effect of altitude sickness it got better.
There was a big snowstorm on Kongma La that was supposed to last for a few days so the group decided to not go through the pass but to walk back and take the normal route to Everest Base Camp.
We hiked back down to Dingboche and up the Base Camp Trek in the direction of Gorakshep. On the way we stopped in Thukla for the night and had our first shower in forever. The prices went up again and bartering was getting difficult since this is the main tourist path.
After reaching Gorakshep, the town by the Base Camp, the rest of the group went to visit the Base Camp but we stayed behind because Paula was not feeling too god with the altitude. The next morning we started up early to get up to Kala Patthar. You have to get up really early to have a nice view up there. While Max reached the top and had an awesome view of Mount Everest, Paula went back to the Lodge half way up.
We did not stay long in Gorakshep because it was really, really expensive and made our way to the second (and our first) pass.
From Namche Bazar we left for Chukhung to get to the Kongma La Pass. For acclimatization we had to plan carefully so that we would not have a big difference in height between sleeping quarters. We stayed in small lodges along the way. Our first stay was in Deboche at 3870m and the second stay was in Dingboche. Since this is along the Everest Base Camp trek, there were still quite a lot of people. Since we were quite a big group, we could barter for better prices for our favorite meals
After hiking to the next village we tried to take a little day trip to a higher altitude to get used to the air. In Dingboche we also took a break day as recommended.
We spent some days in Namche Bazar in a small Lodge to get used to the height. It is recommended to stay there for a few days since it is at 3,440meters and from there on out it is getting harder to breathe. Namche is very westernised and we used the opportunity to get some things that we noticed we still needed on the way to Namche. We got some hiking sticks and some more food. Also, after the whole hike up we felt like we deserved some french toast from one of the coffe shops.
After talking to the owner of our lodge he also allowed us to store some of our things that we felt we did not need for the rest of our way.
After taking the bus from Kathmandu, we arrived at Shivalaya in the evening. Since we did not want to continue hiking in the night we went to the first Guest House to stay the night. When we ordered tea there the owner brought us a really big pot at a really high price so after that we learned and first looked at the prices and started bartering for the prices.
Our group at the beginning consisted of Tije from the Netherlands and Cory from Canada. On the way we met a lot of other people, for example Alejandro from Mexico and Arthur from Russia. They both were very good at haggling and our groups kind of merged. Of course there were a lot more people who we met from time to time, depeding on the guest house we were staying in.
The first days were really hard because the whole way to Lukla consists of going up and down and no flat hiking in sight. We could really see how high we were with how much the whole area changed. In the valleys there were lush forests and on the top of passes and mountains there mostly were no trees in sight. Also in the valleys there were whole villages while in the higher areas you could sometimes only find a single house where a family lived. Most of thouse houses were also guest houses.
While in the beginning therer were normal pathways, the closer we got to Namche the more bridges there were, crossing over big rivers. Sometimes it was really scary to cross them when a herd of animals was crossing at the same time.
When we got to Lukla, a few of the people we met on the way went up to the town while we continued on without stopping. Arthur had bought shoes in Kathmandu that were totally broken by now and had to buy new ones, and others also had noticed on the way that they were missing Equipment.
On the way up from Lukla to Namche there were noticably more people who were taking tours and hade porters carry their stuff. It was quite funny passing them buy with their small day backpacks, huffing and puffing up the mountain while we had the training by now and could now easily carry the 10-15 kg backpacks up. So it turned out that hiking to Lukla was a very good idea and prepared our muscles for the hiking in the everest region.
Also, we discovered fried mars bars. It has a looot of calories and is one of the sweetest things we ever tasted but since we needed the calories it was not even a guilty pleasure.
In Kathmandu we went to one of the biggest backpacking hostels there. It is a really good starting point for people looking for hiking groups to the Himalaya.
After comparing the options we decided to do the „Three passes three peaks“ trek in the region around Mount Everest. There was a lot of preparing to do and we met a few people who wanted to do the same trek. After seeing the prices for flying to Lukla we quickly decided to take a bus to Jiri and then hike the five days to the higher regions.
Most of our time in Kathmandu was spent shopping and preparing for the hike. Since we did not go with a tour company we had to get a lot of different permits for hiking through the national parks. Also, we took a lot of time comparing the calories-to-g-ratio of different sweets so that we would not have to carry too much. Shopping for medicine also presented a surprise since there was a lot of stuff that would have needed a prescription in Germany. Kathi, one of the travelers who also wanted to do the trek has a doctorate in Biology so she was a big help in buying the right medicine.
We bought some clothing for hiking and even found the label store where they sell the fake labels for the fake brand clothing! Nearly everything you can buy in Kathmandu is branded with North Face or Marmot, but everyone knows that all of it is fake. Of course there is a real North Face store, but shopping there was way too expensive for us.
Of course we also did some sightseeing and played cards with the other travelers at the hostel
Since we managed to get a last minute tourist visa for India, we could fetch our flight to Cochin. The south of India is definitely the hottest we had with 45°C. After an hour bus ride we arrived in the part of the town where our hostel was located. India’s streets are pretty close to mazes in some parts, it took a lot of walking around to get there.
The next day we had Indian food for the first time and not taking too much from the red sauce makes it amazingly good food. We did a bit of shopping which works like this: you have Tuck tuck drivers and they get coupons or money if they drive you to specific stores which are waaaay too expensive and then your ride gets cheaper or free, depending on how many stores you agree to be driven to. That is so lucrative for the drivers that they even offer you to split the money 50:50 with you if you have 2 hours to spare. The problem is that you have to spend 5-10 minutes in the store and Indians are very good salesmans so I wouldn’t recommend doing it.
The rest of the time we basically chilled and ate. Then we took a 2 day train to Kolkata, a city in the northeast of India. The train ride was interesting, for the first time we, and especially Paula, got to feel how established sexism is in India. She got stared at all the time no one would talk or answer her, and if she asked a guy stuff he would answer to Max or look confused at him. And one time Paula tried to smoke in the train at the doors like the guys do … It was a bad idea as Max hat a mob of four very upset man viciously talking to him that he should stop Paula from smoking.
We arrived in Kolkata so tired that we took a quite expensive hotel right next to the train station. Then it took us over a day to book the train ticket because there is a certain amount of tickets reserved for foreigners, but they can’t be booked in the normal ticket office, there is a special office half an hour away. But the food was still good and cheap. In India you can have a full meal for as little as 0.65 euro. From Kolkata we took another train to Raxaul to cross the border to Nepal. You should definitely get dollars if you want to cross the border, because if you don’t you will have to pay a almost criminal exchange rate from 90 Indian Rupees for 1 USD. The official course at that time was 62 for 1 USD.
First thing we did when we got back to Bohol was to go to our first hostel to get more of the awsome pancakes and the brewed coffee. From there we caught a bus to Anda and found a hostel right next to the market.
We basically spent all of our time there relaxing, eating and sleeping. Every evening there was an awsome barbecue right next to the market and a small bar where we met some nice people and had our daily share of social interaction.
After four nights in Anda we took the bus back to Tagbilaran to catch our flight back to Manila. Since we were early, like every good German, we got one flight earlier, but still had to wait.
In Camiguin we stayed at soul divers resort, which is a very basic but nice place and the owner ( Jack ) and the other people around are great. We visited the giant clam sanctuary which has one of the few white beaches on camiguin and of course lots of clams, with one species which gets up to 2m big. So we did some snorkeling through the sanctuary and it also has a very nice reef in front so we had a lot of fun there.
We went to an island called mantigi which had a sanctuary for fishes. We both did some snorkeling and Paula continued to snorkel while max had his best dive so far with huge fish swarms swimming all around him.
After Camiguin we went to Anda, a city in Bohol so that we wouldn’t miss our flight back to Manila.
