Trek Chapter 2: Phakding

A great deal of the first day was spent going downhill. I believe this is nature’s way of saying rest up now, for tomorrow you will be wishing a yak would push you off a cliff simply to give your burning legs some relief. But I am getting ahead of the story.

Early down the path we ran into a pair of porters coming towards us. Kalyan greeted them like long lost friends and enthusiastically shook their hands. “They are from my village!“ He announced to us happily. I quickly came to find he knew nearly every porter, guide, Sherpa and lodge employee we’d come across in this most remote part of the world and treated everyone as his family. He was quite the social butterfly.

Kalyan is on the left.



Soon our group spread out and an order between the four of us was established: Me out front, Katherine in the middle, and Chris and Michelle in the back of the pack. The first two days Kalyan mostly stayed with the two of them and allowed Katherine and I to continue ahead at our own pace. Later on in the trek he’d thank the two of us for not needing him as much, which allowed him to give Chris and Michelle (especially Michelle) the extra attention they required.

I had trained really hard for this trip. Dale helped me by giving me advice on which exercises were best for hill climbing and regularly reminded me that the more in shape I was, the less misery and pain I’d be in, and the more I would enjoy myself. I often silently thanked him throughout the week for pushing me to be prepared as I trudged up long, exhausting, unforgiving hills.

We stopped for a tea break. Because when you are hot and sweaty and working hard, you sit down for a cup of hot tea. When in Nepal, do as the Nepalese.





The view from my perch:






We hiked along and soon stopped at another small village to have tea. Again, we sat outside, as we always did when the weather allowed. As we got up to leave, I noticed Michelle’s zip-up sweatshirt in the bottom of her chair. “Don’t forget your jacket,” I reminded her, then tuned my attention towards Katherine to ask her about something unrelated. We continued on.

The path the first day wound down and around the Dudh Kosi, a churning, beautiful milky turquoise colored river that originates from the Khumbu glacier on the slopes of Mt. Everest. We crossed several suspension bridges on the route. Michelle did not do well at all. She cried and hyperventilated . Chris and Kalyan stayed close by and helped her across each one.



This one was my favorite. It spanned a deep, narrow canyon and the wind whipped throught there like crazy. It's decorated with prayer flags and scarves.


Katherine took my picture...taking a picture of the bridge. Notice the shoes. Y'all voted. I listened.


Eventually we made it to the village of Phakding, a cluster of cottages nestled on a small creek.



After checking into a small, white lodge, Kalyan showed us our rooms. Katherine and I in one and Chris and Michelle in another. Ours was small and basic, with a twin bed on either side. We got into the habit of photographing our room each night.


I really enjoyed getting to know Katherine better throughout the trek and as roommates, we had a ton of fun. She was born and raised in Wales to Chinese immigrant parents. What that means is when this cute little Asian girl opens her mouth, Princess Diana comes out. That was something my mind never got used to. She’s soft spoken and very sweet. I’d already worked with her the previous week in the dental clinic, but our stations were far from each other and I hadn’t spent any one on one time with her. One time in the clinic I caught her reading New Moon during our lunch hour. “Hey Katherine,” I said. “I live really close to Forks. Come visit me in America and I’ll take you there.” That was like, beyond exciting to her.

Like me, she is the middle child between a brother and sister. She’s been traveling alone for the past year. First, she went to Australia where she worked as a dentist and saved money so she could travel more. From there she spent some time in New Zealand, then onto Nepal. (How I love a girl with gypsy feet!). After our Nepal time was up, she headed back to Australia, then she is going to meet up with her sister who will be doing (from what I understand) a project for her medical residency in Cambodia. I was excited for her to be going to there and we talked about it quite a bit.

Necessary Tangent- I read a ton of books. Like, lots. I devour them. I read one on the way to Nepal, one there, and one coming home. I have another going right now. It’s on my lap, right here underneath the computer. About two years ago, I was wandering around the house, bored. I’d finished my last book and didn’t have another lined up to go. When Dale learned of my crisis, he told me he had a book for me, and trust him, I’d like it. It was called No Shortcuts to the Top, written by Seattle resident Ed Visteurs, one of world’s most elite mountain climbers. I read it, and he was right, I liked it. I liked it so much I continued to read all of Dale’s books on mountaineering: K2, Into Thin Air, Eiger Dreams, Touching the Void, Doctor on Everest. There was one topic in every book written about summiting Everest that I loved reading about: The trek to base camp. Through these books I learned about each little village the expeditions passed through. This part was often described in great detail. So when I headed down the trail from Lukla just over a week ago, I sort of knew what to expect. “How does it feel to walk the path of many famous mountaineers?” Dale would ask in an email. I told him I’d been thinking about it a lot.

We sat around the dining room in the lodge and settled in for dinner. It was a big room with a shiny wood floors, small rectangular tables along the perimeter, and a continual bench around three walls. Then came the bombshell. Michelle realized she'd forgotten her jacket, which caused her whole world to come crumbling down. She hinted heavily for Kaylan to go back and get it for her. He didn't, and I was glad. She'd been treating him like her personal servant all day already. Had it been an important article, like a down coat, he probably would have, but it was a simple hoody. He told her we'd check to see if they still had it when we passed back through that village at the end of the week.

I wrote in my journal:

Kind of bored. Very few other people here at the lodge. Did not bring my laptop- regretting that- wishing I could write on it instead of this tiny little notebook. Sitting here at the restaurant, just ate egg drop soup. Feeling really good, no problems with the altitude yet. I’ve been taking Diamox, so that must be helping. Not much appetite is the only thing I notice. Our guide is great but once our group gets settled in for tea breaks or meals he leaves us alone. I can’t say I blame him, I would too, Michelle is awful to him. She is driving me nuts. ENTITLED! She asked him to change the light bulb in her room because she felt it wasn’t bright enough. Then at dinnertime she complained that this place is dirty. Since I’ve never been good at keeping a lid on my thoughts, I spoke up. “What did you expect? We’re in the Himalayas. Did you not read the information packet?” She snapped at me that no, she didn’t read the information packet because she works 16 hours a day and doesn’t have time for things like that. So, of course I reply with “Well I have two kids, my own business, work full time, and I made time to read the information packet”. She comes to the mountains, UNPREPARED, and feels free to complain about the undesirable conditions. I swear I am going to go crazy. I have the urge to strike up conversations with complete strangers, I don’t even care if they speak English. I just want somebody new to talk to. How am I going to survive the week? Whenever Kalyan comes into the room I try to send a telepathic message to him apologizing for how rotten she is acting. But I don’t know him well enough say that to him yet, and I don’t want to come across as stirring stuff up. He told us that the thunder and lightening going on right now is supposed to be good for trekking tomorrow since it’s a dusty section of the trail.

I woke up to blue skies with a few fluffy clouds. This was the view when I stepped out my door and turned to my left.

There wasn’t much to do in the getting-ready process, considering we’d slept in our clothes and wouldn’t be showering. Kalyan knocked on our door with hot tea for us to enjoy before our established meeting time for breakfast. After brushing our teeth, adding a few more swipes of deodorant over the previous days’ layers, and shoving our sleeping bags into their pouches, Katherine and I met the rest of the team in the dining hall.

I journaled a little after I ate, and noted it was so quiet in that village you could hear the river running. I wrote: Just finished a vegetable omelet. Guess what? Michelle doesn’t like hers. Now she’s pouting and eating beef jerky. I am sitting as far from her as possible.