Nepal 2019 - Day 6 - Surke to Namche Bazaar Pt 1

 Surke to Namche Bazaar

The rest from the previous night was much required. My body finally started to pain in areas I didn't know existed. Spent a good time in working the IT band pain hoping for it subside during the day. After a very filling breakfast of curd and muesli, I left Surke around 07.00.  The trail was relatively flat, just a whole bunch of stairs going up and down. The path went through a lovely pine forest along the river. Apart from the easy trail, the major difference was the number of hikers on the trail. I saw more hikers in 30 mins than all of the last 6 days.

After an hour managing between mule trains and crowds, I reached a small hamlet of Cheplung. It was a quaint little hamlet where I was hoping some of the crowd stayed back and the journey ahead could be less taxing. But everyone was moving on with actual queues on the trail. The route which generally would take an hour took about a couple of hours to get to Phakding. What I knew was that Phakding was definitely a place used by hikers to stay overnight to avoid AMS. It's quite a big village with many lodges, cafes, bars and restaurants. This was the most cosmopolitan you could get up in these mountains. While discussing this over with a fellow trekker over lunch, he just asked to wait till I reached Namche Bazaar. I also noticed the price of food going higher and the quality deteriorating.

 Moving on after lunch,saw huge groups of porters carrying every commodity imaginable. From Phakding, most of the trails were built of stones and prayer wheels became very common. I had abruptly left Hindu country and entered Buddhist country. Prayers were chiseled all over the rock faces and vividly colored as well.

Trash seemed to disappear though, there was obviously more care taken for this part of the trail. The trail was a gradual ascent towards the next pit stop of Monjo. I passed small villages called Toktok and Bankas, however, there was hardly any activity there. Also came across two checkpoints where you were required to present your permits and pay the respective fees. The long queue just to get to the checkpoint was a pain to deal with. A lot of people either didn't know the purpose of the checkpoint or even have permits.Army personnel were regularly shouting at people to come back and pay the fees. Overall, a very unorganized and frustrating experience. 

While waiting, I bumped into none other than the New Yorker I met earlier. He entertained a couple of us with this tories of trekking in Iceland, France & South America with very sparse budget. He did tell me that he splurged on a Buffalo burger in Lukla earlier which set off my taste buds. Another crazy character we met in the queue was this Irishman wearing football shorts, running shoes and a tank top. His backpack was just a school bag! He said he was doing the 3 high passes without a sleeping bag or any other luxury as he described it. I debated that point as a necessity. He figured he would be ok in the dining room of lodges and might pick up a down in Namche. ''I'm good with Irish winters, I can handle this.'', he said. ''To each his own, I want my layers.'', I replied.

Monjo to Namche is a long but gradual ascent and now that I had company, I was confident of making it in time. While we were getting through the queue, the three of us started making observations to kill time. First one were two ladies with proper makeup, brand new clothes and boots with their hands draped over the shoulders of their Nepali guide. They looked like they were utterly exhausted from going through some kind of hell, though took time to look presentable while doing so. And they were not the only one like this!