November 3

I got up with the sun at 6 AM, before anyone else. Outside, it was cold and frosty, but the sky was now perfectly clear for the first time. I climbed to the chorten with colorful prayer flags overlooking Tengboche, and watched the sun come up, illuminating the surrounding peaks. This certainly was a very beautiful spot. Everest was now clearly visible across Lhotse's ridge, along with Ama Dablam and the nearby Thamserku Peak.

I had the same breakfast as yesterday, Tibetan bread and an omelet, and then we started down the trail for Dingboche. First we went downhill steeply, past the Debuche nunnery. Then, we crossed the river and gently climbed along the valley, with a beautiful view of Ama Dablam ahead, and Tengboche on the ridge behind. We passed through lower Pangboche, the newer part of that town, which had a lot of walled potato fields (now harvested) and traditional Sherpa houses, plus many new inns. We stopped shortly beyond Pangboche for a snack of coconut biscuits and tea at a tea house which was built in the traditional style, with the dining and kitchen areas together, a stone stove with no chimney, and a thatched roof.

Sherpa houses and View of Ama Dablam, near Pangboche

The entire route today was lined with mani stones, chortens, and mani walls. Beyond Pangboche, the country grows more desolate, with very few trees and a lot of rocks. The day was sunny, but becoming windy and colder. We crossed a wooden bridge just after the junction where the trail leaves for Pheriche, over a beautiful blue river. Then we had a reasonably gentle climb to Dingboche, a rather desolate town similar to Pangboche without the trees, with impressive mountain views.

Dingboche has a large stupa near the entrance, and a smaller one up the hill. The mountains had clouds around them, but the sky was mostly clear. Ahead up the valley was Island Peak, a `trekking peak' about 20,000 feet high, popular among climbers with limited experience.

Buddhist stupa near Dingboche

The first lodge we tried was full. We stopped at a lodge at the far end of town that they recommended, but it was pretty bad. No one else was there, and the beds in the cold dormitory were lumpy with broken boards. We had ordered lunch, but Lal canceled it, and we left to find someplace better. We found dormitory space in a nice lodge, the Sonam Friendship Lodge, where his friend was staying. It was cool inside, about 45, but was very nice. There was a picture of the Dali Lama, and a string of prayer flags along the high ceiling, together with a Canadian and a New Mexican flag above the two private rooms. The lodge does not have a complete floor: under the bunks is the ground. I had Ra Ra soup for lunch, as did Lal. He only eats two things: Ra Ra soup and dal bhatt.

In the afternoon, the Nepalese guides and porters played cards outside in the courtyard. It was cold, and it is good to drink a lot at high elevations (now 14250 feet), so I ordered a large pot of hot chocolate, and shared some of it with a German man. I would have ordered a small pot, since the large one cost more than 200 Rs, but no pot that size was available since so many people had ordered pots of tea or chocolate. A lady named Julie, who was about 60, was staying at the inn. She was traveling alone, except for a porter who I hadn't seen. She was from San Fransisco, where she is a health care worker planning to retire next year, but was born in Belgium.

The sunset tonight was beautiful, the first good sunset of the trip. Usually it was too cloudy to see one. A reddish light reflected from the high snowy peaks, which were now relatively cloudless. Down the valley to the west, the sky was subtly orange. I took a few pictures, but was a little too slow setting up the camera to catch the reddest colors. Then I went in to order dinner: cheese and potato momos with garlic soup. This inn had green-chile hot sauce on the table, which was a nice addition to the momos. Usually they just had watery Nepalese ketchup. This inn is lighted by solar electricity collected during the day, which lasts until about 9 PM on a clear day. We sat around the stove, which was burning yak dung, until about 8:30, then went to bed.

An hour or so later, a group of women came by shining lights in the windows of the lodge, and singing a strange, repetitive song. At the time I didn't know what was going on, having been awakened by them, and I thought they sounded like children singing. In the morning, the guides explained that this was the beginning of the Hindu `festival of lights,' which honors the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. The festival lasts three days, and the first night, women go around with lights and sing. The festival is celebrated mostly by gambling, since it is supposed to be a lucky time. Many of the guides and porters had been doing that all night. The women who visited our lodge were said to be singing ``We travel from Pheriche. The festival is beginning. It has been a year...''

Copyright Scott A. Yost, 1994. All rights reserved.