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| Namche to Marlung |
First time in three weeks that I have slept through the night! Get up at 7AM and snap a few pics at the Namche market. Every guide book I've read talks about people coming for miles around to the Namche market. It is the heart of Sherpa country. The market is the soul of their economy....
Let me tell you folks, the Namche market MAY be a big deal for the locals, but they have much of the same stuff that you find at the San Jose flea market in California. Cheap Chinese cloths and running shoes. Basic foodstuffs like rice, flour, and other grains. San Miguel Beer. San Miguel Beer. More San Miguel Beer. Oh yes, and a healthy amount of Bagpiper rum. For me, the attraction was seeing a bunch of locals doing their thing and having a few photo ops.
Take my tripod to the watch repair place where they fixed my reading glasses a week ago. They tighten the leg on my tripod and charge me 10Rs to do so. Gotta like a place where you can do basic maintainence on expensive camera gear for 15 cents a pop.
My original plan when I separated from Lal and the organized trek was to head up to Gokyo, going over Cho La (a high pass). However, because I felt lousy, I burned a couple days in resting and going to lower elevation. Those that know me well will know that I don't let go of ideas easily, and I hatch a crazy plan that still allows me to see Gokyo while getting to Lukla on May 6, four days hence.
My plan is to hike to Thame, three hours from Namche, and see how I feel. If I feel strong, then I continue north this afternoon, going as far as Marlung or even Lungden. I cross the Renjo Pass and get to Gokyo tomorrow, get up early on May 5, hike to the top of Gokyo Ri and then book down to Namche, spending the night in Namche. May 6 will be realtively easy in comparison, heading down to Lukla and preparing for the flight back to Kathmandu on May 7.
I implement phase 1 and start hiking to Thame, where Tenzing Norgay was born. I meet a three young children on the way who are asking for money and candy. Instead of meeting their demands, I let them listen to my ipod. They get a big kick out this, one them starts dancing. There are three of them and they pass individual ear buds around so that two of them can listen at a time. The oldest suddenly has an inspiration and grabs both ear buds. The smile on her face when she hears the music in stereo is priceless. She listens for a few moments before letting the others share her new discovery.
I'm still not at full strength and am hiking at perhaps two thirds my normal pace. I get a major impetus to speed up when I'm thirty minutes from Thame. It starts to rain. Just spitting to start but gradually increasing to the point where I worry about my camera and the contents of my pack. I stop at Thame's Sunshine Lodge. If spending time anywhere can help the rain situation, it would have to be the SUnshine Lodge.
I order some lemon tea, preparing to wait for a bit. I hear a strong call, it's a crunchy, chewy sound. I purchase a can of Pringles potato chips that was packaged in 2006 and which says can be eaten until 2008. Probably not the wisest purchase made in my life, but I make the best of it. The first few go down great. The bottom of the can needs to be swilled down with another lemon tea. It helps pass the time and after an hour or so, the rain stops and I head north again.
There are still ugly looking clouds in the area and I worry that I will get dumped on. Each rock I pass is examined for its shelter possibilities. The hike is uneventful and I arrive at the RiverView Lodge in Marlung at 5:30, after 2.5 hours of walking.
The Lodge is run by a Sherpini (woman Sherpa). Her husband is a porter who specializes in Everest expeditions (she proudly shows me a faded picture of him at the top of Everest) (he is in Everest Base Camp, patiently waiting for the Chinese to open up the mountain after their PR event taking the Olympic torch to the top of Everest).
Her command of English is limited to about 50 words. My command of Nepali is limited to what can be looked up in little phrase book. I find the phrase book inadequate, in some instances she does not have a clue what I'm trying to say. It is foggy and snowing outside and I'm trying to make a statement that it will be sunny tomorrow, hoping to elicit a yea or nay response from her (as though she would know!)
The word for "sun" in my book is sur-ya, but it draws a blank stare no matter how many times I say with different pronounciation. I have better luck with the next entry,gha-mai-lo, "sunny". We carry on like this for some time, slowly communicating a few facts. She has three children, two daughters and a son. Her son is an Everest porter like his father, and is currently away on Everest. October/November is the busy season for them and they can fill their place.
A few words about their house. It is stone, like all houses in the area, having a stone fence demarcating a few fields around the house. Total area covered by their spread is 100 yards by 100 yards. The house proper has a kitchen and dining room. The kitchen is about 20' x 15', the dining room is about 20' x 20', and I think she has a private bed room but I did not look. The dining room is set up in the classic style I've seen everywhere, with a heater in the middle and benches/tables around the perimeter of the room.
The lodgers all stay in a building which is attached to the main building, but which is accessed by an external door. (ie, leave the house, go outside, enter the door to the lodging quarters). The doors are all about four feet high. In reading Jamling Norgay's book, he explains that the low height is to prevent the ghosts of previous occupants from entering the house and causing trouble. Apparently ghosts cannot bend over.
Livestock are kept on the ground floor, beneath the lodgers. I expect that this was the orginal house, quite small, and that the current house is a new addition. The lodging area is set up dorm style, with five beds sticking out from one wall and the other long wall having three beds placed end to end. They use all the space. I looked under the beds and found sacks of potatoes. Round yak dung patties are stacked against the walls.
I am the only lodger today and I think the matron of the house is very glad for the company, even if it is tough to communicate. She makes me an enormous dinner of vegetable chow mein. She has enormous strong hands, probably developed from years of working in the fields.
I have an interesting discussion about the toilet, when I don't think she has properly understood my question, but in fact she has. There is no toilet. "Go outside, far from the house", she says.
I go to bed early and get a reasonably good sleep.
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