The crazy dancing monks of Tengboche
Yesterday afternoon we wandered into Namche city centre to have a look round the shops. Most of it was the usual Nepali tourist stuff – yak-wool socks, singing bowls, etc – but there were a couple of decent gear shops so I bought a hat and another hand-warmer for summit days.
We wiled away the evening with more cards then went to bed early – we’re gradually getting used to early nights and early mornings, in preparation for the ridiculously early starts we’re going to have to handle on summit days. Unfortunately I hadn’t drunk enough last night so woke up a few times with a headache, but that’s gone during the day.
We set off this morning at about 07:45, up the busy trail we’d seen yesterday from the acclimatisation walk. The team seems to be way faster than Andy expected – we’re easily beating his estimates, and ended up having lunch at 11:00, we’d gone so fast today!
The morning walk was a spectacular path, high up along the side of a steep gorge. Unfortunately the cloud meant there were no views of Ama Dablam (apparently just across the valley) or any of the more distant peaks, but the views down the Dudh Kosi valley were very dramatic.
Just before lunch we dropped right down into the valley and crossed over a bridge. I had my first dal bhat for a few days, then we climbed up to Tengboche, again caning Andy’s estimates. We had a look round the famous monastery there, then on the way out we came across some very un-synchronised monks doing a crazy dance with nothing more than a single cymbal providing the music.
When we finally tore ourselves away from the monks, we had tea and cakes in a nearby shop to recover, then dropped down through a forest to Deboche, where we’re currently roasting in the lodge thanks to a very powerful wood-stove in the middle of the room. We’re sharing the lodge with the B-Team again, and are looking forward to dinner as lunch seems a long time ago.
I’m still finding it a little bit strange how much time we’re not walking. All the sitting around feels a bit lazy – it’s quite relaxing compared to 8-hour days carrying 25kg up 1,000m a day!