Nov 3 2024 – Namche to Tengbouche

The trails up here are marked with signs which list distances to places in hours. They’re all wrong. And every sign pointing to Tengbouche says it’s 2 hours, no matter where the sign is or how far away from Tengbouche it actually is.

It actually took me 6. Starting at 11,800 feet, dropping to 10,800 feet, and climbing to 12,800 feet. In the span of 3.5 miles. It was brutal. Especially carrying a pack.

I don’t think I’ve shared what I’m carrying on this trek. So:

*If I do this again I’m investing in ultralight gear*

That’s probably close to 40 pounds when you include 2 liters of water. It is not a lightweight thing to have on your back all day. It’s extra not light weight when you’re dealing with incredibly steep trails in an environment with less oxygen than you’re used to.

So, 6 hours to Tengboche. Thankfully this is my last pack laden crazy uphill slog for several days. Although I’m still going to be marching up, the gain will be spread out over several miles.

The hike from Namche to Sanasa was actually really beautiful and mostly flat.

*“Flat” in the Himalayas rarely means _flat_*

Once you pass through Sanasa you drop down to the river at Phunki Thanga. It’s so far the only place on the trail that I’ve seen fall foliage.

There are several police checkpoints you have to go through on the trail. There’s one outside Lukla, one outside Monjo, one right before Namche, and one in Phunki Thenga. The one in Phunki Thenga is the first one where I got any grief. I handed the officer my trek card and national park permit expecting that he’d just stamp it and hand it back like everyone else did. Instead he looks up at me and says “No guide?”

“No, no guide”

“Why not?”

I was completely unprepared for that question. Napal passed a law requiring trekkers to have a guide, but the Khumbu municipality said they had no plans to enforce it, and at no point in my research did I come across anyone saying they got grief for not having a guide.

“I don’t want a guide”

“Why not?”

Shit, this doesn’t bode well. At this point I figure my best course of action is to pretend that I’m dumb and don’t understand him. It eventually worked, and he rolled his eyes and stamped my permit. But, for a moment I was genuinely worried he’d tell me I wasn’t allowed to go on.

From there it was just more up, up, and up, until Tengbouche.

The only thing in Tengbouche, besides teahouses, is the monastery. It’s the largest monastery in the region.

And unlike all the other monasteries I’ve visited, I was allowed inside. It was definitely an experience I’m still digesting. They don’t allow photography inside, but inside the altar room there was a monk chanting and a few creating a mandala. I looked around, they ignored my presence, and then I sat cross legged against the back wall, closed my eyes, and listened to the chanting while I concentrated on my breathing. It was one of the most serine experiences I’ve had. After 2 hours the chanting monk took a tea break and asked if I wanted to participate in a puja ceremony. I don’t know what the significance of that is, but he had me kneel in front of him, tied a red string around my neck, then blessed me. I gave him 2000 rupees ($15us) as a donation, and he offered to let me film the monks making the mandala.