Everest Base Camp Trek With My First Two Sons March 2019

Day 1 - 14 March 2019

So here we are in Kathmandu. Bakti, Jasa and me. We’ve been planning this trip for more than a year and now we’re here and will be actually doing it. Tomorrow will be Day 1 of the Trek.We reached Kathmandu at around 12.15pm. Around 15-20 mins later than expected. The airport was busy so our plane had to make circles in the sky whilst waiting for our turn to land.My 2 sons seem to be excited. That’s good.Today was kinda slow. Didn’t do much. Just bought a few more equipments, eat and watch TV.

Day 2 - 15 March 2019

Woke up quite early around 5am since I went to sleep at 10 last night. Did my dawn prayers and went down for some “fresh air” in the cool morning.Then woke my sons up, got ready, packed and had a chop-chop breakfast. By 6.30, we left for the airport to take a domestic flight to Lukhla.

We’re at the airport now. Reached about 30 minutes ago but now just waiting for the flight to Lukhla via Tara Air. We are at the domestic flight boarding area.

Look at the aeroplane at the background. We're shocked at the size of the tiny aeroplane.

This was the sight that greeted us this morning when we landed on Lukhla airport. The mountain in the background looks surreal.

The flight was ok except during the landing preparation. It felt as if we were on a roller coaster. We were in between 2 mountain tops cos the runaway was in the valley. We flew close to the mountain top and that was kinda scary man!

From Lukhla airport, we made our way to Phakding. Below are some notable sight on the way to there.

Left - Dhudh Kosi River

Below - Thamserku Mountain 6608m, in the background

Sunset at Pakhding

Day 3 - 16 March

Woke up to a cold 1’C. Fortunately, the sleeping bag and silk sleeping bag liner did a good job and kept me warm the whole night. Had breakfast at 7.30 and started our trek at 8am.

First order of the trek was a gentle climb for 15 minutes. Then it was a winding up and down for almost 2 hours. Today’s trek sure gave us lotsa beautiful sceneries.

Another view of Thamserku Mountain

We stopped for a short tea break at around 9.30am along the route. It was run by a nice gentleman-owner.

After about half an hour, we carried on and was greeted by another beautiful mountain scenery. Khumbila (Holy Mountain) 5761m.

Then about an hour from Namche (our stop for 2 nights), we had to cross the highest suspension. It was very windy too!

The final push to Namche was the toughest so far. It was like some of the moderate climbs in Malaysia and Indonesia but because of the altitude, it was made really tough! See the ascend!

The temperature is a killer for us tonight!

Day 4 - 17 March

The day started a bit later cos it’s a rest day and we’re staying in Namche for another day. I think it’s part of the tourist association or tourism ministry to make it such cos this place sure has quite a big shopping area for a place high up in the mountains. Anyway, we’re glad to have a day’s rest anyway. Woke up to a very cold morning!

After breakfast, we set off. Unbelievably, even the excursion was also a climb of almost 200m covering approximately 5km. We went up to a couple of high points where there were beautiful sceneries of the mountains.

View of the peak of Lhotse Mountain (8516m) on the right from a hill overlooking the town of Namche.

We climbed to the hill above Namche which is part of the Sagarmatha National Park and from there, the view was surreal. It was a clear day, so we were able to see almost all the peaks in the region. Sagarmatha is the Nepalese name for Mount Eversest.

Kusum Kanguru - 6367m

Thamserku - 6608m

Amadhablam - 6812m

Khumbila - 5761m

Dorje - 6966m

Kongde Ri - 6187m

After almost 2 1/2 hours of up and down hills to see mountains, it was time to go for lunch! We chose a place that served western food. It also has a nice alfresco area. The sun was shining when we were having dessert. It was nice. Cool mountain air with warm sunshine in our face! And then like typical Singaporean, since we had the afternoon free; we went shopping lah!

Day 5 - 18 March

We left Namche this morning en-route towards Thyangboche. And as expected, there were nice views as we made our way northeast.

Tengi Ragi Tau - 6938m, in the background

Then something unexpected happened. It started snowing! Bakti was very happy whilst Jasa and me were a bit cautious about it. Snow would mean that it would get colder. Anyway, we had to brave a whole day of snow.

During tea break we stopped by at teahouse managed by a pleasant young man that spoke very good English. His name is Karma Sherpa. It seems that he spends half a year every year in Colorado, US to work. The other half he spends in Nepal managing his business.

We spoke quite a bit in that 30 minutes. The thing I remembered most was that he thought the 3 of us were Nepalis. Well, i guess, the 3 of us can pass off as locals. Talking about locals; there seems to be 3 general looking types. The North Indian looking type, the North Asian looking type and the Turkic looking type. I wonder whether they see that distinction among themselves.

The trek ended in Thyangboche at lodge named Rivendell!😂

Day 6 - 19 March

We left the Elves Village (😂😂😂 - if you're familiar with Lord Of The Rings) at 8.30am en-route towards Dingboche. The walk was through high canyons with lotsa wind. Our guide advised us to wear an additional layer of clothes. So all 3 of us had an additional fleece on.

True enough, for about 2 hours we were walking high along canyon walls. The wind was blowing really hard.

One of the striking mountain that we saw was Mt Kantega - 6782m. It stood out compared to the rest because it was all white! See the mountain in the background in the picture below.

Around 3pm we reached Dingboche, our destination for the day. The place looks like Village in The Cloud from Japanese Anime series Naruto. See picture below.

For the next 2 nights, we’re staying at this place called Bright Star. It’s quite crowded with an Arab and Azeris group and some solo or couple travellers from Taiwan, China and Italy.

The Taiwanese couple (Bill and Jessica) are very friendly. They are husband and wife. And they are both into this kind of adventure trips. We talked a lot. Bakti and me took turn to talk to them especially the guys cos he does like to share. By around 8pm, they decided to turn in for the night and by 8.30pm, we decided to call it a night too.

Day 7 - 20 March

Woke up this morning at 7.30 am to frost breathe in the room! Look at the temperature. If I ever come here again, gonna ask agent to book for us a room with attached bathroom that has water heater and portable heater in the room. It’s ok to pay more. We’re here for the adventure but it would be nice to end the day with some creature comfort!🙂

But the morning view was simply incredible.

After breakfast, we went for a short 2-hour hike to a hill behind our lodge. After a short climb, we had some amazing views.

After about 30 minutes taking pictures, we decided to make our way down back to the lodge. We ended up at the bakery of the lodge. The boys had brownie and chocolate croissant. I just had tea. I’ve been having mild constipation for the past 2 days and my tummy feels hard and bloated.

About 30 minutes later, a few of the members from a Malaysian group came in. I recognised one of the guy, Rahul. He spoke to us when we were at Namche and every now and then we’ve been bumping into each other. They were also at Samsara on Day 1.

So I spoke a bit to him. Quite a friendly and interesting chap.

Rahul from Malaysia

Didn’t do much today cos it’s a rest day and we found the temperature to be too cold. Whilst we were having dinner, it started snowing. I guess it’s gonna get colder!

Day 8 - 21 March

We carried on our journey this morning. We left Dingboche for Lobuche. The terrain was interesting. It was like being in a desert but high on the mountain. The wind was blowing hard whilst we were trekking. That made it more difficult to breathe. The most interesting for this part of the journey is walking along and then across the frozen part of the Dhudh Kosi river. You can see the frozen river here in the foreground with Nuptse in the background.

Nuptse Mountain - 7861 m, in the background

Then we had to climb a hill for almost an hour where at the top, the monument for those killed in Everest was situated. But it was the tough climb for the day.

My 2 boys climbing the hill ahead of me.

2 of the bigger monuments of the fallen climbers.

Just after the monument area towards Lobuche with the Malaysian group. We have been trekking together on and off since Day 1. Next to me is Ravi. He is a veteran climber and guide who had summited Mount Everest twice.

That night in the lodge at Lobuche; there were much discussion among the groups as to the plans for the following 2 days as all of us were reaching the end of our journey.

From top left is the Arab Gulf group, Malaysian group, US group, Nordic group and mixed trio. The discussion surrounded on whether to go EBC first or Kalapatha first and then some of them were also arranging for choppers to take them straight from EBC to Lukhla whilst others were walking back and there were a few who were gonna go to Island Peak after EBC. So there was a lot to talk to about. That night most of us turned in a bit late around 9pm.

Unfortunately, for me that was also the night that I woke up every 3 hours to pee! 10pm, 1pm, 3pm and 6pm. Felt lousy when I woke up but mustered up enough energy and spirit to carry on as the next day we were gonna reach EBC.

Day 9 - 22 March

Woke up feeling lousy cos I woke up 4 times over the night to pee. But this was the big day. We were gonna reach EBC today! But first it was a 3 hour trek to Gorak Shep.

Leaving Lobuche

Going up to Gorak Shep through cold windy passage! But with sun shining hard too! So it was cold and hot at the same time! This slope was a tough one! But finally we made it at 10.30 am. Kinda 30 minutes earlier than expected.

We had 90 minutes to have lunch and recover then it was time to leave for EBC but without our day bags.

So at 12 noon, we set off for EBC. The route was quite “easy”; mostly flat BUT of course it was cold and windy. We walked by along the Khumbu icefall. And i witness my first avalanche.

Walking on the ridge towards EBC. Below in the valley is the Khumbu icefall and in the background, Mt Everest peak can be seen.

Arriving at EBC

After 30 minutes and a thousand photos later, we set off back to Gorak Shep.

That night, we decided that we’re gonna skip the hike to Kalapathar and leave at 9am. Our aim is to reach Dubuche which is about 1000m lower so that we can get to warmer weather.

Before sleeping, I went out to check the sky. It was a clear night and I could see million of stars in the sky. The black night was filled with shining stars.

Mission accomplished. Time to head on down to warmer climate.

Day 10 - 23 March

Woke up to a freezing morning, even indoors. The water in our Nalgene bottles had turned to ice!

After breakfast we set off at 9am and ended at 5pm. In summary that day was like this:

Day 11 - 24 Mar

Left Dubuche at 8.45am for Namche. Took it slow and took lotsa pictures with multiple mountains again! The views are surreal!

Tamserku in the background

Kangtega

Kangtega

Tamserku (L) Kangtega (R)

Thirty minutes from Namche.

Reached Namche by 3pm. What a beautiful sight for our sore eyes and body. Not forgetting to mention out smelly bodies too! Rested awhile and had first shower in 8 days!

The boys took a wrong a turn but what a discovery they made from that mistake.

Day 12 - 25 March

Woke up to a nice “warm” 0’C!😂😂😂

Anyway, the discovery the boys made was that there was an offer to fly out of Namche straight to Kathmandu on a chopper for US$299 per person. I thought that was cheap. And after consulting with Mr Bahadur, our guide and Sushan our travel coordinator, they agreed that it was an awesome price. So we took it up! And we were gonna fly out that morning. It was first time for all of us taking a helicopter. Cool ah!

The flight was gonna be at 10am so we had a few hours to kill. So that allowed us some time for a bit of souvenir shopping and taking some pictures.

I'm a Picker so I love antique shops and flea markets. But this one is for posing only. Didn’t even go inside!

Mountain bag on a mountaintop!

Getting ready for our maiden chopper ride! Exciting eh!

At around 12 noon, we were back in sunny Kathmandu. It was kinda warm when we arrived and we stripped down to only our base layer for the ride back to Hotel Samsara. That was kinda nice after 12 days in the cold windy mountain!

Day 13 - 26 March

Didn’t do much today. Brought the boys for massage...i just had foot massage. They boys had the Trekkers massage.

Then went for lunch at a Halal “Malaysian-food” restaurant. The food was good. A bit different from our usual place i.e Al Madinah. Anyway, this other place is called Nepal Tara.

Spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around in the room and at our hotel lobby.

Day 14 - 27 March

Did a bit of cultural immersion today. Went to a world heritage site called Bakpatur. Spent about 2 hours only. But lotsa info was gathered as our guide was very knowledgeable. I was again mistaken as a local again today!😂

Day 15 - 28 March

Just chilling in the hotel room right now. Gonna go for lunch and do some reflections over lunch. Probably, gonna go to a nice restaurant for lunch today so that we can have a good reflection session.

We had quite a good reflection session. We talked about the trip; what went right, what went wrong, how to improve and how do we apply the lessons learnt on our daily life. This was not the first time that we have reflection sessions. I make it a point to have reflection sessions as part of our family activities be it an adventure trip likes this, a family gathering, studies and many others. So the boys are quite familiar with such sessions.

I’m glad that they can articulate their thoughts well. This applies for both the trip itself and the lesson learnt for life application. Hopefully, they will be able to relate the lessons learnt and apply them to their daily life.

Day 16 - 29 March

Woke up early this morning to check my bank account. I was hoping that Jean and Bok did not make a mistake about my eligibility to receive my performance bonus. But alas, there was none. So I guess, they were mistaken. I’m not eligible for the performance bonus after all. It would have been nice but it was wishful thinking!😅

We’re gonna fly off in 7 hours. So now we’re just lounging off at the hotel lobby waiting for our transport to the hotel.

It was a tough 10 days up the mountain but since coming down, we’ve been resting a lot. So hopefully, when we get back to Singapore, we can carry on with our daily activities.

It’s been a nice 16 days here with my 2 older sons. Being able to have adventures with them whilst I’m still able is nice.