Home » Nepal » News from Nepal - Jiri to Namche

Nepal is far from Montreal. Excluding stop-over: 6 hours to Los Angeles, 17 hours to Bangkok then 4 hours to Kathmandu adds up to 27 hours worth of leg cramp, and not much sleep.

News from Nepal - Jiri to Namche

Mark Morin
2007-04-21 21:55:44

Displayed times (last time: )

Nepal is far from Montreal. Excluding stop-over: 6 hours to Los Angeles, 17 hours to Bangkok then 4 hours to Kathmandu adds up to 27 hours worth of leg cramp, and not much sleep.

But before I can start trekking, there's a 10-hour public bus ride to survive, switch-backing for hours as we climb to a high pass then dig-zagging down to a river crossing, only to repeat the cycle over and over again. Other than a ruptured break line and my first meal of dal bhat (more on this delicacy later), the bus trip from Kathmandu to Jiri was not too scary.

Why on earth would I want to go through all that to reach a tiny village in rural Nepal? Because it's just about as close as I can get by road to the Khumbu region in the Himalayas of North-Eastern Nepal, bordering Tibet. It's the home of at least 5 monster mountains (including Everest) that exceed 8000m (26000 ft) and many other close contenders. There's nowhere higher and arguably nowhere more beautiful on earth.

I could have flown to Lukla at the doorstep of the Khumbu but I chose as the first half of my trek to walk the traditional approach route through Sherpa villages to Namche Bazaar. This is a pedestrian highway used by the hundreds of porters who provision these villages just as they have done for centuries. After acclimatizing in here in Namche Bazaar, the second half of my trek will be to hike to Gokyo for spectacular close-up views of the Himalayas, but that will be for the next edition.

This first part is not a wilderness trek but rather an intimate view into rural Nepali life. There are people everywhere and the abundance of children is a testament to Nepal's explosive 2.3% annual population growth rate. The trail not only crosses countless micro-villages but it seems to almost dissect homes because so much of life here happens around the house.

Many homes also serve as tea-houses or lodges, serving meals and accommodation to passing porters ...