Namche Bazaar

We continued our trek in from Manjo two days ago, arriving in Namche early on the afternoon of the 3rd. It was a relatively short day in but included a height gain of 600m, which gave us a good blow out as we slogged up the hill and helped with our acclimatization. We also had the chance to get our first real view of Everest towering over the Nupste-Lhotse ridge. And the back, north, side of Kusum Kanguru which looks great with a good plastering of ice.

Everest, left, and the North face of Kusum Kanguru, right.

Yesterday we woke to fresh snow, and saw Namche in a completely different light with the coating of white a stark contrast to the dust of the previous day.

Namche Bazaar, before and after the recent snowfall.

After relaxing for the morning we passed the afternoon by going for walk up to the villages of Khunde and Kumjing behind Namche. In Kumjing we stopped for lunch with family of Indra's, our trekking guide/liasion officer, where we dinned on noodle soup, fried chicken and a selection of the local fire water - Rarksi and Everest whisky. The skies cleared after lunch and the remainder of the day was spent playing cricket with some of the local children, with an amazing backdrop of Ama Dablam and Thamserku, before walking back down to Namche in the dusk.

Entertaining the local children in Kumjing.

Today we will continue our trek up into the Gokyo towards Machermo. Where we plan to spend a few days acclimatizing and hopefully get up Gokyo Ri before heading into Kyajo Ri base camp.

Evening light on Ama Dablam, left, and Thamserku, right.