It's almost all entirely uphill, and not the gentle uphilliness of switchbacks and gentle contours. No, the portion between Manju and Namche is all stairs and steps and hills, and with altitude at about 3,000m, I was breathless the entire distance and needing to stop every 20-30 feet. Lemme tell you &;mdash; reaching the Namche gate ranks up there with getting my scooter, getting bonus pay and finding a pair of pants that fit perfectly.
Other than the tortuous climb, the route was full of sensory overload. Until this point, I'd never been in such close proximity with so many yaks and donkeys (keep to the uphill and make way for them!), walked across so many suspension bridges with raging rapids hundreds of feet below, and encountered so many mountainfolk.
The last one, in particular, really struck me. I constantly passed males with such huge loads on their backs, they were walking almost bent at the waist. It's the kind of work that turns boys into old me in the blink of an eye, and it was with a slightly guilty feeling that I passed each one of them (although I'm still amazed that they're able to carry such loads).
Once in Namche, the best parts of my day were the free wifi at the bakery and the RaRa soup at the teahouse, which quickly became my favourite (ramen noodles with scant slivers of vegetables).
It was here that I also met 'Robert' (that's what I named him), a climbing team leader who's submitted Everest a staggering 12 times. He lives in Chelsea New York and has enough cats to qualify as a crazy cat lady (5 or more).
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