EVEREST TREK : DAY 27

Day 27.  Sete to Bhandar.

Friday 5 April.

Moira ordered four hard boiled eggs at breakfast. She ate two and kept the others for our lunch. It was another glorious day and with little wind it became very hot as we were now descending to much lower levels. The roughly 1000 metres downhill to Kinja was steep and rough in places causing us to take it slow and steady. We could see Kinja a long way down in the valley beside the river, Likhu Kgola, always seeming an illusion as it never appear to get any closer. But we eventually did reach it and there was a delightful little tea house which we reached in a credible 2.5 hours. 

Tea house at Kinja

Moira said the tea was the best she had tasted in ages and the coffee was also very good. We bought a packet of biscuits and a bottle of Fanta to add to our eggs and cheese for lunch. The lodge was very clean and had a neat compact little dining room which looked like it would be warm and cosy in the evening. 

On our way again the path after crossing and re crossing the river by two suspension bridges gradually climbed up the side of the hill running along the bank on one side of the river. Unfortunately the profile didn't level out and became steeper as it zig zagged up the hill. After 2 hours we stopped for lunch, eggs, cheese and biscuits washed down with Fanta. There was another 2 hours of stiff climbing after lunch. Moira was fading badly, sitting down every few minutes. I had to bully her to keep going and eventually got her to the top. We still had another hour's walking walking along a contour path but it was now pleasant going where we could admire the surroundings and the deep valley we had come up with the river now very far below. There was a final very steep hill to negotiate and then we were in the outskirts of Bhandar. Our lodge was still nearly 30 minutes away at the top end of the village, the consolation being that it was saving us a bit of a climb in the morning. 

Suspension bridge at exit from Kinja

Coming through the village there were lots of Buddhist monks about and lots of people congregated in the square near our lodge, there was some sort of celebrations taking place. At first I thought it was a wedding with lots of music playing but later found it was for the opening of a new Buddhist temple. After dropping our bags in our room we sat outside with a beer. It was still very warm and the beer hit the right spot after another hard day in the hills. The lodge was quite busy with people starting out on their trek towards Everest. We had seen a few parties and tours of the trail this afternoon, this must be the most popular season with the weather now warming up.

At dinner we spoke to a guy from Lincolnshire, now living in Australia, who was just going 3 hours north of Namche to a monastery to do three months meditation. Another guy who was an Aussie was doing the normal Himalayan visit to EBC etc. they had both walked all the way from Jiri today. 

Still getting distant views of the snowy peaks

When we got to bed the music and dancing was still going on. It did finish at a respectable hour, 10 pm, but I still didn't sleep very well. I had two foam rubber excuses for mattresses but they didn't stop the hard boards digging into my hip bones.