EBC Day 15 Tyangboche – Chumoa

A long day divided up into some interesting sections as we left the high mountains behind for good and descended into the greener valleys, wider trails with villages more frequent along the way. To start we followed a steep winding track down and down from the monastery, losing 400m height in almost no time. We then started to gain height again as we followed the trail around the edge of the mountain on our way towards Namche Bazaar from where we would retrace our steps along the route all the way back to Lukla. It was an easy walking track but a lot of dust was being blown into our faces at times by the wind. There were several “stupas” or bell shaped monuments providing good market points along the way. After a stop at a nice tea house on the trail below Khumjung we continued along before descending on a familiar path into Namche for lunch. As with many countries in this part of the world, informal relationships are a very important part of making things happen so it was no surprise when our guide explained we would be having lunch in the same lodge where had stayed some 12 days ago.

Also there were the rowdy group from last night – it seems we are following a similar schedule back to Lukla (more of that later). After lunch we began the long descent out of Namche and found ourselves crossing the wobbly “suspension” bridges again over the crashing sound of the river below. Another familiar experience was the non-human traffic, mules and “yaks” which always seem to be coming towards you. By the time we got to another place we had previously stopped at for tea in Jorsalle, it was starting to rain. We sat inside and prepared for the worst, waterproof jackets and back pack covers were put on as we listened to the sound of the rain on the corrugated plastic roof. We drank our tea, went outside and realised immediately that it was not raining at all, what we could hear was the sound of the river!!!

It remained cloudy so we decided just to crack on and covered the last few km to our lodge at a good pace. No surprise again that this was where we had had a tea break on our outward journey, and equally no surprise that the rowdy group were already in situ…and this is how it went..

The group is with another well established trekking company, there are 10 trekkers and 3 guides. The group is comprised of 2 older men from Australia, a young Canadian couple (I thought they were Americans), 2 English guys, a pair of well built young men from Australia (one of which is actually Irish) a lone Australian lady and a guy on his own from New Zealand. Their group had left Tyangboche before us in the morning, one or two of the guys already drinking beer, packing more cans in their bags and bragging about whose bar bill was the largest from the previous evening.

So when we arrived in Chumoa the alcohol was already flowing and the music was loud, and everyone was in good spirits. We checked into our rooms, ordered dinner and watched again as the evening unfolded, this time in the form of card based drinking games orchestrated by the Canadian chap. We politely declined offers to join in (I have learned from past experiences not to mix too much alcohol with a long hike next day – unnecessary suffering!!).

Now, as anyone who knows me will hopefully agree, I’m not a killjoy nor averse to seeing people enjoy themselves over a few drinks, however as the noise levels increased, music was turned up louder, it became clear there was no control over what was going on (in fact the party guides and the lodge owner seemed to be powerless to act – bottles of local rum were being consumed and arguments were beginning. Fortunately my room was upstairs and shielded from some of the noise, so I retired to bed. I fell asleep but was woken at some point by shouting outside the building, arguments and looked out of my window to see a guy stand on a plastic table which promptly collapsed underneath him.

Finally the noise abated, earplugs were in and sleep returned. It would be interesting to see how events unfolded in the morning…final day back to Lukla.