We've had our rest day in Pokhara. After a long 6hr drive yesterday from Kathmandu to Pokhara and seeing some of the poorer areas in Nepal, we arrived around 4pm to a huge electrical storm. Fortunately this passed and the remainder of the evening was pleasant.

Today was both busy and relaxing. Krystal, Mark Des and Anand enjoyed a half hour paraglide over Lake Pokhara. They all raved about how enjoyable it was. Having already done this, I chose to hire a small scooter to skirt around the parameter of the lake to their landing site.

We then relaxed in our hotel garden before heading out to an enjoyable dinner and watching another electrical storm play out over Pokhara's beautiful lake.

Following dinner, we walked up the Main Street and witnessed Pokhara's "Sugar Cane" celebration. This is something I have not seen before. A number of public fire places are setup down the Main Street. The locals then take sugar cane, heat it up in the fire and then smash it down on the road while it is hot. The result is the cane head explodes on the road throwing pieces of cane everywhere. It was an incredible site and it was lovely to see the Nepalese having so much fun.

We fly back to Kat tomorrow. It's about a 25min flight (to cover what took us 6hrs to drive). We will hook up with Darren and Julie for our last night in Nepal before flying to Bangkok on Wednesday.

We awoke to a beautiful morning in Lukla and were promptly hurried over to the airport. In no time at all, our plane arrived from Kathmandu, and we were being fired off the short runway for the 40min flight back to Kat.

On arrival into Kat at around 8.30am, it was decision overload..!!! What does one do first? Shower, Pumpernickels Bakery, Massage....???? Pumpernickels won out in the end. A toasted ham and cheese sandwich and Banana Shake. Heaven..!!

We then checked into the Kathmandu Guest House, but wait, there is only 3 rooms available...!! We need 5.  So Des, Mark, Anand and I stay up the road at my old friend Uttams new hotel. Still being renovated, but very nice none-the-less.

Then a well earned shower and a 1.5 hr massage from my favorite Masseur Dinnez from the Guest House.  Now I'm happy..!!

We now have a few days recover time to recharge our batteries following the challenging trek. Darren & Julie are heading down to Chitwan on the Indian boarder. Roy and Vidia are spending a few days in KL and will meet us in Bangkok on Friday morning. The rest of us will go down to Pokhara tomorrow for some paragliding, possible motorbike hire and view the beautiful Annapurna's. We have earn't our rest.

We all awoke this morning, eager and keen to get to Kathmandu, keen for a shower and clean clothes, keen for lunch at Pumpernickels, eager for some reliable wifi and looking forward to 27 degrees of warmth. Alas, at 4pm, we are still sitting at Lukla...!!

The first flights came and went, the second flights (that we were booked on) departed Kathmandu, but were turned back due to bad weather...!! At midday, all flights into Lukla were officially cancelled for the day. Talk about a let down..!! The team actually accepted it reasonably well (the exception being the trek leader!!)

We now go into the lottery system for flights in the morning (wait, there is no system), again on a day forecast to be far from perfect weather..!!!

Several of the team are right now bunched around the small but warm Paradise Lodge fire reading or watching a movie showing on a small TV screen. It's about 1 degree outside, raining, zero visibility and we are now hearing lots of thunder. Not a great feel of confidence for tomorrow..!!! The team want me to investigate if we can bribe our way into the first flight tomorrow. Can only ask..!!

Delays in and out of Lukla, while expected, can really put a dampener on the trip, so I hope we find some good fortune tomorrow. We need to look on the bright side. We have flushing toilets, warm showers (no clean clothes), sheet, not sleeping bag, lower altitude (2900mts) a few shops, a cafe etc. 

Could be worse...!!!

We arrived back into Lukla this evening around 5pm. It's fair to say that the 3 day return from Ghorak Shep to Lukla proved tough on some of the team, with some feeling genuine fatigue throughout the final day.

We stopped off at Mingma's for our normal final trek dinner.  We decided to send Jenny straight into Lukla due to the demand of the day. The lunch, as usual was excellent. His wife Neema served up a brilliant curry potato and cauliflower dish. Their new house is more spacious than their old one (destroyed in last years earthquake).

Upon arrival into Lukla, most of us had a warm shower (our first in 11 days) before paying our porters and guide and having a sensational dinner. (Several of us had Paradise Lodge's famous Sizzling Chicken). 

We are booked on the first flight tomorrow, although as I write this, it's raining outside..!! Hopefully it will clear to a sunny morning. Next update hopefully from Kat.

We are now well and truly into our long decent back down to Lukla.  Yesterday was tough. Following our morning ascent on KP, we were packed up and starting our descent to Pherishe by 11am (a drop from 5,545 mts to 4,200 mts). The effort of the morning caught up with Anand, who struggled a little on the descent and came in a little late last night. Fortunately a good nights sleep at Pherishe had him trekking stronger today.

Everyone looked and felt better today at the lower altitude, despite a tough 20km covered. All commented on how good they felt to be down lower and out of the bitterly cold climates of higher up. Most were still on a high from yesterday's ascent of KP.

We are now in Namche, and loving it. Flushing toilets, more comfortable climate, good food, wifi etc etc and a few more etc's. It was also good to catch up with Jenny, who has been waiting in Namche for us. Tomorrow, we have another 20km to cover to get down to Lukla.

Thanks for the excellent comments from our previous blog. We have enjoyed reading them.

Update from Lukla tomorrow night.

Hi, this is Sue, Davids sister. I had anticipated an update by now and given we haven't heard anything for a few days indicates there has been no access to Wifi.

The team should have had their two acclimatisation nights in Dingboche, and according to their itinerary, should now be spending the night in Lobuche. Given there isn't a blog update, again we can assume there is no Wifi.   If all has gone to plan, they will move on to Gorek Shep tomorrow. 

Normally there is a strong mobile signal at Gorek Shep due to a communication antenna being present. This antenna acts as a means to provide communication in the event of an emergency for those trekking to, or climbing Everest.

Having been at Gorek Shep recently on my trip (4 weeks ago), this Antenna wasn't working at the time. If we have had no update by 7pm tomorrow, I will assume the tower is still not working and we may not hear from them for a couple more days when they are on their way back down.

I suggest you check the blog tomorrow afternoon and I'm sure once David gets service he will post an update.

Today we completed the long day from Namche to Deboche. This included the steep Thengboche climb, which takes approx 1.5hrs. Everyone climbed very well.  Darren, Julie and Crystal out front and Anand, Vidia and Jenny bringing up the rear. Des, Roy and Mark holding their pace somewhere in between.

The weather has been amazing thus far. Beautiful clear mornings, then afternoon clouds and a few specs of snow at night. As I write this, it's approx minus 2 outside with the odd snow flake falling.

Tomorrow we climb to Dingboche and in the process break the 4000 mtr mark. We also climb above the tree line, so it is likely to be dried yak poop in the heater keeping us warm tomorrow night.

All well, and thanks for your thoughts.

We set out this morning to Everest View Hotel @ 3800mts. Unfortunately we lost Vidia shortly after the start of the climb due to her still battling stomach issues. She decided to return to the lodge and rest for the day. Hopefully she will be better tomorrow.

After a steep and challenging climb, and with the joy of the team seeing their first real Yak, we were rewarded with a cloudless view of Everest and it's mighty neighbours. We had a normal very expensive pot of hot chocolate on the Everest View Hotel balcony, before walking back down to Namche via a pleasant lunch at Khumjung. No sooner had we moved away from the hotel, the clouds came in and smothered Everest. Our timing was perfect.

We are now sitting in the Namche Bakery having hot chocolates, and yes some cakes. It has become very dark outside and some snow flakes are falling. Hopefully just a sprinkle.

Everyone loved today. They now feel they are amongst some real mountains.

Tomorrow we set out for Deboche. It will be a 6-7hr day and will include a steep drop to the river and a drawn out climb on the other side to Thengboche.

A special note to my son at home who's doing it tough just at the moment. Stay strong mate. Love you and will be home soon.

We have arrived at Namche. Last night had us lodging at Tok Tok 2600mts. We had no wifi so sorry for no update. It was enjoyable for the team to experience their first Himalayan lodge. Apart from a few team members battling stomach upsets, we enjoyed the night. I'm sad to say that two members broke out their down jackets, something frowned upon as low as Tok Tok..!! I'm also embarrassed to admit that most of us were in bed by 7.30pm..!!

Today's climb to Namche was the usual slog. Took approx 2hrs, with some of the team doing better than others. Darren, Julie, Krystal, Roy, Des and Mark climbed strongly, as did Anand not far behind. Vidia did well given she wasn't feeling 100%. Jenny claimed she climbed poorly, but funny enough arrived at Namche only 15min behind the rest of us.

A few of the team are reporting headaches tonight. Hopefully gone by the morning.

We had no views of Everest on the way up due to the usual afternoon cloud.!! We got away late this morning, and then we had to deal with a lost trek permit..!! (No names). After some negotiation between Mingma and the permit police, the guilty team member was allowed to proceed.

Tomorrow we go up to Everest View Hotel. It's a steep climb out of Namche with hopefully the reward of some good views.

Update tomorrow night.

A beautiful morning allowed us a 6.45am departure flight into Lukla.  Walking by 9am. All walking well under sunny skies.

Another Earthquake at 11:30 last night. Didn't feel it.....!!

Update tonight or from Namche tomorrow.

We visited the Pashupatinath site this morning. This is the Hindu cremation site and includes some of the oldest buildings in Kat. For those in the team who chose to, a first hand look at the preparation of a body and public cremation was on offer.

Then we spent most of the afternoon getting our kit bags in order. My 10kg limit per bag proved to be a real challenge for several, but as of 9pm, most were reporting their bags weighing in at or just over 10kg.

Our alarm clocks are set for 4.30am for a 5am departure to the airport. Fingers crossed for a nice morning.

Hopefully our next update will be from Namche in 2 days time.!

Quote of the trip thus far. Anand as he is looking out the plane window at the hills during our approach to Kat. "Dave, we should have been doing more than 5 circuits of the 1000 Steps"

We all had a busy but enjoyable day around Kathmandu yesterday. The team spent the morning in the trekking shops stocking up on clothing and equipment in preparation for tomorrow's planned flight to Lukla and the start of our trek up to Everest Base Camp. A very productive few hours (as well as some top-up items last night) has resulted in most of their shopping now completed.

We then walked to the Buddhist Monkey Temple. This is an approx 10km return hike, which passes through several back streets of Kathmandu. It's become a real favourite over the years. Again, we saw some extensive earthquake damage up on the temple. For those of us who know how beautiful these parts of Kathmandu are, it's sad to see the devastation. The repairs will happen, but it will take time. As usual, the cheeky monkeys that are abundant throughout the site kept us amused. We managed to lose Vidia for a little while, but after scrambling together a team "search and rescue" mission, we found her near-by. Oh, lots of new puppies along the way had several team members stopping to admire.

We had an enjoyable dinner last night at The New Orleans outdoor restaurant, just outside of the Guest House. Very pleasant, although it started raining just as we were finishing our meals. Yesterday was overcast, warm and quite humid, and it felt like rain was imminent. Not sure what's happening up at Lukla...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The sad (and rather emotional) news of the day was the decision by Paulene not to join us on the trek on Monday. With some ongoing health issues frustrating her prep over the last few weeks, she just felt that she wasn't up to the challenge of climbing to altitude. Her announcement to the group after breakfast was a tough one. At this stage, she hasn't decided if she will wait for us in Kathmandu, or return home early. She still enjoyed yesterday's walk and is looking forward to doing more with us today.

Today's plan is to visit the Hindu cremation site (one of the oldest areas of Kathmandu), then spend the afternoon getting our kit bags ready for tomorrow mornings early flight to Lukla.

We have arrived safely into Nepal. The view of the mighty Himalaya as we descended into Kat was incredible. Temperature upon arrival was a splendid 27deg.
We checked in to the Kathmandu Guest House around 2pm and walked straight down to Durbar Square. The damage from last years earthquake was extensive. While some of the temples looked untouched, others were reduced to mounds of rubble.!
We then had a birthday dinner for Des at a nearby restaurant.
Tomorrow we finalise our gear and equipment before having a leisurely day on Sunday
We are still due to fly into Lukla and commence our trekking Monday.