Day 11: Namche Bazaar–Jorsalle

Day 11 - Oct 10, Fri

Namche Bazaar (11,285'/3,440m) – Jorsalle (9022’/2750m) 

Approx 2 hrs 3.0 miles

This was the easiest day of the whole trek. We woke up lazily and when we came down for Tea I saw Revant’s Down jacket just lying on one of the benches in the dining room – in plain sight of everyone. It was a Marmot and must be quite expensive. I could not resist the urge to play a prank on him ;-) I took it and I hid it in Anisha’s room. Later he came hunting for it – looking very worried. We said we had not seen it. He went away and checked with all the other porters and owners! When we came down for breakfast and he still had not found it he really did look worried! Finally just before starting off I told him I had been successful in catching the thief and had  pay $200 to get it back ;-)

That morning Shachin and I made another trip to the Sagarmatha National Park Headquarters to watch the  views of Everest one last time. It was really pretty but seemed pale after having watched these same mountains up close and really magnificent! We came at a lucky time when they were unpacking new statues of Hillary and Tenzing that would be installed there. We soaked in the views of Everest and Lhotse and Lhotse Shar and Nuptse and felt sad that this would be the last time we would be seeing them on this trek. It was lovely!

Some time later we headed to Jorsalle. The first hour was knee crunching downhill – steep, with many many steps and we were all surprised how we could possibly have climbed up this torturous path, just on our 2nd day of hiking? This same path that had killed us as we puffed and panted on the way up was now crushing our knees on the way down!  

We trekked beside the frothy Dudh Kosi  and at one point passed this beautiful lodge that had gorgeous flowers! We reached the “Friendship Lodge, Restaurant and bar” in time for lunch. The lodge and our rooms were really charming! We remembered it from our way up.

It was the most delightful lodge of the entire trek – perched beside the mischievous white waters of the river and overlooking the forest on the other side of the mountain. We saw some goats grazing on the banks. Lunch was out on the patio with the river as our backdrop. The windows in the rooms also had gorgeous views of the river.

That evening at Jorsalle turned out to be one of the most memorable and fun evenings of the trek! We ordered some beer with our food and Sanjiv arranged for music and we all danced our hearts out in the small cozy dining area! We asked the porters Tej, Vijay, Mann and Shyam to join as well as Revant and Dunbar and the lodge owners and their little kid. The only other people at the lodge  were 3 Russian trekkers who were not very friendly. We danced to “Theykyo Thekyo” and  another dance song that I can’t remember. Singing and dancing with the whole group was such a great bonding experience! Tej was unanimously declared the best dancer! What a thoroughly enjoyable evening! 

NEXT - Day 12 - Oct 11, Fri –Jorsalle (9022’/2750m) – Lukla (9,300'/2,840m