Day6: Dingboche

Day 6 - Oct 5, Sun
Dingboche (14,286’/4350m)
Acclimatization day - Approx 700 ft elevation gain

On our second acclimatization day at Dingboche we woke up lazily. Had slept well the last night in the comfortable (albeit a little smelly)  rooms. It was a good feeling to know we would be relaxing in these beautiful surroundings for a day. I also got a nice shot of Sunrise over Numbur. 
In the morning 
I met an Irish guy who was on his way down after having climbed up to Everest Base camp and Kala Patthar.
He was very friendly and imparted a lot of good information of what lay ahead! The funny thing was he too had been plagued with diarrhea and had - in his own words "shat all over the Sabarmati mountain sides" ;-). He also confirmed that you indeed felt full of energy on the way down because of all the extra blood cells you would have thanks to acclimatization! 

We climbed up Nagarjun Hill. It was another bright sunny day though very chilly. We got very clear views of Island Peak, Imja Tse 20305 ft and Makalu - 27765 ft which is the 5th highest peak in the world. The entire group went up to a flag post with lots of flags while Shree, Shachin and I went up higher with Revant and got a glimpse of Cho Oyu which is the sixth highest mountain in the world at 8,201 metres (26,906 ft) . Cho Oyu means "Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan. 
The mountain side was covered with the same clumps of big yellow leaves next to burnt orange shrubs and lush green juniper bushes that looked so charming!

After we got back we were relaxing in the dining room when we saw another group arrive and two of their members started dancing in the patio outside the rooms. They were having so much fun and we enjoyed watching them. After a bit Sanjiv also got inspired and joined them! Later that afternoon we were basking in the sun in the patio when Shree got out her "dry shampoo" and Anisha shampooed her hair. Shree in turn shampooed Sukriti’s hair while Sanjiv snoozed in the sun on the hot tin roof! Sukriti brought out his solar charger and we charged our phones.


In the evening we went to the local internet café and talked to family. I called my son Pulkit on skype but could not talk for long. But it was great to be calling from an elevation of almost 15k feet. Sanjiv called his doc brother and we had a medical consultation with him about everyone’s condition. He advised not taking Norflox for more than 3 days and recommended yoghurt. A funny thing that happened was that on the way there we had found a shortcut through some one’s fields but on the way back they had blocked the opening in the wall so we had to take the long route back.

That evening the medical volunteers from the clinic visited again and I showed them the antibiotic that I had got with me from Dallas. They felt while it was not ideal for the kind of diarrhea that was common here, it would work. So I stopped the Norflox and started the course of the antibiotic. That night we again had Nepali set for dinner with some fresh fruit for dessert.  Our Irish friend also joined us for dinner. It had been a long day for him climbing one of the high peaks close by.

We were all starting to feel some of the effects of altitude and intense hiking. I hardly slept that night, feeling very apprehensive about the next two days ahead of us. Shachin’s cold was worse too.

NEXT - Day 7: Oct 6, Mon - Dingboche (14,286’/4350m) - Lobuche (16,110'/4,910m )