History is history. Just terminate the ineffective relationships and move on.
___________________
Instead of writing on a daily basis going forwards, the story is basically (continued from last dated entry):
- We went up to C2, then to C3.
- From C3 to Sth Col (intended point) we headed to Lhotse C4 (7800m) instead. It was tough going and we were passed by a group of 3 or 4 Americans who were all using supplemental O2. In fact, many heading up to C4/Sth Col were on bottled oxygen. I was surprised as we approached 7800m how much energy was lost at altitude. Besides the loss of energy, my breathing and the head felt great (normal).
- When we set-up camp at LC4, when sleeping, Dawa and Kipa were using oxygen.
- When we woke up to do our summit run, the skies were generally clear but there was a huge wind-rift at the peak of Everest. This meant that our summit run was thwarted! I was feeling pretty strong in the morning having slept/rested at 7800m. Sleeping was surprisingly disrupted.
- I did not want to go down as I knew how hard it had been to come up. I wanted to give it a good go. We heard that the Americans, who had passed us the day before, were coming back down from the balcony and ending their expedition. We decided to head to C2 and wait it out there.
- In this expedition I was putting more trust in Dawa and performing less independent work myself. It had taken 13hrs of slow going for me to go from C3 to Lhotse LC4. Dawa was struggling (with cough that he had not been able to address) but Kipa was going well.
- If we went back to C2 I had to consider the next summit push as you effectively do not want to sleep at C4 South Col, but only use that as a temp stop for boiling water. This would mean that you would effectively by doing a C3-C4-Summit-C4-C3 run. If it had taken me 13hrs to go from say C3-C4, it would take another say 15hrs to hit summit (say 28rs).
- After going back to C2 and trying to recuperate, I was worried that we may not get another weather window.
- When we did finally headed back towards C3 something was wrong. For the first time ever I had a headache and felt mild disorientation. I lacked walking power (loss all energy) and found it more difficult to get to C3. With all the other crap that was happening (discuss later) I made the tough decision to cancel the expedition. My vision was also playing up and was a little blurry. This should not have happened.
The culmination of crap:
-Frostbite on primarily left hand. But the recovery in Kathmandu and then returning back to Base Camp for further recovery really messed with the acclimatisation.
-Dawa had been consistently sick (cough) and never fully recovered. It was always on the back of my mind as to whether he was actually up to it. We even had a conversation of whether he should replace himself if he did not get better. That was the biggest problem with engaging a company (Alpine Sherpa Guide) where only one Sherpa was allocated. I remember once during rotation when Dawa arrived into C1 (where I slept) and was not able to speak and being absolutely exhausted.
-The engagement of a second Sherpa (Kipa) was primarily there to provide assistance to me after I got the frostbite. It was promised that Kipa would be there fully to mitigate the use of my left hand. What it effectively turned out to be was Kipa being an additional resource to reduce the net work of Dawa for the expedition. I was not exactly happy with how this turned out as this was the main reason to continue with the expedition after the frostbite. I used my left hand more than I wanted.
-Khumbu cough!
-Loss of team motivation. I knew there were underlying ‘motivation’ concerns given the comments I had heard from Dawa. If you are not positive then and focus on negative points, these all add up. The real trigger was when Dawa asked if he could climb Lhotse independently then come back down and we would then complete Everest/Lhotse together. This really highlighted to me that Dawa had lost motivation to truly summit Everest with me and to put in the hard work needed to support me. I had selected the wrong Sherpa/company to support me in this expedition.
-First time I experienced altitude serious problems.
-Losing 10kg in Colorado ski trip and trying to replace that loss before the expedition
Mistakes made:
-Make sure to choose an expedition company that is sizeable and experienced (ie. HIMEX, IMG, Seven Summits, etc.). The problem with choosing small and singular Sherpa type companies are:
I) illness exposes the limitation in resources.
ii) Under-resourced in that you tend to ‘use/borrow’ other company’s resources! This was an issue I had with Dawa when we first arrived into C3...I was told we had our tent set-up already but in fact we were ‘borrowing’ someone else’s tent...this was not until I made a huff and Dawa embarrassingly setup our own tent. I was quite upset that the expedition was being risked of resources even though I had funded the expedition well. There was no need to skimp on resources.
iii) Using a large company ensures resources are well coordinated instead of being poorly aligned. Using ASG/Dawa I found that things were being done by smaller companies and by ‘friends’. This was not as well coordinated and not as well planned out, not for an expedition of this cost.
iv) Weather forecasts were being received with secondary source. I was getting secondary weather from other companies through Dawa.
v) Dawa wanting to follow larger company actions and timing (ie. IMG). This was very disappointing as the primary reason for going a customised approach was to have flexibility, but Dawa wanted to follow a couple of the larger companies. This raises the ultimate question...if you are going to follow larger company, then why not just go directly with them? It also means less stress.
At the end of the day this was not the most efficient expedition experience. Too much unnecessary stress and focusing on things that I shouldn’t have to worry about. Ultimately it was my expedition but I relied incorrectly on too many externalities. Mistake learned and will be adjusted in my next expedition.
Wednesday 10 May (BC)
Line fixing to summit still not be completed because of the weather. Today was very hot and I was in underwear and t-shirt. I am not sure if we are heading up tomorrow or the day after.
Tuesday 9 May (BC)
Took it easy. Chest and lungs adjusted to the weather by now, but still have remnants of the Khumbu Cough. Not as much green phlegm but it appears to be clearing. I think it’s the cold air that’s irritating the lungs.
Monday 8 May (BC)
Took plane back to Lukla. This time I have got a second Sherpa (Kipa) to assist me as I lave limited load bearing use of my left hand. Got heli into BC and the weather was cold and snowy. It was hard to adjust to the altitude again and a lot of coughing overnight.
Friday 5 – Sunday 7 May (KTM)
Just stayed in KTM to recover. Did visit Durbur Square.
Thursday 4 May (KTM)
Got a heli to Lukla and a flight to KTM. KTM flight was like a rollercoaster. Once in KTM we went to CIWEC Clinic to get the fingers checked out. The Dr said it was grade 2 frostbite and recommended against proceeding with the expedition. If I refreeze the fingers then it could be over.
Wednesday 3 May (BC)
Could not get a cheap heli out so stayed at BC. Contacted Global Rescue but the possible lack of severity could have made it a very expensive heli cost if I had gone with them.
Tuesday 2 May (BC)
The weather had been so cold and bad that I got worried that I had got stuck in a bad weather window.
I was definitely going down from C3. I waited until the sun had come up but it was still very cold. There was not as much snow blown into the tent vestibule as I had anticipated, that’s because I zipped-up everything to reduce the possibility of snow being forced-in by the wind.
As I rappelled down my fingers froze as I cleared the bottom crevasse between C2 and C3. It was excruciatingly painful. As I walked down to C2 I kept clapping my hands (like a seal clapping its flippers) to try to get the blood flowing back to the finger tips. I kept going to C2 and sought help from the first camp –Kailas/Seven Summits team. By mid afternoon Dawa had heard of the frostbite and come back up. At around 1pm we decided to go to BC. We got into BC at around 5pm and sought help from Himalayan Rescue Association (HRA). The recommendation was to go to KTM to lower altitude to recover.
Monday 1 May (C3)
The weather had been wild all through the night and in the morning. Dawa was still feeling very bad and I had started developing the Khumbu Cough. I was sticking to the plan to sleep 2 nights at C3 and touch C4 if weather permitting.
Dawa’s plans had been less than useless. None of it I would have called planning as every date and time always changed.
Thus I made the decision to send Dawa down to C2 and then to BC to recover. He was becoming less useful as effectively I had climbed from BC to C3 by myself. Even when he was ‘with me’ he was only there for a short time before I would tell him to speed ahead with his Sherpa mates. Dawa was very sick since coming up and he was in no shape to go further. Not worth risking his welfare by doing anymore –Dawa would only get more sick if he stayed at C3, or if he went higher.
At around 7:30am I think we heard some voices outside begging for assistance. Dawa was resting so I stuck my head out of the tent and had a look. I recognised a guy (Stef) and a girl (Sophie) that I had talked with briefly on the way up from BC on this rotation. They were from Belgium.
Stef was asking for help for Sophie who was crying in pain because of freezing cold fingers (suspected frostbite). Having just experienced the same issue of near frostbite from my toilet visit, I knew the pain she was going through. I grabbed her by the armpits and just dragged her into the tent. Dawa inspected her hands and threw them into his armpits (ewwww) but fastest way to get heated up. Dawa would later tell be that here hands and fingers were ice cold!
I told Stef to get into the tent and zip the tent up quickly as it was blowing a gale outside. I did not scold him but my voice was ‘firm’ when I questioned him why they were even outside in such gale force weather when it was that cold. He told me they had setup tent 100m above and that they were in a sheltered spot, and the weather had not been bad there.
What surprised me is that if when they noticed that the weather was actually very shit, why did they keep moving down? Unless they had travelled so far down that it was not worth going back up…but they should have noticed the bad weather pretty damn fast.
Nonetheless, we spent around 40mins trying to rewarm Sophie’s fingers. Stef also complained about cold toes on one foot. Basically they stayed in our tent to approx. 10:30am waiting for a lull in the weather and for the sun to try to warm things up. By this time Sophie’s fingers had recovered and were functional. They geared-up and re-headed back down the mountain. Dawa was to follow them and I would head down the next morning as I needed to acclimatise more.
The sleep at C3 that night was even hairier than the night before. The tent was getting a huge hammering of wind and snow.
*Sunday 30 April (C3)
Enough is enough. We headed to C3. Overall not a long day of fixed line ascension. Only one difficult section over the crevasse at the base of Lhotse Face. They were using 7-8mm ropes! So many people pulling on those ropes. Tough at maybe under 5hrs but it was good to get to C3 (approx. 7060m). The thin ropes were very springy and made using them more difficult…the trick is not to actually use them...you should be walking up with the legs and the rope only used as a safety…try not to hang off the rope.
Dawa had told me that the tent was pitched at C3 but this was a lie! I actually beat Dawa to C3 (as he was carrying a heavy load and I was not) and I waited for him to get there. When he arrived I asked him where the tent was. There were other client mountaineers there as well and I looked for the Alpine Sherpa Guide (ASG) tent, there was no tent! Dawa slung his head low and said just to use another tent that belonged to his friend.
I knew something was seriously not right now. The tent should have been already pitched from the previous 2 days. It’s not as if I didn’t pay handsomely for the establishment of high camps as part of my service payments.
Dawa was embarrassed as he had just been caught out in a lie. In many instances the smaller expedition companies will use the tents of larger groups without the larger groups knowing (freeloading) and this is what had been planned. This seriously pissed me off as I actually paid for full service tents and Dawa was effectively pocketing the excess without providing the proper service. What if I had come up to C3 by myself...where would have my tent been? I had a huge blow-up at Dawa for this bullshit lie. It took Dawa 20mins to properly pitch our tent. Dawa had the nerve to try to justify the act but I was not having a word of it. Dawa had tried to do a dodgy and in doing so, significantly risked the whole expedition. Worse off. He had lied to me. The consequences to me is significant! The practice is wrong and unnecessarily risks client investment. They were paid to provide a service and they should not have tried to skim from the top!
Once trust is broken then it can never be re-established.
Later that afternoon an independent climber ‘Peter’ (Slovak?) asked if we could help him setup his C3 tent. He told us how he was part of a party of a friend of friend of Ueli Steck, and that Ueli had just died this morning. This was right in the middle of Dawa and I having our argument. I told him ‘no’ in that we aren’t going to help him setup tent (as these solo/independent’s are sponsored and so cheap they cannot pay for Sherpa support but freeload off everyone else, but then claim to have done everything themselves! -Bunch of liars!). But I was in a generous mood and permitted him to leave his tent gear in our vestibule...and damn he started pouring all his shit out. I moved them into the edge of the vestibule out of the way. My ‘generosity’ was just in case he had some genuine link to the death of Ueli.
Nonetheless, I hate all these so-called solo climbers/independents and none of them actually are! They are all liars and freeloaders that never tell the truth! I have only met one pair of climbers that have ever satisfied that true criteria (Slovenians on Broad Peak)!
So that was my eventful 1st day at C3 and Dawa and I bunkered down to sleep for the cold night in wild and windy weather.
Saturday 29 April (C2)
Final rest day (rest for Dawa) before we head up to C3. The Khumbu Cough has affected him very badly...and I think I am starting to catch it from him!
Friday 28 April (C2)
Dawa still feeling crap. Dawa went to setup the tent at C3 and come back down to C2. He left at 8am but did not get back until 3pm. No comms as he dropped his radio. Dawa tells me he has pitched the tent for C3 ready for my arrival.
Thursday 27 April (C2)
A rest day at C2 as Dawa still feeling bad. I walked up to bottom of Lhotse Face (below the crevasse) to approx. 6666m and then went back to C2 to sleep.
Wednesday 26 April (C2)
Woke up early with the arrival of Dawa. Dawa was in very bad shape and could barely talk. He was stuffed and had overdid his work load. Dawa should have engaged more resources than try to do the work himself! He risks the expedition by not spending on additional resources. This is the problem when you go with smaller proprietary expedition companies instead of the larger companies. Not happy about the outcome. We head off to C2 and sleep there.
As we looked down from C2 towards C1 late afternoon, we see a big avy drop from Everest shoulder right across the C2 path. Lucky nobody was walking late or they would have been poofed with snow.
Tuesday 25 April (C1)
Went to C1. Sleep C1. On the way through KI got caught in a small puffy avy. Nothing too serious.
Monday 24 April (BC4)
Stayed in BC rest. Dawa still not well.
Sunday 23 April (BC3)
Stayed in BC rest.
Saturday 22 April (BC2)
Stayed at BC rest.
Friday 21 April (BC1)
Woke up early at around 4:30am and got prepared for our descent back to BC. There were so many people coming up to C1 and C2. This was the first sign of many clients coming up. Tonnes of Sherpa everywhere and many critical parts of the route were jammed. It took us less than 4hrs to get back to BC. It’s going to suck getting back up to C2 and above. I don’t think acclimatisation does much for me.
We intend to stay in BC for 3 days and then head back up. Dawa may head up a little earlier to do more gear drops.
I suspect that C4 (South Col) fixing will be completed by say 23 April (that’s the plan anyway) at which time teams may start heading up to setup camps.
Intent is to sleep at C3 and touch C4 and see how I feel. Going up and down does wear the body out so we will most likely stay at C2 in the final acclimatisation rotation. It really depends on when the weather window will approach. Acclimatisation strength only stays with you for short period so you want to make sure that you don’t hit C4 and then be at BC for an extended period of time.
My gut feeling is that the summit route will be fixed by 28 April (early). If it is early, then everybody will be closely watching the weather window and many will be at C2 ready to launch at the slightest hint of a gap (myself included).
Thursday 20 April (C2)
Another long day to C2. I ‘hit the wall’ many times but just kept plodding along. I think it took me a ridiculous 5hrs to get there. I was exhausted. Dawa had pitched the tent at the middle of C2. C2 was just a real junk yard. There was frozen rubbish everywhere. I cannot believe that so many companies have thrown out/left rubbish everywhere. It was literally like sleeping in a rubbish tip. It was nothing special so I just slept and focussed on recovery.
We saw the line fixing team doing their thing. They had successfully fixed the line to C3
Wednesday 19 April (C1-C2-C1)
Dawa dropped by early in the morning. We headed up to C2 where Dawa had planned to pitch the tent. It was a surprisingly hot day and it took forever to get to C2. When we got there all the tent spots had been marked so I started heading back to C1, whilst Dawa looked for a good location.
We would both sleep at C1.
It was crazy to walk in such ridiculous sunny weather (should have walked earlier/later or at night).
Tuesday 18 April (C!)
We got lost for over 35mins at the bottom of KI as there was significant melting of the glacier. Once we got going it was a real slog in the zigzag terrain. It took forever to top-out. Dawa had started coming down and had told me the location of the C1 tent. But the problem was that his description was highly inaccurate and it took me another 30mins to locate the tent...was not happy. It took 9:15hrs from BC to C1. First rotation always suck and for some reason I suffered significantly…it should only have taken me 6hrs for my first time up but things went pear-shaped (anticipated).
I had a good night sleep.
Monday 17 April (BC10)
The route had been fixed yesterday/today. This meant that at around 1am 18 April that we will be heading up to C1.
Sunday 16 April (BC9)
Took a first hit up to C1. Problem was that near the top of the route had been damaged by an avalanche. This meant that all the sherpas had to turnaround and return back to BC. It was a hard day and disappointing day when you cannot meet your target.
Saturday 15 April (BC8)
Woke up to a cloudy and overcast day. There was around 10-15cm of standing snow over BC.
At around 3am I heard a lot of foot traffic activity so I am guessing some teams have sent up sherpas to do load drops and check on gear at C1 and C2. That is a smart decision. The problem with going in a small team is that Dawa is unlikely to head up to check equipment. This is a learning experience for me in that small teams do not have the flexibility in resources, but does have flexibility in agenda. A medium sized team with independents is probably the best way to go in the future.
Friday 14 April (BC7)
Bluebird morning and we are planning to go to C1 at 1am on 15 April.
Did domestic washing and had a good hot shower.
Late evening Pumori let off a huge avy when Dawa and I were chatting in my tent. The sound was very different and reminiscent of 2015. It did not flow over the trough/gully.
At night it started to snow (actually in the afternoon) but kept on snowing all the way through the night. There was lightening and thunder. No big winds.
Our trip to C1 is thus cancelled.
This all goes back to the very first day we got to BC, when I said to Dawa that we needed to take every opportunity to acclimatise so that if the weather turned, then we could take advantage of it.
To me, Dawa’s BC messing around in the first couple of days really hurt and has seriously pushed back the acclimatisation plans. Opportunity must be taken when it presents itself.
Thursday 13 April (BC6)
Decided that I would work on drafting a free coffee book. Took some pictures and started drafting up what that book would look like. MS Word mobile is terrible as it has nil functionality.
When we woke up the weather was looking pretty good but by night time it had started snowing. Thus no C1 run.
Wednesday 12 April (BC5)
Weather was not that great at night. We decided to cancel the run to C1. Take an extra day’s rest.
Tuesday 11 April (BC4)
Just getting ready for a midnight run up to C1. The route should have been repaired by the day time. My intention is to sleep at C1. Maybe stay a long time at C2 and then go and sleep at C1. This could be the only time I sleep at C1.
It’s a very hot day so trying to get some shuteye is quite difficult.
Monday 10 April (BC3)
A bad day!
I decided to go to C1 by myself as Dawa “was not into it”. He showed me to where the trail started and off I went. Initially there was nothing too special about the Khumbu Icefall (KI) but as I headed more into it the more I noticed that the surface was like frozen water (like a pond and frozen waterfall). Yes, I know it is a glacier, but usually it is chunky ice. If this was to melt, it would be like a pond in which you would have to cross.
Why was it a bad day? Well I got lost going up the KI. I was following the bamboo sticks and visible crampon marks, and then they just stopped appearing (around 15% way up the KI). Seriously! How hard is it to put bamboo sticks to mark a clear trail? Is there a worldwide shortage of bamboo or are people just too lazy? I know I suck when it comes to navigation (hard to believe but it is true), but c’mon, it is not that difficult to mark a trail.
The more I explored the more I noticed old ropes that had frozen into the ice. This would have been old lines, but definitely not the current ones as they were fully frozen into the snow. I didn’t want to mess around too much as it is always easy to get lost. I was more concerned about the melting of the ice and I definitely did not want to be wading through a pond that had previously been frozen.
As I went back down, guess what? I stupidly went left instead of right. I got lost! I was following what looked like a very old trail. I quickly jumped onto the inReach that I had been tracking my KI run, lucky I wasn’t too far off from where I had to be.
Basically it was a shit day. My acclimatisation plans are going out the window! My Sherpa would rather mess around setting up a nice BC instead of focussing on the important things first. You can always make BC better when you cannot acclimatise.
Sunday 9 April (BC2)
I was eager to take a run up to C1 as the weather was good and I was feeling good. Sadly the dining tent that I was using as my BC sleeping tent was too big and flapped all night long. It made it very difficult to get any sleep.
As I am the only client on this expedition, I thought that it was a little bit overkill having so much stuff setup at BC. But so be it.
The more I talked with Dawa about his thoughts about acclimatisation, the more we talked the more I got worried. The acclimatisation is now being way extended and will start to fall into the timeframe when every other client will arrive. I am seriously pissed that he prefers to mess around in BC than to take advantage of the good weather and start acclimatising and setting up C1 and C2.
Saturday 8 April (BC1)
Arrived to BC. Many teams were in the process of setting up their camps but some were already well established. Many waiting for their clients to arrive.
For my expedition, only one Sherpa dining tent and one TNF tent had been setup. The BC gear arrived over the last 2 days.
So today was just setting up the camp.
Friday 7 April
Lobuche to Gorekshep
It was only a short hike to Gorekshep (2hrs). So I then decided to climb up Kallapathar. I was very happy that I went and did it (took a bit over 2hrs). It was the hill that just kept on giving. There was always another ridge and then you see the summit. You have to scramble over rocks to get to the top. The funny thing is that nobody actually puts in the very last effort to get the real summit! They stay just below the two sets of puja flags. It is not safe but I did hug the summit bit and grabbed onto the old puja flags and pulled myself up. It was very gusty! I layed on the top of the flags hoping that I wouldn’t lose grip of the puja flags break (I had nil climbing gear). I then slid back down onto a safe crack and took some pictures. If you are going to do KalaPathar then make sure you do it to the top (but be careful).
Dawa showed me his plan for acclimatisation which had us hitting C1 in 2-3 days time.
Thursday 6 April
Pangboche to Lobuche.
The terrain starts to feel more Martian. We quickly stopped for tea at Periche but I just wanted to get moving. This time around it is not a ‘holiday’.
Wednesday 5 April
Namche to Tengboche to Pangboche.
A good days walk. Tengboche monastery has been repaired. The hill up to the monastery is very long and tough. The area at the top of the hill is pleasant. I didn’t want to mess around so headed to Panboche. Had a good look around above the trail (as the other half of the village is uphill). There is a school right at the very top of the hill.
Tuesday 4 April
Namche and Khumjung
If you are going to be in Namche then you would be doing yourself a disservice by not visiting Khumjung, Khunde and the Everest View Hotel. It is only a short walk up above Namche but it’s a great way to see how the locals live.
Monday 3 April
Phakding-Namche.
There was nothing special besides the great views. The painful hike into Namche is always in my memory, but very good when you have done it. Namche is a real tourist stop. Most people will stay a night or two.
Sunday 2 April
KTM-Lukla-Phakding.
I was apprehensive about the plane from KTM to Lukla actually taking off. This was because the night before there were heavy thunderstorms. Some thunderstorms were anticipated for 2 April. I was relieved when the plane landed in Lukla...it could have been turned-around if Lukla weather was bad. In 2015 we were fully boarded on the plane in KTM when the weather changed and everyone had to disembark and all luggage removed....and the subsequent delays were horrendous. Lucky to avoid that this time around.
It was an eventful day! Let’s start with the simpler things first.
The hike to Phakding from Lukla was uneventful. I think Dawa was tired so he wasn’t moving fast. There were a lot of hikers on the Everest trail which is fantastic. It gives the businesses the much needed income. Tourism is its lifeline.
I was surprised with how many women there were hiking. And they all looked smashing! I swear that some looked like they had just come out of a salon. Let’s wait a few days and see what they look like after having ‘roughed it’...but we are still talking about using decent tea houses.
The views were good. Typical Everest landscape. Huge valleys and mountains.
We had a quick lunch at Thadakossi. The last time I was at the teahouse, the building was slipping into the river as a result of the 2015 earthquake. Lucky the owners had insurance and they were able to rebuild. Good to see they have fully recovered.
It was an eventful day because our porters from Lukla were dead slow (unheard of from porters). They departed before us. We had no idea where the porters were when we reached our destination in Phakding. We had not seen them along the trail. Not going to accept that kind of performance when carrying relatively light weight (from 10:20am to 3:30pm which is excessively long). Well f* me! When they finally arrived the young adult porters that we hired had “turned back the years’’ and were now young children! They were obviously not the same porters that Dawa had given instructions to, but had been switched to young children. I have just “supported” exploitation of child labour! Dawa has organised for replacement adult porters (still very young). This is seriously bad! The children would never have made it to Namche (the next stop) let alone to base camp.
I later found out that the young adults we hired were trying to help the young kids from the other village with work. Apparently they cannot get porter jobs because the loads are generally much heavier, and given mine was light at 23kg/piece, it was the right size for the young beginners. The kids were apparently 15yo but looked like 10yo! The duffle bag was much bigger than them! Not good for their health carrying such heavy things whilst their bodies are still growing. I expect to get what I paid for, and even in Nepal, 15yo is still too young to work.
The kids were setup in Phakding with accommodation and food. They will head back tomorrow morning.
We are staying in a new hotel in Phakding. Sherpa Guide Lodge is really clean and well constructed. Everyone that walks pass takes a picture of the teahouse, as it really stands out. If you are in Phakding then this IS THE PLACE TO STAY.
For the rest of the afternoon/evening I just got ready for tomorrow’s hike and read some photography ebooks (pdfs). I’ll be an expert technical photographer by the end of this expedition...but would I have the creative flair? Or patience to setup a shot?
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