I never had any doubts about trekking to a height of 5364 mtrs, because trekking is walking at your own pace, enjoying the nature. Trekking is a joy for anyone who loves walking long distance, gain altitude slowly. But for family and friends, the moment you say Everest Base Camp- everyone is in doubts – is this lady in her right minds 😀

I had to fight my way for my passion for trekking… My friends do not understand this kind of adventure, and family thinks trekking is madness – why take such strain to reach some place? What is the fun in such holidays? And this time, discussion went on for Porter usage – my daughter said I should off load my backpack to Porter. . for a sum! She said you can enjoy the trek if you don’t have to carry the backpack. Also my trekking friends said the trek is long almost 12 days, unlike other treks, so it will be better to avail Porter. I had always liked walking with my backpack somehow… however difficult it has been, for various reasons. Then came the discussion on ways to reach Kathmandu from Chattisgarh. Flight was easiest and fastest, but I love train journeys 😀 thereby decided for train to Raxaul and then road trip to Kathmandu ! Hubby tried to push for a flight from Simara to Kathmandu, to save me from the grind, of the road trip.. the Taurean-in-me held on the grind! Few major decisions, wise or foolish, I had made my mind.

For a woman 60-years-old, with experience of trekking in Kashmir, Sikkim, Uttarakhand etc with YHAI, I was slowly building confidence for this trek with regular 10 km walks( in 90 minutes), cardio exercises, sincere stretches afterwards, few breathing exercises. Pursuing these workouts made me alive and told my DIL Mahima while we ran together one morning that I am loving these grills, and I wish to have such goals always, to make me get out of my pajamas every mornings.

Ofcourse I was scared.. about unknown terrain, accidents along treks. Did I do enough strength training, cardio? I will say – not enough.. Did I eat well …? Did I take scoops of protein powder, or change my normal food intake – No! Did I buy any new gear ? Yes I bought a pair of trek shoes from Decathlon and did my 10 km walk-run with it for a month. Children kept asking do you need anything? My son bought few “warmees” for feet, hands, one for the body too. My daughter bought me a power bank for the mobile. Husband was perturbed for my long absence from home.. but didn’t show it.. he has never cribbed. He did try to discourage me initially, but now he knows that I am passionate about treks. At the back of my mind, there were thoughts of “what-ifs”.. also some misunderstandings, to calm them I wrote letters to my children – and posted them.

This trek became special as two Bhilaians got interested to join with this group- @tap.lifeadventure who was arranging our EBC trek. Trek plan was the standard one we find on internet – Kathmandu to Kathmandu in 13 to 14 days, including flight to-fro Kathmandu – Lukla. Trek to start from May 18th from Lukla, return to Lukla on May 29th.

On May 15th, I boarded the train to Raxaul with Koteswara Rao, a friend from YHAI-Bhilai. Another Bhilaian Nidhi Jain took a flight to Kathmandu. We had Sharmaji- a friend of Koteswarji, who did EBC trek last season, to see us off at Durg station. .. So sweet of him! We had few meetings earlier with him, heard from his team, their stories of the trek, it helped in building our confidence. It was really very calming to get to know first hand about the trek.

Train reached late at Raxaul station, but we found an auto to reach Nepal border – distance of 6 km. By then it was 10.30 pm and vehicles would not be allowed to cross border. So we had to walk through the Border Check-post, after the border guards checked us, one even asked Koteswarji to open his trolley bag. The walk of 15 mints was pleasant, actually very thrilling for me – not many on the roads, only few like us who walked from Raxaul, India, towards Birganj. It is not often we get to cross borders and Check-post walking at night 11 pm ! 😀 Phew that was memorable journey!

We got into another auto once we walked over to Nepal, and with help of a fellow train passenger, we got two rooms for the night stay. Next day, we got an EV 7-seater vehicle for out trip to Kathmandu… that was quick, and soon we were on the roads by 7.30 am. I was totally absorbed looking at the towns we crossed.. with shop names in Hindi, much like in India. After an hour or so we had a break when the EV had to be charged and it was a regular pit stop, with hotels, wash rooms, and we had some boiled black chana for breakfast. In 40 minutes, we were again on the roads and this time the EV was riding on fast on the U-turns and in no time I was nauseating. The driver had already declared “plastic covers are available for vomiting” which I quickly asked for … all the boiled chana came out, i don’t remember how many plastics I had of the vomits ! 😦 The driver didn’t stop the vehicle.. it went on!

to be continued…