Day 4 – 21.05.26, Trek to Debuche (3,860 mtrs)

We were in the Khumbu region from May 18, 2026 for our Everest Base Camp(EBC) trek. May 29^th being Everest Day, was being celebrated with Everest Marathon.

Wow..! We got the opportunity to witness the practice sessions of Marathoners from all around the world….. found many athletes with us, running along. While we huffed and puffed in two-three layers of clothes, they simply enjoyed their practice runs in shorts and tees. Most of them would reach the Everest Base Camp by May 27^th, take a days’ rest on May 28^th. EBC to Namche Bazaar will be 42 km which I will do in 6 hours – was one 50+ gentleman’s confident resolve! He completed the same distance, last year, in 7 hours !!

I was so happy to be in this crowd. Thanks to Sarmila, Arjina, I was doing okay… and was back to carrying by backpack. I was slow, ofcourse. But trekking is no race.. slow is fine. I was walking through this absolutely beautiful landscape. I could smell the Deodaar trees, surrounded by pink Rhododendron flowers, with majestic Ice capped mountains, craggy peaks… a promise of soon getting a look at Mt. Everest.

This view, glimpse of Mt. Everest, made us all ecstatic ! No words can explain the joy…

I could send the picture to our home whatsapp group and my sister happily declared – “You are the first one in the family to see Mt. Everest!!!” Oh.. that was a such a wonderful hour! Till lunch the trek was cool .. crossed 13 mountains 😀

One point of concern while I was considering EBC trek in Nepal, was the cylinder shortage due to Iran-US war. Fortunately we didn’t feel any problem thru-out. With the help of Arjina, I checked the cost of a cylinder at the altitude we were .. 5000 NR is the cost these Tea houses are paying. You can listen to this Nepali conversation…

Our Lunch was at Thanga-phunga, beautiful place with Dudh Koshi river roaring by.. Nepali thali was great here and everybody remembers this Lunch point and its thali. Have a look at the Trekkers community seated for lunch in the vdo below. You can see Siddhi too with her father … and after lunch, we saw her dancing, making reel on the suspension bridge. She was having a great time 🙂

Soon we were trekking up .. to Tengboche Monastery. The climb was continuously going up .. Sarmila asked me to wear the wind-cheater jacket as it will get windy. This is the orange jacket you see me in most pictures.. one of gifts from my friend Sujata, her way to encourage me for these treks!

On this way we met Mani, who was another south Indian on this trek like Ranjit, who came from UAE… Mani was wearing Rhododendron flowers, that is what we started talking about ! 😀 I loved his crown of flowers. He was with a small group including Vaijayanthi- a lady like me, but it was her son who made her come along for this trek. Ranjit, Mani, Vaijayanthi, we talked and shared many stories .. It was Vaijayanthi’s first trek, is a yoga practitioner! “I am 62 and my son is 26” said Vaijayanthi and laughed. I told her “Mother-Son combo” doing EBC trek together must be rare! We also know Mani has plans to go for Mt. Everest expedition. All the best.. may your dreams come true Mani 🙂

I was the last one to reach Tengboche Monastery .. our team members waited for me for an hour, as we needed a group picture here! This Monastery is an important stop for all going for Mt. Everest expedition, where they pray and seek blessings for a safe expedition. This is another beautiful place to spend time..

We continued our trek to Debuche Tea house, amidst lots of Rhododendron trees. This Tea house gave us rooms with attached toilets but no water in it! It was Nidhi who managed to get empty bottles and got it filled with tap water for our toilet needs! Ice cold water – dare to use it? 😀

The tea house charges in Nepali rupees, here in Debuche: Mobile charging – 500, power Bank 1000, hot shower- 600, hot drinking water 1 ltr 500; 3 ltr 1200. After dinner, as usual, Sarmila briefed us about next day. We will reach Dingboche by lunch and then stay for acclimatization for a day.

Day 5 – 22.05.26, Trek to Dingboche (4,410 mtrs)

Trek to Dingboche was memorable for the scare it gave me midway… After a long walk, a suspension bridge, another climb, again long walk through plains.. which was never ending…. I asked Sarmila, who was on the phone( she almost always got network 😀 ) how much more? She showed me a tiny bridge quite far off and then another climb up.. that much more! Thanks Ranjit for this great reminder of how “Dead tired” I was… 😀 water-break vdo..

Now, have a look at the scary bridge and the terrain .. it was so windy, and the river flowing was so ferocious looking… I could stand there long, gazing at this scene. On reaching the bridge, I realized, I will have to go atleast 50 steps down, cross the bridge, and then walk up a mountain 😦 phew!!

On this stretch, one English female trekker crossed me, she was also carrying her backpack, being curious I asked her ” how much does your backpack weigh?” 16 kgs.. came the answer and she walked off! I wondered what all she was carrying.. must be food items, and also she may be going on to Gokyo Ri, which is a 15-day trek.

After crossing a steep never ending mountain part, came one more small hill and I was so slow on this last bit, Sarmila put her own backpack down, came to me to say “Give me your Backpack – I will help !” Thanks, I said and continued to carry it. A guy standing few steps ahead said ” Almost there” 🙂

Finally when I walked in to the Dingboche teahouse, my teammates gave me loud applause. Arjina gave me a tight hug which was so welcoming! A second more of that hug and I would have cried.. but she put her hands down and asked me to sit.. 🙂

Dingboche teahouse was a happening place. Teahouse itself was very warm, spacious. We were going to stay here for another day, for acclimatization. Lot of Mt. Everest Marathoners joined .. I so much wanted to talk to them, found courage, and walked up to them and asked if they will tell me about their Marathon. I sat down with them… and the gentleman next to me declared- “Last year I did it in 7 hours and this year I plan to finish in 6 hours! Wow! 42 km from EBC to Namche bazaar in 6 hours.. Amazing fitness. They were Nepalis settled in UK, enjoying their country, its fest, its food, coming back each year. How enthusiastic ..! I wish this blog post somehow reaches them too … 😀 and I get to know about their marathon!

Day 6 – 23.05.26

Second Acclimatization day was real fun… Dingboche was very windy, cold. We went on to Mt. Nagarjun.. few of us trekked only half way. But Ranjit and Koteswarji went all the way up. All of us took lot of snaps as we could clearly get Mt. Amadablam and many more peaks in the background, also the valley below looked amazing with the helicopters coming in and going out was real fun to watch. We returned from the acclimatization by 1 pm.

The day temperature must be 3 to 4 degrees as I could not stand out in the open to make calls and inside the Tea house, there was no network.

I have so many beautiful memories of this day @Dingboche that it will fill one blog post 😀 I will just share the best part .. We got to spend great hours at Cafe 4410 (Dingboche is at 4410 mtrs), in front of our Tea house, fortunately. It had lot of trekkers sitting down with friends, having coffee, reading books, playing board games… if you purchased a coffee/latte for 500 NR, we got to charge our mobiles.. spend as many hours, no one is asking you to vacate space!!! The Cafe was warm, and we loved to sit there all afternoon, and early evening. I sat reading this great book I found at our Tea house “Touching my father’s soul ” by Jamling Tenzing Norgay. In the initial pages, Jamling talks about his relation with his celebrity father Tenzing Norgay, and his own much awaited Expedition, he is the Climbing leader of the famed 1996 summit led by David Breashears… about the reverence of Mt. Everest in Nepal. I had noticed the word “Chomolungma” here during the trek, after reading these pages, I realized, that is the Goddess who lives on the summit! Jamling also was describing in these pages the path I had covered till now and I simply could not put it down.

Earlier, many of my teammates wanted to forgo the acclimatization day and move on to the Lobuche. But I was sure this rest day was much needed and every literature talks about a rest day after 1000 mtrs of trek up. After the time spent at Cafe 4410, everyone felt revived, a day of relaxation was much needed.

Day 7 – 24.05.26 – Trek to Lobuche (4,910 mtrs)

OMG! We had a very foggy morning, so much that teammates were clearly instructed to remain together during the trek, as we could not see much ahead, also there was not much network. Our guides, Arjina, who remains behind, and Sarmila, who is leading often, were constantly checking with each other about us – whos where? But without network, checking would be impossible.

We were now in land with no vegetation, just small shrubs. Walking over boulders, and ridges, with Mt. Thumsarku by our side and constant Helicopters plying around. I loved them.

We reached Thukla lunch point after crossing a wonderful river bed. During lunch we saw a group of foreigners walk in to the same tea house, and one woman came in limping and sat down crying. I checked with a person in their group who was sitting near me, and found that her tummy felt bloated and crampy, she was not able to eat anything. I could imagine her mental mode! In a foreign country, out of the comfort zone.. and tummy problem. Later, I met her few more times during the trek, each time she was in some problem, once she was vomiting. Next time, I just looked at her and hand gestured “How are you now?” She showed her bottle of water and smiled. Later I saw her trekking along and looked better, but weak. Her guide said she was on water for four days.. ! Saluted the trust she has in herself, that she will survive the trek even when out of her comfort zone.. for days together!

After lunch, we crossed Thukla pass and reached memorial ground. Lots of Mountaineers who lost life during Mt. Everest expeditions has memorials built here. I had just read about David Breashears, in Jamling’s book and saw his memorial along with many others. This was a very emotional walk.

I loved this one – If your goals don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough!

I reached Lobuche, by 4.30 pm, to our Tea house named Peak XV. This has a small dining room. We got wonderful plate of popcorn here. As we sit with our Popcorn, I see Eshan walk in. Oh! finally now I can return the 100 NR, I thought. I walk to him, with a 100 NR. Hii Eshan.. Here, pls take your money back. Eshan looks at the 100 NR note and then to me.. he says ” I will take it back at EBC!!!

Did I say anything to that ? All I could do was smile !!

To be continued….