Solu-Khumbu Trekking :: Jiri to Namche Bazaar

Our bus and home for 13 hours from Kathmandu to Jiri.
We got tickets for the public, stop-for-anything-any-everyone bus, without realizing there was a cushier tourist bus option instead. It's all about the experience, right?

Mervin checking our packs on the roof of the bus. The roof of the bus saw a hundred different passengers and animals over the course of the ride. We locked our packs to keep them safe.

The Kathmandu bus park

Shops near the end of the road (the good road) in Jiri.

During the heavier tourist seasons (we were about two weeks early) buses will run to Shivalaya, cutting out one big day of hiking. This is where our hike began, and the road continues out of town.

Millet plants. Some of the local cultures in this region make tongba, a hot "beer" made from fermented millet.

Lovely road, eh?

The view coming out of Mali; around the bend is Shivalaya.
We spent the night in Sanbadanda, located on the arm of the hill coming out from the higher pass. The trail follows the arm up and over that pass.

Shivalaya

Our accommodations in Sanbadanda.
We hoped to get to Deurali, but with fog settling in and our legs tired from a hard first day full of getting lost, we settled on this makeshift hotel/homestay.

View from our room in Sanbadanda.
The trail from Jiri went up and over the pass on the right, down to the river and up again.

Kitchen and dining room

A sign!
With roads and trails intersecting everywhere through this area, staying on the right trail was often difficult. Locals (especially children) will always point you in the right direction, but this sign was a nice touch. And the only one we ever saw. After today, the trail was very easily followed.

Walking over the top of the pass in Deurali. Time for a long downhill.

Monastery in Bhandar

These were the largest and tastiest momos we ate in Nepal!
Veggies, potatoes and nak (female yak) cheese inside a flour dough, then fried. A delicious post-hiking meal. Complete with Druk tomato ketchup, a Nepali tourist staple. It says it's ketchup, but tastes like.... sweet tomato sauce. Not ketchup. Such a letdown.

Herding the buffalo

Steep! You can see our next day's pass (and highest point until we reach Namche) from here: follow the leftmost ridgeline to the right, until it dips down into a nice pass. That's the Lamjura La, about 3400m.

Locally grown and processed potato chips.
Thin potato slices laid out in the sun to bake, and the chilis used for seasoning drying on the table. We ate some, they were delicious!

Kenja

Sete, halfway up the Lamjura la and our stop for the night.

First view of snow-capped peaks.

Mossy rhododendron forest, thinning as we get higher.

Stupa near Lamjura la

Brightly decorated monastery in Junbesi

Our lodge for two nights.
We had a bright room, a western toilet, and a line to hang our laundry while we explored the town.

Junbesi, with Mt. Numbur looming north

A poster on wall of the dining room - cowboy of the Alps?

One of the best dining rooms in Nepal!
House Namaste in Junbesi.

According to the guidebook, this was supposed to be our first view of Everest. Alas...

Waiting for yet another pack horse train to pass

Monastery in Ringmo

The sun didn't come out for six days. But the cool misty weather was perfect for hiking up and down thousands of vertical feet every day.

Using trees as electric poles near Puiya.

The cutest lodge we saw. But we were the only guests (seemingly in the entire town of Puiya) and it was foggy, it felt very dreary.

Confluence of the Dudh Kosi - the river fed from the glaciers around Everest

Mani walls (the carved/painted stone tablets) and payer wheels adorn the entrance and exit to most towns on the trail. Always walk on the left side, or clockwise around religious areas in Nepal.

Waiting for a zopkyo train to cross the bridge in Phakding.
Don't get in their way.

"Depend on walk"

Our first clear skies in days! We are now in Monjo, the last village before entering Sagarmatha National Park. Namche is on the hillside in the middle-ground underneath the peak. No visibility meant no flights in or out of Lukla for six days: we were one day ahead of a huge wave of anxious tourists on the trail.

"Welcome. This traditional kani gate marks your entry into the beyul Khumbu - a sacred hidden valley of the Sherpa people. Khumbu is also a world renowned National Park and World Heritage Site. While Visiting this special area, visitors are encouraged to: 1. Refrain from taking life 2. Refrain from anger 3. Refrain from jealousy 4. Refrain from offending others 5. Refrain from taking excessive intoxicants. Enjoy your Visit!"

Zopkyo, a cross between a cow and a yak. Zopkyo can work at elevations between those of pack horses (low elevations) and yaks (high elevation only). Their hair and horns are shorter than a yak's, and their body is usually taller and leaner.