Namche to Khumjung
We hiked above Namche to the village of Chhorkung and the Sagarmatha National Park Visitor Center to get a view of Everest. In the photo below taken from this place, Thamserku is large and up close, the beautiful Ama Dablam is peaking around to its left, and, further left in the background, Everest can be seen behind Lhotse and Nuptse.
The next day we hiked to Thamo passing a helipad above Namche with this view. We were somewhere on the hill above Namche (near the center of the photo below) the day before when the image above was taken.
The prime spot in Thamo is Khari Gompa, the home of nuns from Tibet, lead by Khari Rinpoche, a wonderful person who has become a friend. While there we toured a beautiful new prayer hall designed by Rinpoche and built with much love and labor by the nuns. We witnessed a prayer service and had a wonderful meal hosted by Geshe La, a Lama who lives there and is Rinpoche’s teacher. (In Buddhism, a Lama is also a monk; a Rinpoche is a Lama and a monk. A Rinpoche is “higher” than a Lama.) Many katas (silk scarves) exchanged hands as we placed one around the neck of each nun when we arrived and received many in return when we departed.
The next day we headed back toward Namche but veered uphill skirting Namche, crossing the highest airport in the world at Shyangboche. Just beyond the airport (that we will again visit later in the trip) we got a nice view (left to right) of Ama Dablam, Thamserku, and Kusum Kangru from above the village of Khunde. To the left of Thamserku in the middle is Kangtega, “the saddle”. This area was quite pretty with a garden of bolders, chortens, junipers, and rhododendrons. A beautiful stairway past a pair of stupas led to the fairly plain village of Khunde. We had lunch and visited a clinic in Khunde.
Later, in the neighboring town of Khumjung, we visited a monastery that is home to a purported yeti skull. At the Hillary School, established by Sir Edmund in 1961 eight years after he summitted Everest, we met Chhongba’s son, Dawa. He attends this school as a boarding student. We spent the night at the new “No Name Lodge”, later named the “Namaste Lodge” and now to be called the “Danfe Lodge” which our group suggested when we returned near the end of our trek. Danfe or Danphe is the national bird of Nepal and was seen by us locally several times. It is a large and beautiful bird with nine colors.
- Kathmandu