Mt Everest from the mountain flight this morning

More Himalaya pictures from below  

I took my early morming flight to see the Himalayas..impressive for sure...now 9 hours till I head to the airport to start the long "trek" home.

We had our farewell dinner tonight at an authentic Nelalese restaraunt..a great variety of foods were  put before us. Also there were numerous dances representing the culture of Nepal.....see the various pictures of the evening with guide Roj and fellow trekker Maiju.

I am amazed at the amount of physical difficulties incurred during this Everest Base Camp trek...with no or little sleep, a stomach bug, and high blood pressure/pulse, I knew the risks were too much..infact, cost me two days in the hospital.  Others incurred a lung infection, resulting in two days in the hospital after being helicoptered out, a broken/sprained ankle resulting in a flight out and casting....a flight out due to breathing difficulties. .....others who made it, some have respiratory difficulties after coming back down......and there are others who have no residual effects.

If I were to do it again..don't think I will...I would come much earlier,  to rest prior to the trek and adjust for being half way around the world...to sleep a lot...take meds ahead of time for possible digestive system bugs.....consider taking Diamox, which enables the blood to carry more oxygen..

Or I could just stay on level ground.,...

Some more pics from today described below

What a day...first we went shopping...Maiju from London...Tony from Australia and Dave from Oregon...

It was serious business..lot of bargaining and combining purchases to lower the price further...I got some prayer flags and a very nice scarf for my sweetie.

Then..after a break...we took a cab to Swoyambhu...west of town...a Buddhist temple...also called the Monkey Temple...of course.....being Saturday...the place was packed.

Pictures covet the activities..we are back at the hotel...Maiju and I have the farewell dinner tonight with Roj, our guide and Prem, owner of the company.

This is the helicopter company that transported me and others out..it might not be the same helicopter but same model and color and all....it can go up to 20 ,000 ft, depending on temperature and load.

Had dinner with Maiju tonight..she was my original trekkjng partner..she made it to base camp but it was very difficult..she caught a cold...didn't want to eat..had a headache..didn't sleep...was told if she didn't eat she would have to come back down.....did enough to make it..for not too long.

I think my state was such I made the right decision not to proceed.

The Aussie group helicoptered down a woman and her friend..she is in a cast. Two other Aussies men were helicoptered out...one is still in the hospital.

Our farewell dinner is tomorrow night as the Aussies are having theirs tonight.

So what have I learned in my days in Kathmandu...

The people are friendly and polite...

If you say "no thank you" to a vendor....of which there are many...they do not persist.

Gay folks can express their affections openly...without fear it appears. Good for them.

They have an unbelievable pollution problem to which the governmental agency responsible has admitted failure.  There is no plan in place nor anticipated.

The people for the most part are clean and well dressed.

People throw their paper, wrappings and all on the ground. There are no trash cans nor education to the contrary.

There is no mass transit. People jam into little smoky polluting buses or ride motorcycles and scooters which are two cycle...which are high polluters.

The main source of living in the city seems to be one who owns a shop..everyone seems to have a shop selling something.

USA movies sell for 150 rupies...today 94.85 rupies equals a dollar. What a deal...and all the new movies are available.

The buildings, for the most part, are made of brick. Structural but workmanship is poor..little to no upkeep...been there a long time.

Electricity is not dependable..it seems to quit frequently during the day. It comes back on pretty fast.

If you believe you are buying a North Face jacket or anything else North Face for such an unbelievable price.....I have a bridge for you to buy...

Well, there is a lot more..but the big thing is..it is safe....at least in Thamel....where I am at...and it is fun to "truck" around on foot..up and down the narrow streets. If you cross the street, you hold your hand down to let the traffic know you are moving. Then you move... they hesitate...just enough time..if you hesitate..they don't.

I am including pictures of roof top living...that is where one would want to live...above it all...for sure.

One thing I am proud of regarding this trip is how I went over 7 suspension bridges. ......One very very high..I have posted some pictures of some of these bridges....but now I have added three pictures of the highest suspension bridge taken by Travis...who I talked about yesterday...the neat thing to see is that Travis stopped midway across the bridge and took a picture of the  old bridge below it. Did I do that..NO....I did not stop...in another of the pictures you see a small pine tree to the left of the end of the bridge..that was my focus...my eyes never left that tree. HEY..a big step for me....a few years ago I could not or would not have done that.

Very different day today..started out overcast and windy..which is not good when the landscape is so dusty. I took a jaunt down the main hiway to check with the airline for an earlier flight..same result..no space..back to my normal departure on the late flight on the 7th...oh well.

Then it started to rain..not heavy but folks covered their wares displayed for sale.

Was finally able to connect with an old acquaintance of mine from Wings. I knew he was in the country..but not two and a half blocks away...we spent an afternoon comparing notes and what had been going on in our lives. It was a very pleasant time spent. He is heading for another trek tomorrow.

My trekking group comes back tomorrow.  Maiju and our guide Roj..we then have a group dinner tomorrow night..it will be a delight to hear how they did.

The pictures show how my morning starts..a casual breakfast with the local newspaper..the other is of Travis and I this afternoon.

As a final thought on today..you can type in Bhaktapur, Pashupati, and Boudhanth to see more information and pictures to add to my delivery below.

A final word..I saw a monkey go after a kid who had a just purchased slice of pineapple on a stick..the Mother grabbed the pineapple and the monkey went for her., some one yelled at her to throw it., which she did...the monkey went for it..the kid was in tears....man..that all happened so fast.

Some odd ball pictures..a fellow grinding medication for the stomach...the bad monkey with the pineapple..my guide...pottery making at Bhaktapur...students learning the fine art of painting those detailed pieces of art of which there is a picture.