Kim’s Random Notes from the Trail - October 22

It is with great trepidation and a little embarrassment that I have asked Kim to write a “guest” blog post. As you know, Kim is a published author about to embark on a UK book tour in Spring 2024. She has graciously agreed (I tried to catch her in a moment of exhaustion) to add her thoughts to our blog. So without further ado, let me introduce you to Kim Letson - author, adventurer, nomad.

I’m not up to the performance expected of such an intro. Having managed to pick up something that’s morphed into a persistent cough - probably in Seattle - I’ve not been at my best this past two weeks. Question - what’s worse than being ill on a trek? Answer - trekking with someone who coughs half the night and every time she’s confronted with walking up a hill. Next question - do you have a clue how many times we walk up hill every day? Answer - neither do I - can’t keep count. But it’s a lot. We walk up steep steps and down steep steps and up again so often that when a bit of flat trail presents itself we loose our minds with the joy of just waking.

But Jane has told you about all that fun stuff so I will add a few random notes about day-to-day life on the trail hat she hasn’t mentioned.

Rooms at Guesthouses:

We often share small rooms filled with three small homemade beds with reasonably comfortable mats on top. There are seldom any hooks upon which to hang anything. Unpacking produces a sort of hurricane effect. As sweat-damp or rain and sweat damp clothes come off and get dropped around, dry warmer evening attire is hauled on and sleeping bags are laid out. We usually collapse among the confusion of clothing and bedding chaos to relax after all day upping and downing on the trail. After a few minutes Ringja arrives, menu in hand and from our prone positions on our beds, we order dinner.

Dinners - well all meals actually.

The serving sizes are enormous. Always much more than any of us can manage so we’ve taken to ordering two different meals and sharing them between the three of us. Seems sensible, but our delightful porters - who also oversee our food consumption - are puzzled by this unorthodox behaviour. It’s taken several meals in this format for two extra plates to arrive with the two food-heaped plates. The porters, and even Tendi, watch with great interest as we divide heaps of rice or potatoes or pasta or rice or potatoes or pasta - you get the drift - our meals are rice or potatoes or pasta - into three portions. I think they fear they are trekking with the deranged. Our meals always end with a large plate of pomegranate seeds with three spoons or apple slices with three toothpicks. The guys have been carrying kilos of apples and pomegranates for us to enjoy twice a day. It’s over the top but we can’t dissuade them.

Facilities:

So far only one guesthouse has had an outhouse - that could change tomorrow. The rest have had inside toilets and in Packding we had ensuites. There have even been a couple of western style toilets - bliss for stiff tired knees to not have to drop into a deep prolonged squat to …. Well you can imagine.

Very few toilets have sinks in the same room. Sometimes there’s a sink nearby and sometimes there’s a tap in the vicinity One goes to the toilet fully equipped with everything one might require for the visit. Used tissue is popped into a nearby bucket or basket. Flushing is accomplished by dipping a jug into a large bucket of water and sloshing the water into the hole without soaking one’s feet in the process. A few toilets don’t have lighting so one either leaves the door ajar or takes along a headlamp with other necessary items. 

Temperatures and Weather:

Nights are cold and clear.

In the sun - mornings have been warm.

During the mid afternoons clouds arrive and the temperatures become cool and damp.

Rooms that have southern exposure during the day are comfortable when we first arrive. Otherwise they are COLD. If the dining rooms have had a fire lit at around 5 pm, they become cozy. It’s always a shock to dash from warm dining room to frosty bedroom and leap into bed. The hardest part of the day is crawling out of warm sleeping bags in the morning. Well maybe not quite the hardest part - huffing up hills and slogging through mule poo puddles isn’t easy either.

A somber note:

In avoiding the long muddy detour between Bupsa and Surkey the day before yesterday (the day after we made the detour) three local people ran into trouble trying to access the usual route. One died. Two were injured. Our thoughts go out to them and their families and we thank Tendi for making the decision to drag us through the quagmire of mule poo to keep us safe.

Fun Factor:

It’s high.

We’ve all had our “OMG what have I gotten myself into” moments. Jane and I have achy knees. Rob has yet to even breath hard. The scenery, the many amusing and remarkable moments on the trail, people met, experiences on both sides of the fun equation are making this adventure memorable for all the right reasons. Just today we ran into Thomas from Switzerland again - shouts of joy and hugs all around. Our connection - this high and beautiful place in the shadow of Chomolungma.