10-11 Namche

Sherpa porter traffic is already building-up early at 6:15AM on the trail in Ghat outside our GH

We pass nice Teahouses in Phakding .... at 8:15AM

The suspension bridge leading into Phakding

Crossing the waterfall stream at Benkar - plenty of trekker traffic!

The Sagarmatha Entrance Gateway next to the permit center

Jorsale village appears (11AM)..... across the Dudh Kosi River

Plenty of trekkers on the climb to Hillary bridge approach

Traffic Jam at bridge - waiting for Yaks to clear the bridge (12:30PM)

Nearing Namche ..... at 2:30PM

Namche Bazaar at 3420M

Rows of tents coming up ... view from my Hotel room window

Many Other Namche Guest Houses around the Bazaar

Chomolungmu Garden Lodge in Ghat as we are about to start

Phakding .... as we near the Suspension bridge to cross the Dudh Kosi river to true Right side. Click to enlarge and see the bridge ahead.

We pass Benkar now .... Waterfall View Lodge at Benkar

The Sagarmatha Entry Permit Center ... at Monjo (10:45AM)

We reached the Permit Center at Monjo around 10:30AM. Had to wait 15 mins in queue to get my entry ticket. The permit office had a display board showing "monthwise trekkers" since 1998 (see below). Oct is peak month and in Oct-2006, 6595 trekkers visited the park!

Trekker Statistics Monthwise displayed at permit center in Monjo. Current annual trekkers' number 20000 with Oct peaking at 7000!

We are nearing the high Hillary bridge across Dudh Kosi at Noon.

Yaks crossing the Hillary Bridge; so we had to wait here for sometime

After crossing the Hillary Bridge at 12:30 we still had a stiff steep climb up to Namche for another 2.5 hrs. We finally reached Namche at 3:00PM

And finally we reach Namche Bazaar at 3:00PM

The daily Tibetan Market in the central bowl of Namche below

After reaching we checked into Namche Inn GH that was managed by a friendly Nepali Kancha ... Kancha, had lived in India for many years during his childhood (in Orissa and other places) and he remembered many Songs and Scenes from old Hindi movies ... the classics of 1950 & 60s! We spent a whole evening in the hotel's frontyard talking about those movies, songs, scenes, heroes and heroines.

View of Kwangde peaks from outside my Namche Inn GH