13 DAYS IN NEPAL (EVEREST BASE CAMP) | DAY 11 |

PHORTSE- NAMCHE BAZAAR

Not choosing the usual Tyanboche route, we had decided to descend down through the Phortse route. Photse, as I have already mentioned, is a Sherpa village where you can enjoy the traditional authentic Sherpa community’s lifestyle. The people here are widely engaged in potatoes and buckwheat farming and many of them are engaged in animal husbandry. You will get to see the animals like yak, Himalayan thar, pheasant and eagle. The yak cheese is a very famous product of the Himalayan region. Passing through the narrow trail from the Pangboche to Phortse, the village is extremely beautiful along with the presence of the beautiful, thick and snowcapped mountains in the background. From this village, you get the chance to enjoy the view of mountains like mount Cho you, mount Machhermo, mount Thamserku, mount Khumbu, mount Yul Lha and Kwangde peak.

After reaching the Phortse, we were not very tired but still, our body was full of sweat, as our body was wrapped with layers of cloth, the weather was hot and yea, we had been walking for hours. We bathed there, and got fresh. As we had not walked very much, we still had the energy to go out and view th place. We saw people grazing their domestic animals, kids playing. Some young girls were carrying a baby, I guess they were their brothers. When we went out, they were very happy to see us. Unfortunately, we had nothing to offer them but still it was great meeting them. The aunt of the place where we stayed promise to give us some yak cheese as souvenir …..Very yummy souvenir though. That day we went out to enjoy the view of those mountains I had already mentioned. That night in the Phortse, the weather was cold with the cold wind blowing. We decided to do camp fire. So we started the lighting the fire, and the locals of that place also joined us. The whole experience was very beautiful. I asked the owner if we can put some put some potatoes in fire so that we could eat it. My other team members did not like the idea as they thought it will make us unhealthy. But at the end I was able to convince them. Enjoying the camp fire with the hot potatoes in your hand.

After spending the night at Phortse, we woke up early in the morning. We got fresh and had our breakfast. They served us with the Nepali dish ‘DHEDO’ and ‘GUNDRUK” .DHEDO is a dish that prepared by boiling the wheat flour or the maze flour in the water. I had already tried this dish in my home but the flavours here were unique and delicious. After that, aunt, as promised, handed us some yak cheese and we started our trip from that.

On the way up to the trail, we had to pass the Dudh Koshi River and a place known as Phortse Theng. People who wants to view the Gokyo lakes, prefer to stay at Phortse Theng otherwise people stay at Phortse village. From Phortse , we had to walk 5.7 kilometers o reach to the gate of Everest. Namche bazar. After walking that distance we finally reached to Namche bazar.