Day 4: Namche Bazaar to Tengboche

Approximate Trek Time: 3 ½ – 4 ½ hrs

Distance: 9.2k / 5.7 miles

Overnight Elevation: 3870m / 12,696ft

Waking early, we were dressed and in the dining room for breakfast by 6:30am. We enjoyed heaping plates of hash browns with a fried egg (a nice addition to the menu that wasn’t available on the Annapurna Circuit) before setting off.

Leaving the Khumbu Lodge, we headed up the stairways out of Namche – a rude beginning to the first part of the morning – up big steps and small, weaving our way past yak trains and trekkers toward the east end of Namche and into Chhorkung, where the steps met the trail at a giant mani boulder, at the top of which a dog had been sunning itself when we passed by yesterday morning. Not yet very warm, this morning the top of the boulder sat vacant.

Spinning the giant prayer wheel near the boulder, we passed through Chhorkung, continuing down the level trail that curved along the mountain ridge, heading northeast toward Tengboche.

The trail was pleasant going for awhile, with flat sections and short gentle ascents and descents, the first part of the hike following the mountainside high above the valley where the rushing Dudh Kosi flowed hundreds of feet below us, its torrent perceptible even from high above. We wound around the mountainside, passing chortens and stupas at some of the bends, the first of which was the Tenzig Norgay Memorial Stupa, “built and blessed with the unerring support of Rolex, Geneva”.

Continuing along the trail, we eventually hiked down a rocky section through the shade of a gorgeous grove of trees, spinning a large heavy prayer wheel by the Ama Dablam Lodge as we passed through Kyangjuma. The next village along the trail was Sanasa, where laughably long tables of souvenir garb were lined up through the village. Even Lonely Planet had commented about the “overly enthusiastic” vendors here, though no one tried to peddle anything as we passed through. Sanasa also marked the juncture in the trail for those heading toward Gokyo and those heading toward Tengboche, and we continued along the trail to the latter.

The rocky trail continued its descent through the forest, marching us toward the valley floor with the heart-wrenching knowledge that once we hit bottom there was nowhere to go but up, up, up to Tengboche. We bottomed out at Phunki Thenga, where large groups were enjoying a tea stop at a sunny riverside lodge. The rushing river cascaded over large boulders and along the trailside several water-powered prayer wheels spun rapidly in their small houses.

From this point, it was a long soul-crushing ascent to Tengboche – probably one of the toughest climbs for me thus far, despite being less than half of our ascent to Ghorepani on the Annapurna Circuit, and likely not as bad as a few other climbs we’ve had on our treks. Nonetheless, I was exhausted making my way up the rocky steps and steep slopes, switchback after switchback. Even the long gradual steps were punishing. There seemed to be no end to the uphill, and there wasn’t, until we had actually arrived in Tengboche (3870m/12,693ft.), greeted by one last set of steps to the entrance kani.

Beyond the entrance kani, with brilliant bright painting and bronzed-brown prayer wheels on its interior, there were a few last steps to a large stupa with mani stones arranged around its white base. Bright prayer flags flapped in the wind around the stupa, just beyond which you could see the famous Tengboche Monastery (also known as the Dawa Choling Gompa). The brick red monastery stood out above the tops of the other buildings on the surrounding grounds.

Not far from the entrance kani, we got a room at the Himalayan Lodge, the first of many Himalayan Lodges we’d stay in (popular name), with views of Thamserku from our bedroom window. After dropping our bags off and donning warmer clothes, we headed down to the Tengboche Café, a bakery situated between two ramshackle guesthouses on the other side of a large open grassy space from our own lodge. The bakery, which is owned by the monastery, served some of the best pizza we had in Nepal. We both got the chicken and mushroom pizza, which was seasoned nicely and had both sauce and cheese (not true of all pizzas in Nepal – particularly the sauce), with a delicious thin crust. Highly recommended.

We sat in the sun for a bit at the bakery before being driven away by all of the coughing of a large trekking group that came through – it wouldn’t be long before this sound would be quite common in the high mountain lodges and I’d have a hacking cough of my own. From here, we moved to a large sunny space behind our lodge, where we enjoyed the views of Everest, Lhotse, and Ama Dablam until the clouds started rolling in, at which point we moved to the outdoor patio in front of our lodge, taking in the views of Thamserku until these were clouded as well.

Tengboche Monastery Visit…

Around 2:45pm, we went to the monastery to view the 3pm prayer session. The entrance to the monastery is a large and colorful squared gateway, guarded by bright statues of mythical beasts.

Just inside the entrance to the monastery, we removed our shoes before entering the main prayer hall, walking to the right side of the hall, where tourists could sit quietly and watch the prayer session. The floors of the main prayer hall were a rich wood, shining clean in the low lights of the hall. In the front of the hall, a large gold-colored statue of Shakyamuni Buddha adorned in bright yellow robes sat in a recessed alcove, flanked on each side by statues of two other Buddhist deities. The walls, central pillars, and ceilings of the hall were all covered in bright paintings of Buddhist scenes, flower patterns, and mandala designs. Tapestries and other colorful wall hangings completed the bright décor.

Walking into this magnificent prayer hall before 3pm, the drum beating and chanting had already begun. The highest of the monks, or head lama, sat in the front of the prayer hall on a high chair, above the rest of the monks. Two others sat in (less) raised chairs on each side. The rest of the monks sat cross-legged along long benches that ran perpendicular to the front of the room, two rows of benches on each side, facing the center of the room. In front of each of the monks in the front were small pedestals with food stuffs – cracker boxes, fruit – as well as small urns of incense that wafted through the room. The rows of monks also had foodstuffs in front of them, as well as small dishes/bowls of sorts. Shawn said he even saw one Toblerone box.

For the prayer chanting, one monk toward the back beat a large green drum that hung on a colorful red and yellow stand while the rest of the monks chanted. While I’d expected that the prayers would be memorized, the monks chanted/sang the prayers from small pieces of paper, flipping to the appropriate sheet as new chants began. The head lama, likely the oldest, held his paper right up next to his eyes, which were squeezed into tiny slits, squinting to read the text. The papers wobbled in his gently shaking hands.

Toward the end of the prayer session, several individuals were lined up to have ceremonial scarves (kata) blessed by the lama. Another monk led them to the front, taking each scarf and placing it around the neck of the individual. They then bowed for the lama, who blessed them by touching their head. Many mountaineers heading through the region on climbing expeditions, such as Everest summit attempts, will travel through Tengboche to have their journeys blessed by the lama.

You could tell who the “trouble” monk-in-training might have been – we’ll call him “Toby”. He got up in the middle of chanting to leave the room and return, and toward the end, when the head lama was blessing the ceremonial scarves, Toby was munching on crackers while everyone else sat silently.

After the ceremonial scarves had been blessed, the prayer session was over and the monks removed the dark red robes they had worn in the prayer hall over their thinner robes and filed out of the hall. One of the monks helped the lama down from his high seat, and as they left the room, we were ushered out as well. It was certainly an interesting experience and I was glad we’d taken the time to watch the session.

We passed the rest of the day with our usual afternoon/evening trekking rituals – hanging out in the dining room, drinking hot tea, and reading/writing until dinner and darkness.

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