Big Brothers Big Sisters Everest Base Camp Trek Dispatch

May 9, 2010 – Exploring in Khumjung and Khunde

This is Leila Silveira reporting from Khumjung. Today we had our usual wake up call at 7am with tea in bed, but instead of having breakfast at 8, the team went up the hill to visit Thame Monastery. The visit itself took a little bit longer than anticipated since the monastery was somewhat closed because all the monks were up the valley on a pooja, therefore it was hard to find someone who could open the doors of the monastery for our group to visit.

As our group was leaving, they were rewarded with a short clear view of Cho Oyu behind the clouds. Cho Oyu is the 6th highest mountain in the world.

Back in our lodge we all had breakfast and started our hike as soon as possible. This time we took the trail on the other side of the valley, so that we could do a quick visit to Thame Hydro Power which is currently supplies energy for over 500 homes on the Thame Cho, Namche, Khunde and Khumjung region. It is quite a success story.

It was an Austrian funded project and a tough one to begin with since in 1985 a glacial lake burst and washed away the 1st hydro project, as well as homes, bridges and plantations. But they didn’t give up and in 1995, the second hydro power plant was finished and opened. Of course if you visit this part of the valley you can easily see that they still need to keep an eye on erosion and glacial melting.

The good news is that the hydro power is allowing all the homes and lodges in this region to have electricity and to cook without using firewood.

We had a late lunch due to our late start this morning, but that was great because we were really hungry and Bal had a delicious lunch waiting for us at Phorte.

The trail after lunch was much steeper. The team first stopped at Khunde Hospital, where Brenda had a great Mother’s Day gift. A Sherpa lady had had a baby that morning and Brenda, an OB nurse back home, got to witness the type of support that the Nepalese mother gets here. She asked permission and was allowed to take many photos to show back home at the hospital where she works.

Before leaving the hospital Brenda and Doug gave a small donation to the mother, I suppose that was a great mother’s day gift for the Sherpa mother too!

After the hospital, they all went to the Khumjung Gompa which was built in 1831 and has a Yeti skull on display, the only one in the Khumbu. Everyone wanted to see that.

By the time they arrived at the lodge at the end of the day, they were happy to say that in one day in the Khumbu they managed to visit two monasteries, one hospital, saw Cho Oyu, the Thame Hydro Power Plant and hiked through beautiful rhododendron forests.

What else can you ask for? It was a full day, for sure.