Nepal: Trek part 1...

It's time to start the trek!  For this part I joined a group with World Expeditions, an Australian trekking company (I know, yuppie trekking, you can tease me, I can take it). Here's the plane we took to Lukla, on "Yeti Airlines"!
We're approaching the landing strip here, under the care of these two very able-appearing pilots, MOM! :) (Nancy's photo)
After a safe landing at the Lukla airstrip at 9350ft, we stopped to watch a few more planes land and take off. You can see that the airstrip is built at an incline: land uphill and take off downhill!  And yes, this is the airstrip built by Sir Edmund Hillary et al...
Nancy proudly displayed our last Kathmandu purchase prior to the trek, "Krazy Cheese Balls," which were meant to bring us good luck for the flight over. The slogan on the billboard we saw at the airport was "Go get the balls!" Hmmm.
(if you'll permit a brief flashback, here's that sign from the airport...) (Nancy's photo)
At one of the first villages we passed through -- this is a cute teahouse with some outdoor seating.
Some of our first "mani stones," on which are carved Buddhist mantras in Tibetan writing (I think), such as one you may have heard before, "Om mani padme hum."
Below Namche the most commonly used pack animal is the "dzopko," a yak-cow cross that can descend to lower elevations than yaks can.
A rather large mani stone... You'll notice we're walking around it clockwise, as is the tradition here. "Om mani padme hum," by the way, means something like "hail to the jewel and the lotus." The jewel and the lotus symbolize wisdom and compassion in Tibetan Buddhism.
We'd seen some impressive snowcapped mountains by this point, but none big enough to deserve its own name. This is our first named mountain, Thamserku, at about 6800m or 22,300ft the highest I'd seen ever! Its name means "white yogurt" in Nepali, in case you were wondering.
Just a cool lodge sign.
Here's a great sign from one of the lodges we passed. (Nancy's photo).
I found a new friend -- or, he found me... We actually saw quite a few cute puppies on this trek!  (Nancy's photo)
It was a relatively short hike to camp on day 2, so in the afternoon most of us went on a little walk up a ridge to help with acclimatization and to see the sights -- here are traditional Sherpa houses...
These folks are working on making a woven roof like what we saw on a lot of houses here.
Another Sherpa house. The Sherpas are probably the best known of the many, many ethnic groups that inhabit Nepal. They are thought to have migrated down from Tibet maybe 500 years ago, and they now live in the Khumbu region (the Everest region).
This bridge, our 4th or 5th already across the Dudh Kosi (Milk River, its milky appearance derived from glacial silt), was over 300 ft above the river!
I figured that if it could support this many yaks, it could support me too.
Our fearless trek leader, Rinzin Sherpa (standing), consulting with our sirdar (the head sherpa), Lolit.
Well, I made it across that bridge, 'cause here it is from the other side!
Nancy took this picture, I believe it was just as we were arriving in Namche.
This was just funny. They've "anchored" this yak to a small rock. Is it just me, or does the yak look a little stronger than all that?
Though it had been cloudy when we first strolled in to Namche in the afternoon of day 3, we woke up the next morning to spectacularly clear skies. Here we are walking from the lodge up to a viewpoint where we'll get our first views of the _really_ big mountains.
Our first view of Everest -- it's the peak to the left, sticking up behind the ridge. 29,028ft high or 8848m. The peak to the right is Lhotse, 27,890ft or 8501m. The Nepali name for Everest is Sagarmatha (something like "forehead touching the sky"); in Tibetan it's Chomolungma ("mother goddess of the world")
Here I am in my dorky hat, with Everest and Lhotse behind. You can also just see part of Ama Dablam at the far right.
After the ridgetop viewpoint, we walked back down to town -- here it is! At 11,300ft, Namche is a thriving, colorful market town. It's a sort of semi-circular town tucked into the side of a mountain, so it looks like an amphitheater, with the daily Tibetan market at its center. (I'll show you that later...)
Some colorful houses in Namche.
Off to one side of town is a Saturday market, which occupies maybe 2-3 narrow streets and is _packed_ with people, so much so that I was barely able to take any pictures!
Looking over the Saturday market at the rest of the town.
Scary meat for sale at the market...
Grains at the market.
Even a watch repair stand! (Nancy's photo)
Now I'm down at the Tibetan market -- this is one end of it, where there's this little chorten.
I followed around these four women in red for a while taking pictures because they looked so cool.
A couple of Tibetans at the market. These guys come down with all sorts of stuff, clothing, shoes, etc. that all looks very made-in-China, and sell/trade with folks who come up from the lower hills.
Martin and Jan doing some souvenir shopping.
Jeff -- here's where I bought your yak bell!
We found an internet place, much to my surprise... I'm checking my email there in the corner, and Nancy took this picture because of the Kerry/Edwards sign!
A cool window...
During our wanderings, we saw a sign advertising a clinic, so we went in and visited with this friendly nurse who provided us with a bunch of information about the place.
It had gotten pretty overcast even by late morning, but as we were making our way back to the lodge, our old friend Thamserku suddenly popped out of the clouds!
More colorful houses (one of my favorite photos!)
Yak dung that has been stuck to the wall here to dry -- the locals will use it as fuel in their stoves.
We've just left Namche for our next day's walk to Phortse Tenga, and I believe here we're looking back down the valley that we've been walking up for the last few days (back toward Lukla).
Every once in a while, we'd see a yak with this type of interesting flare -- I'm not sure if someone colored its hair, or if this is a wig... Some would even have red or orange earrings! (Nancy's photo)
The view from Mong, where we had lunch today. The mountain in the distance is Ama Dablam.
Prayer flags on top of that chorten.
Ama Dablam from Mong.
They told us camp would never be dull...  In Dole (4040m or 13,200ft), some entertainment: this game was called something like "goat and tiger"... or something... (Nancy's photo).
A yak herder's shelter... In this pasture just below Dole, it is said that a yeti came down from the mountains and attacked a yak, grabbing it by the horns and splitting its head in two. Yuck!
Next day -- we've left Dole and are moving toward Machermo. Here is the view back toward the small village of Dole.
Here I am with Cho Oyu behind me (the peak farthest to the left) -- at 8201 meters (26,900ft), it's the third of the worlds fourteen 8,000+ meter peaks that we've seen so far.
A terrific view of Cho Oyu again. By the way, that's the jet stream you see blowing over the top of it!
That evening in Machermo (4410m or 14,460ft) we had our first snow -- here are the toilet tents beginning to collect a coating... (Nancy's photo)
Here's Nancy warming up with some tea first thing in the morning in Machermo.
Along the trail from Machermo to Gokyo... You can see some yak pastures across the way there.
A porter resting by the side of the trail...
Nearing Gokyo you pass some nice glacially-fed lakes -- this, I think, is the second one? I was so sick that day I didn't pay much attention...
This is the view from our campsite in Gokyo (4750m or 15,600ft) -- 2 days have passed since the last photo, 'cause it snowed the day after we arrived, forcing a "rest day" during which I huddled in my sleeping bag intermittently and spent some time in a nearby teahouse when I had the energy for such things.
The town of Gokyo.  We've left now, retracing our steps for a bit before branching off on the trail that would take us toward the Cho La pass.