My Trek to the Everest Base Camp-Part 15

Before the story goes into 4^th gear, one last post about all the other little-and big things that did not get weaved in so far.

How can any trek by a couch potato be devoid of discussions about food ?Now, for the rest of the trek – the food was so basic and predictable – one knew exactly what the next meal at the next teahouse a few miles away was going to be. Food-wise, the trek was depressing. I got bored of the porridge or egg for breakfast and the bland dal-bhat or tasteless spaghetti –for lunch and dinner. Ajit dug into his twice a day dal-bhat tarkari with such relish, I wanted to do something mean to him. Not nice. Eating away, when the wife can’t bear to put a morsel in her mouth. By the time we reached Lukla both Ajit and I had lost weight, of course. I attribute my weight loss to absence of tasty food on the trail and Ajit’s due to walking with the backpack.

By comparison, Lukla was food –and drink- heaven. Lukla was not just the starting and ending point of the trek- it was also a party town. Many trekkers stayed back a night in Lukla to celebrate before leaving. So Lukla a sprinkling of pubs, eateries and coffee-shops, in addition to the teahouses. There was even a sports bar with a pool table and a giant TV screen. And there were some amazing street joints selling local fare. So in between all the coffee and cakes and apple pie at Illy, a street joint with samosas and momos and puri-subzi was raided. And Dirk introduced to the joys of a samosa. Pizza at the empty- during- daytime sports bar was not as good as the  jalebi  from the little vendor at the edge of town.  And the benefits of getting kicked out of teahouses everyday was that we got different food to eat (remember – some meals were mandatory to eat in the teahouse)-and one place with its veggie burger was especially good.  

 And where was Balaram through all the Lukla fun and chaos? Other porters/ guides were using this opportunity to make a fast buck, but Balaram did none of that. He disappeared during the day, but always turned up to check on us once a day. And each time we got kicked out of a teahouse, Balaram was there- using his good offices, finding us an alternative. The other porters were getting restless, and many took their money, bid their wards adieu and left. But Balaram stayed. He never asked to leave. Yes, Kedar and Balaram were less influential than some of the bigger tour operator/travel agents. They were small fish competing with some Big sharks –at a time in Lukla when clout seemed to matter. But they were also the most honest and straight forward of the lot. As the days rolled by, we were worried that Balaram would ask to leave as well – there was nothing for him to do in Lukla, and he would much rather be home. But luckily for us, Balaram was there till we eventually left.

I have mentioned a couple of times that we got kicked out of teahouses in Lukla. Why did we –and nobody else – get chased out of teahouses so many times in Lukla? We switched 4 teahouses in all and each time the story was a little different.

The first switch was because the teahouse owner insisted he had a group coming in from the trail- prior booking he insisted. It did strike me that  we were the only guys we knew –that were asked to move. The second switch was because of Ajit’s fight with the teahouse owner. The jury is out on this one. Ajit insisted the flush was not working at all and hence asked for a bucket of water. The teahouse owner insisted Ajit did not know the complex machinations of working a flush. Ajit got upset that his 40+ years of experience with working a flush was questioned. The teahouse owner decided he did not like Ajit – and asked us to leave. When your chips are down, everybody shits on you. Old Rule of Life.

The third teahouse, we stayed for more than a day. The burger place. But this one we gave up for one hour because we thought we were leaving, just for one hour. But, when we came back, dejected, our place in the teahouse was gone. And the 4^th and final one –a seedy place at the far edge of town. But a lucky one. Because after one night there, we actually left.

This blog series about the trek enters its last mile here on….how did we leave Lukla finally? And what about our friends ? We had planned our trek around Trayi’s birthday. We had wanted to return before November 8 to be with our little angel. Would we make it ? The story will pick up pace from here on till we cross the finish line.