A Bear Approved Tea House

The tea house at Khumjung was one of our favourites, possibly because Khumjung was a such a lovely village in a fantastic location. We were glad that we reached the tea house at lunch time so we would have time to enjoy ourselves there.


Here we are outside the tea house. It had a lovely sunny terrace outside the front where we could sit and soak up the sun as we waited for our lunch to be prepared and for the rest of our trekking group to arrive from another direction.

Two other Scandanavian trekkers who were also staying there provided some entertainment when they decided to try out the outdoor shower with a view.


As there was no running water in the tea house, our hostess had to heat up some water then carry it out to the shower. Even though she was no spring chicken she nimbly shimmied up the wall with a heavy load of hot water and filled the container on the shower roof which provided the hot water to the shower.

While it looked fun we didn't have a go as we'd showered the day before and you can't shower too often on trek in Nepal: firstly as it is relatively expensive (a shower costs more than a room for 2 people) and, more importantly, it requires a lot of precious wood to be burned to heat the water.

It was probably more fun as a spectator sport anyway.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Our Private Guided Tour

We'd got to know and love Namche Bazaar quite well in the 4 days we'd spent there, so in one sense it was sad to be leaving the next morning, but it was even more exciting to be resuming the trek and heading off into uncharted territory.

We left quite early as there was quite a big climb out of Namche that would take us a couple of hours to complete and Saila, our guide, wanted us to have plenty of time to take it slowly and to have lots of rest stops. This suited us as it gave us lots of opportunities to get busy with our camera.


Our path took us right under these colourful prayer flags. With the awe-inspiring sight of the mountains as a backdrop, we understood instinctively why they were had been placed there. We've brought some home to put in our garden when the weather improves, and we'd like to see more people doing the same. We might even consider a mail order business.

As the walk we did was not part of the standard itinery, we were almost quite glad that a minder had been ill as otherwise we wouldn't have got to do this wonderful walk. It was honestly the best walk that we did in our time in Nepal and we felt very priviledged to be having a private viewing, so to speak.

All too soon our final destination, the village of Khumjung came into sight.


And it was pleasing to see that it was going to be all downhill to the village. The big open area you can see at the entrance to the village is the playground of the Edmund Hilary School. We were really impressed by the amount of help he has given the people in this area. Life is a lot better for a many people thanks to all his good work.


We knew when we had officially arrived as we passed through an arch welcoming us to Khumjung at an official altitude of 3790m (very high).

We are actually in the picture on the left wall in front of the arch, but due to a combination of light and colour you'll struggle to find us.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

A Spot of Local Colour

On our second extra day in Namche Bazaar, we took the opportunity to take in a bit of local colour. There was plenty to be found beside the stream at the town laundry. It was a real hive of activity and it taught us a valuable new lesson: that life can be lived without an automatic washing machine and you can have a much more sociable experience going to a shared laundry facility.


We ourselves had taken along a bit of washing to do, but we were quite happy to sit in the sun and wait our turn. Our friendly banter, conducted mostly in sign language, with the locals, backfired against us, when some of the local children took such a shine to us that they made a grab for us and demanded 'give me doll'. What an insult! Neither of us have anything in common with a doll and we have no plans for a sex change.

As the grubby hands reached out for us, we had to take a running jump into minders bags and leave them to tell these children, in no uncertain terms, that no doll was coming their way. Hopefully they will have learnt an important new English word as a result of this encounter, that of 'bear'.

A little while later, while we were having a noodle soup lunch back at the tea house, Saila one of our trekking crew arrived. He'd left the main group to come back for us, and to see if were going to be fit enough to resume the trek and join the rest of the group the next day. Happily, the verdict was a positive one all round.

Faced with the prospect of leaving Namche the next day, we made the most of our last afternoon there, doing some Christmas shopping (Namche doesn't have Bazaar in it's name for no reason)and exploring some more of the local footpaths.


It's amazing what you get to see as you stroll about. We visited the local monastery and had a tour round with the monk, and then, not much further along the path, we saw this cockerel with an unusual perch. We've heard of guard dogs but not guard cockerels!

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

To Post or Not to Post?

Having plenty of time to sit and relax in the sun was quite conducive to postcard writing. 24 hours earlier we had been wondering when we were going to have time to write them, now we had the perfect opportunity.

And so we got writing. We stopped when our paws started to ache and we'd run out of original things to stay. We then asked each other if either of us had spotted a postbox anywhere. We didn't think we had, so we set off on a post box search.

Yorkie not only found a post box, he found the post office, although it was shut at the time. It was tucked away on it's own up a back street and wasn't exactly the most modern building in town - clearly it wasn't catering for the tourists.


Yorkie climbed up the box to see if there were any signs of it having been used recently. It had rather an air of dereliction about it, but there again, a box with an opening is all that is required: a post box doesn't need to be a hi-tec gleaming receptacle to be functional.

And so we faced the dilemma of, to post or not to post. Not only was there the question of whether the cards would eventually make it home, but also whether it would be quicker to take them back to Kathmandu to post, even though we weren't returning for another 6 days.

What would you have done? As for us, we're sorry to say we were influenced by looks (we normally try not to be) and we took the cards back to Kathmandu to post. In retrospect we should have posted half in Namche and half in Kathmandu and then conducted a poll of arrival times.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

A Change of Plan

That evening we suffered a set-back. One of minders went down with altitude sickness and, while it was not too serious, it was still bad enough to stop us leaving Namche Bazaar with the rest of our group the next day.

And so, after saying that we weren't getting much rest on our rest day, we were suddenly faced with the prospect of an extra couple of days relaxing in Namche. Perhaps we should say our minder had a couple of days relaxing: we found loads more to do in Namche and had a great time exploring as you will see.

One of the first things we did was to have a look round the local Saturday market.


Traders walk in with their wares from quite an extensive area, and they pack their stalls into the terraced hillside. It gets completely packed out with local people and tourists, and there is hardly any room to move. The gaps in the press of humanity were little more than bear sized, but being small bears we could take advantage and move freely around. It was very exciting.

The sun was warm and conditions were perfect for sitting out and watching the world go by. The sun was not only pleasant for us to sit out in, it was perfect for another important local activity: that of drying yak dung.


The giant looking cowpats behind us are fine examples of drying yak dung. Yak dung is a very important source of fuel in this area where there are no fossil fuels except that which is carried in. We can assure you that there was no smell at all from where we sat.

This was only the start of our fun. Keep reading to find out what else we got up to.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

We're Very Busy Resting

Our rest day was fun, but it was a bit of a strange rest day, as we didn't get much rest.

After our climb to the Everest viewpoint, with an interesting visit to a museum of Sherpa life on the return journey, we had lunch, including chips (yippee!) back at our tea house. We finished lunch off with copious quantities of lemon tea before setting off on another local walk. It was optional, but there was no way were going to miss out: we wanted to pack as much into this holiday as we could.


Once we'd climbed out of the town again (at the other end) we took a rest by these mani stones. We blend in a bit with the rocks, but hopefully you'll have spotted us. Mani stones were quite a common sight along the trail. The rocks are inscribed with a Buddhist mantra, usually the famous 'om mani padme hum' (hail the jewel in the heart of the lotus). The stones are a way of offering prayers, a bit like the colourful prayer flags we saw many times and simply loved. We think they're a great idea. Not enough prayers get offered outside of churches in the west we think.

The walk was a lovely one: not too far, fairly flat as the path followed a contour line high above the valley floor and the views were truly mangnificent.


Despite the fact that we were at a very high altitude, there were still some lovely little flowers to provide a splash of colour. Sadly our picture doesn't do them justice. You had to keep your eyes peeled to see them, as they were very small bear sized blooms. It's definitely true that small is beautiful.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

A Coat to Keep You Warm ...

After all those wonderful sights at the Everest viewpoint, you'd think our stroll back down to our tea house in Namche might be a bit of an anti-climax. Not so! We had another treat in store for us. They were large and shaggy and not often seen by westerners like us ...


... yes, we had our first sighting of real Yaks. This one stood out from the crowd as he was pale haired and most were black. He was also unusual in that he wasn't heavily laden. Most, as you can see in our next picture, carried large loads, sometimes trekking gear but more often than not supplies for local traders and markets. Often the goods had been brought in all the way from Tibet.


We thought it was a great shame (for us really, not for the yaks) that these magnificent creatures can't survive at low altitudes, as we'd have loved to set up a new Bears Unlimited business, importing yaks for transportation purposes. Wouldn't it be great to see a yak train travelling along our network of footpaths and canal towpaths? And just think of the benefits in terms of reduced traffic congestion?

Lots of love George & Yorkie

Sights not to be Missed

There was lots to see at the Everest viewpoint, in addition to Everest, as the land formed a natural platform giving us 360 degree panoramic views.

Here are the views in 2 directions:


and ...


It was hard to decide which direction gave the most pleasing aspect. With the sun, occasional tree and dusty ground, you could almost believe we were in the desert rather than the Himalayas ... if it wasn't for the snow capped peaks in the background.

And then, as we glanced over our shoulders, we saw another picture which needed to be captured on camera. This was a group shot of our trekking crew ...


As they were usually working hard, looking after all our needs, from leading the walk to cooking to providing us with extra blankets, seeing them relaxed like this was quite a rare sight. Without these 4 terrific individuals, from left to right Kumar, Ratna, Bhakta and Saila, our holiday just wouldn't have been possible, so we owe them a big thank you.

We don't think they'd led too many bears on trek before, but they took to it like a duck to water ... real professionals and delightful with it.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Is the Yeti at Home?

It's time now to return to Nepal and the delights of Namche Bazaar. After settling into our tea house and having a good night's sleep, we faced the next morning feeling refreshed (the lack of a very early morning call, with it being our rest day certainly helped).

After breakfast our trekking crew took us on a walk to another Everest viewpoint. Inevitably this involved a steep upward climb: it was steep but not particularly long.

On our way up we were rather excited to discover we had found the home of the elusive yeti. The sign we are sitting in front of said 'Yeti Mountain Home' (in case you can't read it).


It wasn't at all what we had expected, but after we poked our noses through the gate and saw that this was a very grand hotel, we realised that the name of the Yeti had been taken in vain by a chain of hotels and this was definitely not his home. We could thefore keep our romantic ideas of his remote, snowy home, untarnished.

At the viewpoint, we were very excited by the views of Everest that were a lot better than the ones we'd had the previous day.


The path crossing the foremost mountain was the one we were due to take the next day, to reach the famous Tengboche Monastery.

It was all extremely exciting.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Happy New Year

We'd like to wish all our readers a very happy New Year and much happiness, health and fulfilled dreams in 2009.

We are now back home, having enjoyed a lovely couple of days with the Suffolk Branch, who offer great hospitality (as in fact do all the branches). We had great fun spending New Year's Eve trying to master W.I.I. sports, which us Norfolk Branch members had never tried before and had a few problems getting our paws around.

We nearly missed midnight as we were so engrossed in our W.I.I. golf tournament. It was lovely to be playing golf in a warm house, with a glass of fine wine at paw's length - although this might have explained why many of us, normally sporty bears, were over par!


This morning we blew away the cobwebs with a fine New Years Day walk in the lovely Suffolk countryside around Newbourne. It was quite cold but we walked fast and we felt much better for our outing. We are pleased to report that on this occasion Isaiah's head stayed firmly attached. For the benefit of new readers, Isaiah did - literally - lose his head on a post Christmas walk a couple of years ago. We did report the event at the time, and the success of his surgery, which was of such quality, that he has fortunately had no troubles since.

We'll be back to pick up the next instalment of our Nepal trip soon, but first we have our much awaited AGM.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx