Getting Philosophical Over a Doughnut

Talking about treats, the following morning we were promised another one, one that was far more tangible and would directly appeal to a bear's stomach.

Our treat was a visit to the highest bakery in the Everest region, and therefore perhaps in the world!


The bakery was in Khumjung and therefore, we reached it only a few minutes after finishing breakfast, so we hadn't really had an opportunity to work up an appetite. Don't worry, though, we had deliberately not over indulged at breakfast time, so as to leave room for a doughnut.

People often say that anticipation can be better than the event anticipated and sadly, on this occasion, this was so true. After only one bite into our doughnut, we began to regret our decision not to fill up at breakfast. The doughnut seemed to have got kerosene contaminated in its cooking and we couldn't eat it. What a disappointment.

Still, the scenery as we began to climb out of Khumjung was so good that we couldn't stay disappointed for long.


As we surveyed the majestic backdrop of mountains, big smiles quickly returned to our faces. We reflected on the fact that experiences and pleasures that speak to the soul, mean so much more and tend to last much longer than the transitory pleasures of a fine tasting piece of food.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

The Crowning Glory

After these two memorable afternoon excursions, and a wonderful morning's walk, we returned to our favourite tea house feeling well satisfied with our day. Back at the tea house, there was another treat in store for us, the priviledge of seeing a superb Himalayan sunset.


We caught it right at the early stage as the light was changing in intensity and beginning to tinge the mountains with a pink glow. It was very subtle and very beautiful. We used our gorilla pod tripod to hold our camera steady to get the best shots. We like gorilla pods and think they are an essential camera accessory.


As you can see we picked an excellent vantage point to watch the light fade. It was a truly magical time and we were very contented bears.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Not a Headless Chicken, but What?

Once our fellow trekkers had had a chance to dump their bags and drink some tea, we left the tea house to go exploring, and make the two visits we mentioned last time.

The first was to the local monastery. This was no ordinary monastery as it contained a real treasure. It is so precious that it is kept locked away and visitors need to make a donation to the monastery to get the cabinet unlocked. As the contents may be the only example in the world, it was worth coughing up a few rupees.

Can you guess what we were about to see? We'll show you a picture and see if that helps.


We've mentioned the owner at least once before in this blog. Sadly this is about the closest we're likely to ever get, but we would like to have met one for real. We certainly won't now we're back home, as they certainly wouldn't be seen outside the high Himalayas.

Hopefully you've had enough clues by now to know that we were sitting behind a yeti skull. We don't suppose any any of our readers have had this same priviledge.


Like most people, what we knew about yetis could be written on the back of a postage stamp. It was good, therefore, to find lots of information (in English!) all about the yeti skull.

It was fascinating stuff.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

Happy Re-unions

We haven't given you a glimpse inside a tea house yet, so now's the time.


As our rooms were literally just a small box with 2 beds, and nothing else, the communal area you see in our picture was where we spent most of our time. Have you spotted us on the left?

As you can see, the living area was quite colourful and cosy - at least it was cosy when the stove was lit. We had our meals at these chest like tables and were quite comfortable sitting on mattresses. The family will typically sleep on these benches at night and their bedding and possessions are stored in the ceiling high cupboards.

The clever ones amongst our readers may spot that we're about to get events out of sequence as we've just showed you a picture with some of our fellow trekkers, before they'd actually arrived at the tea house in our tale.

Please excuse this. Back to the story, a lovely lunch was served up in this lounge area, as we waited for the rest of the group to arrive. Hardly had we finished and sat back outside in the sun, when we spotted the zopkis approaching with the rest of the group's luggage.


Our friends weren't far behind. It was lovely to see everyone again and also to find out there were a couple of interesting local visits to make that afternoon.

We'll tell you where we went next time.

Lots of love George & Yorkie xxx

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