Hi all,

Here goes my first blog from my travels! I'm currently staying in a place called Namche Bazar which is 3400m above sea level and is onlyreachable two days into the eight day trek to Everest base Camp (5500 m above sea level). But just to back track a little bit...

After leaving the Uk on Sat night I had with a pretty long flight to Delhi then a short stop over for a couple of hours before boarding a flight to Kathmandu. So far, so good. Arriving in Kathmandu was really something else. As soon as you walked through arrivals the heat was pretty over powering and we were all rushed by taxi drivers desperate to help us with our luggage and gain the subsequent tips they expect to accompany this service. I'd been chatting to a Mexican girl, Theresa and we were both headed to the Thamel district so luckily i had someone to make the chaotic taxi trip with through hugely busy streets with no apparent traffic system. It also turns out she will be back in Kathmandu at the same time as me in about 10 days so we may head to Pokhara, a town West of Kathmandu together, as I have a week until my flight to Thailand.

That evening I met my Gap Adventures group at the hotel. We sat down for dinner but everyone was pretty exhausted and with a 4.45am start the next day for our flight to the mountains we all had a pretty early night.

Waiting at Kathmandu the next day someone told me that the airport we were headed to, Lukla, 45 mins from Kathmandu was one of the most dangerous in the world. Seeing the plane itself didnt do much to ease my fears either...it was pretty tiny (our group filled it) and had certainly seen better days. The airline was called Yeti Airlines...encouraging. Anway, the flight itself was incredible as you got a spectacular view of the mountains as we came into land. The landing strip seemed far too short as the tiny plane angled down towards it, the mountains closing in either side, but luckily...we made it. After piling off the plane we started our trek in earnest, walking 3 hours through the most beautiful valleys in the boiling heat, occasionally jumping out of the way of cows, yaks, horses and porters with unbelievable loads on their backs. The signs that this was a Buddhist region were everywhere as colourful prayer flags were strung all over the valley, reaching high up into the mountains and adorning the many suspension bridges that stretched across the valley. Every so often we would come across prayer wheels which traditionally you spin on your way past. We soon reached our first stop, as this was our first day we only had a mornings walking to do so the rest of the afternoon was spent resting and catching up on sleep to battle the jet lag.

The next day (yesterday) was really tough. We climbed over 800m in height and walked for over 6 hours so spent most of the day on the move. We crossed the valleys on suspension bridges which didnt look all that stable...especially when following a stream of yak across them with the river that comes all the way down from base camp thundering below our feet around 80m below. Finally we reached Namche Bazar which is the last 'big' town before base camp. It is traditionally used by climbers and trekers to acclimitise and so today has been our first acclimitisation day. This doesn't mean lying in bed unfortunately but instead a 'practice' hike up a mountain for 3 hours to the second highest airport in the world - a long strip of gravel, hidden by clouds for much of the year. This afternoon has given us time to chill out and enjoy a restful lunch (I forgot to mention we are on a strict vegetarian diet, with no dairy or alcohol allowed) so noodles and rice are already becoming a little dull. Tonight will be early to bed ahead of two long days of walking tomorrow and the next day. This should be followed by one more acclimitisation day and then two more days trekking, the final one being the day we reach Base Camp. Then it's four days down and back to Lukla! I may not get back online for a while but I hope that is a good summary of everything so far. Hope everyone is well and I'll update you soon.

Sarah x