Life in a Cold Climate

Monday 9^th January 2006.

Trek Day 7 Namche to Phakding

I have been delighted with so many children saying “hello” or “namaste” as we go past. Rose even heard one child say “thankyou” in Japanese. I guess there are so many Japanese trekkers that they pick up such words very readily.

Heating in a Cold Climate

Heating is a problem in this region. Even in the better lodges like we’ve been using they only light the fire late in the afternoon. Right now as I sit in the dining room at Phakding I feel very cold despite thermal underwear and my very warm Polartek jacket. There are windows all around but the sun went down behind the nearest mountain an hour ago. It is now 4:45pm.

Icicles

The outside air must be about 5 degrees. Just up the hill from out lodge is a leaking pipe spraying water into the air. The spray is falling on to several trees just below and then freezes. It looks quite picturesque with icicles dangling from the trees like bizarre Christmas tree decorations. This is indicative of the air temperature outside. (Postscript: I took several lovely photos of these icicles during breakfast next morning.) Many sections of the path we used today have rivulets of water trickling over them; they appear to be permanently frozen. Several creeks we crossed also had ice around the rocks.