Week 3 - 22 April 2020
Acclimatisation at Namche Bazaar: 4 hours, 720 floors
Welcome to stage 3 of Zoom to EBC! Your have arrived at Namche Bazaar, elevation 3440m above sea level. You will start to feel the effects of altitude - headache, loss of appetite, insomnia and nausea - all the wonderful signs that it's time for some acclimatisation training. We will learn how to breathe.
It's your first night in Namche Bazaar. You are warmly snuggled in the cocoon of your sleeping bags as the curtain of darkness is drawn across Namche Bazaar. The stars begin to wake up one by one, a hundred, a thousand, a billion, an infinity of stars begin to shine their lights on the village. In the glowing warmth of the stars above the cold and tired, the lost are found and the weak become strong. As sleep slowly drifts across your eyes, dream of the care givers who are the twinkling stars in the darkness shrouded over those with mental health conditions.
"Only in the darkness can you see the stars"
It's going to be a beautiful sunny Himalayan morning as you wake up, having spent your first night in Namche Bazaar. We begin our 2 hour acclimatisation climb up towards the Everest View Hotel, elevation 3880m. You'll be rewarded by a spectacular view of the Himalayas and of course, a full frontal view of that beautiful lady, Mount Everest.
Following a sleep inducing lunch, we will take a leisurely trek back towards Namche Bazaar and visit the Sagarmatha National Park Visitors' Centre and the Sherpa Culture Museum. Then it's shopping, lattes, cheesecakes and sharing of tales on the EBC.
We wait for darkness to fall on our second night in Namche Bazaar, waiting anxiously for the Milky Way to wake up with its billions of stars. Breathe.
Begin your Stage 3 trek by taking part in a Zoom video chat on 22 April 8pm Singapore time. Please observe all social distancing rules.
