Elevation: 2664m to 3379m
Distance: 14.95km
Hiking duration: 6h 46min
Tired from the previous day's long hike, we slept until 1030 am! quite rare to be able to sleep so long here. We had a quick breakfast at our lodge and headed off from Phakding at about 1130!
The hike to Namche Bazaar starts off very gently, the first few hours of it were mainly flat roads passing by many different towns and villages. It was a very peaceful and enjoyable hike as the trail follows a river that flows down from the mountain glaciers above. The waters were crystal clear and seeing its rapids was a majestic sight to behold. We crossed several suspension bridges on the way through and also stopped by a tea house to have a light snack. The tea house was owned by our guide's (Thile) friend and they gave us a good price for the snacks there!
We didn't realise, but we actually spent almost an hour at the tea house. We quickly settled the bill and continued our journey. But not without getting some carrots first!
we hiked another short 30 minutes and reached the Sagarmatha National Park gate in Monjo.
Here was where we got our permits. There are 2 permits needed to do the EBC trek or to trek anywhere in Sagarmatha National Park.
Sagarmatha National Park Permit (SNP)
Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality Permit (AKA, Trek Card)
These are the only permits required for HIKING in the EBC region. The TIMS card which is required in all other parts of Nepal is currently not required in the EBC region. Which is why, at the time of writing, it is still technically possible to do the EBC hike without a guide. I highlighted the word hiking in front as you can only do hiking with this permit, you are not allowed to climb any of the peaks such as Island Peak, Lobuche Peak or any other mountains. For this, you would need to obtain a climbing permit issued by the Nepal Mountaineering Association. We got this through the climbing agency that we engaged (https://peakclimbingnepal.com/).
We had to queue at this place for more than 2 hours just to get our permits! The SNP permit was easy to get, simply pay 3000 NPR. But the trek card requires showing our passports and registering in a computer system, hence it took everyone way longer. Normally the queue would be much shorter as the permits can also be obtained at Lukla where the airplane would land and the trek starts. But due to the recent bad weather, all the traffic went via jeep to Kharikola and straight to Phakding, bypassing Lukla completely. Hence, almost everyone is getting their permits at the Monjo gate, the same as us. Eventually, we got our trek card settled and were ready to continue on our journey!
We still had a long way ahead of us and we were not even halfway done. after about an hour more, we broke for lunch at the village. we had a quick one before starting our journey again as we were kinda behind time and didn't want to hike in the dark again like the day before. We were eager and hopeful, but little did we know what awaited us ahead.
Nearing the end approaching Namche was the hardest part yet. a straight 600m of ascent over just a 3km distance, the last 2 hours were brutally unforgiving. In the photo below where we are pointing at the suspension bridges, thats where the ascent starts and Namche is somewhere in the clouds behind above the peak!
Halfway through, the sky was beginning to turn dark. We had wasted too much time queueing at the gate at Monjo. However, we did not lose spirit as we knew we were so close to the famous Namche Bazaar! Finally, we reached the place. We had to scan our trek cards again before entering Namche. it took us almost 7hrs from Phakding to Namche Bazaar.
It was nothing like the other towns at all! The entrance and centre were quite beautiful, there were several large prayer wheels driven by water power, WATER POWER! and a large Stupa in the centre. There was even a North Face shop there! Probably the highest North Face in the world at 3440m. As we walked deeper into the streets, we saw Bars, hiking shops, cafes, bakeries, steakhouses, pizza places and more. You could show up here totally unprepared and buy everything you need to hike EBC here! It had a nice cozy vibe to it too. The main busy street is actually quite short, we soon got past the crowded area and into the residential area higher up into the village. We reached our accoms and unpacked in our room. we stayed at the Himalayan Sherpa Lodge at Namche.
We were all in pretty good spirits as we had finally reached Namche Bazaar! After reading and hearing about it for so long, we were finally here at this place! After a hearty dinner, and feeling proud and satisfied about our hike today, we went to bed early for a good night's rest :)