Everest Base Camp via Gokyo Lakes

“One gets to tread and experience the mountains only when they call for you!” I was finally summoned by Mountain Gods, after 2 years. My past trips never materialized due to various unexpected reasons. I was finally on my way to the Everest Base camp trek and was super excited to experience and unravel what the mountains had in store for me this time.
The regular route to the base camp is a popular tourist trail and takes about 12-14 days. Aatir from UFO group suggested the Gokyo Lakes route which was a couple of days longer (17-18 days) but more offbeat with sights worth the effort and a life time experience. They organized the entire trek for me with great efficiency.

Day 1  Land in Kathmandu

The day finally arrived and I left for Kathmandu from Dhaka. Due to the gradual spread of corona virus, tourism was affected and regular buzz at the airport was missing. When I reached Kathmandu, Aatir and the guide received me at the airport and laid my inquisitive mind at rest by patiently answering my barrage of questions as we headed to our bread and breakfast, Karwaan, near Thamel. We checked our personal gear and after a quick trip to Thamel to exchange currency and buy a couple of things, we called it an early night.

Day 2  Fly to Lukla. Trek to Monjo

We were woken up at 4.30 am to catch our 6 am flight.  Thankfully our flight was on time and we bundled into the small 15-seater propeller excitedly for Lukla (2827m). Mingma, our guide for the trip and our porter came to receive us at the Lukla airport and we started our trek for Phakding (2652m). The trail was muddy and slush, mixture of ice and dirt, as we crossed through quaint villages and also spotted our first high peak of Kusum Khangkaru. We crossed 4 suspension bridges and reached Phakding by 11.30, where we grabbed a quick bite. As we felt pretty strong and had enough time, we decided to go ahead to our next stop, Monjo (2900m). The teahouse where we stayed had hot showers, which in hindsight is a luxury in mountains. A hot cup of ginger lemon honey tea and dinner made it the perfect first day.

Day 3  Namche Bazar, the Gateway to the Kumbhu region

After a breakfast of Tibetan bread and omelet, we headed to Namche Bazar (3446m) which is a popular and gateway to the Kumbhu region.  The trail was beautiful with many pine trees and scenic views and crossed the iconic Hillary bridge over Dudh Kosi river.We were greeted by snow as we entered Namche. The entire trail I could not help but admire as it looked better in real life than in pictures and was thankful for this experience as we reached our mountain lodge for the day.The entire village rooftop was white. We were deciding our iternary for the following days as the Cho la high pass was full of snow and closed at that point. So we decided to ‘take things as it comes’ and planned for the next 2-3 days ahead. Our itinerary would be dependent on the weather.