Tea House Trekking

In the Solo Khumbu (the Everest region), there are few level spots; thus the villages have tea houses built on mountain sides. Tents have to be set up right next to tea houses– the tea houses are a little warmer and oh so convenient. In the evening, some trekkers and climbers sit on Tibetan carpet benches and play cards or exchange world views while others gather around the stove fed by Yak dung that was hopefully dried for six days removing any "smell." The 6x8 rooms have a sleeping platform, a roll of foam and an extra sherpa made yak quilt. The windows have small gaps bringing frigid air from the outside. The paper thin walls are laced with holes and gaps for checking on your neighbors health and welfare. A little toilet down the hall means you don't have to wander out in the middle of the night. This in itself is a good reason for shunning a tent for a tea house on a blizzardly blustery night. Gossip runs through the tea houses like the water in the rushing Dhude Khosi River, so everyone hears about the weather further up, what's happening at base camp, what passes are closed and what's going on with climbing preparations for the assault on the mountains. It was scary to hear news of a (non-Sherpa) trekking guide dying of AMS at Lobuche, a Japanese woman with altitude sickness being airlifted from base camp and a solo trekking man missing from the mountains–last seen a month ago in Namche. It was a reminder to all of us to pay attention to the signs of altitude sickness and go down when needed.