Day 2 of trekking included an 800-meter elevation gain to the biggest city in the region, Namche Bazaar. This day was truly challenging as it was technically only the second day of walking. The worst part was that I needed to do it with the worsening stomachache. I had already spent the night before struggling to go to sleep because of the pain. Naturally, my energy was at an all-time low in the morning.
My stomachache didn’t seem to want to go away early on. I continued to press on. By lunch, I could barely finish a half bowl of rice. Worried about my energy, I put some sugar in my hot water that gave me some much-needed boost. I am glad I did that. The trek in the afternoon is where we will gain the majority of the elevation to Namche Bazaar.
(Stomachaches could not stop me from admiring the iconic double hanging bridge. We needed to cross the upper bridge. That was a 300-meter elevation gain from where we were standing.)
The birdseye view of Namche Bazaar, biggest town/city en route EBC trek.
By the time we reached Namche Bazaar, I was very much ready for a nap. Hoping for a bounce back, I jumped into bed quickly.
Indeed, the nap proved worthwhile. I woke up feeling a lot better. Still couldn’t eat anything but feeling much less stomachache. The second day in Namche was a suppose to be a “rest day.” No rest in the Himalayas as they say. This “rest day” still required us to hike 400 meters straight up to a viewpoint. One thing that the Himalayas doesn’t do, is that never cheat you on the views. At the top of hill, we were handsomely rewarded with the first view of Everest, Ama Dablam, Lhotse, and Taboche.
