Day 2: Phakding to Namchee Bazar

Woke up feeling great, ready for a big trek into Namchee. The weather was awful, bucketing with rain but we had no choice... We pressed on.

Left our accomodation at about 8:30am. Took about 3 hours of pretty hard walking (mostly cause of the rain) and we got to the check post at Monjo where we had to display our TIMS cards (which we got in Khatmandu) and purchase a National Park Permit.

The trek passed some beautiful waterfalls as it followed the river North. Majestic snowy mountains peaked through the rain clouds and gave us a sense that this was where the Himalayas really started. The rain made it hard to take photos, we didn't want to pull out Aaron's SLR and my phone was not responding for some reason (could have been my wet blue freezing fingers). We crossed several suspension bridges over the river, slippery, bouncy and wet they were great fun. On one such crossing we had to wait for a group of yaks to cross before we could continue. Yaks are everywhere up here and they love to let you know that the trail belongs to them.

We figured we were pretty close to Namchee now, our map made it look like it was only an hour or so away. We were pretty happy to be able to get out of the cold. My knee was giving me hell and Aaron's cold has been getting worse (snotting up little bits of blood).

Our expectations could not have been more wrong. We suddenly saw the altitude and realized we had to climb more than 800m. Ouch. Passed a few other trekkers who let us know Namchee was about 3 hours away. 3 hours as it turned out of absolute hell.

Once the climbing began fatigue and cold really started to set in, I suddenly realised that my knee was no longer hurting - a small positive in a world gone so sour.

We pressed on, the rain continued. We passed some more trekkers would let us know we were only an hour away. I swear that hour felt like two. I really had to dig deep as my legs were feeling the pressure.

We rounded a corner and then we saw the buildings... The outskirts of Namchee Bazaar; a beautiful sight to behold. Took us another 30 minutes to get through another TIMS check post and find a hotel.

We got into our room at 2:00pm,  shivering and quite possibly on the verge of hypothermia. We stripped out of out soaked gear as fast as our blue fingers would let us and got dressed before slipping into our warm sleeping bags. What a relief to be out of the cold.

Half an hour later we were in the hotel restaurant enjoying the warm fire and drinking some hot tea and soup. Glad to be out of the cold and rain. A solid 5hrs 30min trek.