After 2 weeks of relatively quiet downtime in Shenzhen, we were ready to get back to life on the road and all the amazing adventures that come along with it! Ashraf returned from his 2 week break in Thailand and after a quick re-pack, we were all ready to head off to Kazakhstan to start …
I’d been looking forward to getting to China for most of the trip, as I’d heard a great deal about Shenzhen and was keen to see one of China’s newly built and cutting edge megacities. It did not disappoint. Shenzhen was nothing more than a small fishing village a mere 40 years ago, and the …
I’d always wanted to visit Hong Kong. Something about the coupling of its unique history and importance as a global financial hub intrigued me. Surprisingly, the Hong Kong Express plane we were on from Chiang Mai had craft beer available on its in-flight menu, which I took to be a good sign. Off the plane …
Thailand was a stop-over for us between Nepal and Hong Kong. We couldn’t sort direct flights that would work, so we decided to take a few days of layover and check out one of its major cities, Chiang Mai. We flew Thai airways from Kathmandu to Bangkok, and had what was probably the best airline …
We took one last day to relax and enjoy the culture of the mountain region before deciding to head back down to the landing strip at Lukla to fly out. The lodge owner, Mingma Sherpa helped us organize plane tickets for two days time to wrap up our trekking adventure. Fun fact – apparently in …
Now that we had conquered Chukkung Ri, we had our sights set on visiting another mountain we had noticed on our way up the trail to EBC, Ama Dablam. As one of the more distinct and recognizable peaks in the region, it was also the one that I quickly found to be my personal favourite. …
After a relatively sleepless night thanks to my freshly acquired sunburn, we were awake in decent time and all packed up, ready to start our journey back down the trail. Just prior to leaving, a long and somewhat heated discussion ensued with the lodge owner, as he had conveniently forgot a promised discount for the …
We’d set our alarm for 5:30am so that we could be up with the sun for our run to Base Camp with as much time as possible. In true mountain fashion, a freak spring snowstorm had blown in overnight, covering the ground and trails in about a foot of snow. It was still active that …
One of my favourite aspects of this part of the trip was the opportunity to get up close and personal with Bos grunniens – the domesticated yak. Heading from Dingboche to Dughla we made our way past some abandoned houses and pastures with crumbling stone walls – former yak farms. These former homesteads were something …
Due to our elevation gain from Tengboche, we needed to take another acclimatization day in Dingers. This involved hiking partway up another hill to the northwest of the village called Nangkartshang (first peak – 5,083m). Following the classic climbing strategy of ‘climb high, sleep low,’ we always tried to get a good elevation gain in …