My Everest Adventure: DAY 4- Fellowship of the Ring

Date: Thursday 14th April, 2011
Where to today: Phunga Thanga (3,230m) --> Pangboche (3,900m)
Where are we sleeping: Pangboche (3,900m)
How do we get there: By foot

Today went really well. Although the first 2 hours of the trek was extremely steep and rocky, I found myself quickly setting into a steady rhythm. I've also found that occupying my mind with other thoughts whilst hiking actually makes it easier. I think about other things (such as what I will eat when I get back to Sydney) and my mind and body don't find the steep climbs so hard.

Everybody else found today very manageable as well. We were all making jokes and laughing. Josh started mentioning the movie, Lord of the Rings, and we all discussed and argued who would be which character. Josh claimed he was 'Aragon'. We all agreed that Dorchi our guide was "Samwise'. Matt claimed the character 'Legolas' (Orlando Bloom), and I nominated Bobby as 'Gollum'. He wasn't too pleased and kept on denying it LOL. The boys then announced that I was 'Frodo'.

Matt also showed us his break dancing skills along the way whilst yelling out his trademark "Yalalalalalala". Was the funniest thing I've seen today, maybe even the past week. He promised to do it again tonight so that we can video tape it. He also told a pretty lame joke today.
Matt: "Why was the sand wet?"
Kara: "Dunno, why?"
Matt: "Because the sea-weed. Get it? Ahahahahah".

Ben also made us laugh pretty hard today. We were sitting down for lunch in a tea house, and he pointed to a tin of Pringle look-alike chips and asked "I wonder how much is that Jackass?". We all burst out laughing and wondered what the heck he was talking about. He thought the chip brand was "Jackass", because the tin was partially hidden, covering some of the letters on the end. The brand name was actually "Jackers".

I had olive pizza for lunch which was surprisingly good. We are all quite surprised about the quality of the food on the mountains. Some of the food is even better, or comparable to the food back home in Oz. At the place where we ate lunch, the owners had the cutest toddler. Her name was Serene. She was always smiling and loved to be picked up and cuddled. Her dad also said that she loved eating Pringles. She was truly one of the cutest, if not the cutest little girl I have ever seen. Rosy red cheeks and a cute laugh too.

So today is day 4 for Ben and I, and day 6 for the boys. I thought that by today some of us may have started to experience altitude sickness or at least sickness from the food or water. So far Bobby has been the only one to experience some altitude sickness upon arriving at Lukla. I keep on praying to God that we'll all make it up to Base Camp/Kala Patthar. I've heard many stories about only 1 or 2 people in trekking groups making the distance.

Whilst walking behind Ben today, I noticed his bum bum has gotten smaller. Looks like he is losing weight. I can also feel that I've lost a bit of weight too. Mainly on my arms and legs.

Also, I've forgotten to mention that all of us have been taking half a tablet of Diamox (medicine to help combat altitude sickness) at night and in the morning.