TracyFood

Nepal Trip 2007: Day 13: Namche Bazaar 24 October 2007 9:32 am

Posted by Tracy in : nepal, travel , trackback

Namche Bazaar (also spelled Namche Bazar) is the main city of the Khumbu region and the site of a Saturday market where several of the region’s ethnic groups come together to trade. Just for the record, while I used to think Sherpa was a job description, it turns out to also be the name of an ethnic group — people of Tibetan descent who live in the regions south of Everest: Solu (where Phaplu is), Pharak (along the banks of the Dudh Kosi river we’re following north), and finally Khumbu, the region furthest north and of the highest altitude (11,000 feet on average!)

Namche Bazar is big enough that it shows up on Google Maps with a name and everything! Check it out! If you’ve been playing along with the other maps, you can see the river we followed north and maybe recognize some of the other places we’ve been, even if they don’t have names.

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We’ll be staying at the home of Kanchha Sherpa for our nights in Namche, which is of course amazing in and of itself. I’m excited about all the extremely luxurious camping we’re going to be doing, of course, but I’m way curious to see as much as I can of our host family’s way of life, while still being the very best guest I can be. Of course, I am desperately curious about the kitchen.

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This post was written and scheduled for automagical posting in the week before I left on this crazy adventure. I hope to write many more posts about the trip — you know, with more actual details and pictures and stuff — but for now this is all we’ve got while my intergoogle access is all kinds of sporadic during my travels from October 9 until November 6.