This 2010 post contains an email Mel sent at the end of her first trek to Base Camp. She didn’t know then that the business plan she was working on with Sandesh would be the basis for Trek Adventures Nepal, through which she now organises luxury treks.
For those who haven’t been following our fearless leader’s adventures, after hospitalisation and rescue by a Nepalese billionaire, she rejoined her group on the trek about a week ago.
We just received this priceless email from her…
Hello from Dingboche. We are on our way down. This has been one hell of a challenge, both physically and emotionally… People in other groups have been flown out with altitude sickness. Thank God our guides are committed to taking it slowly and monitoring us for symptoms. Sandesh, our lead guide, wants to start his own trekking business so we are working on a business plan at night. I never stop working!
This has been literally the most amazing experience of my life but it has not been easy. Before I come home all starry eyed, let me tell you what the brochure didn’t tell me:
•Some of the ‘tea houses’ are about as cosy as a public toilet block
• If you’re unlucky, you may spend the day in the wake of a yak who farts non-stop
• At the end of the trek, you may never want to see another potato, yak cheese sandwich or Mars bar
• At night you will sit around a fire and it will be so lovely you’ll never want to watch TV again
• You may discover that showering is over-rated, toilets are unnecessary and dreadlocks look surprisingly fetching!
In spite of the cold/illness/general uncleanliness, I am filled with a sense of achievement, a new outlook on life and a new group of bloody good, lifelong mates. And what could be better than that?