Tea houses, souvenir shops, cows, chicken, colorfully dressed people, even an Irish pub. If you are looking for undiscovered Nepal, do not consider the Everest Base Camp trail. Hundreds of people discover it each day before you do.

But the air is crisp and fresh at 2860 m altitude. Donkeys and dzos (hybrid between yak and cow) are lounging around, packed and ready to go, all the way up to Base Camp (poor creatures).Tourist is as tourist does. Hence, all tourists must report to the Tourist Police at checkpoints along the way. With a photo. Surprisingly, Nepal insists of being aware of who is where, in case of a mudslide or an earthquake.The thermometer climbed to 17 degrees centigrade during the day, and dropped down to -2 degrees at night. Later it would turn out we caught the last week of beautiful fall weather.
And upward we went, after the oxen and the sherpas and the rest of the trekkers. Towards the snowy mountains and the blue, thinning mountain air.(Lukla, Nepal; November 2016)