day 2 detail

Diary by Kenny Ions;

"From Chutok to Pongkongma, I think. Altitude today was 2,830 meters and the weather was overcast all day, walking in rain in the afternoon. Quite a hard day with a fair bit of up and down, varying about a thousand meters. The teams go from strength to strength, with only minor problems, blisters, etc. Personally I'm OK, no problems so far. And, just generally getting on well.

The scenery is spectacular. Walked through some really green forest and with the cloud being down it created a real kind of eerie scene. We seem to be coming over a few leeches a day. Kieran seems to be having a real problem with them especially. They seem to be going for him in a big way. And it's a bit of a phobia he's got which is a great source of amusement, for me and no doubt the rest of the team and we're hoping to get much more mileage out of it as the weeks go on.

Felt the pace going in to camp this afternoon, but it was great to get there. The porters are fantastic, the most resilient, strong people that I've ever come across. Always polite and happy. Most of them carry the biggest packs I've ever seen, in sort of a weaved bamboo basket which they put on their heads. They carry the weight on their heads. Run the camp. They can't do enough for us. They're putting the tents up, plenty of hot drinks when we get there, and the foods fantastic.

Tonight we had mu mu and a noodle-type thing, and mu mus like a spring roll type of affair, a typical Tibetan dish. Really tasty. We're here with electricity tonight and weÕll have hot showers tomorrow which is a bit of a luxury. But we are having a hard time honestly. We're all off to bed, it's a quarter past nine and its a real rock and roll lifestyle here, I'll hand you back, cheers...."