WORST DAY EVER! I was sick. Really sick. Something at breakfast didn’t agree with me and I could feel it straight away on my stomach. As a result I was horrendously ill for the whole day.
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Getting to the lunch break, where I told them to keep their poisonous food away from me, was hard enough, but afterwards there was an uphill trek to the Ghompa (monastery). I honestly felt like I was on a pilgrimage and this was some kind of test. After being sick everything I had ate and drank I was exhausted. This wasn’t helped by the fact it was 28 degrees in the sun and about 5 in the shade. I was walking 3 steps and feeling like I was going to collapse. The Sherpers were fantastic. I cannot thank them enough, especially they guy who carried my bag. Having the poles was also a lifesaver, it definitely was £12.50 well spent. In all honesty I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it, at some points I thought this monastery was a fictional place that Karmal (our guide) had made up. But I powered through, feeling extremely sorry for myself until at long last I reached the top. I could have cried but I had been holding the tears back for so long I didn’t want to break down. I was so happy to be in the tent and be able to lie down. Needless to say, I missed dinner and then slept for 10hrs.
This day will go down as one of the worst in my life and it took a lot of effort both physically and mentally to be able to get through it. One major help for me was Donna (the Doctor), she was brilliant, although every tablet she gave me was making me sick again, and I thought she was trying to poison me. At one point a group of rebellious yaks broke loose and started running down the hill, when we saw one of the Sherpers hiding we knew we had a problem. I was so out of it at this stage I didn’t care if the yak ploughed me down. All I remember Donna saying, as I was hating my life, was that one day I would look back and laugh about this moment. Thankfully, this has proven to be true.
I was quite glad to hear the rest of the group found the afternoon walk hard. Apparently it was an 800m assent. Generally in the group people are dropping like flies with a mixture of altitude sickness, diarrhoea (so glad my sickness came up rather than down!) and gas. It really does make you question why we are putting our bodies through this.