ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD
Our travels in Solu-Khumbu depended on Sherpa hospitality. When we arrived at a village where we wanted to spend the night, we would yell up at the window of any convenient house and ask to spend the night there. Permission was invariably given, whereupon we went upstairs to the main room, cooked our meal on the family fire, and went to sleep on whatever flat surface was available, usually the wooden floor. The host typically gave us any extra pillows lying around. We paid for food but, from Junbesi east, not for firewood.
James Fisher, in the 1970s.
The development of lodges
The hill peoples of Nepal have traditionally provided food and accommodation for the many travellers passing through their villages on the trade routes that cross the country. These small family-run establishments were nothing like hotels in the Western sense: guests were traditionally charged for food but not for their lodging, which was very basic. Not so long ago these teahouses were providing the same level of facilities as they had for the first foreign trekkers: little more than dal bhaat or a plate of potatoes and a hard bed. As the flow of trekkers grew, however, it was soon realized that these foreigners were prepared to pay more for better accommodation and a choice of food.
Development was slow at first. In 1985 Kenja, Junbesi, Kharikhola and Monjo were the only places below Namche that had proper lodges. In the 1990s, however, many new lodges were built and teahouses upgraded in a building spree which continues to this day. Double rooms gradually replaced dormitories, showers and toilets were added and chimneys installed, so that the traditional smoky lodges are rare these days. Extensive menus catering to Western tastes are now provided too (most Nepalis have just two main meals a day, both consisting entirely of dal bhaat). Perhaps the biggest change of all, however, is that lodges are now run as businesses, very different from the teahouses of yesteryear with their hosts eager for news of the world beyond the village.
Nepal now has well-developed mountain lodge systems in the Solu Khumbu, Annapurna and Langtang areas, and on average the lodges of the Khumbu are the best in the country. This is, however, a developing country and still one of the world’s poorest, so the lodges are not as grand as those you might find in the European Alps – but nor are they as expensive. Each lodge is, for the most part, owned and managed by a single family. Supplies are purchased or grown locally where possible, or carried in by porters if not; by staying in lodges, therefore, you are supporting the larger local economy. As long as you don’t expect star quality facilities, you should be pleasantly surprised and happy with both the food and accommodation along the main trekking routes.
Hygiene
Once you could almost be guaranteed to get sick on a trek in Nepal. Now, although there is still a reasonable chance of a real stomach upset from Kathmandu, out on the trek there is a good chance you won’t get sick at all. Remember, too, that if you do get sick there are a number of possible sources, including your own hygiene, so don’t automatically assume that the lodge food is to blame.
Eating in well-established lodges is now probably safer than eating a cooked meal on an organized group trek, and getting sick from lodge food is becoming rarer, especially since Namche changed its water supply. Basic hygiene measures such as washing hands and boiling water have been learnt from courses in Kathmandu and while kitchens may lack stainless steel sinks and running water they are, nevertheless, cleaned frequently. The style of cooking (frying or boiling) renders much of the food safe and salads are rare. Hot drinks are safe, too, but local drinks such as chang are not always so hygienically prepared.
Lodges on the main routes
Food A typical lodge in this area offers an extensive menu (usually vegetarian except in and around Namche) based on noodles, rice, flour, potatoes, eggs and the sparing use of vegetables. Breakfast offerings include muesli, a variety of porridges, pancakes and bread with jam or eggs. Most meal choices are carbohydrate-heavy: exactly what trekkers require. Increasingly, apple pie, chocolate cake, pizza and toasted cheese and garlic sandwiches have found their way onto menus. All serve tea, coffee, hot chocolate, hot lemon and Coke etc. Canned beer can also be found along with chang (local beer), the respected Khukri rum and the infamous rakshi.
Bathroom facilities These are still developing. Many lodges now offer hot showers and the ones that don’t usually have at least a bucket of water for you to use. Toilets are usually just a hole in the ground to be squatted over: no spotlessly white antiseptic auto-flush toilets here, so watch your ankles. The rural Nepalese have land that needs fertilizing so before foreign trekkers took to the mountains there was no need for toilets.
Rooms Sleeping arrangements vary. Older lodges have dormitories while most newer or larger places boast simple double rooms with thin partitions that rattle to a snoring neighbour: ear plugs can be helpful. Beds in the newer lodges have reasonably thick foam mattresses but in simple lodges the mattress is barely thick enough to disguise the knots in the wood below. These mattresses are covered by a single clean sheet and there’s usually a pillow available, though it’s often of granite consistency. Down jackets make great pillows.
Once bedbugs and fleas were a concern, now the majority of lodges above Lukla have a separate room and bedding for porters and guides – the major carriers of these parasites in the mountains – so there is virtually no chance of picking up unwanted bed companions. In the low country lodges if you use your own sleeping sheet and sleeping bag the risk is very low. Most lodges wash the sheets and air the mattresses frequently.
Seasons Lodges now remain open all year-round, even at Gokyo, Lobuche, Gorak Shep and Chukhung, so trekking options are no longer restricted during winter and the monsoon. They also never seem to suffer the problem of being full to the extent that trekkers are stranded without a bed, so you’ll rarely be turned away. There are, however, a few busy places (Tengboche and Lobuche especially) that during October-November are filled almost to bursting. Sometimes this is because people on a group trek inconsiderately decide a lodge is more attractive and warmer than their tents. The national park has been reluctant to allow the building of new lodges or the expansion of old ones in this area so it pays to arrive early at these places during peak season. Elsewhere, the law of supply-and-demand seems to work well.
Off the main routes
In general, wherever there is a village, accommodation can be found. There may not be a lodge as such but people will often invite you to stay. If this does not happen try asking around (this is not considered rude by Nepalis) and something will turn up. Conditions can be extremely basic, however, and very different from the lodges on the main trekking routes. In strongly Hindu areas your presence may be considered jutho (polluting) so you may have to eat alone and perhaps even sleep on the porch.
Wilderness areas and base camps offer no shelter other than the occasional overhanging rock. You should also be aware that on detailed maps the dots marked in kharkas (high-altitude pastures) are usually just roofless stone buildings occupied only in the summer. Even then they are rarely able to offer food or shelter.
SHOPS, BANKS AND POST OFFICES
Most lodges also run a small shop offering canned drinks, Nepali and sometimes imported biscuits, chocolate, Mars Bars and some sweets. Often tins of fruit or fish can be found, along with noodles, coffee, drinking chocolate, tea, muesli, porridge, milk powder, jam and cheap batteries.
The Khumbu shops, especially in Namche, are well stocked and sell film (slide and print), batteries of all sizes including camera batteries, torches, socks, postcards, Swiss chocolate and Tibetan souvenirs. There’s also a wide range of new and used mountaineering equipment for rent and sale.
Camping food If you’re not choosy it’s quite possible to assemble enough for a few nights’ camping from the better shops in almost any village. The diet may be monotonous but it is light and cheap. In Namche there’s a strange variety of expedition dried foods, usually little cheaper than in the West. Lobuche, Pheriche, Chukhung and Gokyo always have an interesting cheaper selection. Many of the locals are involved with expeditions and in little villages the weirdest collections of leftover expedition food can sometimes be found.
Banks and post offices There are banks for foreign exchange at Namche (reliable), Lukla, Salleri and Khandbari (currently closed due to Maoist problems). Post offices are also found in these three places, plus Junbesi. All are closed on Saturdays.
Internet Namche is the only place on the trek that is reliably connected; with one operator having their own satellite connection the service is surprisingly good.
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