The trek really starts

Oct 11th
Today was our first real challenge. We left Phakding at 8800 feet and finished up at Namche Bazaar at approximately 11,500 feet.
It was a gloriously sunny day, warm enough to hike in shorts and t-shirts. Initially the trekking was quite slow because of the johkpa traffic (the yak/cow cross we talked about yesterday). The path led us through small villages, along rushing rivers, and over a number of long suspension bridges, with their faded prayer flags blowing in the breeze. There were hundreds of trekkers on this portion of the trail but apparently it thins out after Namche as people go on different routes.
After about 3 hours of hiking we started our climb to Namche Bazaar, an altitude gain of roughly 700 meters, which took us about an hour and 45 minutes. While this is less of a gain than the Grouse Grind at home it is a little more challenging as we are just beginnnimg to acclimatize to the altitude.
The operative word is still "bistari bistari".
Namche is a colourful town hanging on the side of a steep hill (one that we will be climbing tomorrow as we make an acclimatization hike to Khunde and Khumjung and back). We feel we are staying in luxury at Khumbu Lodge as we have what appears to be a real bed and we both had an incredibly hot shower.
Next blog tomorrow after our day hike.