We want chocolate cake (pancakes that is) - 19 October 2008

We woke to the curtains moving in the breeze.  I understand that it's expensive to build up here - everything has to be carried by human or yak.  But honestly, couldn't they throw a couple of tubes of caulk in?

All was forgiven at breakfast, though.  We ordered chocolate pancakes.  Now you've got to understand that you're rolling the dice when you order anything that isn't rice based.  Chocolate pancakes could mean pancakes that are chocolate, it could mean pancakes with Hershey's syrup, or it could mean something you can't even imagine.  In this case, though, it meant a big, cake-like pancake with chocolate frosting.  Yummy!

We took off for our acclimatization hike to Chukklung, and I got a nice shot with the moon still in the sky:

The hike was pretty strenuous (aren't they all) and complicated by a continuously running nose.  As soft as these tissues are supposed to be I'm still getting chafed around the nose.

We got up to Chukklung around 10:45 and had some milk tea at the Ama Dablam lodge.  Every town has an Ama Dablam, a Mt. Kailas, and an Everst View hotel.  We're at 15,500 feet at this point.

Everyone here is just killing time waiting for the sun to rise to the point where you can get a good picture of the ice wall.  Here's what I think was my best:

And since I know family is reading this blog, here's a pic of Jen and me with Ama Dablam, gratuitously lifted from her picture collection: