on the road

my shadow is defined by rocks. Sue, walking in front of me, puts her feet down. I put my feet down. I ascend. I look up, there are mountains. I look down, my shadow, rocks, my feet, Sue's feet. Duncan, ahead of Sue, puts his feet down.

behind me, yaks. their bells ring and they are taking the cabbages to market. I am a yak. I am 60 years old and I am carrying all my cabbage to market, wearing my thongs. You are a trekker.

today we saw Everest through the trees. It's still there. I say to Duncan, as I sit in the dirt like a small child, "We've seen it now, we can go home." He laughs. Then Basu says, "Ready?" and we get up obediently and put our packs back on.

last night a large black dog slept outside my tent, guarding me. I asked Dilli this morning if he paid the dog. he said, no.

people feed me. I feel incapable of taking care of myself. the altitude makes my head fuzzy, as if it's full of cabbages too. I have eaten unrecognizable vegetables. It's all good.

the song in my head - "You Can Call Me Al." It comes to me as I'm walking across a bridge, Roy saying that was how he felt in Indonesia:

A man walks down the street
It's a street in a strange world
Maybe it's the Third World
Maybe it's his first time around
He doesn't speak the language
He holds no currency
He is a foreign man
He is surrounded by the sound
The sound
Cattle in the marketplace
Scatterlings and orphanages
He looks around, around
He sees angels in the architecture
Spinning in infinity

Last night the Sherpa lodge - real toilets! Hygiene has suffered. The outhouses are getting more and more primitive as we get further away from Kathmandu. The standard now is a shack with a hole in it. Try not to pee on your shoes.

There is a big dining room here, and it was full of trekkers, and they have the internet. For a price. I have a room to myself. A hot, sweaty room, but it has a bed. My red bag full of stuff is being carried for me by a porter. I hope he is an adult but to me he looks about sixteen. I vow big tips at the end. We are spoiled, brought tea and hot water for washing, fed and cared for, even down to our drinking bottles being filled with boiling water at the end of the day so that we can warm our toes while we sleep.

Today I'm happy to wake at six. Basu and Vishnu bring me tea and hot water. Breakfast is rice pudding, and we discuss walking up to the Everest View Hotel. A majorly steep climb up vertical cliffs, then a walk along the edge of the cliffs, and the view starts out breathtaking and only gets more so as we climb. At one point Arthur ventures out onto a big rock to take a picture - we are all shouting at him to come down. Will says something sarcastic and I'm giddy so I start to laugh, and then realize I can't catch my breath and am on the verge of passing out. Oops.

Arthur gets down safely, I retain consciousness, we soldier on. The Everest View has the promised vista. We have tea. I try not to laugh too much. On the way down, the view is all-encompassing. I put Eric Satie on my Ipod, because I have drifted away from the others, and it almost makes me cry. I wish Dad was here.