My dad had booked himself on a 14 day charity trek to Everest Base Camp so Katy and I decided to try and follow his group and spend time with the legend that is Jiff Joff. We met up with them all when we got back to Kathmandu and arranged for a gay Indian by the name of Bashu to be our guide on the trek. Most people get a local sherpa to guide them, sharing facts and local knowledge… we get a bloke from Kathamndu who's not even a Buddhist. He also liked touching my arse which was pleasurable, but Katy said it was not ok.

We jumped on a plane to Lukla, which was built by Sir Edmund Hillary, and survived the landing and then we were off with our fake sleeping bags stepping merrily into the yak poo as we went. Tea houses are basic and only the main dining rooms are heated so after a meal of dumplings and tea we headed off for our first nights sleep… It was cold and as we had to get up every 3 hours to pee (you have to drink a lot at altitude) we became pretty good at jumping straight out of bed, into the down jacket and trousers, down the hall, a mini vomit due to the smell and then quickly back to bed… even at low (ish) altitude, ablutions become a key topic.

The national park is just breathtaking and its difficult to sum up how amazing the place is… the people are really cool and relaxed and despite what people say the trek is not covered in rubbish. The photos will not do it justice and I can't personally say too much about the place. Tough for sure and the altitude kills you but the scenery and the history of the place is amazing.

So we plodded up the trail to Namche Bazaar (the sherpa capital) and up to the small towns of Thyangboche, Dingboche and then Lobuche at 4900m. My dads teams' german long haired team doctor then got ill (due to trying each and every AMS drug in his pack - muppet) and had given himself a mild kidney failure meaning he had to be choppered out down the Khumbu valley, past Ama Dablam and down again to Lukla airport before going all the way back to Kathmandu (all in under an hour although it had taken over 10 days to get there). Very exciting and youd be surprised at how many people are taken off the mountains each day ($8,000 per trip!)

We reached our goal and managed to get to Everest Base Camp and also to the top of Kala Pattar (5550m) although Katy was nearly dead by the top on what she said felt like the worst red wine hangover of her life (but as everyone knows Katy is used to functioning on hangovers). I was ok which as you can imagine ensured a conversation about how I could and should attempt Everest at the earliest opportunity.

It took 3 days to walk out (10 days to get there) and we arrived in Lukla for beers and to give our guide tips (as their company pays them peanuts) and jumped on a flight back to Kathmandu. We checked into the Radisson Kathmandu (yay luxury) and jumped in the sauna and stuck all our beers on dads room bill. Somehow an error with the booking meant we didn't have to pay for the room either so a massive result after a couple of weeks effectively in unheated dorms!

Geoff left a couple of days later and Katy and I have been mostly sleeping and eating burgers. Our trip to Tibet starts tomorrow so we are buying cold weather gear and preparing to go back up to 5000m….. we'll be in Lhasa in 8 days and then are taking a train into proper China… Catch ya then x