Rain! Lots of it. All on the one day I chose to pack my rain jacket away for a lighter day pack. Still, it was warm and the food at Moon Light Lodge in Namche was great as always, including the Snickers Roll, which is Nepal's answer to the battered Mars bar.

Our lie in lasted until around 8am, when even my ear plugs gave in to the sound generated in the restaurant room next door. All the rooms in this region are basically separated with plywood, which is about 5mm thick and does literally nothing to block sound. You can hear people whisper next door, and god help you if you're next to the toilet (as we were in Pingboche).

The way down to Phakding was plagued with obstacles. The airport at Lukla was closed for a few days recently due to bad weather and to some pilots inability to negotiate the tight turn at the end of the runway and bumping into a wall! It was open yesterday though and the route down from Namche was like the M25 at rush hour as people scrambled to get to accommodation up the mountain. We also met some yaffic jams* going in both directions, causing us to check our usually free-flowing speed. At one end of the cable bridges we saw an amusing and dangerous attempt to herd and drive some yaks/cows over the bridge and beyond. The mother of the herders took a fall into a hedge while rugby tackling an escaping cow - Sonam helped out as we looked on amazed. We did our bit to help drive the cows for two long and slow miles until we finally gave up and ducked out of the pouring rain to grab some tea. I guess my grandad would have been proud until then...

A few more yak encounters and we ended up in Phakding. The rain has stopped and I'm still wet. Off to change!

8:45pm: Still no word from STA or home about my cancelled flight. I'll try phoning them directly tomorrow at great expense. In other news, the roaring water outside our lodge sounds like an air conditioning unit from our room...

* yaffic jam: a term I use to describe a block in the path caused by one or more yaks or yak hybrids.