Sherpa Tea Houses

An integral feature of villages along the trekking trails is a selection of tea houses to stop for refreshment around a wood burning stove and a place to stay overnight indoors on a sparse but soft bed. Villagers along the Himalayan trekking routes find it a successful enterprise to open up their kitchens or to even build a lodge with dormitory rooms and a shower to accommodate hikers that pass through the rocky paths in front of their homes. One option for touring the mountain trails is carry only minimal hiking equipment and to stay at tea house each night, which eliminates the need for such things as tents, but warm clothing and a sleeping bag are still very useful. The standard features of a tea house are a kitchen to prepare simple meals, small rooms with with plywood beds and rudimentary foam mattress, an outside toilet room that is sparse by any measure, and with luck a shack to run a bucket of warm water for a shower.

The meals are based on noodles, potatoes or other traditional staples. The menus and recipes are quite consistent among the villages, so you may find a favorite you can stick with or you'll get a little worn out. At the very least the meals are very inexpensive. If you want to rent a room and have dinner the cost will seem negligible compared to accommodations in a large western city. Once you've dined and warmed up next to the hot stove in the middle of the common dining room you'll retire to your room. The compartments are packed tight next to each other, and the insulation between and around the rooms is non-existent (just be happy to be out of the rain). You'll hear every intimate detail of your neighbors, so you'll be glad if you brought earplugs.

You'll need your own sleeping bag to keep warm, and the pillows are brutally stiff, or simply unspeakably dirty, so come prepared for that contingency. The toilet is typically in a shack far removed from the interior of the lodge, so you'll need to lace up your boots, have your flashlight ready, and remember your roll of toilet paper before you set out in the middle of the night. Lastly, you may want to indulge in a shower, and for a small charge (well, about US $2) you can heat up a few gallons of water and step into the shower stall for a brief dousing. With the right technique you can lather down, rinse off, and get a new outlook on your comfort. Of course you have to figure out how to dry off and change your clothes.