I guess the photo from my last entry is a metaphorical representation of how brown and lumpy Kala Patthar is set in the context of its setting among the world’s most stunning mountains. It’s not much of a stretch of the imagination because Kala Patthar really is brown and lumpy, and you eat a lot of potatoes on the trek to the top of the Himalayas, and at some point everything looks like a potato. To be more accurate, I would say that especially at the the final mound atop Kala Patthar, with it’s sizable, chunky boulders did I start to get these ideas. Thanks to the light head and the surreal setting I was getting a little creative. You have to wonder what a pile of chunky boulders is doing on top of a worn, rounded mound in the middle of a snowy, pristine setting.

When we last reminisced to our serial adventures on a trek in Nepal we were sipping lemon tea and gnawing on some nak cheese, storing up energy and oxygen for a hike up, up and away above Gorak Shep. This was far from the last day of our trip, but it was the end of driving upwards and discovering the awesome views from higher terrain. The view was already surreal, to the point that my mind couldn’t correlate the mixture of the setting and the inhabitants. It was almost something I’d expect to see coming from a digital camera on a Mars Rover. I could just ride with my imagination though, it wasn’t hard. I don’t remember seeing a single specimen of plant life anywhere, and the barren, sandy soil had a rusty tint to it, and the thinning air sure helped to believe it.