Greetings from 12,000 feet!

This will be a very quick post as it costs an arm and a leg to use the internet way up here in the middle of nowhere.


After finally leaving the beach in Mui Ne, we only spent one night in Saigon and would love to go back someday. We flew the next day to Bangkok, and the day after that, to Kathmandu, Nepal. We had a quick day of buying gear that we didn't have with us (hiking boots, etc. - all stuff that we have at home but didn't want to lug around for 6 weeks in the tropical heat), and then had the joy of an ATM Machine eating Paul's card when we were trying to get enough cash together to actually pay for our trek (we didn't know we'd need to pay cash). Repeated subsequent attempts to do a cash advance on Paul's visa failed - even after a $20 call to get it straightened out with the credit card company - but luckily Michele's card (same company!) worked fine and we were able to deliver a 3" stack of 1000 Rupee notes to our outfitter.

We entered Sagarmatha National Park (aka Mount Everest National Park) yesterday and started our trek in Lukla, which we flew to from Kathmandu.

We are currently in Namche and leave tomorrow, headed for Everest Base camp--it should take 7 days to reach it. From there we will cross two different mountain passes to explore other alpine valleys that are more off the beaten path--and it will only get colder!! We had to buy neck gaiters today and hope we have enough warm clothing.

All is well with the acclimatization process, thanks to the wonderful drug called Diamox.

Sorry for not responding to any personal emails you all have sent but we are short on time due to the high costs here, and you'll hear back from us in a few weeks (and we'll backfill on some other stuff we've skipped over then).

Send your prayers to our legs and lungs!!!