Sat 21^st April 2012 Everest Base Camp 5300m

Rest Day

The shower scheduled for yesterday took place this morning. It was, OMG, some 10 days after the last one! It did get to the point where even I was appalled at the smell certain parts of my body were making.

We have these hand held showers which resemble small plastic barrels with a handle through the top and a shower head attached to a coiled plastic tube.

You have this filled with hot water; you pump the handle some 20 times and then press the lever on the head to release the water flow.

All this is done in a tent. What you don’t want to do in this climate is find an already full unit, which saves you the walk over to the kitchen tent, strip naked, pump and then douse only to find the water is stone cold...nigh freezing as it is one someone else has used a few hours earlier!! Which is what I did the previous week.

 Once cleansed it’s time for some dhobi (Washing). Socks, underwear and a few tops. A lot of us wear this Mourino wool, Icebreaker tops which supposedly retain a fresh smell for weeks at a time of wearing without washing.....not sure I believe that. It might just be my armpit which smells and not the clothing but there is definitely a strong odour after a week!

I chill after lunch.

The movie choice tonight is Inception. Dreams within dreams, within dreams, within dreams... with Leonardo Di Caprio. Lots of people seem to die but he doesn’t!