From Mike McGuffin:
So finally we are ready to go. We leave for Arughat Bazaar tomorrow; from there it is all on foot. The highlight of my stay here in Kathmandu was an audience we had with His Holiness Tengboche Rimpoche, who is a reincarnated Buddhist Lama. His Holiness presented us each with a silk khada scarf, which he had blessed, and wished us a safe journey. Though a heathen myself I do have reverence for holy people; His Holiness had a very peaceful aura, which I felt deeply. In an effort to garnish all the good juju I can, I also bought a necklace from a Tibetan woman at the Swyambunath Temple. I figure the more stuff I have around my neck the better.
Kathmandu has definitely been an experience like no other. It’s a town where the cows are safer than the
pedestrians. The local 
people here are spectacularly kind, and one of my favored experiences has been visiting with
Jeff and Tami’s friend, Quayuum, owner of Rug Up Orignials. It’s quite odd to walk into a carpet shop in Kathmandu and
see your friend’s wedding picture hanging above the cash register. Good call on
Quayuum, Tami.
It’s difficult to grasp the idea that tomorrow we leave Kathmandu for an 8,000 meter peak. As a team we are developing a strong bond and I believe that we are ready to be put to the test – which we will certainly be.
From Dan Percival:
We were delayed a day because of a lack of porters at the trailhead. But leaving early in the morning. We need 100 porters to carry our stuff! The equipment for base camp is a lot; we each even get our own tent at base camp with a mattress. It only takes 20 porters to carry all our climbing gear, tents and food.
Yesterday we went to the Swayambhunatu Buddhist Temple which is known as the monkey temple. A lot of monkeys are roaming around this large temple. At the temple Dan bought a bowl from a Tibetan woman selling tourist gifts, and her three children enjoyed seeing their picture on his digital camera.
We came across the elephant just out of the city center on our way to see the Lama. One way to carry a load!
The Lama is His Holiness Tengboche Rimpoche of the Tengboche Monastary near Mt. Everest. He is staying in Kathmandu studying and Tsai knows him. We went to be blessed for a safe journey and climb. The picture is Brian receiving a blessed scarf. So we are set to go!
From Tom Fitzsimmons:
Getting around in Kathmandu in a car is like playing chicken with other vehicles (and people) during the entire trip. Each vehicle runs near the center of the street head on with horns honking in aggression just daring the other to flinch first and duck to the side. Not a secure feeling for the passenger but a great (and very cheap) way to get to a few of the spectacular sites early in the morning to catch good light and return to the chores of finalizing the logistics for our adventure. So it has gone the past two mornings.
To the monkey temple (Swayambhunath) where the faces of the worshipers used five rolls of film on the first trip, then back again this morning where the shop venders, the magnificent structure itself and the locks on the many temple doors burned another four rolls. I only hope a few turn out that will be treasured for a lifetime for the recall value they will serve for my too few hours to absorb the wonder of it all.
Now after another busy day of preparation, we are ready (and very impatient) to turn to actually climbing our mountain. The first steps will be in the form of a trek through the Manaslu Conservation Area some eighty miles and nine days. What a great way it will be to expend our pent up physical anxiety to climb.
The word ‘trek’ was borrowed in the 19th century from an Afrikaans word meaning ‘a long migration by ox cart’. The name originally came from the Middle Dutch, trekken, meaning to travel. Dictionaries today variously define trekking as ‘to travel arduously’ and ‘to walk over long distances especially for recreation’.
To trek in the Himalaya is to take an extended walk along recognized paths with the bonus of dramatic scenery and traditional village life on the roof of the world. Put in these simple terms it sounds within everyone’s grasp. But the difference on our trip is that we will take 100 porters with us. Yes 100... What a shock it was when we were told. But is understandable since there are no other practical forms of ground transportation because the terrain is too rugged and remote.
Porters, as the name suggests, are load carriers and nothing more. They may be subsistence farmers who supplement their living working for expeditions or trekking groups. Some porters do no other work but carry loads. These professionals will transport virtually anything on their backs: firewood, building materials, food, even pilgrims or the sick. Working for their own kind, porters are often paid much less than they can earn carrying for trekking groups.
Porters carry very heavy loads on their backs, taking the weight on their foreheads with straps known as tump lines. On trek the loads typically weigh 30 kg. They are often carried in a conical cane basket called a doko. In some situations strong porters will carry a double load, 60 kg (132 lb), for double pay. Males and females carry dokos from a very early age and they regularly go barefooted through mud, over rough rocky paths and sometimes on snow.
So tomorrow our small band of six is joined by 100 porters. Because of all these porters, a day in the life of our group on the trek will be fairly luxurious. Our packs will be heavier than we may want but we won't focus on it because we have plenty of time to think about the world each of us left behind and the mountain named Manaslu we are about to summit.