By Louise Palmer
The average sane person's honeymoon is spent on an idyllic tropical island, lazing on pristine beaches, sipping colourful cocktails and recovering from the stress and mayhem of organising a wedding.
So it's not surprising that people looked at me as if I was crazy when I announced that part of our honeymoon would be spent attempting the challenging Everest Base Camp trek in the Nepal Himalayas.
Three weeks of exertion, exhaustion, unforgiving altitude and arctic conditions and not a cocktail in sight! But the surreal spiritual experience of seeing the world's highest mountain, set among the most spectacular scenery on earth, was for me an unforgettable start to our new life together.
Our adventure began with a terrifying 40-minute flight on a tiny 20-seater plane that transported us from the developed chaos of Kathmandu to the serenity of the rugged Khumbu region - the barren yet beautiful valleys of Everest's southern slopes.
Here, in blissful contrast to the mind boggling traffic jams of Kathmandu, there are no roads or vehicles of any kind.
The views from the plane were breath-taking - our faces pressed against the icy plane windows, we caught glimpses of the giant peaks of Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest mountain; Makalu, the fifth highest peak on earth; and the unmistakable profile of Everest.
We stared in awe at the trademark ink-black wedge of the summit pyramid, towering over the surrounding ridges, and its eastward tailing plume of ice crystals caused by the 120-knot hurricane jetstream. This was to be the first of our many sightings of Everest over the next three weeks, but we never tired of staring at this majestic and foreboding monolith.
The plane touched down in the quaint Himalayan village of Lukla, the starting point for the Everest Base Camp trek. Inspired by what we had just seen, we grabbed our bulging backpacks and walked straight off the plane onto the trail.
Our first major destination was the vibrant market town of Namche Bazaar - a two-day walk that would take us up to a breath-gasping 3 440m.
From Lukla the trail led north through the gorge of the Dudh Kosi, an icy, boulder-choked river that churns with glacial run-off. We tentatively crossed several nerve-wracking suspension bridges, strung at a dizzying height above the river, before heading for the steep canyon wall. The wilderness was intermittently interrupted by small villages with terraced fields of barley, buckwheat and potatoes.
Local women bent over double digging potatoes from deep pits in which they store them to prevent them from freezing during the icy winters.
Finally we arrived wheezing at Namche Bazaar - the social and commercial hub of Sherpa society. The Sherpas are the local mountain people of the Khumba region and originating from Tibet, are devoutly Buddhist.
This is apparent all along the route, where strings of prayer flags are strung across the hillsides.
Ancient religious rock monuments (Buddhist chortens) and exquisitely carved stoned walls (mani stones) are found even on the highest passes.
Namche Bazaar is a village of about 100 buildings, balancing precariously on a rocky mountainside, linked by a maze of narrow paths and catwalks. We were surprised by the proliferation of lodges and shops selling everything trekkers desire: from cheap hiking clothes to freshly baked apple pie and essentials like toilet paper and headache tablets!
It was incredible to find such civilisation so high up. We stumbled wearily into the Khumbu lodge made famous by the patronage of Jimmy Carter and Robert Redford, who stayed there about two decades ago.
With the sun still high in the sky, we collapsed into our beds totally spent. It is difficult to describe the debilitating effect of altitude on your body - we were constantly breathless, dizzy, exhausted and lethargic.
But after two nights rest at this altitude, our bodies had acclimatised to the thin air and we were ready to continue.
From Namche we departed from the main tourist route up to Everest Base Camp, choosing to hike the less visited, but equally spectacular Goyko Valley first.
The trek to the village of Goyko offers a better view of Everest in its entirety, albeit from a slightly greater distance. The route is also wonderfully quiet in comparison to the Everest trail.
Over the three days up to Goyko, we passed a mere handful of hikers and barefoot Sherpas straining beneath back-wrenching loads of firewood, yak fodder, backpacks and food they were carrying up to higher villages.
The trail initially took us past glades of juniper and dwarf birch, blue pine, rhododendrons and gushing streams. As we climbed higher the vegetation gave way to barren fields and kharkas (summer yak pasture settlements), which, in turn, were replaced by a magical snow-covered landscape.
Here the path climbed steadily through the tiny snow-enveloped villages of Phortse Thenga, Dole, Luza and Machermo. The final stretch to Goyko involved climbing onto the mass of glacial earth and rock debris of the Ngozumba Glacier.
It was a steep climb alongside a frozen stream, sometimes in ankle-deep snow, past two beautiful glacial lakes and finally arriving at the village of Goyko at 4 750m. We were greeted by the welcoming sight of a handful of cosy stone houses with a stunning setting on a large glacial lake.
We stayed at a homely lodge where the Sherpa family treated us like royalty. The accommodation on the trek was fantastic, particularly when you consider that most rooms cost under R5 a night.
Instead of the anticipated basic hiker huts we found local Sherpa houses converted into "lodges". The simple stone and wooden structures provided basic but snug rooms; hot stove fires in a communal room where you could defrost; and an impressive menu of home-cooked food, considering the nearest shop was a few days' walk away.
In our time in the Himalayas, we tried a variety of potato and rice dishes, soups, omlettes, pancakes, Tibetan pizza and even Yak steak.
And, of course, we sampled the local homebrew, "chang" beer, made from fermented rice and yeast, which, despite the ingredients, was surprisingly tasty.
The highlight of the trip to Goyko was our climb up Goyko Ri (a "hill" next to the village), where we were gob-smacked by the dramatic panoramic view of Everest and the surrounding peaks of Cho Oyu, Lhotse, Makalu, Cholatse and Tawachee. From there, we looked down onto the Ngozumpa Glacier.
- This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on May 27, 2006