Interim Camp (IC)

I brushed the old sooty cigarette butts to one side of the tent with my mittens and threw down my ‘North Face Blue Kazoo” sleeping bag. The smell of old, damp cigarettes, stale body odour and yak dung made me wonder whether splitting the 20km walk up to ABC from BC had been a wise move.
I looked miserably at the set up on the floor of my tent and wondered how long it would take before the currently pleasant temperature would plummet to negative digits and send me diving for the comfort of my sleeping bag. Matt and Pete, ‘the army boys’, my partners in crime for this leg of the journey, were in the tent next to mine. I could hear them rustling around, also trying to make the best of the rather uncomfortable surroundings. The Hilton it was not. Even a mattress or some sort of protection (other than my backpack) would have been welcome protection from the jagged rocks under the tents.
We’d arrived at IC about 1-hour earlier after our 10km / 3 hour walk and were treated by the young Tibetan boy who ’managed’ campsite to some syrupy, sugary tea, some ‘juice-eeee’ and a big toothy smile. Hospitality in spades but there was a definite language barrier - hence why finding a mattress was going to be a real challenge. It was one of those situations that people dub, “character building” or, “make the best of difficult situation”….
An unexpected knock at my tent door followed by the sound of the zipper revealed the face of a smiling Sherpa who brought with him the best possible tent accessory - a HUGE bright orange thermarest which he had ‘borrowed’ from the tents of the Montenegrans which were empty for the evening. Given that the alternative would have been sleeping on a bed of cigarette butts and sharp rocks, it was an extremely welcome treat and provided the prospect of a semi-comfortable nights sleep. The Sherpa explained with a wink that it would be ‘our little secret’ and I thanked him profusely as I rolled the thermarest over the ground.

Several minutes later there was another ‘knock’ on my zipper and two eyes peered through the zipper crack. “Soup?” A bowl was thrust in front of me and a generous plate of popperdoms was laid ceremoniously on the floor of the tent.
“Danibat”, I mustered in my best possible Nepali. Soup was then followed by a delicious plate of dhal bat, the local dish of rice, lentils and some meat. By this stage however, the sun had set and the temperature was dropping steadily. I ate from the comfort of my sleeping bag, managing to eat about 90% and finding the remaining 10% of the rice in my sleeping bag on the floor of the tent the following morning….

I looked forward to a comfy nights sleep at Interim Camp with a view to get up early and continue the journey back up to ABC tomorrow.