Nitty gritty of Everest Base Camp Trek as a teahouse trekking

First things first: in Everest Base Camp Trek doesn’t need camping. You shall have ample number of guesthouses or teahouses while you traverse to the Everest Base Camp.  So, you needn’t go for camping in this region. This leaves you with the option of teahouse during your trek.

Teahouses in the Everest region are much more than just a place to grab a plate of lunch and have a goodnight sleep. Here you shall have myriads of surprises (of course positive ones) waiting for you. Here we have some of the practical details on teahouse trekking to the Everest Base Camp:

Tea and breakfast at teahouses

It may sound interesting to you but Nepalese drink tea around the clock. The teahouses follow the trend and generally serve tea with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Besides Milk tea, teahouses also offer you black, ginger, mint and lemon tea. Trekkers generally stop at teahouse, have a cup of tea, warm up and move forward in their trek. Regarding breakfast, you may have pancakes, porridge, eggs and breads. Though the food is basic, you still have some variations in them as you progress ahead in your trek.

Food at Teahouses

Let’s talk about food served in lunch/ dinner. As mentioned earlier, the foods are basic and more or less repetitive. For lunch and dinner, you shall basically be served with Daal-Bhat, a staple dish in Nepal. You’ll have a big plate with rice, vegetables (a single or two), lentil soup and may be a little of homemade pickles. As you move from one teahouse to another you shall also find some difference of taste in Daal Bhat; some are curried, some are spicy, plain or thicker and so on) which keeps you interested in the dish. Full of carbohydrate, this is vital in fuelling your journey during your Everest Base Camp Trek. They may also include chicken which adds taste to your dish.

In a typical teahouse in Everest region, you have other dishes as well for your lunch and dinner. This include: Soup (Sherpa stew, chicken, tomato, garlic, etc), Noodles (Chowmein, fried, spaghetti), Potato and other such as Pizza, Momo (popular dumpling) and Spring Rolls. Meat is not available beyond Namche Bazaar, and moreover, it is advised that you don’t search much for meat.

Accommodation

Though you shall find the teahouses these days offer sort of luxurious accommodation to you, but, dear trekkers expect that you’ll have a basic accommodation at teahouses during your Everest Base Camp Trek. That’ll be easy to digest. Your rooms shall usually have a couple of twin beds with sheets and a pillow. You may find a chair, small table, shelf and coat hooks besides a blanket. Ask for more blankets if you need!

Teahouses generally manage to have a common area or an open room where you can talk, hang out and dine with fellow trekkers. In winter they surely offer you a stove to warm yourself and if you are lucky enough, expect a TV. The Kitchen shall be either connected to the common area or kept completely separate. You may be allowed to warm up by fire, depending on the owner of the teahouse. You shall find a cabinet with utensils arranged neatly in a cabinet inside the kitchen.

Expect basic level of toilets where you shall be squatting over a platform and rinsing it later with water. Flushing toilets are found less in teahouses in the region. Another thing, your toilet may certainly be located in a separate building. This means that you need to go outside in the middle of the night to use it.

Other Facilities at Teahouses

Fellow trekkers, not much affluence is to be expected at your service during your Everest Base Camp Trek. You are here to experience the natural wilderness, remember? Except what is mentioned above, you may receive hot showers on availability. Get the battery charging facility at per hour or full charge basis. Asking your guide to charge it for you, may get you this facility for free. If your room has plug, charging is free again! You may sometime have other essential items such as toilet paper, bottled water, toothpaste, sunscreen, etc. on sale in the teahouses.

This was our endeavor for making you more familiar with the teahouses that you shall be finding during your Everest Base Camp trekking. Interact with the owners of teahouses and other fellow trekkers from other groups and have fun. You shall have a lot of wonderful memories from your stay in teahouses. Just have the audacity to interact with people from different culture. Have a happy teahouse trekking!