{"id":191,"date":"2025-11-30T02:51:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T02:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/?p=191"},"modified":"2025-11-30T02:51:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T02:51:33","slug":"day-7-top-of-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/2025\/11\/30\/day-7-top-of-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 7 – Top of the world!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our unexpected day off started beautifully with a hearty breakfast of Nepalese hash browns, omelette and a strong black coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A quick chat with our waiter (which sounds far more glamorous than it was\u2014we\u2019re still not convinced he officially worked there!) revealed that he \u201cknew a guy\u201d with a Scorpio 4×4 who could take us sightseeing: a waterfall, a cave and a good viewpoint. Well, when in Rome\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About half an hour after the agreed meeting time, the Scorpio rolled up with our driver. Half an hour late is, of course, bang on time in Nepal. Seven of us piled in, and off we went, winding up into the Himalayan foothills.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Roughly an hour later, just off a main road that sees about ten cars an hour, we arrived at what could generously be described as an underwhelming waterfall. The surroundings were lovely, though, and a couple of the girls braved a dip in the small pool at the bottom. After an hour, we headed off again toward what we had told the driver was \u201cthe viewpoint\u201d about an hour away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A couple of the lads were tracking our progress and quickly noticed that we were heading completely the wrong direction. But as our driver spoke absolutely no English\u2014and considering we preferred he used all his concentration on the actual driving (see CWB Essential Guide #3!)\u2014our objections went completely unnoticed. Still, we were climbing into the hills, the scenery was spectacular, and spirits remained high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly two hours passed with repeated, unsuccessful attempts to communicate, leaving us entirely at the mercy of our silent guide. Eventually, we stopped at what seemed like his intended destination: a tiny caf\u00e9 perched high in the mountains at around 1,400m\u2014about the height of Ben Nevis. The views were incredible. Even better, the lady running the caf\u00e9 spoke a bit of English and served us Coke, cheese balls and a very respectable veg chow mein. (Pictures below!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After eating, we assumed we\u2019d be heading back, as we had to meet the project leads around 3:30 p.m. and were easily 90 minutes away. We asked our host whether Everest was visible from there, but she explained it was on the other side of the hills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back into the Scorpio we climbed\u2014only for our driver to head in the opposite direction, down a dirt track. As we bounced along a road that felt more like a riverbed, we discussed our options: would shouting \u201chome?\u201d help? Did he know the word \u201chotel?\u201d Should we trust him and assume he knew another way back? Time would tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About an hour later, we got our answer. The track opened up onto a small mountain-top hotel surrounded by Scorpios and clusters of locals taking in the sunshine. We were very, very high\u2014and the horizon was lined with snow-capped peaks. Could it be\u2026? Surely not\u2026 Mount Everest?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Excitedly, we attempted to ask our \u201cmute\u201d driver, and with a simple nod he pointed up a set of steps. About 300 steps later, at a temple and official viewpoint, we asked a local which peak was Everest. He pointed to the tallest one in the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that was it. We couldn\u2019t believe it. From mild mistrust to a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Our driver had known exactly what he was doing all along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top of the world, indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warren<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our unexpected day off started beautifully with a hearty breakfast of Nepalese hash browns, omelette…<\/p>\n

Read the postDay 7 – Top of the world!<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191\/revisions\/195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cwbblogs.com\/nepal2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}