So, I’m all set. I think.

Most of the day I spent shopping, picking up the last odds and ends I think I’ll need for the trip. They told us last night at the orientation meeting that we’re going to be eating “simple, vegetarian food,” which means 14 days of lentils over rice, if I’m any judge of a euphemism. So I picked up some cookies and chocolate to keep my spirits up, and a big bottle of water in case my filter clogs up.

I also bought a pair of down booties to wear at night in the camps, some insect repellant, and a poncho. There are about 100 used outdoor equipment stores within walking distance, where you can get anything related to trekking and mountaineering at unbelievable prices. Really good stuff, too. I bet many of the expeditions who come here to climb the nearby peaks just sell all of their used gear afterwards rather than ship it back home. So you can get really good 4-man expedition tents that sell for eight or nine hundred dollars in the States for $100. Only been used once by some smelly New Zealanders!

I also picked up a book on Tibetan culture from one of the nearby bookstores. I figure the scenery on the Tibetan plateau might get a little monotonous after the third or forth day, so it’ll be good to have something relevant to occupy my mind. Of course, that’s assuming the 14 or 15 of us can’t find something to talk about.

This will be the last message you’ll get from me for the next two weeks. Once we get across the border we will have left the wonderful word of instant communication. We’ll only be passing through a couple of towns big enough to have phone service, right at the border, and just before we start walking around the mountain. In between there are a few dusty hamlets, but the only communication they have with the outside world is via truck.

So keep those emails coming. I’ll be eager for news when I get back. This trek isn’t like climbing a mountain, but I feel pretty much the same way I do before a climb; eager to start, convinced that I’ve forgotten something vital, and wondering what the hell I was thinking when I originally considered this lunacy.

Ah well. It’s a familiar feeling by now.