JOURNEY - on Mastering Ukemi Daniel Linden (feel good novels txt) 📖

of the space and consisted of a burner that cooked rice and a prep station on one table. There was a second table that held another burner where pans and skillets were used to sauté and braze the different ingredients. It is not like a western restaurant at all.

I sat at the rear of the room and the woman who had been cutting vegetables came over and handed me a printed menu. It was in English. I looked up at her and said, “You speak English?”

She gave me beautiful smile and nodded. She said, “I like to guess.”

“Well done,” I said.

Several men walked into the room and she looked in their direction for a moment and then went to her prep table and shuffled through several paper menus. She walked over and said to each, “Bonjour, Monsieur, le carte.” They accepted the menus as if it were their right and due that a cook in a tiny restaurant in a remote village in the high Himalaya would greet them and speak French.

I looked at the menu and resolved then and there to eat everything, every dish, on the menu. I was so hungry I felt weak and every dish on the menu sounded delicious. There were even several dishes that included meat. When the cook came back I asked her name. She said her name was Pemba Sherpa. I recalled seeing her name somewhere and realized that she was the owner of the lodge where we were staying. I told her she had a beautiful lodge, and that I was looking forward to eating everything on the menu. She laughed. I then asked her about the availability of meat.

“The pack trains have been very lucky,” she said. “But if a yak stumbles and falls from the mountain, or is hurt very badly, then perhaps there will be meat.”

I thought about that for a moment and decided not to comment. I ordered a dish with rice and vegetables. Then, thinking about how long it takes to cook anything this high up I ordered a second dish - the number two on the menu - and sat back. As she was walking away I thought about a cold beer and asked for that as well. She nodded.

I had not seen the group since arriving in Namche Bazarr. I was not worried, however, as they are all adults and it would be difficult to get into any kind of trouble as long as they kept their heads. About the only problem they could possibly have would be a mix up at the laundromat and the possible loss of a pair of hiking socks.

After a long wait my meal came and it was delicious. I finished it and almost immediately the second dish arrived. I ate that as well and drank several more beers, then climbed the stairs to the second floor. I found my way back to my room and took off my hiking boots. Then I collapsed and took a nap; it had been a long day and it was only 3:00 PM. We had made it to Namche Bazaar.

Chapter 14

Into the Fire

For the next three days Chris and Celine basically disappeared, then reappeared, then were gone again. Curtis and Christian wandered around the streets and once I found Curtis all by himself in the Internet café, drinking coffee and sending e-mails back to the world. Esra, on the other hand, was the belle of the ball. It is a wonder that she did not gain thirty pounds as every Italian team member wanted to have coffee and cake with her. The French team members, likewise, courted her in every possible way and as most of the major expeditions like the French, Italian or the Swiss teams had amazing provisions, wine, bread, and great chefs, she was courted and dined and wined and whisked here and there and offered all sorts of inducements to visit each lodge and restaurant and café in the village.

And she was made for this. She knew just how much flirting, how much of a pout, how much skirt to raise as she stepped over a puddle, how high to raise an eyebrow, how strongly to say no. She was the perfect embodiment of ukemi in Namche Bazaar. She was a master flirt and had I been a master of the salon instead of a mere sensei I would have promoted her to shihan. It was remarkable how she could receive that much attention without giving anything away at all. Well, as with any good uke, she had to give something up, but never enough to cost her anything dear.

On the morning of the second day I had gathered everyone together at breakfast and suggested that they stroll up to Khunde. “It is a beautiful walk and you will have a great view of the big mountains. I think you can see Everest, Cho Oyo, Gyachung Kang, Lhotse, and Makalu… at least four of the 8,000 meter peaks.” I would not be strolling along with them… I wanted to rest my knees.

“How much of a climb is it, Sensei?” asked Christian.

“Every single day the children go up there to school. That’s where the school is.” I laughed. “How hard can it be?”

Later Chris and Curtis found me in the restaurant at the Thamserku View Lodge and sat down on either side of me. Chris was not happy.

“School kids?” he said.

“Yup,” I said.

“Pardon me, Sensei, but that was the climb from hell. That was worse than the climb up here! And, by the way, all I saw were clouds.”

“I know,” I said. “But tomorrow when you do it again it will be a lot easier and you will know what it is like to walk at 13,000 feet. Your body will have experienced being there and you will be able to sleep a little better when we rest. It’s all part of the training. How did Celine and Esra do?”

He