Quebec TV reporter Claudien Douville and team doctor Max Buxton both got stung by a fast-talking young boy who could rattle off the capitals of any country. He then took the carton back to the merchant, giving the businessman a cut. Beggars line the streets on the way to main tourist attractions, hordes following anyone who looks like they have money. On the 365 steep steps, locals peddle their goods, including a shiny human femur and the ever present tiger balm, as scabby monkeys run free. It's difficult to hide rising feelings of disgust at the living conditions.
Children walk barefoot in open sewers where mangy dogs sleep.
Elderly women sit on busy street corners, selling dusty fruits and vegetables as three-wheel taxis barf diesel fumes in their creased faces. But what's most stunning is the shy smiles that illuminate their wrinkled faces in response to any interest from tourists. Children giggle as they play in mounds of dirt, waving happily to the cameras. Today we leave all the blinding, noisy chaos behind for the quiet order of the small village of Lukla, where a 12-day trek to Everest Base Camp begins. That's where team leader Ben Webster, Claude Berube, Francois Bedard and Benoit Robitaille will face their first mammoth task of getting the expedition's 60 duffel bags onto Nepalese porters and up the mountain.