About one o’clock last night there was a small earthquake. The building shook for ten or fifteen seconds then all was quiet again. I waited for further shocks but all there was was the wind howling around the building and rattling the roofing iron. I hadn’t slept much before the tremor and didn’t sleep much after and when I got up there were ice flowers on my bedroom windows and while I feel good I will stay another night here in Machermo just to be on the safe side and because I’m lazy that too.

Around midday a group from World Expeditions arrived, five staff and two clients, both female, one from Banf in Canada, one from Perth in Australia. They had never met each other before but seemed to get along well and their guide was a well spoken young man with an excellent command of the English language. They are crossing Cho La after visiting Gokyo as is the fashion these days.