A good solid confidence building day.  I repacked my bag for better weight distribution.  I felt strong all day although I slowed to a snails pace at the top of the day's pass, 9000 feet.  You can really start to feel the lack of oxygen up there.  Overall, it was an easy day, but once again it was only a half day.  Many people make it from Jiri to Bhandar in one day.  I've got to speed up. 

I arrive in Bhandar and am greeted by a lady pointing at my guidebook, Trekking in the Everest Region.  "My photo is in there, my photo is in there."  Sure enough, it was.  So I stayed at her guesthouse.  That evening I find myself reading a 1998 edition of Vermont magazine that I suppose was left in the guesthouse years ago by some Vermonter.  There was an article about trekking in Vermont in the winter.  The article tells you "Hiking in the Winter is not about being cold, it is about being warm in a cold place."  It's that sweet!  My favorite quote however was "Never wear cotton, remember cotton kills."  "Cotton kills."  Ha ha ha ha.  Isn't that great.  I can see myself reusing that quote for years. 

9:30 depart - 1.5 hour lunch - 3:30 arrival

casualties:

Some small blisters:  My foot hasn't completely healed from jungle rot that I had 6 months ago.  That part of the bottom of my foot still blisters easily. 
Thermometer:  Before even leaving Shivalaya the compass, magnifying glass, thermometer which I had tied inadequately to my pack falls to the ground.  The thermometer breaks, but fortunately it was nothing crucial.  Doubly fortunate, this was on of the very few things that I had a backup of.  I had earlier purchased a compass, thermometer whistle with a dysfunctional compass.  So now I still have a functional compass, whistle, thermometer and magnifying glass.