Himalaya
Day 52: Derali to Machhapuchhre Base Camp

'You eat,' orders Wongchu when I surface a few hours later. 'Need food.'
No-one else says anything. I think I must frighten the crew a bit. They've never seen me quite like this: glum and unresponsive.
Force down some garlic soup, enlivened with shards of spring onion and green pepper. My neck and forehead are feverishly hot, and once I've finished, all I want to do is to go back to bed. Wongchu and Nawang deal with me most tenderly. Despite all my protestations, they prepare a bowl of steaming inhalant and insist I use it. Nawang gets fresh hot water from the cooks and helps me bathe my feet. Then they guide me into my sleeping bag, with Wongchu applying massage as I go. I feel rather as if I'm being laid out, and I must say at this moment the Grim Reaper would not be an unwelcome visitor.
Wongchu wants one of the Sherpas to come and sit with me through the night, but I dissuade him, and, watched over by an inanimate but impressive array of tablets, tissues, ointments, creams and sprays, I close my eyes and wait.
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PALIN'S GUIDES
- Series: Himalaya
- Chapter: Day 52: Derali to Machhapuchhre Base Camp
- Country/sea: Nepal
- Place: Macchapucchre Base Camp
- Book page no: 119
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