Today (Friday) we were supposed to start at 7:30AM however actually started at 5:30AM when an energetic East Indian group on the other side of the partition wall started getting ready for their descent.  We finally gave up any pretense of sleep at 6:30AM and discussed the night’s ‘endeavours’.  It seemed that it was fairly successful with most of us getting at least 6 hours of continuous sleep , which is not bad at this altitude.  At 7:30AM we were greeted by the smiling face of Sosta, the head guide, with a thermos of hot chi tea.  I think Sosta’s beautiful smile was even more welcome than the tea.  At 8:30AM we congregated in the dining hall for another sumptuous meal, comprising water melon, cornflakes with a little milk powder and hot water (it’s good…honest) followed by bacon and eggs, and cucumber.