Apples, cheese and tea in Salleri bazaar

Salleri is where Solukhumbu does its business: government offices, the district court, schools, banks and a long main street of shops. For visitors it is a window on ordinary hill life rather than tourist Nepal. In the morning farmers bring in vegetables, eggs and fruit; tailors work at sewing machines on shop fronts; jeep touts call out departures for Kathmandu.

Look for Solu's produce. In September and October baskets of small, crisp local apples appear, grown in orchards around Phaplu, Salleri and Ringmo. Chhurpi, hard dried cheese from hill dairies, is sold in strings or bags; it softens slowly in the mouth and lasts for days on the trail. The hill dairy tradition here has deep roots: in the 1950s Swiss advisers helped set up Nepal's first cheese-making at Thodung, in the hills west of Solu near Jiri.

Stop at a tea shop for chiya, milky sweet tea, and a plate of sel roti or fried snacks. Ask your guide to translate as you chat with shopkeepers; Salleri sees few foreigners, and curiosity runs both ways. Buy apples and chhurpi for the walk north. It is a relaxed morning, a good way to spend the time before a flight or jeep.