Nepal; town life in the Khumbu, 1986. Namche Bazar (altitude 3446 metres), a bustling and prosperous market town, is the largest Sherpa settlement in the Khumbu. Many of its Tibetan-style houses devote the ground floor to animal shelters while the family lives upstairs. Most have windows and doors at the front of the building only, the back being built into the side of the mountain. Firewood is stacked against walls, and small terraced fields grow staples (potatoes, barley, wheat). At left is a Buddhist shrine or stupa, on each side of which is painted the eyes of the Buddha. Prayer flags are strung out from its summit.