The modern world is not far away...

Day Four: A rest day in the sherpa town of Namche Bazar.

It was the moment when a small herd of yaks invaded our campsite that was final confirmation that we'd left behind us civilisation as we know it.

I was midway through a Radio Five Live broadcast when they arrived, and had to break off to explain the sound of clanging yak bells behind me; their shouting herders were trying to get the stubborn animals back on their route.

But in truth, even now we're a week's walk from the nearest road, civilisation is not far away.

We've brought a satellite dish with us for our broadcasts, and it's far from being a rarity; just down the hill from our campsite, several of the green and blue tin roofs of the town of Namche Bazar have satellite dishes on them.

In the steep main street, there's a 24-hour cyber caf�, and though the region's too remote for newspapers, an enterprising shopkeeper has pinned up pages of news from the BBC News Online website to keep people up to date.

'Tourist' mountain

It's all very different from the Nepal of 50 years ago, when the British Everest expedition passed through.

They relied on mail runners to bring them news from home; super-fit porters who carried letters on foot from Kathmandu.

It was several days before word of their successful ascent reached London. And while they were in the final stages of their climb, the only contact they had with the outside world was through the BBC World Service, which broadcast special weather forecasts for the team.

...as one can tell from the dishes on the roofs

Their sherpas depended on the local bush telegram for news - a form of communication that's still going strong today.

It was rumour on the Namche Bazar street that led me to the Panorama Hotel, where the legendary Austrian mountaineer Peter Habeler is staying.

He and the Italian Reinhold Messner were the first to ascend the world's highest peak without oxygen, exactly 25 years ago.

I was curious to hear his opinion of the growth in commercial organisations which now lead inexperienced climbers up to the summit.

'Good adventure

"This is not climbing," he told me. Some people today, he believes, are literally pushed and pulled up Everest by sherpa guides.

"They have no choice but to get to the summit," he said.

The place to read BBC News Online

In his view, mountaineering is about adventure, and the 1953 team and earlier British attempts on Everest showed how it should be done.

"They were relying on themselves and not anyone else. They were trying to have a good adventure on the mountain."

As we continue to retrace the footsteps of the 1953 adventurers, we are now preparing to leave Namche Bazar, having begun to acclimatise to the altitude.

Tomorrow brings a long, steep climb, and then a stop at Tyangboche, home to one of the most mystical and significant Buddhist monasteries in the region.