A Trekking We Will Go...
Our trek started out at 4:30 am November 9, 2006. We woke up, packed, had breakfast and left our hotel by 5 am. We drove through the dark streets of Kathmandu, rolling past only a few people as they were early risers on their way to pray, to work and to who knows where so darn early.
At about 5:15 we arrived at the airport, still dark and quite chilly. We waited over an hour for our "guide" to show up. Not knowing if we were going to trek it alone or what, we checked our luggage through and proceeded into the terminal. Preparing ourselves for the unknown, we decided that we could make it work if our guide ditches us. Just as our plane was scheduled to take off at 6:30, our guide waltzes over to us like he's been waiting for us the whole time- whatever.
As it turns out we didn't depart until 9:00 am, the runway was socked in with clouds and fog. As soon as the pilots got permission to fly, we stuffed cotton balls in our ears and we were up up and away with Agni Airlines! The tiny 15 passenger airplane was quite a thrill. We didn't fly high enough for the cabin to be pressurized, the view was amazing. At times I thought the wing was going to hit the mountains.
We landed in Lukla on the most unique airstrip- not only was it tiny, it was slanted upward to help the plane slow down.
We started trekking after a quick cup of tea. The sidewalks and trails were full of trekkers, yaks, porters, dogs, more yaks and more trekkers. We definitely were not alone on this trip.
Our first day, maybe 3 miles, from Lukla (2886 meters) to Phakding (2640 meters) was nice and easy- down hill. We crossed several rivers on bridges some new and some not so new- they were all wobbly and very very high.
We slept at the Namaste Lodge- basically a shanty hotel with cardboard box like rooms.
And little did I know, it was going to be the last "western" style toilet I'd see for many many days.
posted by Betsy Rocks @ 2:39 AM
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