The previous day had been exhausting travelling from blighty, arriving at the hotel in in the evening at Kathmandu. After we had the meet and greet with our guide Rajesh, we headed into town to get something to eat and to transfer some currency into Nepalese Rupee. The streets were alive with celebration and fireworks for Diwali, resulting in a late one.
It was difficult forcing myself out of bed at 0400hrs to get ready to catch the coach to the airport at 0515hrs. This was made even harder due to the lights in the bathroom not working, thus we had to do business by torch light. To top it off there was no hot water, so I skipped my morning shower that I rely on to wake me up!
The short coach ride to the airport passed through the now quiet and empty streets that were full of life the night before. From the airport in the dawn light, we could see the Himalayas in the distance causing a little wave of giddiness to pass over me. The adventure is about to begin! We left the terminal and crossed the tarmac to a tiny twin propeller plane, squeezing through a tiny hatch to the cabin, where we were packed in like sardines.
The two pilots, in brown leather flight jackets with white woolen collars, complete with aviator glasses were all set in the cockpit. It was like something from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom!
The flight to Lukla resembled a rollercoaster. The plane would bank left and right, zipping between the towering peaks of the Himalayas. Just before we came into land, the pilot reached up and grabbed the throttle and with a swift motion, pulls on it as the plane dives into it’s approach to Lukla.
The peculiar thing about this airport is the runway; nestled on a cliff face, it has an upward gradient ending in the side of a mountain, however the most striking feature though, is the runway, it is very, very short! If the plane were to overshoot on landing, it would crash into the mountain and if the plane doesn’t build enough speed on take off, it will fall off the mountain!
As we disembarked the plane, I was stunned by the scenery; I was amongst giants! I had finally set foot in the Himalayas. Lush green mountains, blue skies and fresh cool mountain air. The adrenaline was surging through my veins.
Our group stopped at a teahouse to get a hot drink and sort our luggage out. Moving items to our day packs from our main bags. Here we met the remainder of our guides and the Sherpas who would be carrying the bulk of our belongings.
We set off following a mountain path, passing through a welcoming arch where we met our first yak train. All the while we were being overtaken by Sherpas carrying items in baskets strapped to their heads with sandals for footwear; they really put me to shame. There was one snow capped mountain that dominated the skyline for most of the day. ‘Karyolung’ with a summit of 6511 metres above sea level. EBC sits 1200m below that, putting into perspective how high I would be reaching.
We took our time following the path at the advice of our head guide Rajesh. To avoid altitude sickness, we were to walk slowly and drink plenty of water. As a result, we made plenty of stops for the toilet! The route crossed suspension bridges over rivers and valleys. It would snake around huge painted boulders and shrines, under lines of prayer flags flapping in the mountain breezes.
We eventually reached our teahouse for the night at Prakding (2610m). It was very basic, which is common of the lodgings along the trek. Two single wooden beds made up each room, with mattresses that might as well have been a sheet of cardboard.
We had a light meal of noodle soup before having a siesta, after which we had an explore of this little hamlet. We met up with more of our group at a teahouse and chatted over a cup of lemon tea. We returned for our evening meal of chicken and chips; I would have had the Yak but they had ran out!
We got to know our group a little more over a few card games. Night had arrived and so began the Diwali celebrations. We ventured out again to watch the festivities before retiring for the night. I lay in bed feeling very weary from the flights, lack of sleep and the day’s walking. I had a mild headache since dinner and I hoped it would go in the night and not a sign of altitude sickness.
Stu's Camino 