October 21, 2019, Kathmandu to Lukla to Phakding
After very little sleep due to our late arrival the night before and then the need to repack all our stuff, Fred and I woke at 4:00 am Kathmandu time, had a quick shower, grabbed our bags and raced to meet our driver who was waiting outside the hotel. Even though we were tired, we were excited. Our outfitter told us to be at the airport by 5:00 am for our 6:00 am flight. Hmmm. What I didn’t know was that flights to Lukla rarely leave on time and in fact, often don’t leave at all. And that’s because the Lukla airport, or its official name, Tenzing–Hillary Airport, is one of the most dangerous airports in the world. Seriously.
Lukla sits at 2,845 metres above sea level and this high elevation creates low pressure impacts with the handling of the plane. The airport is embedded in a mountain side and is surrounded by mountains thereby causing no go around approaches. In other words, once a plane starts its approach it has no choice but to land. The runway is ridiculously short. At just 1,729 feet long it is the second shortest runway in the world. Most runways are over 10,000 feet long. There is a 2,000 foot drop at the end of the runway. And to top it all off, there are no navigational aids (e.g. lights) for the pilots. So here we are at the Kathmandu airport, waiting outside, and the domestic flight doors don’t even open until after 6:00 am. Hoards of people with backpacks and poles file in and move through the chaos to get their boarding passes. Then we wait. And wait. A couple of hours later, our flight is called and we load onto a bus, drive out on the runway, park by our plane and wait. And wait. After a couple of more hours we board this tiny, tiny plane and fly to Lukla. It wasn’t until I looked up as we were about to land that I saw how small the runway was and that we were surrounded by mountains and heading into a mountain. Yikes! Everyone clapped with relief when the wheels touched ground 😉
Fred recognized our guide almost immediately from the pictures he had seen on the Green Valley website. His name was Bishwa and he had a big beautiful smile that reached his eyes with a twinkle. Bishwa quickly scooped up our bags and we were off running down uneven cobble like stone narrow pathways to a teahouse where we would have some lunch and touch base on the day’s next adventures. The teahouse main room was gorgeous – the ceiling and walls were covered in t-shirts signed by those who had come before us, and various prayer flags and posters. The furniture was hand painted with intricate designs. And there were two young girls dancing to an imaginary tune.
There is much that can be said of our first day of trekking but to be concise, I will focus on key points. First, the trail itself was a bit of a challenge for me. Unlike in the Canadian Rockies, the path was an extremely uneven “cobble-like” rock and dust trail. The dust coming from the ground made it difficult to breathe at times. Of course, animal poop was everywhere, and the trail was super crowded with various kinds of animals and people. Trail etiquette was a challenge to figure out. Bishwa kept telling me to stay left as passing in Nepal occurred on the right and yet most trekkers were used to passing on the left. Animals were given priority. Horses were dangerous, donkeys could be dangerous, jopkes (hybrid of cow and yak) were large but for the most part docile and yaks were tame. Dogs were incredibly friendly, but one had to be careful engaging them – they were full of ticks and fleas, but even more so, desperate for affection and so would follow anyone that pet them. While most hikers moved out of the way of porters with heavy loads, not everyone did, which I found disturbing.
Second, there were prayer flags, mani stones and walls, and stupas everywhere. Prayer flags are block printed with symbols, prayers and mantras. The colours of the prayer flags are yellow representing earth, green representing water, red representing fire, white representing air(clouds), and blue representing space(sky). Prayer flags are thought to bring peace, compassion, strength and wisdom to all. Buddhists believe the prayers and mantras are blown by the wind to spread good will and compassion. Stupas are large dome shaped monuments or burial mounds used for the veneration of Buddhist saints and relics, or Buddha himself. The Buddhist eyes on these stupas represent the unity of all things and the path to enlightenment through the teaching of Buddha. And mani stones and walls have mantras or devotional designs inscribed on them and revolve around the Buddhist mantra "om mani padme hum." Mani stones can be simple or quite elaborate and etched into slate or rock and sometimes painted. According to Buddhist doctrine, mani walls or stones should be passed on the left side in the clockwise direction in which the earth and the universe revolve.
Third, for reasons still unknown (not altitude sickness), I started throwing up on this first day, and then on every subsequent day of our trip except day 7, 14 and 15. Some days were so bad I was not able to even keep water down. How I made it to Everest Base Camp, I will never know. Bishwa was great as he would continually alter our day’s adventures based on how much I was throwing up.
Fourth, while I had planned to focus on my photography, many of these pictures were taken with an IPhone, for the most part due to convenience. I didn't start using my good camera until Dingboche and then stopped using it when we were back to Tengeboche. Videos have been included in some of these trip reports.
And finally, yes, the mountains were spectacular - and - I treasure learning so much about Nepal and its people, and I know this learning was the greatest gift I received from this adventure.
