Today, we woke up and drove to the Kathmandu airport in order to fly to Lukla Airport, one of the most dangerous airports in the world. Our plane seated roughly ten or twenty people and was a propeller plane. Stairs to board the craft were attached to the door and could only support one person at a time, and we could see into the cockpit because there was no door. As we took off, the turbulence was extreme and Aba looked like he was about to die!
We landed early at another airport and, because the wind had made it impossible to land at Lukla, we were afraid we would have to cancel our trek! However, the weather turned and we got back into the plane and flew to Lukla. I had watched planes land in videos of the famous mountainside airport, but nothing could’ve prepared us for our descent. The plane shook and air streamed through cracks in the aircraft, making my ears pop. When we exited the plane and saw the runway, I was shocked to see is short length, it’s one of the shortest runways in the world, and its ending: a rock wall of the mountain.
After eating a little bit at a Lukla restaurant, we hiked for three hours until we reached a small village called Phakding, where we stayed for the night. We played UNO, at dinner, did homework, and went to sleep.
This morning we woke up and began hiking to the next village. Many, many people crowded the trail, and in the daylight, I was able to see just how tourist-geared Everest is. Every couple of minutes we came across another large town packed with guesthouses. The pathway was paved with stones and the children seemed to be expecting candy from the trekkers! It struck me how different this trek is and will be from the Annapurna.
The hike was six hours long, but the last two hours consisted of a steep uphill climb so when we finally arrived at Namche Bazaar it was a relief. Namche is enormous. It must have thirty or forty buildings and it’s probably three times the size of Manang!
Before I write any more, I have to tell you about our guest house. It is called the Holiday Namche and it is located right in the middle of the small city. The building itself is very clean and organized; all the pillows on the benches in the dining room are spaced evenly and the wooden tables sparkle. Instead of a wood or coal stove, there is a gas heater. Our rooms, though small, are cozy and warm and not cramped in the least. The toilet is western and the bathroom is clean and well lit. It even has one of those scent packets (something I am grateful for considering the smells of most of the toilets on our treks)! The sink, which was surprising in itself, even had a bar of soap! When we ate dinner later that night, before they brought us our food they gave us warm, wet towels to clean our hands, something I never would have expected! Though we have to pay for WiFi, charging is free, another oddity. The owners themselves seem to be friendly and are very helpful. They seem to take pride in their establishment and with good reason. I’m going into a lot of detail about our lodgings for the next two nights because I highly recommend this place. It is a lot better than most of the hotels we saw in Kathmandu, and if anyone reading this decides to climb the Everest, I highly recommend lodging here and supporting this family. Once we got settled into our rooms, we came downstairs and I weaved a bracelet from the strings we bought while descending the Annapurna, and snacked a little. Ganesh came and we went to see a movie called Everest, a fairly new film made in 2015, which I enjoyed immensely. After the movie, we returned to the guest house to eat dinner and then brushed our teeth and blogged. After I read for a short while, we went to sleep.
This morning we woke up at a reasonable time and ate breakfast. We hiked to a National Park by climbing a steep slope and saw a sweet little grey and white cat on the way. At the park, there was a small outdoor museum. There was a statue of a man who climbed Everest and two stones from the Dead Sea. The artist had also taken two stones from Everest and put them by the Dead Sea, though I don’t think I saw them when we visited there.
We hiked back down and spent the rest of the day reading at the Everest Bakery, where we had eaten cake the day before. We returned to the hotel and took showers, then played UNO and ate dinner. After blogging and doing homework, we went to sleep.
14-21-15-14-4 18-4-23 6-18-5-1-26-1-13-10 4-13-9 13-4-12-5-24-6 18-4-23 24-21-10-6!
Ella