Wednesday, October 2, 2024
The day worked out spectacularly. We had to get up pretty early, of course -we left the hotel at 4:30 AM- but the upside to that was there wasn’t much traffic. We were out to the airport in no time, and then it was a little crowded and busy pushing bags through x ray machines and working our way through various lines. We had just a little bit of waiting and wondering whether the flight would go -it isn’t uncommon for travel to Lukla to be snarled and delayed by weather- but then we got the call and headed out to our plane. We filed into the Twin Otter and strapped in for liftoff at 7:45. Before long the plane was up above the clouds and giant Himalayan peaks were marching past the port side windows. We could pick out Mt Everest looming on the horizon. By 8:15 the pilots had us safely touching down on the tilted runway at Lukla. It turned out that all of our baggage had made the flight as well (which doesn’t always happen). We were in business. And we had earned some good coffee and breakfast. We took a little time to eat and get organized and at 10:30 we set out walking. Downhill at first, we’d landed at 9200 ft, but eventually we did a little climbing as well. We were passing through small farms and villages and dodging porters and pack animals. In just over three hours and about five miles, we pulled into Phakding and our comfortable Tea House on the Bhote Khosi river.
This left us plenty of time to relax through the afternoon and evening. Turns out that tomorrow is another big and important day in a beautiful place.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
PC: Dave Hahn
