Nepal Trek Day Fifteen: Lukla - Kathmandu

I'm taking a trip down memory lane with a look back at our trip to Nepal last December. For all of the entries about our trek, click here.

Today marked the final day of our trek in the Himalayas. It was definitely a bittersweet moment -- the trip I had dreamed about taking for 10 years was nearing its end -- but I have to admit I was looking forward to returning to lower elevations, warmer temperatures, and hot running water.

We were up early for breakfast, as our plane was scheduled to leave fairly early in the morning. After breakfast, we packed up our big red bag one last time, and Dilip schlepped it over to the airport. Upon our arrival at the airport, we learned that no planes had left Kathmandu due to clouds. To bide the time, the four of us wandered over to a nearby "bakery" and got some hot beverages to drink. Shortly after, Dilip said his goodbyes and headed back to Namche. After our snack, D, Bharat, and I headed back to the airport to continue the wait for our flight. 

{Bharat, Dilip, and me}

 {Lukla airport}

 {runway}

D and I hung out in the airport waiting room for awhile, then headed outside to bask in the sunshine. Bharat waved us back in around 9:30a and we went through "security." Unfortunately, I forgot that I still had my multi-tool in my backpack that I was carrying on and it was confiscated. Eventually our plane arrived, and as soon as the arriving passengers de-planed, it was our turn to board. Bharat was on it and made sure that we got prime seats on the righthand side of the plane. Forty-five minutes later, we were back in Kathmandu.

Upon our arrival in Kathmandu, Prim was waiting for us at baggage claim, and we quickly loaded up the car and were back on our way to the Samsara Hotel. Once we arrived back at our hotel (which took a bit of time due to the chaotic traffic of Kathmandu), we said our goodbyes to Bharat, but made plans to meet up on Christmas day. We dropped our stuff off at our room and made our way back down to the hotel's restaurant for lunch. Right after lunch we found our way to a local "department" store, where we stocked up on sundries including shampoo, soap, shaving cream, and razors. Once back at the hotel, I enjoyed a much-needed long, hot shower. We spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing and making use of the hotel's free wi-fi.

D and I consulted our Lonely Planet guidebook to find a place to eat for dinner. We decided on La Dolce Vita, an Italian restaurant. Oh, it was so good. We feasted on bruschetta, pasta, red wine, and had tiramisu and espresso for dessert. Our bill came to 1990 rupees -- about $24 --  and it was totally worth it.

Nepal Trek Day Fourteen: Namche - Lukla

Over the next three weeks, I'm taking a trip down memory lane with a look back at our trip to Nepal last December. For all of the entries about our trek, click here.

Today marked the final day of our trek -- well, at least the final day of actual trekking, anyway. Today we would walk from Namche all the way back to Lukla. Following breakfast, we hit the trail around 9a. The coolest sight of the day was spotting an impeyan pheasant - the brightly-plumaged national bird of Nepal. A second interesting sight of the day was watching porters carrying HUGE loads of empty plastic bottles up to a bottled-water facility in Namche -- particularly as they attempted to navigate the steep turn to get up on a suspension bridge. At one point, a few people helped to push one porter along as his giant load got caught in the rocks. Craziness! 

We stopped for lunch around 1p at the same lodge in Phakding where we had spent our first night. While the trail from Namche to Phakding had been mostly downhill, the trail to Lukla featured a slow slog upward. We finally arrived in Lukla around 4:45p. On our way back through town I took a photo of the Lukla "Starbucks" -- really just an Internet cafe, I think. (It was closed for the season.) We wound our way through town to our lodge for the evening, which was located near the airport. This evening our fully-furnished room featured a private bathroom with a hot shower! D opted to shower while I decided to hold off one more day until our arrival back in Kathmandu (the lack of towels and cold air being the deciding factor for me). 

During dinner, the lodge owner showed a vintage 1950s-era documentary about Edmund Hillary's expedition to summit Mt. Everest. All of my travails during our trek paled in comparison to what those porters and climbers faced!

{leaving Namche}

{impeyan pheasant - national bird of Nepal}

{last view of Mt Everest}

{porter loaded down with a huge load of water bottles}

{agrarian view on our back to Lukla}

{Lukla Starbucks -- not really}

{our lodge in Lukla}

Nepal Trek Day One: Kathmandu - Lukla - Phakding

Over the next three weeks, I'm taking a trip down memory lane with a look back at our trip to Nepal last December. For all of the entries about our trek, click here.

Sleep was evasive the night before we left for our trek. I woke every hour on the hour in anticipation of the adventure ahead of us. I ended up giving up on sleep and got up around 4:45a. We repacked our trekking bag (which our porter would carry) for the umpteenth time and moved several items into our city bag, which we would store at our hotel while we were gone. The bag was still ridiculously heavy, but it was full of necessities -- clothes, our sleeping bags, sundries, trekking poles, and the like. In additional to our big pack, each of us also carried a large daypack, which held extra clothing layers, water, cameras, and other items we'd want with us while we hiked.

Prim came with Bharat to pick us up from the hotel just past 6a and we made our way to the airport. We scooted through "security," and then waited for our flight to depart. Seating on the small turbo-prop plane was first-come, first-served, and Bharat made sure to get on the plane ahead of us to save us the good seats while he sat further back. As we got onto the plane, the flight attendant handed out pieces of candy and cotton to stuff our ears with. (I used my own handy-dandy ear plugs; the plane was LOUD.) Though we boarded around 7:30a, we didn't end up taking off for another hour, as they were doing some work on the tarmac. 

{inside the plane}

The flight was spectacular and offered amazing views of the Kathmandu Valley, small villages clinging to mountaintops, and snow-covered peaks. We flew fairly close to the ridgelines, making for a bit of a white-knuckle flight. 

{view of Kathmandu Valley from the plane}

The real "highlight" of the flight would be landing (and later taking off from) the Lukla airport. Deemed one of the world's most dangerous airports (apparently the History Channel called it the "world's most extreme airport"), here is an accurate description of the airport from Wikipedia:

The single runway is 1,500 feet (460 m) long, 65 feet (20 m) wide and has a 12% gradient. The elevation of the airport is 9,100 feet (2,800 m). ... Due to the terrain, there is no prospect of a successful go-around on short final. There is high terrain immediately after the northern end of the runway and a steeply angled drop of about 2,000 feet (610 m) at the southern end of the runway into the valley below.

Yeah, the landing is a bit dramatic. Here's a video from YouTube showing a plane landing and taking off at the Lukla airport:

{our plane after landing in Lukla}

After deplaning, we grabbed our gear and met Dilip, our porter. We were immediately a little nervous (and felt quite bad about the size of our bag) after first seeing him as our North Face base camp duffel bag was nearly as large as him, but he proved to be crazy strong and agile even when encumbered with our ginormous bag. Time was not wasted, and after pulling out our trekking poles, we were on our way.

{walking through Lukla}

{leaving Lukla}

{Bharat and D head down the trail}

{agriculture}

{lunch break}

We hiked for about an hour before stopping for lunch at the Khumbiyula View Lodge and Restaurant for lunch. We went traditional for our first meal and both had a cup of black tea and dal bhat (lentils and rice) for lunch. Following our lunch, we had another two hours to go until arriving at our destination for the night - Phakding. 

{suspension bridge}

That day's trail included the first of what would be many suspension bridges. D and Bharat got a kick out of stopping in the middle of the bridge for a chat, while I wanted to just jam my way across the bridge and get it over with.

{trail traffic jam}

{carved rocks along the trail}

{carvings up close}

{Khumbu Traveller's Guest House Phakding}

{our lodge room}

{our fantastic bathroom with flush(!) toilet}

We arrived in Phakding around 2p, and after dropping off our gear, we took an hour-long nap. About an hour later, Bharat took us on a quick tour of the small village so that we could get our bearings. Dinner was around 6p, and we got our first taste of the lodge experience. We met up in the dining room with other guests staying in the lodge and sat around the woodstove in the center of the room to keep warm. Ambience was provided by a monk staying at the lodge who spent the evening chanting in his room.

D and I both ordered the "Himalayan pizza" for dinner, which totally hit the spot, even if some of the vegetables were unidentifiable in the weak light of the dining room. We hit the hay at 7:45p (early bed times would become the norm in upcoming days) and prepped our alarms for to wake up in time for breakfast at 7a. According to Bharat, tomorrow's hike to Namche would be "one of the four hard days."

 
{river view below Phakding}