And they're off (after a chocolate croissant)!

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After safely disembarking at Lukla, a quick stop for a pot of tea and some delicious baked goods (you can't start on an empty stomach) we were off!

Day one's aim was to get as far along the track towards the hill up into Namche Bazaar (think hidden stairway into Mordor type of climb), thus in theory making for an easier day the next as we tackled said hill of doom.

The track was a breeze to start with, a steady downhill, paved through cute little villages with children running out to yell "NAMASTE!!" We wandered along for a few hours before stopping at the village of Phakding for lunch (buff momos, soup and noodles - pretty much a staple for the whole trek). Feeling satisfied and pretty alive, we trekked on.

We powered through the last couple of hours (starting to get a bit tired, and those lovely downhills had the nasty flip side of some steep stairs to climb), so we bunked down at the lovely village of Josale, tucked in under the mountain against a river. We'd come as far as we could before the climb to Namche, so an all round success for day one!!!

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