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Published: March 15th 2012
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Lukla Airport
A 450m landing strip The plane ride into Lukla from Kathmandu was anything but your typical flight. We got onto the smallest plane I have ever been on that held maybe 12 people. Alex and I were the first ones on the flight and were lucky to get the left side of the plane. The left side means you are able to have a bird’s eye view of the Himalayas for the entire flight! It was pretty unbelievable. The mountains were higher than the plane and the clouds lingered a few hundred meters from the mountain’s peaks. However, the most unbelievable thing was the landing strip. We were flying and slowly getting closer and closer to the ground, nearly hitting the trees and there was still no landing strip in sight! It wasn’t until we felt the plane hit the pavement that we actually realized there was a landing strip. The strip was about 450m long, so the plane had to come to nearly an instant stop as soon as it landed.
So, we began our trek. We were so overwhelmed by the atmosphere. There were mountains and valleys on all sides of us, and these small little villages with stone paths and houses
A valley in Lukla
After a 5 minute walk from the airport this is what we see that lined the edge of the mountains. We felt like we travelled back to the past. Everything here is cooked over wood stoves and fire burning ovens, and the meals are cooked with almost everything locally grown. We ate breakfast with a fellow trekking couple from France in Lukla, and hiked for 6.5 hours that day. It was great! A beautiful river with crystal clear glacier water ran along the entire path, and massive bridges crossed over the river a number of times. However, these bridges weren’t your typical bridges. They were metal wire bridges that swayed and bounced with every step, about 100 meters above the water!
In the first town that we slept at, we met 4 others that had the same idea as us. All of them were solo trekkers, one person from Germany, U.S., the Philippines, and England. So, we ended up travelling with them for the rest of the way.
The next day was tough! It was a three hour, uphill hike to a town called Namche Bazar, where we needed to acclimatize. The three hours took us about 6, and it was probably the hardest part of this entire trek. Our bags
A little boy
A little boy made me a bouquet of flowers while I was wakling up the trail were over packed, and the altitude was taking a huge toll. We were already at 2835 meters above sea level in Monju, and we were climbing to 3440 meters to Namche Bazar. This doesn’t seem like a steep climb, but when you’re already almost 3 km high it becomes much more difficult, every step was a struggle. When we finally arrived in Namche Bazar, we couldn’t believe our eyes. This small town seemed like it was on top of the world. The bottom of the town (it is situated on a mountain side) falls off of a cliff. In front of it, there was a massive snow covered mountain. We stayed here for 2 days to acclimatize, and left some of our gear there to lighten the load for further ahead.
Along the hike, we have come across a variety of people. We usually see Sherpa people carrying massive loads (60 to 80 kilograms) on their back, about every 10 minutes. Or, it could be a herd of yaks or donkeys carrying large loads on their backs, directed by their owners. Also, since this path is the main tourist route to Mount Everest, we come across other trekkers (either
individual or groups) very frequently. However, this doesn’t take from the peacefulness of the trek, although the lodges at night in certain villages can get crowded sometimes!
We are now in Pheriche which is 4270m above sea level. Our sleep last night was a bit difficult, because the altitude is starting to get to us. We only slept a few hours last night and we have heard that the higher you climb the harder it is to sleep. However, we are staying an extra night in Pheriche to acclimatize to the altitude so we should be okay. We attended a talk today given by volunteer doctors from Europe, which helped us to understand and beware of altitude sickness.
It is pretty crazy here. There is no heat and we are in below zero degrees Celsius and there is no running water. Well actually there is, but it is all frozen, which makes daily hygiene quite difficult. Right now there is Alex, our new friend Jason (from America) and I sitting in the sun room, wrapped up in down jackets, sleeping bags, wool hats and mitts trying to stay warm. But, we are also sitting in the middle of
New friends
Our new travel buddies. There is Jason (American), Auto (German) and Simon (English) about 10 snow covered mountains over 5 km high which seems to make it all worth it!
We are having an amazing time, and we should be at Everest Base Camp in 4 days. On the way back down, we should be able to cover everything in half the time, since our bodies will be used to high altitude and low oxygen intake, and, most importantly, we will be walking downhill! We’ll continue to post as often as possible. Thanks for reading!
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Cecilia
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Great Blog!
Love the blog and the pictures. Thanks for the update. My favorite pictures are the bridge with Ash, Alex sleeping, and the little boy giving Ashley the flowers. Keep taking pictures and good luck over the next 4 days. Message us when you can because we think about you both every day. Love Mom