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Published: July 18th 2006
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Before going to Lumbini, thanks to our dodgy travel agency in Nepal, we finally got air tickets from Kathmandu to Lukla, gateway to the Everest region. The guys at the agency were so funny. When we used their calculator to figure out how the ticket cost per person and the USD/Nepali rupee exchange rate, it kept giving us the wrong figure. We finally realized those guys rigged the calculator so that it would divide instead of multiply! So if you multiplied $100 by 2, it would total $50 instead. I guess they were trying to make you think the prices were lower than they really were, so that you would buy tickets from them instead of going somewhere else, then hit you up with the difference in “taxes” in the end.
When we confronted the travel agents about the rigged calculator, they just shrugged and gave us this “OK, you caught us” cagey smile. Then everybody laughed, we used own our calculator instead of theirs, and we continued with the transaction. Little bastards! Priceless!
We flew to Lukla, which is at 2840 meters altitude (9320 feet). Mountain flights leave Kathmandu very early before the clouds roll in and obscure
the runway. Planes are very small and only hold about 16 passengers. Most of the passengers are trekkers, with a few sherpas carrying goods back to Lukla.
All goods in the Everest region must be bussed into Jiri or flown into Lukla, and then carried up the trail by porters. Besides the tourists’ trekking equipment and backpacks, there were sacks of fresh vegetables and fruits, bottles of water, cases of soft drinks and beer, tires, building materials, etc. A bag of onions broke as it was loaded onto the plane and onions rolled across the Kathmandu airport runway.
The flight is only about 30 minutes, but it takes you to a completely different world. The sky was very clear and the mountain scenery was amazing. I was so excited to see my first views of Mt. Everest. I saw other peaks too, including Nuptse, Lhotse and K2. The Himalayas are known as the place of the 8000ers, referring to the 14 highest mountains in the world, which are all over 8000 meters (26,250 feet). The Himalayas have more than 100 mountains higher than 7200 meters (23,620 feet). The highest peak outside the Himalayas is Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina,
Porter with Tibetan prayer stones
Porters carrying this much are an unfortunately common sight in the mountains. Porters lug firewood, food, building materials and pretty much anything else up the trails. I have yet to see a porter carrying a pool table on his back, but I have no doubt it's been done before. which is “only” 6962 meters (22,840 feet). This truly is the rooftop of the world.
The approach at the Lukla airport is crazy. You suddenly dip between two mountains and drop onto the runway. The runway is downhill, so planes taking off can build up enough speed. I have never seen any runway like this before. When you walk off the plane, departing passengers are already waiting outside. Luggage is quickly unloaded and the plane departs back to Kathmandu almost immediately. You walk out of the airport, and you are already in town and on the trail that takes you up into the mountains.
You could tell the difference between trekkers coming down out of the mountains and those who had just arrived by the look in their eyes. We call this “the mad glint.” You also see many locals with this look. It’s hard to explain, but it’s nothing to be afraid of; most of these people are completely content and relaxed. Maybe the high altitude and isolation do something to your brain, but many people have life-changing experiences in the mountains.
We immediately noticed a difference in the altitude. The air is thinner and the
temperature is cooler than Kathmandu. We also noticed that prices are more expensive than Kathmandu, since everything has to be flown in.
Lukla’s economy is based on trekking tourism, and the town is full of teahouses, trekking agencies, bakeries, shops, etc. catering to the tourists. Several locals asked us if we needed guides or porters, but we don’t need porters because we are carrying our own backpacks. Due to the political upheaval in Nepal, there are not as many tourists and many locals are desperate for work. However, the situation is not as bad in the Everest region. Because this area does not have Maoist problems, many trekkers and climbers still come here. Pokhara and Annapurna are a completely different story, and the local economy has been devastated by the collapse of the tourism industry.
We had breakfast and started walking uphill out of Lukla, buying some yak cheese on the way. Really, it's nak cheese, as the nak is the female and the yak is a male. On that day, we passed through beautiful forests and some really cute villages, which look a bit like Hobbiton. We crossed numerous suspension bridges over the river. The bridges weren’t
too rickety, unlike the decrepit bridges with huge holes that I have used in other countries.
I like all the colorful prayer flags and hand-carved Tibetan prayer stones. Sherpas are Buddhists who speak a language similar to Tibetan. You see a lot of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in this region. The Tibetan writing looks a bit like the runes from Mordor. I wonder if Tolkien based some of his Mordor and Elvish runes on Tibetan.
That day, we were joined by a dog who I christened Cujo. Cujo followed us for the longest time. Nepali dogs really like western tourists because we are much nicer to the dogs than locals, and we saw dogs following western trekkers a few times. A group of annoying school kids followed us through a village and threw rocks at Cujo. Sadly, it was not uncommon to see Nepalis taunt or throw rocks at dogs. I guess dogs are the only creatures that these people who are constantly threatened by the stick can pick on.
We spent the first night in Benkar, which is at 2630 meters altitude (8630 feet). At 50 rupees (about $.75) a night, plus 50 rupees for a shower,
this was the cheapest accommodation I've found in all of Asia. The place was clean but very basic, with no electricity and a toilet/outhouse outside. The teahouse owner was very kind, though he definitely had the mad glint in his eye. We talked to his 9 year old daughter so she could practice her English. Dinner was dhal bhat, the food that Nepalis eat morning, noon and night and which we came to know very well. Dhal bhat is a bowl of lentils served with a plate of rice and vegetables. This dhal bhat had spinach grown in the family's garden and was quite tasty.
We enjoyed the second day of walking. The valleys are beautiful and we saw some fantastic waterfalls. We had our first yak sighting just below Namche. Yaks only live above 3000 meters (9840 feet); temperatures below this altitude are too warm for them. We started getting a few mountain views near Namche, but the mountains seem to be covered by mist and clouds in the late afternoons, due to the beginning of monsoon season.
That day was fun until the ascent to Namche Bazar, which is at 3440 meters altitude (11,290 feet). That
last haul is a bastard of a climb, with a trail that keeps winding endlessly up and around these steep hills. The worst part is that you think you are already in Namche, but you've only reached the outskirts and you have to keep going up even higher. I was stalked by a yak on the way into Namche. Every time I would stop, the yak would stop, and every time I would walk, this creature would shuffle along behind me. It took longer than expected and it was already starting to get dark when we arrived. That day, we climbed about 800 meters.
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