Oct 16, 2005 - Start of the Trek!



We met at 8:00 after breakfast and had a good bus ride back to the airport. The airport was the domestic terminal, where it was very much like the rest of the city - bedlam! Hundreds of people and lots of confusion. Security was pretty strict - we got frisked 3 times! We got on the (rickety) Twin Otter aircraft but the flight was good - as we climbed, we actually got very close to some of the hillsides of the valley. And then the landing at Lukla! It was amazing. At the last minute, it looks like you're going to run into the runway, which slopes up. They suddenly pull up, the stall warning goes off, and you touch down - and everyone applauds! We get out and the place is amazing. The views even from here are incredible. The village of Lukla is an interesting place, too. The children are soooo cute. A couple of kids yelled "Namaste" to us as we walked by. It seems much cleaner here than in Kathmandu. We hiked to a small settlement for lunch where I had Tibetan bread w/egg, and then on to Phakding. Our teahouse is quite nice. Now just getting ready to have dinner and am chatting with our group - a nice evening.