Survived the Flight to Lukla

We spent yesterday sightseeing and collecting bags and people from the airport. Poor Katherine got left there when it took over 2hrs to clear customs, but after 2 full days of traveling she finally made it to Kathmandu!

The sightseeing was great but a little too long. We were tired from our late night and jet lag and still had prep to do for today. Mark made some friends when he photographed a water truck… the inhabitants were so delighted to be photographed they wound down the window and started playing a flute!

There were a few scary moments when our group had to cross a 6 lane highway! They described the city as an “assault on the senses”!

They witnessed a cremation, and felt very sad for the relatives of the old lady that was being prepared, who were saying goodbye.

Today we were up at 4am, culling our bags so they were under 10kg. We had breakfast at 5am. We had to split into 2 groups because the plane only had room for 16, but they ran every 10min.

The flight to Lukla was smooth, the weather was good and it didn’t get scary until we flew so close to a mountain we thought we could touch it! It got a little bumpy and the pilot has to land us on an uphill runway with a right hand turn at the end of it. Which they did target well!!

2 hours later, Jen appeared saying “that’s a Nepalese 10min”… they’d been held up by paperwork problems for that long.

We finally got trekking, which was marked by frequent donkeys and Caks (cow and yak cross), prayer wheels, and mountains. One remark from Deb makes this blog… on observing Jules lying down “i love everything that happens lying down”… the consensus is that Alan would disagree..

We are now in a great lodge and our crew have had HOT showers!! Winning