17 October 2005
Day 1: KTM - Lukla (2820m) - Phakding (2620m). 3 Hours
Couldn't sleep last night, very excited for the trek (no gorp though!). Met Dipu at 8am and boarded the Twin Otter for the flight to Lukla. My pack weighs just under 15 kilos (his weighs 5) and I weigh 81 with boots. They loaded us into busses and as soon as the plane landed we headed out. Also cool: the airline is Yeti Airlines. Then the people deplane, fuel is refilled, bags are changed, we get on and it is back in the air in like 15 minutes.
The flight was easy, over terraced hills then about 25 minutes through saw Everest which was way impressive. 10 minutes later we landed, from the seat I could see through the cockpit to a landing strip clearly intended for ants. But we touched down, going up hill, and just before hitting the big rock wall turned right and parked.
The walk today was nice and easy. Biggest problem: yak trains. I'm in ok shape, could be worse. The scenery is great, it is incredible how clear and vivid everything is. Saw some snowcapped 6,000m mountains, not even big enough to be named. The path is actually about 2 meters wide and paved with stones, it wanders past homes, tea houses and various buddhist thingamajigs. Sitting on the patio here reminds me a lot of CB with the dry air, intense sun and cool breezes.
Funny things: Italian shoes, Chineese food, Japaneese wife and American life. Also the box that was printed weirdly so it looked like "butt crack" instead of "butter crackers".
The flight was easy, over terraced hills then about 25 minutes through saw Everest which was way impressive. 10 minutes later we landed, from the seat I could see through the cockpit to a landing strip clearly intended for ants. But we touched down, going up hill, and just before hitting the big rock wall turned right and parked.
The walk today was nice and easy. Biggest problem: yak trains. I'm in ok shape, could be worse. The scenery is great, it is incredible how clear and vivid everything is. Saw some snowcapped 6,000m mountains, not even big enough to be named. The path is actually about 2 meters wide and paved with stones, it wanders past homes, tea houses and various buddhist thingamajigs. Sitting on the patio here reminds me a lot of CB with the dry air, intense sun and cool breezes.Funny things: Italian shoes, Chineese food, Japaneese wife and American life. Also the box that was printed weirdly so it looked like "butt crack" instead of "butter crackers".
