5am came so early. I showered again because I knew showering was going to be a luxury the next two weeks. We had to meet our Kandoo group in the hotel lobby at 6am. We had met everyone the night before in our briefing meeting. Now it was go time. We were given a sack breakfast and then we headed to the Kathmando airport. We had to fly to Lukla. Seems like no big deal but it actually is. They say it is the most dangerous flight in the world. The runway in Lukla is the shortest in the world and so it can de a little dicey. We were going to be flying on a very small plane in the Himalayas to this little mountain town. Often the flights are delayed or cancelled because of unsafe flying conditions. Luckily for us we didn't have any problems.
The airport is so small and so very dirty.
Boarding our flight. If you sit on the left you get to see the Himalayas the entire flight.
It really was such a tiny plane. 20 people on board including the two pilots.
Let's just say I never knew you could fly so close to mountains. I was very grateful to get off the plane.
Watching other planes take off and head back to Lukla. The runway is so short and there are mountains right there. SCARY!!!!!
Once we got off the plane we headed to a tea house to organize all of our stuff. We had to rearrange our bags and get water. In the courtyard we had our first mountain sighting.
We could now have 15KG in the bag the porter would carry and the rest in our daypacks. To fly we were allowed 10kg in one bag and 5kg in the other. Lukla is a small town at 9,300ft elevation. It is much cleaner than Kathmandu. There aren't very many people and no motorized vehicles so that helps. it was exciting to finally be trekking.
Walking through Lukla.
The archway that officially marks the beginning and end of the trek!
There were so many Stupa's along the way. Everyday. Multiple times a day we saw them!
Crossing our first suspension bridges. We would cross a bunch the first two days of the hike.
Our little group right before we crossed the last bridge that lead to our tea house. The weather was amazing.
The first day of hiking was 5.6 miles and mostly gradual downhill. I was not suspecting any downhill so that was a surprise. We stayed in Phakding which has an elevation of 8500ft, almost 1000 ft less than Lukla. Looking at Phakding from across the river.
Our rooms looked very similar every night but I took a picture every night just to document it. This was one of the better rooms because we had our own western bathroom.
There was also hot water so I was able to take a shower which was so nice. Once we got to the tea house we quickly changed out of our sweaty clothes, set up our room, and then went to the common room to hang out. We repeated this pretty much every day.
They would usually start a fire between 5 and 5:30. The fire would burn for around two hours and would heat a small area right around the fireplace. The teahouses were cold, but we knew they would be. Really not much different than the temperature outside. This first night we had no idea how cold it would get further up.
We shared this tea house with the nicest couple from Hungary in their late 50's or early 60's and a family from Abu Dhabi. The family had two sons. It was fun to meet new people and hear their stories. Overall the first day of hiking was great. The temperature was pleasant and the terrain was quite easy.
A couple of thoughts from the notes section on my phone: The trail is so crowded and dusty. Dusty because of the crowds. There are hundreds of people in the Khumba valley trekking any given day during the winter season. We are never alone on the trail. Interestingly this is way less people than peak season. Peak season sees 5000 people a day in the valley. That is insane.
It also just constantly smells like animal waste, which is unfortunate because I know the pine trees must smell glorious we just can't smell them.
Who knew you could cross a cow and a yak to get Dzo? Cattle aren't good working animals and yaks don't go below 3000m so we saw lots Dzo's and mules on the trail today.
It is always comforting to see the heavy stock animals cross the suspension bridges. It gives me hope they won't break on me!
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