Lukla

We flew in to Lukla today to begin the trek to Everest Base Camp. We left the hotel at 5:15 and took 30 minutes to weave our way to the city to the airport. The domestic terminal was total chaos. Porters grabbing bags and taking them away, different lines to get into, confusion about who had what tickets and what plane to get on. It was great.

We did manage to get onto our plan, a decrepit Dornier. The thing was ancient and the pilots looked like teenagers. We took off for the quick 30 minute flight to the mountain airstrip at Lukla. We could see some of the high peaks coming in but it was pretty hazy. The landing was quite exciting -- cross over a ridge and then a steep drop to the airport's short (about 500 meters) and uphill runway. You get only one attempt at landing. The runway ends into the mountain. The pilots, though, were quite good. They needed only about three quarters of the runway to stop. The passengers applauded the successful landing.

Getting off the plane was just as confusing. The porters quickly unloaded the gear and took it away and we were led away. A group of passengers were queued for the return trip to Kathmandu.

We spent a short time at the lodge we will be staying at tonight and then Gerry, Dennis (from Kuala Lampur) and I set off to explore the village. It was a pretty amazing site with the shops, sherpas taking their huge loads onto the trails. About halfway through the village we came across an Irish Pub and a "Starbucks". You'll never know what you'll see.

Gerry and I took a quick hike down the trail our of town. There was a lot of traffic--pedestrian, there are no vehicles here. The trails were rough and steep, but people of every age seemed to be moving up and down quite well. It's amazing the size of the loads that the porters carry. But this is the only means of getting supplies to the villages. There seemed to be a lot of beer going up.

We came back into the village and Gerry decided to get a haircut from the local barber. He got a pretty tight cut, a shave, an eyebrow trim, and a head massage with yak cream.

After lunch were headed back out for another hike with the sherpas. They took a to a small village in the valley. On the way we visited a stupa (Buddhist temple) and a government school. Our group was the hit of the school yard, probably because the kids got a little time away from their studies. The school was very basic and rustic but they did have computer lab. As in most societies, the kids were really charming, friendly and cute. I love the very proper uniforms that they wear.

Back up to the village and afternoon tea. We probably did about 800 meters of climbing today. Not bad for our first day at altitude.

Tomorrow, we begin our two day trek to Namche Bazaar, the main village in the Khumba Valley. I will be out of contact until then, but will try to post an update sometime on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Namaste.