Trek Day 1: Lukla to Phakding

Time taken: 2 1/2 hours (incl. breaks)

Distance: Today: ~6-7 kms            Total to date: ~6-7 kms

Altitude: Lukla - 2860m, Phakding - 2650m, Max ascent: 150m

The am started very early, since I had to be up at 5 am to catch the 6:30 flight.  You can hike up to Lukla from a place called Jiri (you can take a bus to get there), but we chose to start a little further up given my short timeframe, and the potential for hassles from the local rebels (the Maoists) on the trail.  I guess they usually charge a 5000R (~$66) "tax to use the trail" if you meet them, which is apparently pretty common.  Besides, 10-11 days of trekking feels like a stretch, but 20 days feels like forever...

Keisha met me at the hotel and we went together to the airport.  That was an experience in itself.  We must have had our bags searched and been patted down at least 3x each on the way to the plane.  Check-in was easy, since the plane only held ~18 pax.  We were put onto a little minibus out to the plane, but were stopped a few minutes after leaving the terminal, since they almost left someone behind!  Pro organizers...  On the way out to the plane, we passed the military portion of the airport, which contained old planes and helicopters, of which one was sitting there with its tail ripped off!

The plane was a very small turbo prop with one seat on either side of the aisle.  When we got there, the workers sprung into action and started loading luggage and cargo into every availble space on the plane's body.  They even took out some of the seats to make room for more cargo, since the plane was not full. Not sure the weight calculations were properly made, but hey, what do you expect?  We then had to board one at a time by climbing on steps that were mounted on the inside of the cabin door, since the door could not hold much weight...

We started the taxi, and the stewardess came around with candy and cotton balls to be used as ear plugs.  The engines were pretty loud, but not that bad, but I guess if you are not used to it it is a good idea to use them.  No safety video or instructions given, and the safety pamphlet was not in every seat pocket, nor was it even for the correct airplane!  As for the departure schedule, it seems not to be very rigid - mroe like they leave whenever they are ready.  Quite a different world.

The flight was pretty short at ~40 mins, but very beautiful.  Since it was only a little plane, we were not flying very high above the mountains, and got great views of the farms, villages, rivers, and foliage below.  At the end of the flight, we even got a brief view of some of the snow-capped Himalayan mountains!

Landing was our next experience, since the airstrip in Lukla is only ~150 - 200 m long, and is on an incline to make slowing down easier on arrival, and speeding up easier on departure.  Means for a rough landing, but we got down safely.  Lukla airport is a very heavily guarded military stronghold as well, mostly I think to prevent attacks from the Maoist rebels.  The whole compound is surrounded by turrets with heavily armed military officers, and razor wire and sandbags surround all of the airfield as well.  The military has a strong presence here and in Namche Bazaar (a little further down the trail) as they are seen as strategic power points in the trail, and hence the government doesn't want to lose control to the rebels.

I had asked about the safety situation since Nepal has been volatile for quite some time, but was told that things had calmed down a lot in the past few weeks even.  I guess the concerns with the corruption in the royal family had passed since the government was now controlled by official parties in the King's absence, and the Maoists had recently signed a peace accord with the intention of becoming an official government party in the coming couple of weeks.  They were apparently on good behaviour due to this accord.  To top it all off, World Cup fever was also apparently keeping the troublemakers busy, since they were all glued to TV sets to cheer on their favourite teams!  Guess it has ramifications well beyond the expected...

Grabbed some breakfast at a local tea house and then headed out on the trail.  The first day was a pretty easy start to the hike, since it is a good idea to get a little more used to the change in altitude, and also since I hadn't done this much hiking in a while.  The trail was very clearly marked, since it is quite a popular route, and numerous tea houses dotted the side of the trail in the first day.  We had a few stops at these houses to grab a drink of tea - very good for altitude since it helps warm you and with digestion - and also for little breaks in the trek.  While it was a short first day, it was still not that easy, since there were a lot of ups and downs on the trail.

Also alongside the trail were numerous shrines, temples, rocks with inscriptions, monasteries and prayer flags.  The people of Nepal (and especially those in the hills) are predominantly Buddhist.  Buddhists believe that writing your prayers on a flag and letting it blow in the wind is the same as continuously chanting your prayers.  Each gust of wind re-states the prayers over which it passes.

The trail was very busy with local sherpas carrying supplies between villages, usually on their backs, but quite often we passed buffalo helping with the loads.  The greatest dangers on the trail were altitude, the very occasional landslide, and stepping in buffalo shit.

The trail is also host to several suspension bridges as there are numerous river crossings (the trail follows the river for the most part).  The bridges are quite sturdy as they are made of steel wire and steel plates, but sometimes have quite low railings by North American standards.  They are also up to 100 m over the river valley, so it would be quite a fall, and not comfy for those with a fear of heights (Mum?)  The bridges are also the route for both people and animals, so it is not uncommon to see a roadblock as a whole herd of buffalo are being driven across a bridge.

It is pretty common to make new friends on the trail, as there are a ton of stray dogs that very quickly become traveling partners for the tourists.  We had a dog follow us for the whole day and then I think he planned on joining us for the next one had he not been shoo'ed away by the tea house manager.  I guess they look to foreigners for scraps of food, and also for protection, since the Nepalese are not shy about throwing sticks and stones at the animals.

Got into Phakding early in the am - about 10:30 am, and grabbed some lunch prior to taking a nap.  Guess I was mored tired from the hike than I thought!  When I awoke, we went for a short hike up the side of a hill to go visit a monastery in the village.  Very steep climb that was ~200m pretty much straight up, but the monastery and the view down over the village was quite nice.

Met an American girl on the trail that day, so we chatted for a bit on the way back from the monastery, and then parted ways since we were staying in different places.  Later on in the day, an American-born Indian guy came along.  There were very few foreigners on the trail, as this is the second lowest month for tourism on this trail, so any Western company was pretty welcome.  He was an interesting character, who decided on a whim to do this trek.  He had no jacket or gloves, and was basically very unprepared, yet wanted to "do the trek as fast as he could".  Guess he also didn't know much about altitude...  On the way up, he decided to go for a swim in one of the mountain lakes, and was surprised that it was cold.  No kidding - the water does flow down from the glaciers on the mountain tops...  He was also one of the first backpackers that I have ever met who complained about isolation and being alone in a place like this.  Most like their space and privacy, but he yearned for other foreigners to spend time with.  In fact, he was tempted to continue on to Namche Bazaar that day, even though it was another 5 hours of hiking and a tough hike, and it was already late in the afternoon, just to potentially see more foreigners...  Not very clever in all.  In the end, he stayed at our tea house, and I got to listen to him talk for most of the evening...

The family at the tea house was very nice, with a very cute young girl, so I spent much of the afternoon playing with the child and her family.  We were playing with this little toy fox and hiding it on her, etc.  None of the family spoke any real amount of English, but it didn't really matter.  Quite good fun!

The tea houses on the trail are not exactly the lap of luxury, but they are good enough.  Almost all of them are made of local granite and cement on the exterior walls, with corrugated steel roofs.  The interiors are primarly unfinished wood, often with several warped areas, and holes etc. in the floors and walls.  Eating areas are simple wooden benches usually built into the walls, and covered by homemade cushions (if anything), or sometimes plastic patio chairs, around make-shift tables made of wood.

Kitchens are usually steel or iron pots used to cook over an open flame.  Tons of firewood is used, but it is pretty abundant due to all the foliage in the area (at least below 4000m).  Napkins are essentially nowhere to be found (and you have to buy toilet paper), even though the locals usually eat with only their hands, even for soupy daal bhat dishes.  Daal bhat is the local staple food, which usually consists of a yellow lentil soup (daal) with some saag (spinach), or maybe boiled potatoes on the side, and rice.  It is eaten in the mountains by the locals at least once a day, and usually for both lunch and dinner.  Very occasionally some meat is thrown in, but it is a luxury.  The best thing about it is that it is all-you-can-eat, since it is always on the stove..  Breakfast is usually a chapati or fried Tibetan bread.

For the foreigners, there are usually expanded menus consisting of rudimentary versions of typical foreign foods - pizzas, pasta, soup, eggs, etc.  However, since it is now low season, a lot of these things are out of stock, even common things like toast.  The Western foods are less than tasty though, since they often use the same small set of ingredients for many purposes (ie. powdered tomato soup base is used for soup, tomato sauce for pasta and pizzas, etc., canned tuna is on everything = pasta, pizza, dumplings, etc.) As well, since there is limited to no refrigeration (electricity is irregular and almost non-existent, other than solar power, past Tengboche - a few days from now), meat is not on hand since it would just go bad.

Finally, showers are not a regular thing here, since you have to pay a few dollars to get one, which is essentially just boiled water that you can pour over yourself.  Kinda like being back in Ghana...