Everest Trek Day 13: Lukla to Kathmandu

  Kathmandu, Nepal
Monday, December 10, 2007

Lukla (2840m) -> Kathmandu (1355m)

You know, I don't know why I even bothered to set the alarm for 5:15am. Actually, the snooze button saved us only a little pain as we only got up at around 5:40am. That would give us 5 minutes to get ready and make it to the dining room for our 5:45am breakfast that we pre-ordered the night before. All this for the 7:15am flight to Kathmandu that was almost certain to be delayed.

As soon as I walked outside on my way to the dining room I knew I made a mistake in getting us both up that early as I had just walked into a wall of cloud.

Ok, perhaps I was overly optimistic in thinking that flights would be leaving on time today. But I just didn't want to take that chance of getting up later because what if this morning was the one time that flights from Lukla did leave on time? Of course then I found out that that day was yesterday (i.e. yesterday flights left on time).

Fog at Lukla Airport

Well, maybe delayed flights were for the best because for starters our 5:45am pre-ordered breakfast only showed up after 6am. But at least we could take the time to relax a bit and enjoy the breakfast.

Our relaxation continued until 8am as that when it looked like it was clearing up. The lodge staff was staying in touch with the airport and that's how we knew the status of the flights. But now that it appeared that the fog was lifting we decided that it was time to head to the airport.

The road to the airport was simply treacherous. The one road had been completely dug up so there was a deep trench in the middle and then two embankments on either side of the trench. Noori's job as porter was complete last night so now it was our burden to carry our own packs through this hazardous path. There were a couple of times that I really thought I was going to slip down into the trench and that would really hurt. Well, maybe it would hurt my pride more than anything physical but it would still hurt. Crossing the trench was usually done by walking across a piece of wood or 2 that had been haphazardly placed there. I thought the hard core trekking was done.

Fortunately the airport was not far away but by the time we arrived there the fog had become thicker once again and that faded our previous optimism of an early flight out. Walking in the airport we noticed that all the other airlines had either offices open or their check-in counters open. But not our Sita Air. They had nothing open. The response we got to our queries about where the Sita Air administration was (which was likely one guy) was that they were still sleeping. That quashed any optimism that we may have had left.

Sita Air Check-in

After about an hour the Sita Air guy I guess did wake-up and come to the airport and opened check-in and our bags were checked in and tossed onto a pile of other baggage after it had gone through a lacklustre search.

Upon hearing that it would be a while before the flights would come from Kathmandu, and then subsequently take us to Kathmandu, we decided to head across the path to a bakery. A couple of German guys decided to join us as they were in a similar situation as us and every other passenger in that airport. Actually it was good just hanging out in this bakery exchanging trekking stories and enjoying tea and momos and watching TV.

At 11am everything changed as we got word that the planes were on their way from Kathmandu. We didn't know for sure in what order they were coming or even if there was a Sita Air plane was in the air but we quickly made our way across the path back to the airport, noticing enroute that much of the low-lying fog had now lifted.

It used to be an airport with no energy containing only a few travellers and airport workers with indifferent expressions on their faces. But now things were different. Suddenly this little airport was bustling with activity and people were scrambling here and there and even more people were looking confused trying to make sense of everything from where they check-in their bags to which planes were on their way. The place was crowded now and there was an excitement in the air that almost seemed unusual. I mean, how unusual can it be when this same story plays out at this airport almost every single day?

While looking around the airport someone familiar caught my eye. I took a second look. No, it couldn't be. It was our porter Noori. What was he doing here? It took a bit of time and deciphering but apparently he was on his way to a small village named Phaplu by air.

"You are going to Phaplu by air?"
"Yeah"
"Isn't it only a one day walk to get there?"
"Yeah"
"But isn't it expensive to fly there?"
"Yeah"
"Ok then, well, have a nice flight."
"Yeah"

It really dumbfounded us actually because usually they don't have much money so it was rather perplexing that he would spend it on a short flight rather than just walk there considering that it would be relatively easy for him to get there by foot. How much were we paying him anyways? At first we were quite shocked because we initially deduced that he was taking helicopter there which would have been enormously expensive but it turned out that he was actually taking a plane there. Still it was very odd and it only added to the mysterious anomaly that is Noori.

As everyone was anticipating the arrival of the planes, we suddenly heard yells ring through the air in the airport: "YETI! YETI! YETI!". Mere minutes later a Yeti Air plane landed on the runway and people were quickly ushered off and their luggage was removed. This was immediately followed by the boarding of the passengers waiting to go to Kathmandu. The plane was only still for scarce minutes in total. Just as abruptly as it arrived it started down the runway, went over the cliff, and it was off to Kathmandu.

It was quite the process to watch that all happen and we were quite certain that we would be watching that all day as there was no doubt in our minds that our Sita Air flight would be last. But hardly a few minutes went by, just past 11:30am, when we heard more cries echo through the airport: "SITA! SITA! SITA!". I was sure that the speakers on the wall were for a loudspeaker system however it looked like they preferred the time-honoured tradition of yelling at the top of their lungs. In any case, it took a moment to register that they were yelling the arrival of the Sita Air flight from Kathmandu! This meant this would be our plane heading back to Kathmandu. Perhaps we would have to withdraw our "Fly Sita, Fly Last" motto that we had created for this airline.

Our Sita Air Plane

So we headed outside and watched as the Sita Air plane landed on the sloped runway. The passengers disembarked, much like we did 13 days before, and hardly a moment later we were herded onto the plane and the bags were stuffed into the luggage compartment. Before we knew it, the plane had taxied back onto the runway and was now accelerating down it. I suddenly remembered how exhilirating the landing into Lukla was and the take-off was no less brilliant.

We noted two planes coming towards Lukla as we were leaving the area. Wow, when the fog lifts this airport environment is just fast-paced.

There we were flying in a 20-seater among the hills of Lukla with the mountains in the background and clouds all around us. Almost 2 weeks ago we had landed in Lukla and now we were saying goodbye. There were scarce moments during the trek that it felt like longer than two weeks but in the end it felt like it went by much faster. I don't think either of us could really believe that the trek was now actually over.

Terraced fields

Thirty-five minutes was all it took for the plane to touchdown in Kathmandu. As the door opened we were immediately greeted by the warm and polluted Kathmandu air. As fantastic as the trek was, it was nice to be back in the big city.

We got back to our hotel only to find out that it was closing in 5 days. New ownership was taking over and no one there seemed to know what that meant but what it meant for us was that we had to be out of there by then.

Although Mazen was feeling much better he figured it would be prudent to go to the doctor and it was the doctor's opinion that he was suffering soley from the altitude and not from anything related to bronchitis or recovery from bronchitis. I guess that did seem probable now as his health had improved the lower in altitude we went. What a frustrating ordeal it was for him during the trek.

Landing in Kathmandu

During the last few days of the trek I recall thinking that there were 3 things I couldn't wait for when I got back into Kathmandu:
- a good shave (two weeks of growth was really starting to bother me)
- a nice hot shower
- a quiet and great dinner with my travelling partner

The universe apparently had a response for each of my three desires:
- my electric shaver was completely dead
- Kathmandu was cloudy today and the water is solar-heated (i.e. no hot water)
- dinner was rushed so it was hardly peaceful as Mazen had to meet a friend of his who would be leaving the next morning

Anyways, I took a very unpleasant cold shower and gave up the battle when trying to use a disposable razor but at least I ate some semblance of a nice dinner.

In the end none of that really mattered as all that came to mind was everything that I experienced during the Everest Base Camp trek:
- The rushed trek preparation in Kathmandu
- Landing and taking off in one of the most dangerous airports in the world
- Tashi, the two-year old boy who would always take our trekking poles at our first lodge
- Neema, the six-year old girl who we played cards with at the first lodge
- The superhuman strength of many of these porters
- Our first view of Everest
- Our saviour Noori whom we hired for our 2nd day onwards to carry our stuff
- Namche Bazaar
- Apple pie in Namche Bazaar
- The double peaked Ama Dablam
- The monastery in Tengboche
- Mars momos
- Yak dung stoves
- Meeting Everest conquerers
- Being caught in a snow storm at 5000m
- Waking up to snow-covered landscape in Dingboche
- The Everest Marathon
- Monuments to some who have died on Everest
- Kala Patthar and the view of Everest and everything from its peak
- The British guy being persued by various intelligence agencies
- Yak steak

Of course I also thought back to the presentation that my co-worker gave in Ottawa that initiated my interest in doing this trek in the first place. Most of all I will remember the more-than-spectacular views that I saw with my own eyes, the hardships along the way that I had to endure in order to be awarded the privilege of these views, and the experience of sharing these views and hardships with my friend Mazen as we trekked towards the highest mountain in the world.

I have less than a week and a half remaining in Nepal. How would I follow up a trek like that?