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0430 the alarm sounded for our big day. Day 1 in the Himalayas. The journey to the airport wasn't without incident when our 4x4 vehicle got stuck in a hole in the middle of the road ! Check in at Kathmandu was seamless and at 0700 we launched for the short trip to Lukla. The Dornier 228 was full of Trekkers - mostly going to Base Camp. The approach and landing at Lukla was as spectacular as we had imagined - a very steep approach followed by an acceleration on touchdown which was a bit unusual but necessary in order to climb up the runway.!!!!!
After picking up our bags we walked over the the Yeti Mountain Lodge to have a cup of tea and to wait for the sun to rise over the ridge and to warm the valley. It was still quite chilly at this point but at about 0900 the sun climbed above the hills and the temperature rose. We set off on a well trodden path which seemed busy but our guide, Lapa, told us that this is a quiet week. The scenery and ambience of the surrounding countryside is unbelievably beautiful. The valley is deep with a fast flowing glacial river flowing through. The valley is wooded but peeking above are the mountains of the Himalayas. We keep having to pinch ourselves .... We are trekking in the Himalayas
We continue along the path, passing plenty of Trekkers both going up and down but also the occasional herd of donkeys and cows carrying goods up and down. This path is the main trading route between Lukla airport and the Everest region and so it gets very busy with traders.
By midday we had reached our lodge. The Yeti Mountain Lodge at Phadking. A lovely welcome of hot pineapple juice and a cheese toastie and chips was lunch. We unpacked before taking a stroll around Phadking which had plenty of small shops and coffee houses as well as lodges and restaurants. Our lodge is lovely although we are the only guests here! The luxury bit is that we have a double bed and an attached bathroom !
Dinner was lovely - soup followed by traditional Nepalese curry with rice. Not much to do in the evening other than write the blog and get our kit ready for tomorrow. The valley gets very cold at night and we need our down jackets and fleeces on.
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