Day 1: Lukla to Phakding

“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.”
– Benjamin Disraeli

(The following post is contributed by Kamlesh)

We (Kamlesh, Rush, Varun, and our guide Tshering) landed in Lukla  late morning amid rolling clouds and periodic light showers. After several hours wait for the rest of our team to join us, we finally heard the bad news that they are not able to fly today due to the weather conditions at Lukla. By then, it was late afternoon so we started our trek hoping we will make it to Phakding before it’s too dark. To add to our challenge, it started raining so without loosing any more time, we hit the trail and there starts our first day of the EBC trek!

 

The trek from Lukla to Phakding was what they call “Nepali flat” – a series of up and down trail.

We passed through scenic vistas of prayer stones, suspension bridges, streams, farms, small villages with shops and teahouses, buddhist stupas, prayer wheels, and so on..

By the time we reached at Phakding Guest House where we were going to stay overnight, it was pitch dark with heavy rain, and to add to our misery, there was a power outage.  As soon as we settled into our rooms, the first thing I wanted to do was to take a nice hot shower but I realized that my overnight duffle was switched with someone else’s from our team so it was in Kathmandu! This happened because all the duffles were identical and they weigh you and your baggage before the helicopter ride and decide who/what goes on which chopper based on the weight distribution. So, I was left without a towel or change of clothes. I asked the hotel staff for a towel and when they gave me one, it smelled so horrible that I almost fainted. I managed to take a shower and sleep in my trekking clothes. What a start!

Not sure if it was the effect of 8500 feet elevation or general fatigue from a very long day, but I had lost my appetite and after a bite to eat I went to bed. We woke up to a good news that our other team is on a helicopter on their way directly to Phakding and will be arriving shortly so we quickly got ready to check out and reunited with them near a make-believe helipad.

Day 1: Lukla to Phakding  Photo Album

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