Nepal had been on our radar for a while – it was just a case of deciding what exactly to do once we arrived. Coming from Dhaka, we were thinking, “Surely there can’t be a city that is more intense…”
We were wrong – Kathmandu is pretty gross, and by the time we had spent six days there, we were definitely ready to leave and see some mountains.
Our first bit of time was spent checking out temples, shopping for required trekking gear, avoiding being hit by crazy drivers, learning how not to get ripped off, but generally enjoying the hectic and tourist-y pace of life that is Thamel and its surrounds. Lorinda wandered around with a perpetual smile on her face, happily perusing more headbands than even SHE could look at, funky earrings and other assorted sparkly trinkets.
Just to get a taste of the mountains, we ventured up to the edge of the Kathmandu Valley to the town of Nagarkot where we had our first views of the Langtang Range. The 1½ hour journey out there in a taxi whose door and boot seals didn’t work made breathing difficult, but it was worth it. Mountain views and a chance find of the world’s most glorious tea house made our day. The tea house was perched on a steep hill and high enough that we could look DOWN on eagles catching thermals and circling up was breathtaking. Easily one of the most peaceful and awesome sights ever.
Our next goal was to catch up with Dan and Rand, our mates who’d lived in the UK for the last 18 months and happened to be in Kathmandu at the same time as us. Fire and Ice was to be the location, and I dunno if it was the cheesy goodness on the best pizzas I’ve had since leaving Australia in August, but their Everest Base Camp (EBC) anecdotes made us giddy enough to forget the Annapurnas and head East instead. Chomolungma here we come…
Our journey began with the flight from Kathmandu to Lukla, which even though it began with 9 hours of delays before fog/wind cancelled the flight, resulted in us meeting a bunch of really cool people. Firstly Nathan and Simone, a NSW couple looking to do the same trek as us, who we met in the pre-dawn dark outside the airport. Next was Lesley and Sam, a fellow South Aussie couple doing the EBC trek for their honeymoon, decked out in very professional-looking gear for their privately guided journey. The end result of hanging out together for the day before finally having our flights cancelled meant that we were united by countless cups of black tea and unsatisfied anticipation, so decided to all have dinner and a few brews together at OR2K (very groovy Middle Eastern restaurant), just to cement what was to be a great friendship that would strengthen over the next couple of weeks.
The next day, all was go! Our first flight on a small plane was preceded by playing hacky-sack and hacky cricket on the tarmac whilst waiting for the plane to be re-fuelled (that’s right boys, right to the ‘Full’ mark thanks…) and culminated with the hairiest landing we’ve ever experienced. Picture this - a pretty town, lovely scenery, mountain-side runway landing with a 16 storey incline from touchdown to parking. One pair of clean jocks gone already, and we hadn’t even started trekking yet!
Beginning the trek from Lukla at 2850m was a little weird. Quite literally once we had got off the plane and persuaded the luggage manager that our bags were in fact ours, there was nothing to stop us beginning the trek. The first twenty minutes were a gentle slope downwards, cleverly masking the ascent that we were to begin very soon. Our first day took us from Lukla to a larvely little spot called Benkar where we found what was to be the best Tibetan noodle soup anywhere up or down the trail. Great way to begin the trek and only got down to 1 degree that night!
|
