The Trek Begins - Day 1

6th April 2008 - Our day started very early with a 4.30 wake up call ready for transfer to the Kathmandu airport where we were to fly out to Lukla - the starting point of our 16 day trek in the Everest region of the Himalayas.

My god, you should have seen my face when I saw the plane we were going on!! It was a twin otter, approx 12 seats, run by Yeti Airlines. We were fortunate enough to have had the first flight out of Kathmandu which was ok, as they only fly until the weather turns sour. The weather turned sour at about 11.00am that day, so visibility was nil. No more flights to Lukla for that day! The flight itself wasn't as bad as what I thought it would be. It cracked me up that they had a airline hostess on board even though there was practically no room for her to move between the seats to offer lollies and cotton wool. The landing was very eventful - it was the smallest runway I have ever seen and plonked on a nice slope.

Once inside the baggage claim area we were greated by our Sherpa Guide Ang Dawa and Porter Kaljar, then taken to the Sherpa Coffee Shop for a briefing on our trek and some breakfast. By the time we were ready to take off on our trek it was pouring with rain AND it didn't stop all day, so we donned the ponchos over the trekking gear and off we went. Our Porter carrying our duffel bags of approx 22 kilo's and a gamow bag 7 kilo's (gamow bag is a little pressure chamber which simulates lower altitude). I had asked for one of these to be taken on our trek, as before leaving home, my blood pressure had been unusually high which caused me a little bit of concern.

So off we went........up and down, through villages for approx 7 hours until we reached our first destination...a little village called Monjo where we were to stay at a little tea-house. It was pretty cold in there for us....after walking all day in the rain, what with sweating at some stages and then freezing at others! It took 2 cups of tea and 2 changes of clothing and when someone eventually lit the fire, before I actually felt a bit of warmth. Once feeling warm and pretty happy that we managed a 7 hour trek, I decided to ask for a COLD BEER. The guide took a beer straight out of the cabinet and gave it to me. I said to Brad....oooh I don't know if I'll be able to drink that - it hasn't been in the fridge....just have to have cold beer. The tea-house people though it was very funny as they never refrigerate beer in the Himalayas due to the altitude. Oh how stupid of me - I opened the beer and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was VERY cold!