7.6 miles, 1722’ climbing
We woke to our alarms at 4am to prepare for our 4:45 airport pickup. We met Bire in the hotel lobby, and took a taxi to the airport where we were scheduled for the first flight of the day on Tara Air. Our hotel had packed us a light breakfast.
It was still dark as we took a bus out to our plane, a twin otter that seated about 18 people. When the propellers started and the engine revved, the plane felt small and a little old. Our flight to Lukla took only about half an hour, starting directly into the rising sun. We had views of some snow packed mountains on the left, and forested hills dotted with houses on the right. We came over one pass quite low, then quickly landed on the short, uphill runway at Lukla. There was only parking for 4 small planes, and we disembarked quickly. Passengers flying back to Kathmandu were already loading as we gathered our bags, and we saw our airplane take off a few minutes later. We met our porter, Deepak.
After a tea break, we headed out of Lukla on the rocky path. Clouds looked like rain, but it never materialized. The cold morning grew warm in the sun. We passed prayer wheels, mani walls, and many local homes and lodges. Bire told us that the mani stones which are carved with Tibetan script are hundreds of years old. We stopped to spin a large prayer wheel in a small building. Bire told us we should spin it 1, 3, or five times for good luck. Our route followed the whitish blue Dudh Khosi River, fed by glaciers.
Bire told us that he lives in a village below Lukla. It is a Sherpa village and his wife is Sherpa though he is Tamang, so he speaks the Sherpa language very well in addition to Tamang, Nepali, Tibetan, English, and many more.
After a lunch of egg fried rice, we continued our walk to Phakding. When mules or dzokos (cow-yak hybrids) passed, we stood aside on the uphill side of the pass. We crossed a couple of suspension bridges and reached our lodge, Hotel Star Lodge. Our room is comfortable and even has an attached bathroom. We chuckled about the bathroom having a window open to the bedroom, potentially useful for passing through snacks or extra toilet paper. We had a break to settle in, then took a short hike to the Pema Chholing monastery. It wasn’t far, but it was steep and a dusty rough path due to so many mules passing along it. The interior paintings were vibrant and large figures maybe made of paper mache were as well. We spent a while looking around and Bire told some about the figures in the paintings before returning to our lodge for tea and a rest before dinner.
We played cards and had tea in the common / dining room after dinner. A wood burning stove made it a little warmer than outside, but we can still see our breath. It will be a lot colder at higher elevations. There were a lot of lodges and fewer trekkers than we expected. Mountaineering expeditions are ramping up at this time of year. We saw helicopters with loads dangling beneath them in addition to all the mules and dzokos (yak-cow hybrids) carrying loads up to expedition base camps.
Best lodge name we saw today: Hotel Beer Garden Lodge. We also saw a Holiday Inn, clearly not affiliated with the North American chain.
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