Travel Footprints

After 35 minutes in-flight of what seems like the route to ‘Hallelujah mountains’ in the movie Avatar because you see mountain peaks on either side of the plane (except, of course, this is rooted to the ground not floating like in the movies), we made it to the quaint mountain town of Lukla. I will not even talk yet of the extremely exciting landing in the short runway of the Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, I will reserve that for another post because it deserves a whole write-up on its own.

As soon as landing in Lukla, first order of the day for both Mr. Rono and I was to rummage through our bag for our fleece jackets. It was so cooooold! Weather forecast has recorded temperature at 20 degrees Celsius, but real feel must be about 15 degrees!

Mr. Rono poses with our Sherpa, Ang Dawa Rai, in front of 'Starbucks' Lukla

In one of the exhibits we saw during the trek, Lukla was described as the “major point of entry to Sagarmatha National Park Buffer Zone. Its bitumen-surfaced airstrip is particularly busy during the trekking season with more than
50 flights landing per day. Over 90% of the visitors to the area arrive by air at Lukla. The quiet herding village of Lukla has now developed into a bustling town with numerous lodges, restaurants, bakeries and internet cafes.”

You might wonder why only 90% of the visitors arrive via air transportation. We actually met a porter who had to WALK, yes walk, for 3 days to get from Kathmandu to Lukla due to unavailability of seats. Apparently, you can ride a bus from Kathmandu to a town called Jiri and then trek the rest of the way to Lukla…for 3 whole days!

Porters from a big expedition group getting organized

Our trekking team was finally completed after we met our 2 porters in Lukla. The porters and Sherpa got our bags organized while we drink our milk tea and think of the Himalayan adventure slowly unfolding before us.

Mr. Rono and Mrs. Rono for last-minute shopping before the trek begins!