EBC Day 1/ Arriving in Lukla

Successfully made it to Lukla and began the long trek up the Everest Base Camp.

We had a breakfast of sausage, beans and eggs at 6 and then left for our second attempt at the airport at 6:30. The goal was to fly out at 8 or 8:30. I quickly realized we would not be flying out that early and settled in for another long day at the airport.

I continued to read my book and after a few hours I was nearly done with it. I decided to buy another book so I would have something to read during the trek. In the spirit of hiking to Everest Base Camp I bought Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer about a failed expedition to summit Mt. Everest.

Other flights began to take off to Lukla and we got hopeful that our turn would come soon. Shortly after they announced it was clear enough for our flight to take off. We got on a bus that shuttled us over to our tiny airplane. It was just big enough to fit out group of 17.

I didn't want to get my hopes up until we were officially flying, because the weather can change and there have been times when people had to get back off their plane. Once we were in the air I was filled with relief. It was a short and turbulent flight with absolutely stunning views.

When we finally arrived at 2,860 m in Lukla it was about 1:45 so we headed to a teahouse for lunch. With tea, fried rice, and noodles in our bellies we were ready to hike to Phadking. Located 200m below Lukla it was an easy 9km hike. The view were beautiful and surprisingly luscious.

Throughout the trek I took lots of photos, spun prayer wheels, and crossed the first of many swinging bridges. We stopped once for a quick bathroom break at the strangest/ possibly coolest toilet I've seen. I was a little hut that had a hole in the ground overlooking a garden.

Two and a half hours later of dodging yaks and mules we arrived at 2,600m. I put on my long underwear and went downstairs for dinner. I had veggie momos and stole some yak cheese pizza from a friend. After a cup of tea I went to write and read before I went to bed early around 9.