I woke up 2 hours before the alarm clock, feeling that my feet aren’t as relaxed as I hoped for. The miles walked over the past 9 days are noticeable. And there was still one long stretch to go down to Lukla.
It was a beautiful morning as we set off on our last day’s hike. We decided to skip a night rest in Phakding and just head to Lukla — it makes the hike about 3 hours longer, but at least we should have enough buffer time in case the Lukla airport is closed.
Just as we left Namche Bazar a wild peacock [I’ve been told it’s a “peahen” — a female peacock. Okthx, Dee.] passed the path in front of us and scurried around in the bushes. It was by far the most colorful peacock I’ve ever seen; no wonder Nepal chose this bird to be their national animal.
Further down nature has really started to put on it’s spring wardrobe. We passed some flowers, blooming peach trees and rhododendron, which also happens to be Nepal’s national flower. Nature has really grown over the past 10 days.
Today the path was far more crowded than yesterday. But the majority of traffic were truck and trains. Apparently the maximum a porter should be carrying is 120 kilograms, but judging by the size of the material piled up on some of the porters backs it seems that some try to push that rule in favor of earning a handful of Rupees more.
The amount of trekkers (tourists) making their way up has increased, too. From sporty people, over cool guys in their sunglasses, to beer-belly types and even grandma and grandpa; all kinds of people are putting one foot after the other heading towards the big peaks and cold nights. I don’t know how far they will go or what their experience is, but it makes my achievement a little less grandiose. But then again it’s not about what others do, but what I myself can do and have achieved.
For lunch we stopped at the Beer Garden in Phakding again. Honestly I did not have any beer, nor is there much of a garden, but my potato and carrot curry with rice was very good nonetheless.
It’s amazing how little I remembered of the path from Phakding to Lukla — the same stretch I walked on my first day. Like one German woman said, as her group passed us in opposite direction, “Bis jetzt sind wir nur runter gelaufen. Irgendwann muss es dann mal hoch gehen. [Until now we just walked down. Once it has to go up.]”
And one of her colleagues answered unnerved, “Dann lauf doch hoch! Wo ist das Problem? [Then walk back up! What’s your problem?]”
(Happy trekking if you’re already get into each others’ hair 1 hour into the trek.)
It was going up and up and even more up. Not that the air was any problem; down here at 2700 there is plenty of oxygen to go around, but it was just a long, long walk up — and my feet were so not up to that anymore.
Slowly but eventually we did pass under the gate that separates Lukla from the wild. It was strange being back in a village that was so lively and bustling (I cannot imagine what kind of “culture shock” I’ll get once back in Kathmandu).
In town we also caught up with Ksusha, who left Namche Bazar about 30 minutes earlier and just got her flight sorted out. Seeing her carry her big, green, vintage army backpack — or at least that what it looked like — made me feel bad for just carrying a daypack, but then again everyone had the choice about how much weight they want to burden themselves with. But I’ll bow down to everyone who is their own porter.
Now I’m at Starbucks in Lukla. The logo is a very creative knock-off of the real Starbucks, but the inside is much more posh with rattan furniture and real glass cups. The owner’s wife told me that this Starbucks was her husband’s idea. And she added that it isn’t a real Starbucks, which was kind of cute. But I had to tell her that the interior looks far more nicer than in the real stores, which made her smile and blush.
Now I’m hoping that tomorrow will be a fly-day in Lukla and we’ll be able to get back to Kathmandu in a reasonable time (we’re scheduled to be at the airport at 8am, but that doesn’t say anything about the actual departure time).
But for now I’ll just relax and wait for dinner time. We’re checked into the Khumbu Lodge, the same place I had my first lunch at with the singing monks. Dinner will be potato soup followed by macaroni with cheese and sauce (not sure what kind of sauce, tho). And I’ll probably call it an early night once again — if possible, since the room leads right out into the dining room. But at least it has its own toilet, which is like luxury.
And the other two guests — two girls from Belgium — just finished their 21 day trek and need to leave at 6am to catch the first flight. So it’s safe to assume that they won’t be partying either.
Peter's up, out and about 