Nepal day 4: Kathmandu to Lukla - Phakding

Submitted by maria on Mon, 18/12/2023 - 09:37

It's 5am and it's finally stopped raining. What a night, let's keep our fingers crossed for the plane to leave.

Lukla airport

Our flight to Lukla leaves at 6 am. At 5.15 am we are picked up by a taxi with Deepek (another person from the agency) who provides us with a contact in case we have problems with the flight, and takes us to the domestic flight terminal at Kathmandu airport. Here Obin is waiting for us to escort us to the gate.

After checking in (luggage here weighs between two and three kilos more) and taking our tickets, we go to the departure lounge. The monitor at our boarding gate is not working and we start to hear voices. A group of Spaniards are very upset, and rightly so, they have been waiting 3 days for their flight to Lukla and they are told that today to be sure they will go by helicopter at 400$/pax. We all start to get nervous because the Lukla airport closes at 12 am.

On our flight we go with 3 other Spaniards, Miguel from Burriana and María and Sergio from Jaén. They are lovely, they are going to do the same trek as us, here begins a beautiful friendship.

Aircraft

We see that other companies going to Lukla are flying but nobody informs us about ours. The group of Spaniards leaves in the helicopter. Finally our flight leaves at 9.30 am. They have to change our boarding pass because they have put the destination the wrong way round. We fly with SITA Air.

Half an hour later we arrive in a quiet flight at what is said to be one of the most dangerous airports in the world, the Tenzing-Hillary airport in Lukla.

The runway is ramped and 450 metres long, quite an adventure.

Lukla airport

From the end of September flights to Lukla depart from and return to Ramechap airport, about 5 hours drive from Kathmandu. If you want to know how to get to and from the airport, click here.

At the airport exit, Sonam, our guide and Chiiring, our porter, are waiting for us. We start our trekking.

Lukla is a small town in the Khumbu region, Solukhumbu, situated at an altitude of 2,860 metres. In Lukla you can find all the services, shops, hotels, heliport, including ATM, but we advise you to bring up the cash you need because sometimes the ATM is not working.

Before starting our journey we stopped at Yak Hotel where they offered us breakfast, but as we had eaten something at the airport we only drank tea, which was delicious.

Yak hotel

We start our trek in the direction of Phakding, a two and a half to three hour walk.

Itinerary: Lukla - Cheplung - Chhuthawa - Phakding

Duration: 3 hours

Linear route

Elevation gain: 400 metres

Distance: 8.7 kms

Map

To leave Lukla, cross the Pasang Lhamu Gate in honour of the first Nepalese woman to reach the summit of Everest in 1993.

Pasang Lhamu Gate

A few metres further on is the first control point where you get your permits, in this case Sonam is in charge, but if you go on your own this is the place where you will have to pay the fee of 2,000 rupees/pax to get the Trekkers Card.

This first stage is a continuous up and down. We pass through several villages, including Cheplung and Chhuthawa. Along the way we encounter prayer wheels and funeral constructions to honour the deceased.

Mani

We came across several herds of "chopey" (an animal similar to a cow and a jak) and porters who amazed us with the amount of weight they carry. They can carry up to 100 kilos and are paid for an average load of 80 kgs between 20 and 30 dollars per load, which takes two days to transport. Sometimes they carry a wooden stick to sit on for support. They are amazing.

Herd

In this region there is only work 5 months of the year, so the porters are busy portering as there is no work during the rest of the year.

We cross our first suspension bridge.

First bridge

We stopped for lunch at Holiday Inn Lodge&Restaurant, the best dal bhat of the whole trek, the lentil soup is brutal. Dal bhat is the typical Nepalese dish that gives you power 24 hours (dal bhat power 24 hours), it has white rice, lentil soup, and vegetables, in this case, potatoes with carrots, cabbage and a fried chapati. As they say in Nepal MITOSA (delicious).

Dal Bhat

We continue our journey to Phakding, where we stay at the Green Village Guest House. We had a ginger tea and a natural mint tea. These complimentary drinks are included in the budget.

Our room is very nice, with en-suite bathroom and towels, which is a luxury in this area. There are also two duvets in case the sleeping bag is not enough. Sonam gives us the menu to book dinner at 6.30pm.

Prayer stones

After a rest and a shower we go for a walk around the village. We meet Maria and Sergio and have a drink at Everest Bakery. The mint tea and the ginger tea are amazing.

At 6.30 pm we have dinner at Green noodle soup (noodles) with vegetables and egg and noodles with vegetables. Very tasty.

We recharge the mobile phone, here it costs 200 rupees per device. 8.30 pm we are in bed.

Prayer wheels

Tips for good acclimatisation. Good acclimatisation is achieved by drinking plenty of water, walking slowly without getting tired, not climbing more than 500 metres per stage above 3,400 metres and always sleeping below the maximum altitude you have reached that day.

Remember to always carry enough water, as it takes at least half an hour for the pill to take effect.