Lukla to Namche Bazaar

We headed out on our first trek surviving the flight and landing into Lukla, considered one of the most dangerous airports in the world for good reason….its 400 yeards long and at least a 20 degree pitch helping to stop you flying in and give you speed flying out.  Beautiful weather has allowed us to see some of the most breathtaking views of the Everest Region and the giant peaks towering above us all day long as we slog onward and upward from teahouse to teahouse.  It’s been a different sense of hiking all together not having to use a tent and cook my meals – the culture of trekking in the Himilayas consists of little lodges called teahouses that are cheap to stay as long as you eat there as well.  Common foods are Fried or Steamed MoMo’s (like a ravioli) with anything from meat to veggies or potatoes.  Sherpa stew which is broth with cabbage, potatoes, meat (sometimes), noodles and other various veggies.

We started our hike out of Lukla with a stop  at a ‘Starbucks’ of all places (not sure starbucks knows about this operation) lol… then we got on to the trail. We first passed through Chheplung at 2660m seeing a hotel guest returning from his hike with one of the iTrek guides so a stop for tea was in order to chat and see his photos.  We moved along to Pahkding 2610m for lunch at a teahouse and then onto Monjo 2835m where we stayed at The Mini Tibet teahouse for 1 dollar per person. Grayson Rick and I shared a room with 3 beds in it was not bad at all and the custom is that you would eat at the teahouse you stay so that is why the rooms are very cheap. We slept like babies – we thought that it was 2 or 3 in the morning when we heard drums and I looked out the window to see people carrying big balls of fire – turns out it was only 10 pm and the ceremony was for a funeral they do this on the 13th and 49th day after the death of the person. they only go a few houses down each way from the home of the person who died and then they put the fire on the ground and Rick said he thought they werre trying to start the teahouse on fire because there was a stretch of burning ground right in front of our place he could see from his window…..the traditions of the Nepalese are just around every corner it’s nice to have Shree along to explain and answer our questions about what’s going on.

we woke up in Monjo and had our brefakfast they had some Tibetan bread and egg I had apple panacake and hard boiled egg with some milk coffee!! mm mm every so often we get american looking food and its pretty nice change. On our way from Monjo to Namche it was only a 4 hour hike or so but up up up we went – in a matter of about 2.5 miles we climbed 700 meters – feeling good no real pain everyone is feeling good. We laugh because both Rick and Grayson have dealt with some sickness down in Bhaktupar but once you get up and get hiking seems like the body knows whats best for it. Shree is worried about his fitness but is just chugging along fine – we will keep listening to our bodies and making smart decisions about meters climbed in a day and adjust accordingly!!