The trek begins

To Lukla

The weather is not great and no planes are leaving Kathmandu for Lukla today.
So instead we take a helicopter!
After some weighting, we head to the airfield.

The sky is very foggy and we cannot see very far.
It also seams like the helicopter is struggling to go up some mountains.
Is the air not dense enough? Or maybe there is more wind than it appears.

I am envious of the pilot who’s got an oxygen tank because the smell of fuel is terrible.

We land in Lukla without any issue which is comforting.

Less than two weeks ago a plane trying to leave fell off course and crashed into two helicopters waiting.
A few people died including the plane pilot…
We can still see the wrecks of that plane and choppers a bit further way from where we landed.

We start walking to Phakding.
Not difficult at all but this is just the first day and we a still a low altitude of 2610m.

It starts raining in the evening and the lodge starts the central stove for heating.
This is nice.
We watch a DVD about Mount Everest the owner plays in the main room before lights out.
Another short night because of jet lag.