We arrived in Kathmandu on the flight from Varanasi about 5pm, having enjoyed peering out the window trying to get a feel for the countryside – and mountain spotting obviously.
Geographically speaking, Kathmandu is on a big plateau surrounded by mountains, with the bulk of the Himalayas to the north. It’s still very hilly and you get the impression that the builders of the airport had a bit of a hard time finding enough flat terrain. The airport itself is nice enough though a newer and bigger replacement airport is being built next door (utilising the same runways etc.) which will apparently be more modern.
If you are flying in internationally as we did, you will have to get a tourist visa on arrival. They had some pretty cool touchscreen machines tucked away that actually save you filling out the forms manually and you can avoid the classic airport problem of ‘oh hell there’s 1 pen between 28 people’. You still have to join a queue for issuing of visas, and then another queue for actual immigration. Despite all this it probably took less time than it does coming through Heathrow or Gatwick.
We found a cab outside and headed into the town centre. Cabbies seem pretty honest and friendly (you can say that about most Nepalese to be honest) so, unlike India, you don’t have to be 100% on your guard against getting shafted.
We were staying at the well known Kathmandu Guest House in an area called Thamel in the centre of Kathmandu. Thamel is pretty much known as the main tourist centre where you will find the bulk of hotels and the like. The Kathmandu Guest House is off one of the tiny narrow streets and is pretty massive but you wouldn’t know it – it’s tucked away and almost looks like a fair amount of buildings have simply built themselves around it.
There was a slight problem when we arrived, apparently a group of people had come down with food poisoning and couldn’t fly out – as such our booked room was unavailable. We ended up with a smaller room for one night, but when they moved us the next day it was to a larger room that we would have originally got – so not all bad.
We went out for a wander around the local area and found a very densely packed mixture of shops selling either camera/hiking/mountaineering gear or local handicrafts, including the famous Kukri knives. Around that are stuffed a load of guesthouses, hostels, hotels and a wide range of restaurants for all budgets, including a well spoken of pizzeria.
Also, lots of coffee shops – apparently caffeine is essential in Nepal. Perhaps it’s the altitude – even though 1400m is not high enough for altitude sickness, it is already higher than the highest point in the UK (Ben Nevis), maybe I was imagining it but I was sure I could feel the difference – probably rubbish!
Unfortunately I was still dealing with the tail end of a case of Delhi Belly from Varanasi so wasn’t feeling up to too much so I crashed in the room while Katy went off doing touristy things. She went with some random dude (sharing taxis is cheaper) we met in the hotel lobby and they went to the big Boudhanath Stupa which is/was the biggest in Nepal. I say was because it was badly damaged in the earthquakes. I’m just glad that one of us got to see it while it was still around.
We had a meeting that evening with our Intrepid tour guide. We were doing the 5 day hike from Lukla to Namche Bazaar, a place with excellent views of Everest itself. Here we met Gemma and Cybelle, two girls who were on the same tour as us and we’d be hanging out with for the duration. Tara was our Nepalese guide, a wiry little guy who could probably carry me up to Everest, let alone just walk it. The good news was that we had the evening off, the bad new was that it was a 5:30 start next morning to get the flight to Lukla!
So, it was an early start and still dark when we made our way down to the hotel entrance with our bags. Bag wise we had to do some reorganising – Katy and I had a bag each, she had a suitcase and I had a backpack so it seemed sensible to take the stuff we needed for the 5 days in my bag, leaving the rest in the hotel. This required a bit of arranging to fit essentially 10 days of clothes including cold weather gear, 2 sleeping bags and all the other bits and pieces, mainly cameras and other bits. When you do the trek you have a porter who will carry your luggage while you take a smaller ‘day pack’ with you. We had this cool lad who was only about 17, but was happily trudging up the Himalayas carrying 3 big bags – mad fit.
It seems that to get the small flights to Lukla you essentially check in via the still under construction section of Kathmandu airport, but thankfully Tara knew exactly where to go and we were soon through and sitting zombie like in an airport lounge.
Flights in and out of Kathmandu are extremely subject to weather and it was not uncommon for heavy mists and fogs to just sit in the valley stopping anything taking off or landing, so we were a bit nervous about delays. We did get bussed out to a plane, then back again once as they were unsure about conditions, but we eventually took off in a little DH Twin Otter (great little planes and the only things small enough to land at Lukla) and headed east. As a tip in case anyone ever takes this flight, when you are on the plane going to Lukla sit on the left hand side of the plane, you get a window seat by default (only 1 set of seats on each side) and on the left you will have good views north towards the Himalayas.
Lukla airport (or Tenzing-Hilary Airport, for it’s full name) is generally considered to be the most dangerous airport in the world, it’s at high altitude, it’s very short (STOL only), it’s on a hill and slopes for it’s entire length, it’s got a big cliff drop off at the bottom end and a cliff face and mountains at to top meaning you have no chance to go around if you mess up your approach. Oh, and the weather can suddenly turn terrible with little warning. All great things that are perfect for making nervous parents happy when you tell then where you are going really…
To be fair, it was great fun, flying in with mountains above you – our pilot nailed the landing with no fuss.
The airport is basically a small building, and the moment you pull up on the apron people dash out to unload everything, then the people going back to Kathmandu jump on the plane – turnaround time is pretty quick!
Lukla itself is a small town but owes everything to the tourist trade and the airport. Pretty much anyone heading towards Everest has to come through here, as well as the supplies for the whole area – it’s a 5 day trip on the ground to Kathmandu vs. a 20 minute flight. Lukla as I said is quite touristy (for a Nepalese village) with a fair number of places to buy mountaineering gear, guesthouses, a few restaurants and even a Starbucks, though I’m not sure if it is actually a proper one and not a fake one.. Didn’t stop to check!
We’d arrived in Lukla pretty early so we stopped for breakfast at a hotel around the corner (which I believe is the Paradise Lodge, though don’t quote me on that one..) and met up with our porter. There were some slight communications problems with the food and we ended up with an interesting mix, mainly Katy who had some strange eggs.
Lukla looks exactly like you’d expect for a Nepalese mountain town (or at least as I expected, narrow streets and generally cool) as you can see here.
Anyway, Off we went through Lukla and in a generally northern direction up the valley, passing through Phakding, and ending up at Jorsalle which was a great place right on the river.
Phakding
Jorsalle
Namche Bazaar
Mount Everest
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Lukla
Kathmandu
Delhi
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