28 May- 2018: Fly to Lukla and Trek to Phakding
We got up at 4:30 AM and by 6:00 AM we were at Tribhuvan airport waiting for our maiden flight to Lukla, one of the most dangerous airports in the world, at an attitude of almost 2800 meters. The plane literally sways side ways and drops dead by a few feet in thin air, trying to navigate big mountain just before landing at Lukla. We were literally holding on to our seats but our guide Lakpa Sherpa told us that during real bad weather, the plane literally flutters. We landed safely at the Lukla airport having just 500 meters of the strip with a wall in the front; believe me there is no second chance for the pilot. Thanks to such a nice weather there were multiple landings within few minutes. There were 3 guides and 4 porters assisting us, heading to Phakding. It was just a warm up through a gradual terrain. we stopped for a nice tea and lunch at a tea house mid way. Finally, it started raining and all of us checked our rain gears and reached at Sherpa guest house. Overall, it was a short and sweet start of our journey ahead.
Chheplung- way to Phakding
We stayed in Phakding at “Sherpa Guide Lodge” Ang Dawa’s place, who has summited Everest 7 times, and his wife Pasang takes care of the hotel. She was a perfect host to us as we got niceties free charge for mobile etc. extended to us in lieu of some miscommunication that happened regarding our last night stay. it was quite neat and clean and we were given nice quilts to make our night stay really cozy. Mandeep lightened up our spirits with real good dance for the evening on Old songs pulling in some foreigners as well. We had early dinner at 06:30 PM and were told to retire with time to get up at 5 AM, have breakfast at 06:00 hrs and then start our journey to Namche Bazar. – Arun Kumar Tiwari
Thado Koshigaon- way to Phakding
It’s was memorable trip, we enjoyed a lot: – Shekar
