Getting back from Base Camp

My helicopter

The next morning I got ready at 5:15 as Ram had requested, but then was told to wait in my room for 2-3 hours and they would call me (apparently there was a line of about 30 people waiting to get on helicopters). Dawne and Ram hiked up further to the amazing view at Kala Patther. At about 7:30 the hotel guy came and got me. He grabbed my duffel and charged off across the village and up a hill with me limping behind him. It was really hard with getting up there with no poles. Finally, he had me sit down and wait. 20 minutes later my copter arrived and they motioned me into the front seat. Score! Though I was a bit alarmed to see my duffel still on the ground as we lifted off.

The dining hall inn Gorak Shep

On the hill waiting for the helicopter to arrive

Helicopter trip down from Base Camp

My pilot from Brazil

He took the 3 of us off down the valley and stopped at Periche which seemed to be a helicopter hub, with 4 circles for landing sites. We were dropped off and the helicopter left, coming back 10 minutes later with two more people and our bags. It is windy at the top so only 3 passengers can fly there, but 5 can fly down to the lower area. We all piled in and were off on a beautiful ride to Namche Bazaar where two people got off and Natalie plus another woman got in. 8 minutes later we were in Lukla. The total flying time was maybe 20 minutes for a stretch that took 5.5 days of hiking (over 30 hours of pain). Well worth the $650 to helicopter down. Dawne, Ram, and the porters would make much better time without me so it was a win win for all.

Picking up Natalie in Namche Bazaar

Natalie getting in the helicopter at Namche

When we landed at Lukla I realized I didn’t know where we were going. Ram may have said but I didn’t write it down or remember except “it is right near the airport” and there were many places to stay near the airport. We left our heavy duffel bags at the helipad promising the guard that we would be back within an hour with the plan to wander into all the places we could find until we found the one with a reservation for us. That turned out to be a monumentally bad plan. There were dozens of places “near the airport” and the airport was the centerpiece of the town so it would easily take all day to get to all of them. Instead I tried reaching Ram and Dawne on WhatsApp and when I didn’t hear back from them I also tried emailing the owner Thakur back in San Francisco. Thakur emailed back pretty quickly asking where the porters were and I let him know that we abandoned them (not the other way around), but he did not reveal the hotel name. Then Ram got back to me and reminded me the hotel name was called The Nest.

A train of donkeys walking up the main street in Lukla

Cute puppy at the Nest who loved
everyone dog and person alike

We managed to find The Nest and it was indeed right next to the airport. It has a great view of the tarmack and the start of the runway maybe 20 yard from the hotel’s outdoor deck seating area. It was all uphill from the helicopter pad so I was pretty tired coming into the hotel. We were instantly greeted by the hotel owner who was expecting us as Thakur had called him. He sent a porter back to carry our bags with Natalie along. We had a relaxing lunch on the patio with an adorable puppy who moved around a bit, laying at my feet, curled up in front of the door, and trying to play with the older dogs. There is quite the heirarchy going on between the gang of dogs in the area. One is a bit of a bully, one wants the others to leave him alone, and the puppy loves everybody. Also they would randomly bark and rush off up or down the stairs sidewalk for no discernible reason.

Puppy crashed out at my feet

Owner and manager at the Nest

The Nest where we stayed in Lukla viewed from behind the airport runway

The gang of dogs that hang out in the area of our hotel

sizzling chicken was one
of our favorite dishes

The sidewalk was fun to watch. It ran from down near the helipad up past the main streets in the town, past the nest and up over the back of the airport and down the other side. Besides the dogs, yak and donkeys would walk along, either being herded or occasionally wandering off on their own seeking grass to eat. Trekkers would come by either on the way to start their trek or on the way to fly home. Often they would fly in and have lunch at the Nest before starting off to Phakding. The planes were perhaps the most interesting to watch. We couldn’t see the landing part from our viewpoint, but we saw several takeoff. These little planes would roll out to the top of the runway and then rev up their engines as if to gather their strength and courage, then take off down the runway (see video below).

donkeys and porters trekking up the stairs sidewalk past our hotel The Nest

The top end of the runway in Lukla looking down from the sidewalk stairs that goes above and behind it

The runway is short, just 527 meters (about 1/6 of a typical international runway) and it ends by dropping off a cliff on one end and stopping at a mountain wall at the other. Luckily it is also angled down slightly which I think helps them pick up speed when they leave and lose speed when they land, though it also makes it harder to land. Fortunately all of the takeoffs we witnessed were airborne before they dropped off the edge. Adding to the danger is the wind and fog (which sometimes closes the airport), the fact that they only get one shot to land (no missed approach as that would end by slamming into a mountain), and the fact that planes landing and taking off go opposite directions and share one runway so it’s critical to space them out. This has earned Lukla the title of “Most dangerous airport in the world.”

Market in Lukla with bags of spices

Market in Lukla

Market in Lukla 2

The market sin Lukla had lots of roosters for sale

With the Caravan Shop keeper in Lukla

We also wandered down the main shopping street and did a bunch of souvenir shopping, mostly at Caravan Souvenirs, where I got lots of cute items made in Nepal and a deck of of cards that would help keep us entertained until Ram and Dawne returned back down from Base Camp. We saw kids in the area playing cricket and badminton, but no soccer. The owner used to guide with Thakur and has known him for years. He took good care of us and walked with us to the nearby school where we donated a soccerball. It was a nice walk through the woods, all uphill, but these kids are born running up and down hills so it’s nothing for them.

Natalie giving soccerball to school in Lukla

Fabulous little crispy balls filled with good food

A guide who I had run across several times along the trail was also staying at the Nest hanging out for a couple days waiting for her next client to arrive. Puja usually only guides groups of women and works for a tour company out of Kathmandu. She took us with her and her porter to explore Lukla. They took us to this great little shop that makes momos. We got pictures of them pressing and cutting the dough, then filling them into little momos dumplings. After that, we went to another shop that had these little hollow dough balls that they crack open and fill with some mixture of onions and other good stuff. Then you pour this liquid into the ball (which does not leak!) and eat it. I found out quickly that the liquid is super hot spicy so we avoided that on our second serving. We also played some cards that night a discovered that Puja is capable of remembering all the cards that have been played already so she stomped us in the “filthly five” game.

Local food in Lukla the spicy hot liquid goes in the stuffed balls

Bag full of puffed balls that hold liquid served in a store that sells other stuff

Getting fresh momos with our guide friend Puja and her porter

Rolling out the dough for the momos

Stuffing the momos

Fresh Momos

Playing cards with Nat and Puja

Reunited with Dawne in Lukla

Dawne soon showed up and it was great to see her again. She had worked hard the last few days while we were kicking back, hiking miles and miles each day. We showed her around Lukla and that night showed her our favorite dish at The Nest, the sizzling chicken (see pics). Many groups had come in with them and one of them had a lively guide who got everyone dancing including Dawne (see pics). It was a fun night and the first one we had seen with music! The next day we were on the third plane on Tara Airlines so we did not have to be ready at 6am, we could sleep in a bit and be ready by 8:30. Unfortunately, it was a bit foggy so no flights went early in the morning. Then there was a bomb threat in the Kathmandu domestic terminal which closed it down so no planes could come to us (they all start in Kathmandu every morning unless one gets stuck in Lukla overnight). The last few days had been beautiful and clear, but the day WE wanted to go out, all of a sudden there were issues.

Playing cards with Erin and Logan in Lukla on our last night

Dawne dancing to Nepalese music

pano of houses in Lukla

Dawne at the Nest with behind her the path leading up and behind the airport runway

The fog rolls in when we want to fly home

Finally on the way to Kathmandu
at the helicopter port

Two planes from each airline came in but the weather changed (not sure if it changed at Lukla or Kathmandu as both need to be good) and flights stopped coming before ours made it out so we would be spending an extra night in Lukla. I tried really hard to get a last minute helicopter so we could get out, and we thought we had one but it fell through. Worse yet, we found out that contrary to what we had read on the internet, the people whose flights don’t go are NOT pushed to the front the next day, they are standby and bumped to the end. That put us pretty far back in line and when the next day was not filled with great weather and tons of flights, we got helicopter seats back to Kathmandu for $500 each. So my little adventure that I had planned to spend $2100 on ended up costing $3400 (not counting airfare to Nepal), but that was still within reason and those helicopters rides were worth every penny!

Our helicopter has come to take us to Kathmandu

We are completely overjoyed to finally be on the way back to Kathmandu!

Helicoptering over Nepal on the way back to Kathmandu

We made our way to the hotel using the very last of our Nepal money for a taxi. After showering and hitting the ATM, we all felt better and we ventured out to Thamil. Natalie bought a cute shirt at a real North Face store there. We wanted to mail postcards and the North Face lady suggested we try a bookstore to find stamps so we wandered down the street and found Tibet Book Store which had a huge variety of items: trekking maps, cute childrens books that Dawne got, cool magnets that I got, and lots of books by the Dalai Lama. However, they had no stamps. She explained that the post office was not currently delivering mail (Covid?) so they were not selling stamps as anything mailed would just sit and not be delivered. So we decided to mail them from India.

Thrilled to be back in the lap of luxury at the Hyatt in Kathmandu

Outside Fire and Ice Restaurant in Kathmandu

Fire and Ice was our dinner destination and their specialty pizzas were amazing! We had the La Regina with cherry tomatoes and pesto and Paesana Vegetariana with various veggies. Our guide Ram texted while we were there. He was able to catch a plane to another city and took a 5 hour jeep ride from there to get home. We met up with him and his wife who works in a hospital. She was very sweet! The next day Natalie and I were flying out to India so we reluctantly left Dawne at the Hyatt. Ram and his wife came to take us to the airport. On the flight to India we took Nepal Airlines and they had very cool stewardess uniforms. Very homey and comforting with aprons, just like the people of Nepal. I took pictures and decided to take pics of the different uniforms of each ariline I fly. Later my friend Sherilyn who flies for Singapore Airlines told me stewardesses often wear aprons during food service.

Two fabulous pizzas

Nepal Airlines stewardess uniform

Nepal Airline stewardess wearing aprons for food service