Up to the Mountains

It seems like it would be pretty simple given this is Nepal and everything, but the fact of the matter is that nothing is really simple in Nepal.

Here is how the morning went:

6:00am- wake up final packing.

6:30am head down and weigh bag, and put the other in storage.

6:31 take "extras" out of bag as it was 1kilo over weight.  Goodbye big luscious bag of trail mix, till we meet again.

6:45-7:30 45 minutes to go about 4 miles.  The streets (in the loosest sense of the word) here make Mario cart seem reasonable.

7:30 run the gauntlet of people wanting to "help"you with your bags to get from the parking lot to the domestic building entrance.

The domestic departure entrance...

So then line up and put your bag into an X-ray machine and the line up in a male or female line and go through a metal detector which I can almost guarantee either wasn't plugged in or just didn't work.  All the while there are people just walking around the side of the machine.  Ok!?!

Also the first time I've ever been asked to step on a scale at an airport before.  81kilos but I think the boots made me look fat.

8:00 in the checkin area

My guide Kewal and I then find out that the plane  we are supposed to be on is having mechanical issues and won't be flying at 8:30.  Then they tell us they are bringing another plane in from a different part of the country but it won't be there till 10:00.

10:30. Still no plane 

11:30 plane is here!  Hurry up and get patted down and then on to a bus that drives you to the plane. 

11:50. Haven't moved on the bus yet

12:15. We're moving and take the 10 minute ride to the twin otter bag of bolts that is the workhorse of this route from Kathmandu to Lukla because of it's short landing distance. 

12:45 staring at plane from bus.  Lots of confusion.

1:00 all bags get loaded on the plane, however we just sit in the hot bus.

1:30 worker comes on bus and tells us that the mountain airport Lukla is closed because of winds.  Wows that's awesome,

1:44 back to terminal and this is where the magic of my guide shines.  We get off the bus and run over to the airlines counter and after a few minutes of animated discourse he hands me a ticket and said to me " follow me, we've got the last two seats on a helicopter leaving in 10 minutes! ". No clue how that just happened but it did, and it was awesome. A first for me and what a place  to fly through.

Here's it is before we boarded.  They had to load extra water jugs for ballast to even out the load.

Kathmandu valley from the heli.

It also turned out our pilot was from Texas.  He said there aren't too many better places in the world to get the kind of experience you get than in Nepal.

By 2:30 we were on the ground in Lukla on a trip that blew me away and not nearly as nerve wracking as he plane ride is.

So we had a quick bite and then headed down the trail.  Lukla is at about 9,500 feet and the place we spent the night (phakdang) is actually around 8,900 feet.

All in all a pretty crazy day anywhere else in the world, but in Nepal they just call it Saturday😄

Tomorrow off to the Sherpa Capitol of Namche Bazaar.

Made it to Kathmandu!

Three flights and lots of hours has me in Kathmandu.  

Arrivals area of Kathmandu airport. 

It's currently 7pm on Friday and I was able to use up most of the day in getting ready for tomorrow's departure into the mountains. Exchanging currency, SIM card for cell phone, last minute odds and ends.  That on top of empyting bags and repacking for tomorrow.

Kathmandu never ceases to amaze.  So many people, mopeds, animals, just craziness and chaos that all just seems to work in some insane puzzle of humanity.

A view of part of the Kathmandu valley.

Tomorrow is a 7:15 departure from where I'm staying to the airport and then a short flight to Lukla in the mountains to get this party started.

Here we go!

Doha, Qatar

Arrived in Doha at around 6pm and grabbed a taxi and was at mybhotelnin about 20 minutes.

It was dark at 6 which was slightly odd coming from home where it's still light at that time.  

The whole city is very festive right now because of the Muslim holiday of Eid.  Lots of family gatherings, parties and celebrations and several weddings just last night. 

Also funny people were speaking of being cold last night when it dipped into the 80's.  I'm back at the airport waiting for my Doha to Kathmandu flight and it's over 100 degrees outside. 

This is about a 5.5hr flight versus the 14 hour flight to get here.  No problem....

Doha just opened their new airport a few months ago.  Here a few (odd) photos of the airport and Doha.  (Also the sight of the 2022 Fifa World Cup.)

A massive bear is the centerpiece of the terminal.  Sort of odd and mildly creepy.

Cool designs.

What most of Qatar looks like.

A return of slider to the middle-east.

Callie's class arrives in Qatar!

Here we go....To Gokyo

The Blog is back!

Prepare for some mildly amusing stories, pictures and more...and also a slew of typos and spelling errors....I'm glad you stopped by and hope you enjoy sharing this with me.
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The trip begins on October 7th with flights from Minneapolis to Chicago, a quick connection in Chicago and on to Doha, Qatar, a long connection in Doha and then a flight to Kathmandu, the Capitol of Nepal.  Roughly 7,500 miles away.  A big number.

All said I should arrive on the evening of the 9th with flights, layovers, and time changes.

The plan is to spend a day or two in Kathmandu then fly out to Lukla in the mountains and trek through the Khumbu valley to the Gokyo Ri peak and lakes.

Here is a map of Nepal and the area I'll be trekking

Here is the location of Gokyo - it is in the same valley at Mt Everest.  (albeit much smaller:)

Here is the elevation I'll be at with a max elevation close to 19,000 with a side trip here or there.

And finally here is a rough map of where I'll be headed when up in the mountains.

So feel free to come back and visit.  I'll try to update when I can and with some interesting nuggets and photos.  Feel free to leave a comment or question and I'll do my best to get back to you.

I also should have email access periodically throughout so you can drop me a line there also.

The adventure begins!