Part 4
Preparations
Usually the company takes care of everything, you just arrive in Nepal and they do the rest. Our group was more complicated because we were going Kosher. To avoid problems, we made up that we would have an only vegetarian menu, no meat, no milk and no fish (except canned tuna), and we would come to Nepal a few days early to go shopping with the cook and guide for basic ingredients and a new set of dishes. During the trek we would take turns being Mashgichim.
The other issue was Shabbos. Turned out not to be an issue, being that as mentioned, anyone trekking in high altitudes needs to take a few breaks to acclimatize. So all we had to do was arrange that the acclimatization days should be on Shabbos.
As arranged we arrived in Nepal a few days early the trekking company gave us a list of ingredients that they would need, and we sat with Rabbi Lifshitz who told us which ones were available locally, which we could buy at the Beit Chabad and which we would have to forgo. We then went shopping with the guide and the cook. We bought everything we needed for the 2 week trek and packed it up to be carried to the town of Lukla where we would begin the trek (we were going to fly there but we couldn’t fly all the supplies, it came out cheaper to hire porters to carry it for 4 days).
We then spent an amazing Shabbos in Kathmandu. Rabbi Lifshitz runs an amazing Seudas Shabbos with over 100 rough Israeli backpackers tied around his left pinky.
We spent a few days hanging out in Kathmandu and on Wednesday were ready to start.
Part 5
The actual trek
Day 1 – Wednesday
Lukla (2,860 m) – Ghat (2,530m)
We woke up bright and early to catch our 7:00 flight. We got to the KTM domestic terminal. If I thought the international terminal was rather dillapited and 3rd word, I guess I should have waited to see the domestic terminal. The place was one big hanger with one room which served as ticketing area, check-in area, luggage drop off and waiting area.
As soon as you come in of course you go through security. When I saw the antique metal detector and x-ray machine I decided for the heck of it to leave my camera, wallet, keys etc. in my pocket. Sure enough nothing beeped as I and 3 other people walked through at the same time.
Porters took our suitcases to ancient scales (the kind they have in old fish markets, just bigger). Here they displayed some common sense and instead of weighing each piece separately they put all of our luggage onto the scale at the same time (they were probably only concerned with whether the tiny plane would be able to carry it all). Once we were checked in by the agency representatives we were directed to the waiting area (sorry no lounge here).
As an aside; flights to Lukla are a very risky business, the flight schedule is erratic and depends heavily on the weather in the mountains which can change within minutes. I’ve spoken to Israelis who were stuck in the airport for a week at a time trying to get a flight. But being that Nepal is prob one of the more corrupt countries around, I can well imagine that a few dollars from a well-funded agency can set wheels moving smoothly.
When our flight was called (we were the first flight of the day), we walked out to the tarmac and met our plane face to face. A twin otter with fixed wheels and 2 propellers and 15 folding chairs inside. The porters started loading our luggage into every available empty space (some even went into the nose!) as we boarded, a sweet stewardess walked down the barely existent aisle, handing out mints (free! Spirit has who to learn from ). I got the front seat and had a clear view into the cockpit (not very reassuring to see a GPS receiver duck taped onto the windshield). After saying Tefilas Haderech with more Kavanah than I ever had by Ne’ilah the plane took off. The flight itself was beautiful with snowcapped mountains on all sides, and everyone seemed to calm down a bit. That’s until we started our approach into Lukla.
Lukla airport is built into a mountainside with a 450 meter runway that has a 12% gradient (in plain English that means the runway goes uphill!) at one end there is a steep cliff and the other end is near the bottom of a steep mountain side. Miss it once and there’s no second chance for a turnaround. The History Channel rated it the most dangerous airport in the world!
As mentioned I had front row seats. I watched the whole landing through the pilot’s windshield! We landed safely B”H. The airport is tiny, theres only room for about 4-5 planes in it, and being that for most of the day the weather isn’t safe enough to take off and land so they need to maximize the bit of precious time they have. So there is constant activity going on; planes land, unload, reload and fly off. All the while trying to get out of the way of incoming and outgoing traffic (check out this video for a feel of how the place runs
).
So we disembarked. After a week in Kathmandu’s polluted air, the clean mountain air was an amazing relief. Everywhere you looked were mountains and more mountains. Our trek has begun!
We walked out of the airport, bypassing the “terminal” and all the porters by the gate looking for a job. Our guide brought us to a house where we Davened Shacharis and ate breakfast (sandwitches we brought from the Beit Chabad).
After spending some more time getting our stuff together we started walking. We passed the whole length of the village of Lukla (Elevation 2,860 m), passing all the shops and lodges (we even passed a fake Starbucks). Upon leaving Lukla the path went downhill and we descended into a valley walking along the river. I forgot the Nepali name but it meant “River of Milk” because the minerals in the water a milky color.
The first days walk was mostly downhill (it was the only day we had a net descent until we would be on our way back), and we only walked for like 2-3 hours (guess they wanted to start us off easy). We arrived at the campsite in a village called Ghat (Elevation 2,530m). Being that we camped so early and the weather was really nice, we decided to take a small walk down to the river. The water really did look milky, and it flowed really strong, there was an old rope bridge crossing it but we had to wait for 2 cows to finish crossing before we could make our attempt. After exploring a bit more we got back to the camp, had sort of an orientation to get to know the porters and other staff who would be with us, and after a delicious supper went to sleep.
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