I hear the rain early in the morning. Hmmm... looks like i will be in the town for a day. Now i dint care. Things were beyond my control any way and i am done with my walking. As i thought of getting up late i hear a chopper and the rains seemed to have stopped. I jump out of the bed pack stuff in a jiffy and get down to gulp the break fast. But it was a false alarm. The weather was still not that great and there was no confirmation of flights for the day. And mine was like 4th flight on yeti airlines if there are flights for the day! As i stroll to the airport wondering about the flights i see Jason and Ashley in the hotel near the airport! i thought they would have gone the previous day where i was walking all day in clear sunshine! But it seemed weather was bad at lukla and they missed their flights! Then i hear the hooter at the airport signaling about the flights for the day. People hurried to the airport. The other guests at the hotel who were ticket less the previous day were going out on the first flight and i am on fourth? you gotta be kidding me. Waiting is not a an issue but with the quick changing weather you never know when the flights gets canceled.
One by one 4 flights land at the airport in quick successions and whisk away the lucky ones. Then i get to the airlines office and demanded cancellation so that i could try other airlines. on that the put me on the next flight!! Things around here just work like a bus station. There is not fixed time. You get the boarding pass and just wait for the plane to arrive and run to it as soon as it comes. Really felt like waiting for my bus hehe. The pilots of other airline were having a cup of noodles on right on the tarmac standing! And there comes my bus err.. flight and we all hop in. Ready my camera to capture the takeoff from the precarious airport and take a VDO looking through the cockpit. But the take off was not at all dramatic as the landing. Yup now its confirmed and we are on our way to Kathmandu. This draws the trek to a full circle and has been like a fairy tale with things working out perfectly. I have met people who had to come down from Lobuche due to bad weather, met people who had to come down from Gorek shep without visiting base camp or kalapattar due to bad weather, all on my way up and i get the perfect window of clear weather to feel the place and i come to Lukla and flights run the same day i intend. This has been just great. Peer through the window all the way and finally touch down at Kathmandu and it was a successful trek now. Congratulate the other trekkers in the flight and off to my hotel to unite with my ZMA. Its was still there. Will be on the road soon but not before a couple of days rest. I seemed to have thinned out further. Just lazed around the rest of the day.
One by one 4 flights land at the airport in quick successions and whisk away the lucky ones. Then i get to the airlines office and demanded cancellation so that i could try other airlines. on that the put me on the next flight!! Things around here just work like a bus station. There is not fixed time. You get the boarding pass and just wait for the plane to arrive and run to it as soon as it comes. Really felt like waiting for my bus hehe. The pilots of other airline were having a cup of noodles on right on the tarmac standing! And there comes my bus err.. flight and we all hop in. Ready my camera to capture the takeoff from the precarious airport and take a VDO looking through the cockpit. But the take off was not at all dramatic as the landing. Yup now its confirmed and we are on our way to Kathmandu. This draws the trek to a full circle and has been like a fairy tale with things working out perfectly. I have met people who had to come down from Lobuche due to bad weather, met people who had to come down from Gorek shep without visiting base camp or kalapattar due to bad weather, all on my way up and i get the perfect window of clear weather to feel the place and i come to Lukla and flights run the same day i intend. This has been just great. Peer through the window all the way and finally touch down at Kathmandu and it was a successful trek now. Congratulate the other trekkers in the flight and off to my hotel to unite with my ZMA. Its was still there. Will be on the road soon but not before a couple of days rest. I seemed to have thinned out further. Just lazed around the rest of the day.
The rained out streets of Lukla...
Flights coming in to Lukla...
Wished i could get on to one of those....
The town has got a bit boring for the off season...
Pilots have no respect hehe.. they have to have the break fast on the tarmac! That was funny...
Thats my plane...
And in the air..
It was fun watching the mountains go by recollecting the days of the trek...
Date and time clock was the biggest instrument on the pilots console!!
Nearing Kathmandu...
And touch down...
Back to the heat...
I award myself a couple of Badges :D
Base camp trekkers unite for a 'Last Hurray' as Ashley says...
Fun filled evening celebrating the trek with Casey, Ashley, Jason and Brady left to right...
12 comments:
cool badges! sooper jingaa
gawd!! wat a trip!!
What you are doing is mad.. and its very very boring to read your updates! ..and your pics are not worth seeing! So you please come back!! ;-)
Bravo PKM Bravo...didn't check your blog for a couple of days and what do I see today....BTW don't listen to Arun and come back...China is just round the corner ;]
oye....ur back with ur bike.....now where ru heading to?
Pokemo .. way to go man!!..
more more ..
and we'll award you the biggest gooba award too.. we'll just call it the mahagooba
KS: Thanks. They were temporary on the jacket though :)
Prabul: hehe lets see how it goes :)
Arun: i wont listen to you. stop trying :P
Srinidhi: Thanks man. i wont listen to you too. china yella dooora :P
mani: Yeah happy to see the bike still there. Should be heading west towards Pokhra.
sprotor: thanks for the honor :P
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