 Departure Lukla |  With long time friend Utam |  A night out with our guide Prakash. |
There is no sleep in regardless of whether planes are flying or not. The fact is, you need to be ready by 6am just in case. They want you sitting in the dining room of the lodge, packed, eaten breakfast and ready to go.
This morning seemed a little De Jar Vue of yesterday morning. The only difference was Lukla had beautiful blue sky and no wind. The fact that Lukla was beautiful doesn't mean planes will fly as Kathmandu could still be fogged it. That wasn't the case this morning and at approximately 7.40am the siren sounded. This indicates the first lot of flights had left Kathmandu. We were booked on Sita Air along with only a handful of others. The majority were flying Tara air. 40 minutes later we hear the roar of the first plane as its under full brakes.......Tara air. Bugga. 3 minutes later the roar of another plane.....Tara air. And not 3 minutes after that and surely a Sita Air???? Nope Tara Air, then a Cargo plane. We stood at the window and waved goodbye to the three Tara Air planes and all of a sudden things went deadly quiet. With grim faces I had in the back of my mind maybe Sita Air won't come if there's only a handful of people......it has happened before. I looked at my guide, he shrugged his shoulders and went to talk to someone behind the desk. Next thing the roar of SITA AIR. Hallelujah. Thank you very much.
Now sitting back in Kathmandu, showered and about to have my first coffee (proper coffee, you know the one, with foam on top made from proper milk and not powdered milk). Boys will be fighting one another to see you gets in for the first shave. We are meeting at 1pm for lunch. No Rice, No Noodles, No Dahl Baht, No Vegie noodle soup, No Momos. Some Wistern food is on the cards I think. We are meeting our guide Prakash for a drink at the guest house later this afternoon and hopefully he can join us for pizza at Fire and Ice a local pizza bar that always has good reviews.
(Goodbye Lukla. About to board our Sita Air plane Kathmandu bound).
This morning seemed a little De Jar Vue of yesterday morning. The only difference was Lukla had beautiful blue sky and no wind. The fact that Lukla was beautiful doesn't mean planes will fly as Kathmandu could still be fogged it. That wasn't the case this morning and at approximately 7.40am the siren sounded. This indicates the first lot of flights had left Kathmandu. We were booked on Sita Air along with only a handful of others. The majority were flying Tara air. 40 minutes later we hear the roar of the first plane as its under full brakes.......Tara air. Bugga. 3 minutes later the roar of another plane.....Tara air. And not 3 minutes after that and surely a Sita Air???? Nope Tara Air, then a Cargo plane. We stood at the window and waved goodbye to the three Tara Air planes and all of a sudden things went deadly quiet. With grim faces I had in the back of my mind maybe Sita Air won't come if there's only a handful of people......it has happened before. I looked at my guide, he shrugged his shoulders and went to talk to someone behind the desk. Next thing the roar of SITA AIR. Hallelujah. Thank you very much.
Now sitting back in Kathmandu, showered and about to have my first coffee (proper coffee, you know the one, with foam on top made from proper milk and not powdered milk). Boys will be fighting one another to see you gets in for the first shave. We are meeting at 1pm for lunch. No Rice, No Noodles, No Dahl Baht, No Vegie noodle soup, No Momos. Some Wistern food is on the cards I think. We are meeting our guide Prakash for a drink at the guest house later this afternoon and hopefully he can join us for pizza at Fire and Ice a local pizza bar that always has good reviews.
(Goodbye Lukla. About to board our Sita Air plane Kathmandu bound).
