The Nepali Chronicles: Namaste or Namastay?

Days 1 and 2

Day 1: Good Morning Boston and Nepal! 

Quick Breakdown

Let's define day one. July 25th I woke up at 8am to prepare for my 10:55pm flight to Doha, Qatar where we would have an 8 hour layover before continuing to Kathmandu, Nepal. Day one therefore included: driving to Merrimack, visiting friends, last minute shopping, final packing, dinner in the North End, meeting at Logan, flying to Doha, the layover, flying to Kathmandu, going to Hotel Tibet, a quick nap, a meeting, and dinner with the group. In total, we were awake about 56 hours (curse my inability to sleep on planes!). 

For the first time in my life I saw three mornings and three nights in one day. Well at least it was only one day for us because the odd timey whimey effects of flying. 

The heat of Doha mixed with the cool plane air created fog.

Flight from Doha to Kathmandu

Kathmandu 

Arriving in Kathmandu was an experience. We were picked up at the airport by Prof. Veletzos and Co. (Three of his four daughters). Then we headed to the hotel. When I say Nepal has insane traffic, it's an understatement. There are no rules to the road. Traffic lines are just a suggestion that's almost never followed. I was never more grateful to pull into a hotel. 

The rest of the day: meeting, dinner, and bed. 

Day 2: The Most Dangerous Landing

Waking up at 4am on the day we headed to the Himalayas was nerve racking and thrilling. The roads were clear besides a few Nepalis getting their morning exercise and shop owners preparing for the day. Within minutes it seemed we arrived at the airport and were ushered onto the tarmac. Then we saw the plane. An 18-seater charter plane with an open cockpit. I found the best seat I could, second seat back but still in front of the propellers, and attached my GoPro to the window. The views were surreal until we hit white out right before arriving at Lukla airport.

The flight attendant told us to prepare for landing, but no one could see the landing strip due to thick cloud coverage. Descending the clouds continued until, about a quarter mile away, we flew out of the clouds and got our first sight of the landing strip. Approaching faster than the runway appeared to be able to handle we stopped on a dime. Never have I been more thankful to get off a plane.

Quickly we collected ourselves and our bags and headed off to a nearby lodge to organize our trekking company. That's where we met Buster, a stray turned loyal (well mostly) companion for three days of our journey.

Yaks ready, water bottles filled, cameras running, we set off to conquer about 20 miles of the Himalayas to reach the small village of Thame.

For this first stretch we travelled approximately 6 miles to Phurte, a village about 800 feet below Lukla, to get our bodies adjusted to the new atmosphere. To get there we passed dozens of stupa (mound like structure containing Buddhist relics and prayer wheels), mani stones (stones inscribed with mantras or prayers), and Tibetan prayer flags; features that we would find common for the remainder of our journey. My personal favorite obstacle, our first suspension foot bridge. The bridge hung some 100 feet about a rock fall that continues down about 1,000 feet into the ravine and river.

Arriving at Phurte was a relief. Our first day was long, nerve racking, and tough on our adjusting lungs. We stayed at our first lodge, Sunrise Lodge and Restaurant.

Our rooms were small but comfortable. We spent most of the night chatting in our room (Brad, Peter and I) where Leyna joined us. Listening to some music we told stories and jokes and Leyna came up with her own village based off of Namaste. There would be Namastay Lodge, Namasteak Restaurant, Namastay-Away-From-Me Restraining Order Office, etc.

To Be Continued in The Nepali Chronicles: The Ascent