Everest Trek, Day 13 - Lukla to Katmandu

Runway at Lukla

Shortly after I awoke around 5:30, I could hear people outside happily shouting, "the flights are coming in, the planes are flying." For a minute it reminded me of those old WWII films where people are waiting for planes to arrive to evacuate them from occupied territory. In Lukla, some people seemed unusually excited to hear the sound of  the planes, but then I remembered that some had connections out of Katmandu later that day and that the weather in Lukla is notoriously finicky. It's often too windy or cloudy to fly and people have to wait for days to get out. So we were lucky - it was a beautiful sunny morning.

After breakfast our porters gave us each a traditional Nepali gift, a khata, a long yellow silk scarf often given by Buddhist monks as a blessing. They put one around each of our necks and wished us goodbye. The 15 of us boarded our 18 seat plane at 8:45 and flew back to Katmandu.  It was extremely disorienting to disembark into the warmth, sun, dust, and smog that we had left 13 days earlier, but it also felt good to be warm.

As expected, no electricity at the hotel, but that was something I was pretty used to by now. I showered by candlelight and headed out for some gift shopping.

Our trek was over, but we had one last dinner with Tashi, at one of his favorite restaurants, Rum Doodle, where we signed one of the giant cardboard feet that adorn the restaurant, celebrating the hundreds of treks completed by previous groups. He, too, gave us each a khata, and then we walked back to Hotel Manang and said goodbye to Tashi and the people leaving early on Sunday.

I'm spending Sunday finishing up my shopping and then heading to Bhatapur with Ed and Pat from Philly. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site that I'm looking forward to seeing. Then, it's back to Katmandu to wrap things up, pick up some laundry, pack, and have a last dinner with any stranglers from the group still in town.

It's been an amazing journey, one that's made me more aware than ever of the comfort and luxury that most Americans (and other westerners) live in, and one that's made me even more conscious of the excesses in our society. The people of Nepal, Sherpas and Newaris alike, generally have very few possessions and deal with pollution, overcrowding, blackouts, poor sanitation, poverty, and very limited resources, yet they seem generally calm, pleasant, and respectful of other people. I have not heard one person yell at another person or push or shove in a crowd. They take their time when they talk to you. The driving is insane, but it's not based on aggression or anger or some arbitrary rush to get someplace. And in the mountains where they have even fewer modern conveniences, they smile and laugh even more often.

I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to spend a few weeks travelling and living among the people of Nepal.