00 Thamel

Trek Preparations:

1st November 2017: I landed in Tribhuvan Airport in Kathmandu at 8:50PM (more or less on On Time) by Nepal Airlines direct flight from Mumbai. And after adding a Recharge Coupon to my Nepal Telecom Sim Card took a a taxi to Yela Peak Hotel in Thamel where Manzey had booked our Rooms. But the Yela Peak guys said on phone that they were full and said they have booked me into a nearby hotel OM-Tara GH. Since I found that Hotel Room to be pretty good I agreed and checked-in.

2nd November 2017: Met up Suman at Asian Trekking Team and discussed arrangements for my porter from Lukla. Manz and Prem were flying in from Bangalore today and expected late evening around 10PM.

Meanwhile I shifted from Om Tara to a 3-bed room in Yela Peak; that Manj had booked us for 2 nights. Spent the day loafing around Thamel, soaking in the typical touristy atmosphere of Thamel.

Also met up Giri Baba a friend and trekker from Thane who happend to be in Nepal and in Thamel today. We had Chai together and talked of all the Treks we have done since we last met. Also changed most of the money I had brought from INR to NRs to carry during the trek.

3rd November: 9:30AM All 3 of us went to Suman's office and finalized all arrangements for the Trek. From there we went to Kalapathar Trek-Gear shop for some gear. I bough a maroon color Down Jacket for NR 3000/- Later in the evening at 5:00PM we took a taxi to Pashupathinath Temple for pre-trek prayer visit.

4th November Flight to Lukla ... a False Start:

We left early today to Airport to catch our Summit Air flight to Lukla scheduled for 8:30AM. we arrived well in time but our flight was not called for a long time even though all other Lukla flights seemd to be taking off. Finally our flight was checked in and after further waits we finally boarded at 1:30AM.

The finally taxied to the runway and even started rolling down the runway as if to take off but then suddenly slowed and veered off the exit way to go back to the parking slot where we started. The pilot said Lukla airport was having windy conditions and so asked to postpone take off. We waited in aircraft for another 15 mins but then they said flight is cancelled and to come again tomorrow. Big disappointment!

We went back to our Thamel GH and felt despondent that a whole day was wasted. We considered tyaking a Salleri Taxy next day ..but in the end decided to give the flight another try next day. This was not an unusual thing to happen for Lukla flight ... especially if delayed beyond Noon it seems. Afternoon weather at Lukla is often unpredicatable. That is why all folks try to get on to early morning flights!