Sorry for the delay in updating the blog, Lukla lost it's mains power for a few days as the local hydro plant failed and a spare part had to be flown in.
We survived our exciting flight, the plane was a 16 seater which had seen better days, there were a few sudden drops as we crossed the mountains and then we saw the runway ahead through the pilots window. The Lukla runway is very short and has a cliff face at the end but the most striking thing is it a steep hill, at least 1 in 5. When sitting in the garden of our accommodation is seems a bit disconcerting to see a plane rushing past going downhill!
Yesterday it was sunny all day throughout which planes were coming in continuously, mostly with cargo and the yard is now full of food, building materials (sheets of plywood and reinforcing rods) and boxes. Today it turned cloudy at noon and the planes have stopped coming, so we suspect yesterday they were making as much use of the weather as possible.
Yesterday we arrived for breakfast at 7.30 am and then spent the day trying to keep awake after the 4am start and the jet lag from the previous day. There is little in the town to occupy us although we did have an hilarious half hour when a shop keeper demonstrated a singing bowl (a traditional metal bowl which resonates) and put it over John 2 sticks head and rang it. We don't know if was a wind up or what you are supposed to do but Cleggie and I were in tears of laughter, I was laughing so much I had to go outside. We do have a video with which to embarrass John with. The bowl costs over £200 so I won't be bringing one home.
Cleggie and Sam could not resist the opportunity to do some washing, he has even brought a hi-tech washing line. John and I intend to just smell for three weeks. The lack of oxygen is very noticeable at 10,000ft, we have all been a bit lethargic from a combination of little sleep over the past two nights and the thin air.
There were about 30 people in the place we are staying (I won't call it a hotel) who have just finished the base camp hike. 28 of them are happy but two were doom and gloom about the cold, -30 degree gale force winds and altitude sickness. They seemed keen to share their experiences with us last night, not what you want at the start of the adventure so we struggled off to bed at 7.30 pm, in the dark, feeling very down. This morning we all felt a great deal better especially when we chatted to an American who had just arrived who has done the trip many times, he says the forecast for next week is good.
We had a walk up to the local shrine this morning, a couple of miles and 400ft of climbing, we were all a bit puffed but not too bad. Suddenly the power came back and sad people that we are we all started emailing.
The medical support team arrive tomorrow and we set off down the mountain. That's not a misprint, we do drop a few hundred metres before starting the climb.
Each plane lands, is emptied of people and cargo (almost everything is flown in) the next passengers get in and off it goes again all within 10 minutes. Sometimes they don't even stop the propellers which seems dangerous, perhaps it is to keep the airports reputation up as the most dangerous in the world.
All goods are carried from the airport by porter, asses or yaks.
The planes land up hill and take off down the slope.
On the walk to the local shrine we passed Lukla hospital, note the four legged ambulance