September 2, 2010
It’s 3 am. I am wide-awake. Of course I went to bed at 7 pm, so that’s not so strange. The rain is falling steadily outside my window. Not a good omen for our flight to Lukla this morning. I manage to get all my bags closed, and down a quick breakfast of mediocre coffee and toast before the bellman shows up promptly at 5.15. Tsering told us to be ready to go at 5.30 for a 6.15 flight. This seems like cutting we’re cutting it pretty close, but he’s the boss. So 5.30 am finds us ready and waiting in the lobby. No Tsering. 5.35. No Tsering. Must be running on Nepali time. He finally pulls in at 5.45, looking totally unconcerned about the half an hour we have left to be on a plane.
We head to the small domestic airport we’ll be flying out of. The rain is lightening up but not stopping. And the gray gloomy skies show no sign of clearing. We pull into the airport and get our bags out. As we’re heading into the terminal, we realize what a shit show this is going to be. A group of people is gathered around the door holding bags, food, eggs, cartons, you name it, all talking loudly. And we start to realize they are all maneuvering to shove there way in first. No order or logic, just get inside. Tsering grabs some bags, and a stack of a couple hundred eggs cradled in cardboard, and wades into the melee. We grab our bags and follow. He makes good progress through the mass of people and we follow in his wake, being left mostly unharassed as it’s clear we’re not in charge here and have no idea what’s happening.
We make it through the door and all of the bags are thrown on an ancient looking conveyor belt to be taken through what must be an x-ray. We’re then ushered into the next part of the hanger. Groups wait their turn to get checked in. What this means is that we’re issued tickets and then all bags for the group are thrown on a gigantic scale to be weighed. We’re supposed to stick to 30 lbs per person, presumably to keep the plane to a certain weight. We’re over the limit (of course, the wine alone probably weighs 30lbs), so fees are paid and we’re eventually ushered into the waiting room. It’s now 6.45. A half an hour after we were supposed to leave, yet Tsering still seems totally unconcerned. He gets us a cup of coffee, sees us settled in seats and heads off again.
We wait. And wait. By 7.30 I’ve asked Dawa if this is normal. ‘Oh, yeah. The weather is bad in Lukla, so we wait. But don’t worry, we’re on the first plane.’
We may not be going anywhere. Tsering checks in around 8. He’s sure the weather will clear and we’ll get out. So we just sit. A few other flights leave. Many are cancelled. We watch a monk using a laptop, a study in contradictions.
At 9.30 they announce our flight is leaving. Now. Everyone springs into action. Tsering runs over, everyone grabs bags, and the eggs, and within minutes we’re all on a bus being shuttled to the plane. We load on. It’s an old plane, from the 1960s maybe, seats maybe 25 or 30, two propellers. The two pilots run the checklist, and to our amusement, we have a flight attendant for the 40-minute flight. She passes out caramels (our in flight service), cotton for your ears and newspapers.
We take off smoothly and are moving through the clouds. We have yet to see a mountain of any sort. But the flight goes well, if loudly. All of a sudden a valley opens below us in the clouds, the pilots bank right and then we’re landing. On a tiny airstrip. The airstrip at Lukla is 1700 ft long and is on a 12% uphill grade and it ends in a mountain. It has been named by the History Channel (perfect authorities that they are) the most dangerous airport in the world. Welcome to Lukla—the airport where there is no room for error. Our landing is perfect. But we’re only one of two flights that make it in before the weather turns again. We find out later that we’re on the first flight out in 2 days and for 3 days after us no more flights are allowed in. So we are the lucky sisters once again—hitting a very narrow time window.
Pictures: Lisa with our eggs
Monk on laptop at the airport
In flight service
Airstrip
Plane leaving Lukla
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