A three week trip to the Himalayas in Nepal. Starting at Kathmandu, flying to Lukla and hiking along the famous Khumbu trail, this amazing trip culminated in the spectacularly close views of Mount Everest from Kala Pattar.
In Mar 2006, I fulfilled a longtime ambition to visit the Himalayas and see for myself the legendary Mount Everest. This 3-week trip was everything that I envisaged and more, the most amazing scenery, friendly people & the magnificent mountain itself. The trip was organised through Explore Worldwide.
Flying to Kathmandu
A delayed flight of an hour, eventually leaving at 11:30 am on Fri, Mar 17 was the only notable point on an otherwise standard flight from Heathrow. Despite this we still managed to arrive on time in Abu Dhabi at 09:30 on the 18th. & departed shortly after at 10:15, arriving just over 3 hours later at Kathmandu. Nepal is one of those countries where you can expect to receive a bit of a culture shock, so don’t expect life to be the same in Europe as it certainly isin’t. After a bit of a trawl through Kathmandu airport (as no one had been informed of the need to fill out flight declaration forms) we proceeded through customs, inducing a mad scramble at the customs desks. Security? What security, my bag happily sailed through the X-ray machine as the official happily chatted to the security guard.
Outside the airport was reminiscent of arrival in Cairo or Bali. Similar destinations where the scene can be best described as disorganised chaos. The familiar cry ‘Taxi Sir?’, ‘Take your bag Sir ?’, ‘You need hotel Sir ?’, of the hawkers filled the departure lounge, although to be fair carried out in a pleasant, exuberant way rather than the intimidating 
pack atmosphere I have encountered elsewhere. Such is to be expected from a poor nation that relies heavily on western tourist income – every dollar counts! If you’ve travelled often you become streetwise but as always there are unsuspecting, naïve, jet-lagged travellers with their guard let down for a moment. So it was in our group where one parted with £10 from porters to carry his luggage a momentous 50 yards to the bus, even though they were already being paid by the Explore representative!.
Driving through Kathmandu, I hadn’t known what to expect. A thriving city metropolis of part western culture with swanky new clean hotels and shops paid by tourist dollars, or desperately run-down shacks and pot-holed streets milling with equally poor Nepalese. In the end I got both. It did strike me as odd, this great divergence, but then isn’t this what the Maoist uprising is all about? – the political corruption and transparency of where the money is going.
Talking with our local Explore rep in the hotel lounge after arrival I wanted to find out more on the situation. The previous two Explore trips to the region had been cancelled and it was nearly the same with this trip. We had received a letter stating the Foreign Office had advised against all non essential travel to Nepal. People cancelled. Numbers in the group fell from sixteen to seven. Eventually this was cleared by Explore as they felt the situation had improved and people booked again. Suddy (my nickname for our rep as I could never pronounce it correctly) stated it was the UK Government that had advised against travel to Nepal as a way of putting pressure on the Royal Nepalese family to become more democratic, but as always it was the local people who suffered most.
In fact, according to Suddy, the situation had been misrepresented in the media. Suddy felt the problems were slight and it was only very bad, three or so years ago. He explained that the Maoists never bothered locals or tourists and that their argument was only with the Government. I felt Suddy had a point. I was more likely to be knocked down by the ‘wacky races’ style of car and motorbike usage of the locals as I took my life into my hands walking the pavement deficient streets of Kathmandu. Either that or the acidic, smog filled air that burned your nasal passages as you breathed the Kathmandu aire would get me I was sure before any Maoists did.
Chris & Paul, who I had just encountered at the hotel get together, accompanied me on a stroll around the streets in the evening. We were keen to experience the sights and sounds of the city as well as stretch our legs after the long journey. Being an avid reader of Mountaineering history I wanted to experience first hand the city of which I had read so much about. Kathmandu is the entry into Nepal by plane and so virtually all Mountaineering expeditions pass through here. It is steeped in history and it has always been on my ‘must do’ travel list.
We decided upon a walk to Thamel as it was a short 10 mins away & the epicentre for trekkers & travellers. The probability from serious injury due to the traffic wasn’t helped by the fact that there was a power cut from dusk until 9:00pm. This is a common occurrence at present & apparently was not due to the Maoist problem but rather because of the lack of rainfall reducing the output of the hydro-electric plants. Stumbling from pot-hole to pot-hole in the darkness, weaving in and out to avoid the numerous cyclists, rickshaws, motorbikes & cars we made our way down the grimy, sewer-filled streets past the myriad of small dusty shops, now lit with candlelight. Some of the shops goods are enlightening to say the least, particularly those selling meat (often unrecognisable as such).
Even for a poor country the lack of hygiene was alarming, with meat openly laid outside on tables, un-refrigerated and exposed to the dust, flies and traffic fumes. Amongst the food, are dotted your local habitual local trinket shops followed by numerous trekking & climbing gear outlets. However, despite the warnings from our local rep regarding wandering alone at night, I never felt threatened in spite of the occasional hawking of hashish. Eventually locating the infamous Kathmandu Y.H., we settled down on a lovely balmy warm evening to discuss the trip ahead over a few beers.
Mar 19 Day in Kathmandu
Jet lag takes its toll and I’m awake at 04:00 so I’m glad that breakfast is early at 07:30 followed by a tour briefing at 08:30. It soon becomes apparent that the food may be a bit of an issue on the trek if the meals in this fairly modern hotel (by Kathmandu standards) are anything to go by. As we will have to take the majority of our food with us for the trek I hope a strong stomach is in order. While you expect such problems on any trek of this sort, avoiding illness however will make the trip far more enjoyable.
At 09:30 we were taken on a guided 3 hr city walk to see the sights of Kathmandu. While a fascinating place, after a while you begin to lose interest in the vast number of similar temples and the soul can only bear so much hawking of goods. In addition to the mid-day heat I was glad to return to the hotel by early afternoon to relax. I was hoping to find Kathmandu a mythical, enchanting & fascinating place as I read about all those times before, but alas that is an age long past. I wonder what those first mountain pioneers such as Mallory, Norton or Captain Noel Odell would make of the noisy, mechanised and polluted place now. I feel sure they would be saddened at the loss of its charm & difference. Maybe my perception of the place had been tainted by ideal dreams from books; maybe not. It is ironic however, that it is due in part to their pioneering travels that the city has become what it is today.
Tonight I am in need of a good sleep as we have a 05:15 start to catch the flight to Lukla. However, before we finally depart Kathmandu there is one trip that any serious mountaineer must do – visit the 40,000 ½ ft bar, one of the best known in town.
This place is infamous for Everest Summiteers, their autographs and pictures from Hillary to Messner line the walls. It’s a fascinating place and anyone who’s anyone has to come to this bar if they pass through Kathmandu. Apparently every Everest summiteers gets a free meal here for life – now there’s an incentive!.