Katmandu (1000m) - Lukla (2800m) - Phakding (2600m) :: 4hours
	After we had to turn around yesterday because of bad weather, finally we landed in Lukla now on a different airlines all together. We failed yesterday with Yeti airlines and successfully landed with Sita airlines. The flight to Lukla is one fantastic rides, you get so close to mountain tops and ridges that you feel you could touch them. If you are used to sitting in a huge jet plane you will definitely now the difference and you will not appreciate it. Your jet plane is stable even in the a storm, this one will shake with slightest turbulence. We had a clear day and peaks around a re really amazing. Shining brightly in the morning sun greeting us to Lukla. The Lukla airstrip is built on a ridge at a upward angle, so the minute you land you start climbing, may be its purposely built that way as it gives you the fair idea of the 10 days ahead. "CLIMB UP HILL" The approach to the runway is all visible to you. As you come near to the ridge the air craft sways left right and finally aligns itself to the runway all manual, no radio, no complex electronics, just plain old technique "If you can see it you can get it". Simple isn't it. Please do this ride once in your life it really is mother of all amusement parks. All the concepts of safe/secure air travel down the drain. Real adventure, it moves you so much that even you are just a spectator in the game you thump the air, hoot, clap when the plane touches the Lukla airstrip which is tarmac recently till then it was a muddy track. I have always thought "More the inconvenience, more the adventure"

After the exciting plane ride we headed to the hotel Paradise for breakfast. This was our first interaction with the hotel on Everest route. Well polished wooden floor, tables and windows. The biggest room in the hotel is the dining room where almost all the guest who rented in the hotel can eat and know each other well. All hotels on the route have similar architecture only the size and facilities would differ.

Our guide Dhan Singh Gurung a.k.a Don had his work cut out fetch porters, get our luggage, distribute among them and set us towards our first mile stone Phakding. We had a total of 230 Kgs of baggage, we hired 9 porters amongst 18 of us so each one was easily carrying 25kgs. I was carrying my own back pack of max 5kgs I was only carrying my cameras and lenses, 2 liter's of water, rain cover, and a wind breaker everything else was with the porter. After a great breakfast and milk tea, we decided to pray and do 3 Omkars' every morning before the start of the trek. We did the ritual and set pace towards Phakding. Stone paved road takes you out of Lukla, the route is a well defined busy trail the passes through small settlements/villages like chablung, ghat etc. Dr. Girish Vaze ENT specialist from UK was having a n uneasy first hour of the trek. the Momo's in KTM had made him diarrheal and he was falling behind. Raja was also having similar issues and he also was with Girish. Our leading pack of 10+ did not have any clue what had happened behind. We waited almost for an hour before they turned up. We had a lemon tea in a tea house perched on the edge looking into doodh kosi river. My first lemon tea of the trek, I immediately liked it and decided to drink a lot of it on the trek. Advantages its lemon => vitamin C + sugar + boiled water => instant hydration. After this Pravin asked me and Dhaval to run up to Phakding and book rooms in the hotel, but before we could do that the porters ran ahead of us and they already had an arrangement with the a hotel named Kumbhu Traveller's Guest House. All reached the hotel by 230P and as expected Girish and Raja were the last to check in. As planned we prepared hot veggie soup and then ordered lunch, Dal bhat for every body.


Todays trek was not all that tiring but a good warm up walk to a big next day. We had dropped down 200m to the valley floor as Phakding is just 100m above the banks the of doodh kosi. Phakding is a nice cool place and filled with hotels, this is a ideal stop over place in both directions. Tomorrow is a big day, first of 4 big days in the trek, almost a 1000m climb to Namche bazaar. easily a 8 hour walk. Thinking of all this I hit bed at around 830P, it was a cold night and my legs became sore even if we had walked only 3-4 hrs, lesson learned; I should start wearing my long johns (thermal inners), they will keep my legs warm and composed.
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