HappyTrekker: November 2010

PANORAMIC VIEW OF TAWOCHE (6495m asl), NUPTSE (7861m asl), EVEREST (8848m asl), LHOTSE (8516m asl) AND AMA DABLAM (6856m asl)

Twelve of us flew into Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport on the morning of 6.11.2010. The following morning, we 'chartered' an Agni plane to fly us to Lukla to begin our Everest View Trek which took us from Lukla to Tengboche and return as shown in the map.

Our Route Map

The trek which took us 8 days could be graded as easy to moderate. None of us suffered from any limb muscle cramps or foot blisters. We managed to view the magnificent mountains especially the Everest and Ama Dablam fortunately at Namche Bazar and Syangboche area. We missed views at Tengboche for the weather was too misty. The return trek from Tengboche was pleasant and easy though many of us had started to develop the Khumbu cough possibly due to the dust coupled with cold air and drinking cold water. Of course, many of us enjoyed shopping for gears at Kathmandu and Namche Bazar.

Along the way back to Lukla, we heard the unpleasant news that many tourists had been stranded in Lukla as the airport was closed to commercial planes most of the time due to the inclement weather. No plane came from Kathmandu on 15.11.2010, our flight departure date and we had to start queuing for the next available seats. The queuing system was elusive and incomprehensible! Fortunately, our agent was resourceful enough to find helicopter seats to fly us out in three batches on 17 & 18.11.2010 to enable us to catch our plane home on 19.11.2010. Later on, we heard that the Nepalese military helicopters stepped in to ease the tension by rescuing the stranded tourists on 20.11.2010.

Trekking buddies who made the trip memorable were Choo, Wai Chin, Engu, Yeoh, Koon Kong, Poh Lian, Mee Hong, Nicole, Ong, Tessie and Christina

Here is the popular Nepalese Rhesem Phiriri song. Click on the green bar and the slideshow icon (on the right) to enjoy song and the photographs which are taken and arranged in chronological order.