EBC Day 15: Lukla to Surkey Helipad....

The big surprise that morning was that we were going to hike yet again. Rather than sitting out the clouds in Lukla, we were going to descend another 2,000 feet (600 meters) to 7,200 feet (2,200 meters) in an attempt to catch a helicopter ride off the mountain. Sebastian and his guide joined our group of five with either me or Ishor setting the pace.

We started by going on a narrow path hugging the fence to the airstrip. 

Eventually we got to the end of the fence and could see firsthand how the runway just ends at a cliff.

We then slowly made our way mostly down, but sometimes up, in the usual Nepali way. Unlike our other paths, we weren’t in trekker territory anymore, but rather a rural area with houses interspersed.

It was actually a lovely trail as the terrain became more tropical like a rainforest. As always, the steps were uneven, and we had to hop from rock to rock to avoid getting too muddy.

EBC Day 14: Buddha Lodge...

We checked into the Buddha Lodge, the same place that we ate our boxed breakfast on the first day of the trek. Our room was ensuite and a decent size, so we were pleased. We hoped that we’d only be spending one night there. The menu was limited due to the lack of incoming flights bringing food and supplies.

We were pleased to arrive on our originally scheduled day with flights booked to Kathmandu for the next day and then flights back to the Netherlands for the day after that. However, since there were still no planes flying in or out of Lukla, we turned our attention to chartering a helicopter to make our escape. At lunch we met a solo trekker with Himalayan Wonders, 19-year-old Sebastian, who quickly joined our group as he didn’t want to miss his international flights either. It soon became evident that we wouldn’t be flying out that day as no helicopters were able to take off or land at the airport either, so we worked on our journals, played gin and read. We treated Sagar and Raj, our porters, and Ishor to dinner as is the tradition on the last night. Even though we didn’t know for sure if it was our last night, it was the last night that room and board were included as part of our trekking package.

EBC Day 14: We Did It!

Even after all that time together, I was still very impressed by Ishor’s intuition for when it would rain. It started to rain less than five minutes after he suggested we don our ponchos.

We were very surprised when we went up a hill to discover that we had already reached the entrance to the national park and the official end to our EBC trek.

After trying to escape the Himalayas by helicopter for a few days, we had resorted to Plan A: Hike the entire way to EBC and back.

Terri might have been disappointed, but I was thrilled that she was with us as we completed the official trek. This time around I was much more observant during our walk through the village of Lukla; I noticed that it had proper flat paving down its main “street” and evenly spaced stairs rather than the usual uneven steps made of rocks that we found in all of the other villages. It was so foggy that we couldn’t even see the runway when we walked past it.

EBC Day 14: Mule Train and a Monkey....

 There’s a saying that “timing is everything in life.”

Ishor’s timing was definitely perfect when he stopped to “take a pee” as it meant we weren’t trapped on our final suspension bridge when a long mule train wanted to cross.

It also gave him a vantage point to spot a white monkey high in a tree. He said it was the first time he’d ever seen one in the region.

He later spotted a musk deer just as it was running away from us, but I wasn’t fast enough to snap a photo.

EBC Day 14: Phakding to Lukla....

I woke up at 6:40 a.m. and was sad to see white skies. So much for hoping today would be the day we made our escape from the Himalayas.

Instead we packed up, had breakfast, settled our bills for incidentals and set off hiking.

On what we expected to be our last day of hiking, we could occasionally see waterfalls, but most of the beautiful views were obscured by dense clouds .

More Sightings of Porters...

It was truly fascinating to see what was carried up and down the mountain by porters. The front fellow here was carrying a mini-frig with lots of cables being carried behind him.

We saw both full and empty water bottles being hauled by humans. 

Much of the cargo looked back breaking...

...especially this massive amount of rebar. 

You can tell the importance of toilet paper when you see that it is wrapped in plastic then covered in more plastic and kept under an umbrella when it rained. 

Less Than Stellar Loos...

It’s impossible to write about our trek without mentioning toilets as they were a major topic of discussion along the way. While every one of our teahouses had at least one indoor Western toilet, that doesn’t mean it was the usual Western experience. 

Major differentiators were that you had to bring your own toilet paper and it couldn’t be flushed, thus there was always a basket for used TP next to the toilet. 

Along the trail itself, the variety of toilets we visited were almost mind-boggling.

On our first day we encountered this outhouse...

...with three planks spaced apart, which was baffling and made it difficult to aim.

Another was a hole with a large pile of leaves to throw in to offset the smell, which seemed to work pretty well.

The worst was definitely this outdoor loo at Thukla on our 7th day, which was just two shallow holes filled with poop and toilet paper; the wood had garlic scattered about in an attempt to disguise the smell. We also encountered several porcelain Asian toilets―some that flushed and some with buckets to use for flushing. Not surprisingly, it took some practice to get the foot position just right for perfect aim.

To complicate matters, once we got above Deboche, at 12,525 feet (3,820 meters), there was no running water. When we arrived at our “upgraded” ensuite room in Pheriche, we discovered a large barrel of water with a small bucket to be used to scoop up water to pour in the toilet to flush away the contents. The loos in the hallways in Lobuche and Gorak Shep were similar, so for five night we got to play a game of: How Many Buckets of Water Does it Take to Wash the Poop Away. Ironically, when we got to Gorak Shep, we were sadly missing our plywood closets housing toilets at the Pheriche Bates’ Motel. The hallway toilet there didn’t have a light, so we had to wear headlamps to do our business. Overall, we had ensuite rooms for 6 of 14 the nights: 3 with running water and 3 without. For the remaining eight nights, we used a shared loo down the hall.