November 1, 2006 – Our First Day of Trekking

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Today was our first day of trekking, but before we could get on the trail at Lukla our team boarded Yeti Airline’s Twin Otter for the forty minute flight out of Kathmandu.  Peter had the best seat in the house, just behind the pilot and had great views of the steep approach to the tiny mountain runway.  It was an exciting trip for all of us in this small little plane all crammed in there looking for a view of the mountains during our flight to Lukla.

We ate a pleasant breakfast in the village before setting out for the day.  This was a good primer for the more challenging days to come on the trail.  It was mostly downhill, we dropped about a 1,000 feet or 300 meters to Phakding on the banks of the Dudh Kosi river.  Our lodge for the night had us sleeping in large comfortable rooms and we closed our eyes to the comforting sounds of the river across the courtyard.