Hello Himalayas... How's ya legs?!

All kitted out in some posh new performance strides and a rented sleeping bag/jacket combo, we convinced ourselves that we could do this thing. Bit of a hikoi up te maunga, nothing too crazy eh. Reckon? 

Mmmm, should be. 

Yeah nah go on then.

Rightio boss. 

After you.

With our affirming self-talk thus pretty much nailed, we got up early to meet our friendly guide BK and make our way with joyful hearts to Kathmandu domestic airport for a long confusing wait.  In between queuing at a couple of different counters and getting frisked at a couple of checkpoints, we watched the departure board do very little at all, while stacks of luggage and sacks of lentils got shifted short distances here and there to no apparent end.

Boarding passes for Lukla.

We boarded our rather cute 16-seater and waited for another hour or so before the props started spinning. It was a 40-minute flight over magnificent mountain vistas to Lukla, the Himalayan gateway boasting "the world's most dangerous airport".  We'd believe it.  The runway at Hillary-Tenzing airport, Lukla, could easily be mistaken for a cricket pitch running lengthways up Dunedin's Baldwin Street, and the plane barely comes to a standstill before pulling a 3-point turn (on the local tennis court?) and promptly taking off again to clear the way for the next guy. We just googled the numbers: that runway is 460m by 20m with a 12% gradient. That's one tenth of the length of a standard runway.

We scoffed a quick lunch and perused the map, psyched for the short stroll ahead. Day one, they assured us, would be a piece of cake. A leisurely 3-hour waltz through flat pastures and cobbled villages. (Cue the theme song to the Sound of Music). What we were yet to learn is that "Nepali flat" is not a level gradient, but a series of ups and downs reminiscent of a Wall St line graph in which the final difference in altitude between start- and end-points is moderately negligible.  It's also worth noting that in Nepali geography it only qualifies as an actual mountain when its summit is over 6000m above sea level. Sorry about it Aoraki, but you are only New Zealand's tallest hill.

Today we have been challenged but awed.  The smattering of villages up here are connected by stony paths inaccessible by car or bike.  Supplies are trudged in by powerful donkeys, oxen, yaks and indefatigable Nepali porters.  The soundtrack up here is made up of rushing rivers, clanking yak-bells, and Bollywoodesque musical numbers emitting tinnily from mobile phone speakers.

We are following this mighty river, which has treated us to gargantuan waterfalls towering overhead and crystal-clear rock pools shimmering underfoot.  We've lost count of the swingbridges already.

Wherever there is life up here there is religion.  BK tells us he is usually Hindu, but he is Buddhist in the mountains and in the end it's all the same because God is on the inside.  There are prayer flags all over, and mantra carved painstakingly on rocks in Tibetan script, and many sacred cylinders inviting pilgrims to turn them three times to purify the soul.  The belief system prescribes that at any shrine or stupa you must walk around it in a clockwise direction for good luck.

It felt good to knock the first day off within the three hours allocated for it.  Mainly due to Chandra the shy wee porter who is carrying our 21kgs of gear.  Thanks Chandra.  We slept well.

Day two was described as three hours of Nepali flat followed by a three hour uphill slog to our accommodation in Namche Bazaar.  We are happy to report that we made it in fine time.  It's unclear how many kilometres we travelled in surface distance, but according to the map we're now eating dinner 700m further from sea level than we are our lunch, so that feels like an achievement.

In Namche Bazaar we are 3440m above sea level, and so far no complaints.  There's still a lot of climbing to do between here and Everest Base Camp (5364m) and everyone we have spoken to warned us that the altitude sickness is the real challenge.  We are super pleased that tomorrow is an official 'acclimatisation day' so we'll pass two nights here although we're encouraged to spend a few hours trekking tomorrow in the interests of our health.  We'll have to see about that, BK.

The following are a few more of our favourite photos from today, in no particular order:

A chicken on the threshold 

Beasts of burden

A little school

The road rules

More prayers

A life less ordinary

A well-earned rest.