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DAY ONE OF THE TREK Lukla, 9,300 ft. to Phakding, 8,600 ft.
There is excitement in the air; we have survived the flight from Kathmandu to Lukla and work feverishly at assembling all our gear.  Where did all this stuff come from?  What am I going to carry?  What will the sherpas carry?  Why won't this overstuffed duffel bag zip shut?  Boy, I'm working hard and we haven't even started yet!  I'm hungry.  When do we eat?

The sherpas fix us a great lunch and we are on the trail into the Khumbu region (eastern Nepal and the Himalayas) at about noon. We start out at about 9,100 ft. and then drop immediately down. Right now we're at 8,600 ft. sitting at a little teahouse called "The Mount Kusmuview Lodge and Restaurant (sic)." They said this was the high season for trekking. This adds a new definition to "high".

I'm sitting here looking at the trail and there must be 15 yaks going uphill, another seven or eight yaks coming downhill, porters carrying extremely large packs -- the packs must weigh 50 to 75 pounds each, and the porters are wearing flip-flops or tennis shoes, several have no shoes at all. 

So far we've probably walked through seven or eight small villages. We go through town after town, little villages where people have their shops open on the street selling everything you can imagine. Little kids are running around, yaks are going back and forth, porters are carrying huge loads. I wonder how many kids get stepped on. The people couldn't be nicer.

It's interesting to see the trekkers that are heading back down -- tanned, confident, walking with a swagger of accomplishment. Their faces seem to say with great excitement, "If you only knew what lies ahead. Wow!"

As we approach camp, we discover we have beat the porters in. We find our tents aren't set up and there's no hot tea. The temperature has dropped and is now probably in the low 50's and boy would a cup of hot tea taste great right now. The camping area is right by the river, and the roaring sound is magnificent.

Dinner is simply delicious -- rice in some kind of a tomato sauce and a delicately prepared yak dish, topped off with great apple pie.

I go into my tent. It's after dark. I find my headlamp, but that's about all I can find. As I open up my duffel bag, everything I want I can't find. Everything I don't want I find very easily. Soon I have everything spread out all over the tent. I cringe at the thought of repacking all this stuff tomorrow. Finally I get myself set up and am in bed and asleep by 8:30.

CONTACT DAVE

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