Day 59 - Kathmandu, Nepal

Day 59 – His.

Kathmandu.

Yesterday there was a plane crash. It was a small plane from Kathmandu to Lukla – in fact the same type of plane we have to take. So this morning there were a lot of very scared people waiting at Lukla airport. We got up early and went through to the waiting room with 60 others. Four planes were racked up waiting to take us and as we walked out the whole range of fear reactions were on display, some were joking about death, some had earphones on and eyes closed and some were hyperventilating. Lukla is a scary place to take off from. They rev the engines of the plane as high as they can go and then chuck the thing off the edge of the mountain and hope for the best. 9 times out of ten this works fine and we were all hoping this would be one of those times. Thankfully it was and 45 minutes later we landed at Kathmandu to deep sighs and applause.

About 30 minutes after that we were back at the hotel and the first thing I did was go find Patti.

 Day 59 – Hers.

Rob found me sitting in the hotel garden, pretending to read, awaiting his return.  I was watching the main gate as people from his group arrived - - he had come in the side gate for some reason so my first sight of him was through the restaurant window.  He ran out to give me a hug....wow, what a stench....but I was so glad to see him back safe and sound that I didn’t even mind.

We sat in the garden a while, relating our various adventures and then Rob went up to the room to shower (Thank goodness!) and sleep for 3 hours.  I woke him at 1:00 – to take his smelly laundry to the cleaners, go to lunch and go to the Pilgrims Book House – I knew he’d love it and I wasn’t disappointed.

We spent the afternoon lazing around – I introduced him to Joyce and to Barry and Cindy who quizzed him about his trek.  He introduced me to his travelling companions – and the day passed in a pleasant glow of Himalayan sunshine.

Rob went to a barbecue with his group – the traditional ‘end of trek’ meal – I had been invited to join them, but I really wanted to see the Kumari procession and to sort out my packing for our move to our new hotel.  He was back earlier than I expected – and we were both sound asleep by 10:00.