Everest Base Camp trek day 4 - Frustrations & Recommendations

We drove to the airport this morning feeling positive - "THIS time! Yeah!"

Yalamber thought the signs were good as he surveyed the airport car park with a grin - "lots of mountain trips here today"

We rolled to the check-in counter full of confidence - no scrum, that means no delays, right?

Wrong.

"Sorry sir, all Lukla flights today cancelled, I am sorry,"

Bugger.

With a 14 day trek ahead and only 15 days before our flight back to London, it was time to think of plan B.

So after another come-get-us call to Yalamber, and a detailed plan-redrawing session in the Explore Himalaya office, we now have these options:

Plan A
- fly out to Lukla tomorrow (yes, we WILL!)
- trek as far as Gorak Shep, via Gokyo Ri as planned
- climb Kala Pattar as planned, but don't go on to Everest Base Camp & back the next day
- instead, save one day by heading back down that afternoon.

This allows us to keep one day contingency at the end in case we have troubles flying BACK from Lukla. It means we don't get to see base camp, but Kala Pattar is just as high and actually offers better views of the mountain.

Plan B
- if we can't get a flight tomorrow, we drive to Pokhara in the west, and trek to Annapurna Base Camp.

ABC is only 4100m, compared to EBC's 5600m, hence the trek is a few days shorter and less physically arduous, but it's just as popular. We also know we've been OK going to that altitude before (Toubkal) in just 4 days. So it's easier, but therefore less of an adventure.

Still, an ABC trek would still be pretty awesome, I'm sure...

I have to say that Explore Himalaya have been amazingly helpful, especially Yalamber who just radiates an easy-going calm practicality, and the same goes for all the Nepalis we've dealt with so far. Take the airport staff yesterday - could you imagine anyone at Heathrow taking you out to the runway and rummaging through bin bags for a list ticket with you? I'd have had to fill in forms, ring an 0870 number, spend hours on hold, navigate an automatic menu system, etc etc...

And the food - oh, the food! Some recommendations:

- the daal baat at New Orleans (so good Lise had it two nights running)

- Momo - essentially a Nepali version of dim sum dumplings. Delicious!

- the fajitas at the Northfield Cafe (better than any Mexican food I've had in England)

- the coffee at Mandaps

- "Trekking in the Everest region" by Jamie McGuinness / Trailblazers. Everything we've found ourselves asking about Kathmandu so far, is answered in this book.

I'm going to bed now, as we have to be up at 5am for our last chance of a flight to Lukla. With a bit of luck, this will be my last post for a few days...

Happy New Year!