ROLWALING and KHUMBU via Trashi Labsta (18.887 ft)

© Dirk Deckx (1994)

15. TREKKING... Day 21

Day 21 (Nov 7 - '94) : Khumjung - Syangboche - Kathmandu per helicopter

Last day : 6.30 AM : we head for 'Syangboche'. Pasang and Dawa already left with our big backpacks and the rented equipment to check them in so that we can peacefully say goodbye to our chief cook Suk Bai and his assistants. We pay them a tip for their excellent services.

8.40 AM (on schedule) : the Asian Airlines helicopter, a blue Russian Kazan, lands on the sandy runway with a lot of noise and dust-clouds.
The machine has seats for 24 passengers who sit next to each other in two rows, backs to the wall. Between the two rows they put the luggage, covered with a net. There's not much room.
Sweets and pieces of wadding to protect the ears are handed out while the motors start. For the last time we wave goodbye to our loyal guides and hope to see them again soon, maybe next year, who knows...
With a lot of noise and shaking the chopper takes off. It's not easy to look outside, the windows are too small for that. The flight takes one hour and it was bearable.

It's a strange feeling to be back in a crowded city like Kathmandu and we have to get used to the traffic again. The air is hazy and yellow in the distance because of the increased smog. The once so immaculate white Himalaya peaks are now gray and disconsolate.

We are picked up by Asian Trekking and brought to our hotel. Wim's not there so I return our rented stuff to the shop and arrange the payment. I agree with John to eat something in the city tonight.
At 1 PM Wim steps into the room and we talk extensively about our mutual experiences. In the mean time his lost luggage has arrived and the 'generous' Air India even paid him a compensation of ... 1.800 Rp.

But now I only want one thing... a long and divine hot shower. One hour later I look like a half-done lobster but I certainly feel much and much better.
We spend the rest of the day with shopping. In the evening, John's pictures are already developed. Photographic services in Kathmandu are fast and cheap but the quality is poor.

At night a huge thunder-storm rages over the city, the first one we experience in Nepal. Fortunately it's of short duration.
Later on in the hotel we are told that Air India changed our flight-schedule. The flight from Delhi to Frankfurt will be delayed with 3 hours. I can feel the misery coming in again...