Day 15 (Part 1): Mount Everest'ed
First and foremost, we made it! The mountain flight after a hour and half delay, we took off, flew across the Himalayas mountain range and back for an hour this morning. It was one of those tiny planes with a propeller on each side, it seated 19 people max, today we have a little over half of its capacity, totally 11 of us, 6 Chinese including 2 girls from Shenzhen who does not speak Cantonese, also the three persons I met yesterday: Amutha, she was the Malaysian woman - a teacher in a university - and her mother who actually spoke a little Cantonese, I thought that was interesting, and then also Sophie, the Swiss woman. Sophie has brought a friend today as well. The cabin was very short, we needed to bend down to walk inside the cabin. And the stairs can only support one person at a time. When I checked in, the guy asked me to stand on the weight. I was like, OK?! Then when I saw the stairs up to the plane, I knew why. A heavier person might indeed break the stairs. And I guessed they wanted to balance the weight inside the cabin too for such a small plane. We waited at the gate and finger crossed the whole time hoping that the flight would go. There were 4 mountain flights scheduled this morning, from different companies. By 7:40am-ish, the first flight by Yeti Airline was allowed to take off, so I knew we would be going too. We were the last flight out.
I was seating in the very end. My window was scratched pretty badly unfortunately. But during the flight, they allowed each of us, one at a time, to go to the cockpit to take pictures and looked outside. After everyone had completed their round. I went for a second round. I should have just stayed there, no one gone back to the cockpit anymore at that time. Looking at the endless mountains, it felt incredible, mixed with tranquility, feeling like I have accomplished something, a goal. Ok ok, I did not do the trekking to the Mount Everest really... I cheated, I flew over it. Still, it was a great feeling. We were given a mountain guide so we could tell the names of each of the peaks we passed by, there must have 15-20 of them. Other than a few actually had an English names, all the others only had the local names. Next time! If there is a next time, I will like to visit the base camp. But there are really two options, hiking to base camp for 16 plus days or take the helicopter which is bloody expensive. So, it will take a great deal of motivation to make me do either of them.
Back to earth, we landed back at the airport, as we stepped out the aircraft, we were given a certificate to show that we have visited the Mount Everest. It was kind of gimmicky, but I liked it, why not, huh? Said goodbye to Amutha, her mother and Sophie, exchanged facebook links, and wished each other lucks on their journey to the next destinations. On the road, you do meet a lot of friends, even for an introvert like me, I think I am more opened up when I am traveling too. Over the years, I have met some interesting people.
Found my hotel driver at the parking lot, we chatted a bit, he actually lived in Macao for a while and could speak Cantonese, with really heavy accent. It felt a little closer to home. Suddenly two foreigners has spoken Cantonese to me today. Unfortunately, some accident happened on the way back to the hotel. A dog ran out suddenly and it was rolled under our car from the side. The driver was driving slow at the time, so I didn't think the dog died, but the poor thing must have broken a leg or something, and was crying. That was sad. The driver stopped a bit and looked, but he drove on. In a country like Nepal, I am not even sure they would have vet for animals like dogs or cats, they were mostly just stray dogs and stray cats. I mean, who would have pets here while they could hardly have enough to feed themselves. I hope there was some kind people on the sidewalk picked up the dog and fixed him up, or at least, removed the poor things from the road. The traffic in Kathmandu. I was actually surprised I have only witnessed one accident.
Back to the hotel, had breakfast, took a shower, and was just waiting to depart. The rest of today and tomorrow are all traveling, traveling, traveling, I have 2 flights today: Kathmandu to Delhi India, where I would spend 6 hours or so, then take a really late flight from Delhi to Hong Kong, I will arrive in Hong Kong at 5am or something like that. Will be joining with Bryan, we will continue the rest the journey to Hokkaido, Japan together. That's the last destination of my sort of round-the-world trip. With all these flights ahead of me, I only hope that they won't lose my bags or cancel any of the flights.
I have traveled from the lowest point on dry land (Dead Sea at 418m below sea level) to the highest point of earth (Mt. Everest at 8848m above sea level), and from a desert to the mountains, in just over a week. That was a pretty amazing experience all in all. The rest of my trip would be more relaxing, well after this two days of flying, I hope. So, I can recharge a bit before heading back to my work, and my life in the states. Hope I can.
See the other pictures from Day 15 here.
