Note:  clicking on any photograph will present a larger version.

The Lukla Airstrip.   Our plane to the Everest area was much scarier than the one to Pokhara.  Sitting behind the pilot, we had a terrifying (but interesting) view on the flight to Lukla, our starting point in the Khumbu.  The plane flew at about 11,000' the entire way, which seems fine until you look out the window and the ridges and treetops are only 300 or so feet below the wings, and the plane is heaving up and down from the winds. Just when it seemed we were going to crash into the side of a mountain (I'm not kidding), we slammed down onto a dirt airstrip and careened uphill with the brakes locked up in terror.

Anarchy.  The airstrip starts at the top edge of a cliff and ends into the face of a huge mountain. It is built on a slant, with an elevation difference of about 200 feet between the ends of the runway. This benevolent slant is what kept us from crashing into that huge mountain. Hard to believe this is the third busiest airport in Nepal, behind Kathmandu and Pokhara.  After deplaning, our bags were unceremoniously chucked out of the fuselage to make room for the stacks of other bags owned by those persons getting onto our plane for the equally scary trip back to Kathmandu (when taking off, you literally fly off a cliff like a hang glider).   Everybody was rushing about looking very stressed out. We didn't quite understand the reason for all this at the time, but we would later realize on our return to Lukla ten days later that it is serious business trying to get the hell out of Lukla at the end of your trek. These people had been waiting for four hours for our plane, and some had been waiting for days. Also, they turn the planes around in a matter of minutes because the good weather window is so unpredictable. Here's a picture of the anarchic scene at the reloading of the airplane. That's Rich in the middle of the action with his arms in a "V."

Kusum Kaguru.  We met our porters and guide in Lukla and had a quick lunch. We left Lukla and began *descending* to the Dudh Kosi (Milk River). Upon our descent, we turned to witness an incoming twin otter plane negotiate the Lukla approach at an impossible angle. Like us, the passengers lived. We made our way to the town of Phakding, where we were to spend the night. Along the way, we were treated to a fabulous view of Kusum Kangru, a 6,400 meter peak and our first "Khumbu" mountain. Here's a picture of us at a rest spot, where we enjoyed the view of the mountain.

Dudh Kosi.  We made our way the next morning to Namche Bazaar, so named because of the weekly trading market held each Saturday. Traditionally, Tibetans would cross the Himalaya to trade with the Sherpas in Namche. This trade has subsided, but the bazaar continues every Saturday for Khumbu area residents. From Phakding, we continued up the Dudh Kosi, through Chumoa and Jorsale, where we entered the Sagamartha National Park. We stopped for a riverside lunch, where we saw this woman.

Namaste.  Rich also played around with some local kids, who agreed to have their picture taken.  I love the kid on the right doing the Nepali prayer hands greeting -- "Namaste!".

Namche Bazaar.  After crossing a few terrifying cable bridges above the Dudh Kosi, we came to the "Namche hill," about a two hour uphill push from the river bed to the town of Namche. Upon arriving, we wearily "took the tea." Namche was a much more happening place than the other towns in the area we had passed through, complete with places to wash clothes, solar powered "hot tubs" and German bakeries. We also saw more cute kids playing around, like these three.

View from the Top of Namche.  We found a comfortable lodge at the very top of town and settled in. That night, a serious fog reminiscent of the Golden Gate rolled into town, limiting visibility to about 3 feet in front of your face (this was real fog, not smog!). We went to bed worried that we wouldn't be able to see anything the next morning. Boy were we wrong. We woke early the next day (St. Patrick's Day 1999) and climbed the short hill above our lodge to take in this stupendous view, with Mt. Everest, Lhotse and the stunning spire of Ama Dablam on the right. The trail in the foreground (click on the picture for a better view) leads to Tengboche, which can barely be seen as a bump on the horizontal ridge in the exact center of the photograph (almost at the end of the ridge coming down from Ama Dablam's summit).