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Hi everyone - its Paul here
coming in live over the Satellite Phone for the first time this trip.
I'm very pleased to say that
we have finally arrived in Nepal and now it really feels like we are on our
way.
Luggage dramas
As anticipated, we did have some problems with our luggage. Fortunately our
extra allowance was extended to Chris and Bridget (who were on the same flight
and are trekking into basecamp with us). However, that still meant that we
were about 30kgs over limit - which was going to cost around $600. But by
reshuffling even more gear into our hand luggage, and removing our camp beds
(a luxury we had brought in for basecamp), we squeaked in within the limit.
And in the end, we decided to try to board with the camp beds as hand luggage
as well as our already well loaded day-packs. We weren't stopped so we've
ended up with all of our gear here.
Settling in
The flight itself was fine and we managed to catch a bit of sleep on the leg
to Bangkok. Once in Kathmandu, we were met by IMG representatives and
introduced to some of the other climbers and trekkers in our expedition. We
were then taken to our hotel and given a short briefing about organizing our
luggage so that the majority of it can be shipped (by helicopter and yak)
straight into basecamp. The trip from the airport to the hotel bought back
memories from the last time we were here 10 years ago - beeping horns and cars
everywhere, lots of roadworks, buildings built right up to the narrow streets,
the bright colors of people's clothing, the street vendors, rickshaws and tuk
tuks.
Meet and greet
There are all combinations of people on our expedition. Some are just trekking
into basecamp, others are climbing Island Peak, others are climbing through
the Khumbu Icefall, and then there are those climbing Everest - some of which
have private, western guides, and others (like us) have hired their own
Sherpas. Everyone we've met so far seems great - but we're still really just
getting to know who's who and trying to remember everyone's names. There are
20 people in total, of which 16 are climbing and 4 are trekking.
Lovely Dinner
We had a great dinner of Pizza at restaurant recommended by a friend of
Bridget and then looked at a few of the gear shops in the nearby Thamel
district. We need to get a couple of things before we depart on Thursday
morning for the mountains. Tomorrow will be a hectic day and the plan is to
leave the next morning at 5am.
Cheers, Paul.
Updates
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Points: 10.
See more here. |
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