Here is lots of changes on lukla to namche on everest trail we can feel it , We are in Lukla. After reaching Fakding from here, the first stop will be. Explaining the journey, our guide instructed us – to wear a mask when reaching the market area and settlement.
Not only that, he added – do not enter the store without permission.
The terror of Covid 19 has disrupted life here. Hospitality-based businesses are at risk due to epidemics. Earlier, 19 people were confirmed to have Covid 19 out of 9 people tested. So we had to show a ‘visa’ when we entered Lukla Bazaar from the airport. ‘Visa’ is the ‘negative’ report obtained from the Covid 19 test.
It was felt that the comfortable journey from Tara Air to here is also indicating the coming days. However, the repeated instructions to show corona test reports and exercise restraint while walking kept the fear in mind.
However, we are in Lukla, which is considered to be the main gateway to Everest. The track of the vehicle has been opened up to Chaurikharka below it.
How will road link affect the future of Khumbu region?
There is both hope and apprehension.
If the goods are to be transported by air travel, it will come easily and will also be cheaper. The suspicion is that the situation of ‘Round Annapurna’ in trekking will not be in the area of Everest?
Annapurna Circuit was once the most popular trekking route in the world. However, with the opening of the road track, quality tourists were losing. Due to the 20-day trekking road, even 10 days stopped.
Even after the alternative route was opened, the former attraction continued to be lost.
While traveling to Khumbu, I was repeatedly asked this question. Even if the road reaches outside the Everest National Park, it may not reach beyond that. That is why the ‘essence’ of Everest will remain.
But ,
what about Lukla’s future?
And the so-called risky airport business?
The change in Lukla to namche on everest trail, 20 years ago and now is being felt a lot. Not only hotels have been added, but also sanitation has increased in the trails.
Leaving the Lukla airport, I did not see any lights or poles. Underground supply has started from the pipe, electricity.
However, 20 years ago, the hotels themselves had already installed micro-hydro power. Electricity was supplied only in the evening.
Now the national grid is connected, which adds brightness here. The lights of the airport will attract everyone before evening.
Not being able to see the tandrang tundrung wire and seeing the light burning comfortably became a matter of feeling different in itself.
Large dining hall, large chimney in the middle of it and warm from the same heat.
The experience of living in so many homes two decades ago was that the chimneys were slowly receding. So much so that the coils of Chinese heaters have started to heat up, to keep warm.
Naturally, it is not easy to bear the pain of firewood. Electricity is becoming an alternative.
Stones printed in Lukla Bazaar have changed the atmosphere there. The market is open, there is no circulation. At this time, the businessmen of Lukla are worried about how the business will move forward.
It doesn’t matter when the trekking, including camping, begins. How about a long trip with a tent when the tea house is not full? So what to do with the container goods brought in the container? The risk of expiration is increasing.
Trekking has been declining for almost a year. If this process is prolonged, there will be no option to throw away the goods brought for camping. They are afraid of wasting food brought by cargo.
Our journey from Lukla is towards Fakding. The words “Buddhism” are inscribed on the huge stone figure – in the Tibetan language.
There are also those who are surrounded by water, but they are not. Probably not enough water. Measures have been taken to reduce the outbreak in the villages and settlements along the trekking route. Fire hydrants were seen in the villages.
The absence of electric wires and the appearance of fire hydrants ready to prevent fires made it difficult to predict how well the area would be organized.
The stone houses built to throw garbage on the road were showing originality. In such houses, perishable and non-perishable items can be kept separately. It is only nature that has not returned here in 20 years.
Man-made objects have returned. The natural forms have not changed.
We were capturing photos with Lukla Utrina in the background of the top of the mountain. With the advent of the suspension bridge, a series of photo sessions continued.
Interestingly, the more I walked, the more exciting and captivating the scenes became. Everyone was feeling that he was gradually obscuring the pictures he had taken at the beginning.
I reached Fakding by walking slowly. Earlier, I had crossed the suspension bridge and stayed at a tea house on the other side. This time we were arranged to stay at the Sherpa Guide Lodge.
Many hotels have already been built before and after our arrival. However, the hotels were not open. In many, the lock seemed to be hanging. The Sherpa Guide Lodge is open only for such packages.
Extensive dining, even if it looks small from the outside. The hotel, which is made of stone and pine wood, also has rooms with attached bathrooms. When I saw the modern toilet, I remembered the memory of two decades ago.
When I first came here and went to the toilet, the pine leaf was piled together. The toilet was traditional with a hole in the middle of the wood. After defecating from there, it had to be covered with a pine leaf nearby.
It was a kind of septic tank. Although it felt uncomfortable at first, later I got used to the style of toilet. This is what I asked Angmaya Sherpa, the manager of Hotel Namche. ‘The toilet at that time was also lost. There is less fertilizer in the farm, ‘she said jokingly.
The reference to Angmaya is linked to Namche, while the operator of the Sherpa Guide Lodge is Aang Dawa Sherpa, who has climbed Mt. Everest twice.
Since then, he has been participating in climbs as a liaison officer. Seeing his working style and the look of the hotel, one could not help but admire it.
“It simply came to our notice then. In Kathmandu, it would be around Rs 15 million. Why build here? ‘
He laughed.
“Even if it is made in Kathmandu for Rs 100 million, it will not be as profitable as here,” he said. However, he has spent more than 30 million rupees in this hotel in Fakding. From electricity to design and painting, they have saved a lot of money while making it. “It’s like working abroad,” said his wife from the kitchen.
He drank salt tea at our request. Two days ago, the prince of Qatar climbed Namche by this route. Earlier, members of the Bahraini royal family had climbed various mountains.
How does Angdawa Everest region view the influx of rich people from the Gulf countries?
“It’s good to be here. But, even if we come only from China and India, it is enough for us, we don’t have to come that far, ‘he said. However, the high profile trip to the mountains from the desert country is definitely sending a strong message for Nepal’s tourism.
Finishing Fakding’s stay, we headed towards Manjo. After reaching the entrance of the national park above Sagar, we checked the ‘visa’ again.
After the entry of all the details, we paid the entrance fee of the park and went to the edge of Dudhkoshi. After the journey of Bagrai Bagari, a long hill was waiting for us. This hill stretches as far as Namche. This was the hardest part of the journey so far.
Before this trip, I went to see a feature film and a documentary. French film ‘The Climb’ and CNN’s American Porter Experience.
The enticing scene in both of them was in front of them. The movement of mules and donkeys continued. It is not that the suspension bridge that connects the deep gorge is not disturbed by the strong wind. The food tied to the bridge was fluttering and flying. A strange sound was being made when the garland was fluttering.
The movie The Climb has an interesting view of this suspension bridge. When the character who is scared on the bridge is being weighed, he runs across the bridge in fear. After crossing the bridge, I felt tired for a while, I wanted to remember the movie scenes again.
After crossing the suspension bridge, we continued to climb. The road through the forest stretches up to Namche. Earlier, we had walked to and fro.
The horizontal path was no longer our option. After continuous climbing, we reached the base of Namche. When we reached here, Namche was already shining, the surrounding mountains were glistening, but the night was slowly getting darker.
After staying one night in Namche, I was preparing to go to Khumjung village. In the meantime, we had begun to plan for a closer look at Mount Everest. We will look at Everest View, the highest resort, and Mount Everest from a height of 5,600 meters.
lukla to namche on everest trail
read this blog’s first part in Nepali language
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