Journal Entry Day 14: Still in Lukla. No planes have flown in or out in 3.5 days
AM: no flights yet. Worse weather today :( I am actually LAST priority it turns out now. Sent an email home inquiring for help on canceling/ rebooking my flight home. People here are getting anxious. Many are starting the walk to Jiri. Rumor is that the hike is 5-6 days, 8 hours a day and is not downhill, but up to 3500m and down again! The rumor mill here is bad and mostly bad news. When the planes start flying there is going to be a BIG problem because of all the people here now waiting to get out.
People are still arriving from treks and desperately looking for a room--Im glad I have a room! (even if it smells like a dead animal from the open sewer drain in the bathroom). Today I am wearing damp but clean underwear. Tomorrow...sigh. I hope my underwear dries.
Email sent to family: November 3, 2011
"Hi everyone.
Well... It's day 3 that all planes have been cancelled to and from lukla due to bad weather. If I don't fly today then I will have to postpone my flight home. People keep coming back from thier treks. Tea houses are full. The people scheduled for that days flight get first priority on to the planes, then those that didn't get on 4 days ago and so on so I am last priority now.
Lukla is at 2805m elevation and is a very small mountain town arranged around the tiny airport. Planes take 12 people only. The only way out, aside from the planes is a 5 day hike down to a town called jiri then a 12 hour bus ride to KTM. Alternatively, 4 people can hire a helicopter to fly to ktm. Yesterday they were $400/ person but everyday they get more expensive. Yesterday 4 took off but at least 1 came back due to low visibility.
It sucks here. It is cold and damp due to all the surrounding clouds. No sun. There is no bank or ATM so I am trying to save as much ad I can just in case.... I have enough to live for 5 days then after that.... Well, hopefully I'm out by then!!!
My room is just a bed and I have an "attached bathroom "thAt is just a toilet really. There is no running water, so I flush by pouring a bucket into it. There is no heating here in any place... Just stoves in the dining halls that they light only at night, on request lol. Breakfast is eggs and fried bread, lunch ramen noodle soup, dinner rice and boiled cabbage and carrots and a soup of a type of lentils called dahl. I also have the option of fried ramen noodles with boiled veg or momos or spaghetti with chopped up tomatoes and boiled veg. Lol
I am sitting in a fake "starbucks" where I can get free wifi and nice coffee.... It is my treat. I tried getting chocolate cake yesterday but the cream was rancid and I still had to pay for it which was very disappointing. All I do all day literally is play cards with 2 guys from the US who are jehovahs witnesses. I was commenting that I regretted not bringing a book, so one of them gave me thier bible... So, I have been Reading the bible. I have finished the first part so far...
I haven't washed in over 10 days. I have 1 wet wipe left actually, which is a problem if I don't leave today! I would have to pay the equivalent to 1 nights board to get a bucket of hot water, which I totally would do at this point but it is so cold that nothing dries so I would have cold wet hair for days. I washed my quick dry underwear 2 days ago ( I am out of clean underwear) and they are still wet. So yes, I am currently wearing wet underwear. I also have been wearing the same 2 set of clothes Since nov 21, the same clothes I hiked in. They are smelly and dusty and very dirty. So another reason not to bucket shower because my clothes are so dirty. Lol.
People are really freaking out here. Seriously, there is palpable tension as more people keep coming and are stuck without knowing when and if they can leave. The first plane that comes in I think might get mobbed.
Weather report for Kathmandu says rain till sat. Weather report for lukla is funny cause it says 50% chance of rain/ snow for everyday into future.
I am in a town surrounded by a cloud that won't lift. And feel like I am in a Stephen king novel....anyone read "the mist"?
A person beside me is having the conversation that they are spending a week "vacation "in lukla and it is cold and disgusting and they wished they never came to everest and all their clothes are wet so they don't know if they can do the walk to jiri and they must be a dr because they had to cancel all of thir patients next week
K I have to go... Save the battery on the iPod! Lots of love!...Anna "
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| Cold and foggy streets |
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| View of the runway |
AM: no flights yet. Worse weather today :( I am actually LAST priority it turns out now. Sent an email home inquiring for help on canceling/ rebooking my flight home. People here are getting anxious. Many are starting the walk to Jiri. Rumor is that the hike is 5-6 days, 8 hours a day and is not downhill, but up to 3500m and down again! The rumor mill here is bad and mostly bad news. When the planes start flying there is going to be a BIG problem because of all the people here now waiting to get out.
People are still arriving from treks and desperately looking for a room--Im glad I have a room! (even if it smells like a dead animal from the open sewer drain in the bathroom). Today I am wearing damp but clean underwear. Tomorrow...sigh. I hope my underwear dries.
Email sent to family: November 3, 2011
"Hi everyone.
Well... It's day 3 that all planes have been cancelled to and from lukla due to bad weather. If I don't fly today then I will have to postpone my flight home. People keep coming back from thier treks. Tea houses are full. The people scheduled for that days flight get first priority on to the planes, then those that didn't get on 4 days ago and so on so I am last priority now.
Lukla is at 2805m elevation and is a very small mountain town arranged around the tiny airport. Planes take 12 people only. The only way out, aside from the planes is a 5 day hike down to a town called jiri then a 12 hour bus ride to KTM. Alternatively, 4 people can hire a helicopter to fly to ktm. Yesterday they were $400/ person but everyday they get more expensive. Yesterday 4 took off but at least 1 came back due to low visibility.
It sucks here. It is cold and damp due to all the surrounding clouds. No sun. There is no bank or ATM so I am trying to save as much ad I can just in case.... I have enough to live for 5 days then after that.... Well, hopefully I'm out by then!!!
My room is just a bed and I have an "attached bathroom "thAt is just a toilet really. There is no running water, so I flush by pouring a bucket into it. There is no heating here in any place... Just stoves in the dining halls that they light only at night, on request lol. Breakfast is eggs and fried bread, lunch ramen noodle soup, dinner rice and boiled cabbage and carrots and a soup of a type of lentils called dahl. I also have the option of fried ramen noodles with boiled veg or momos or spaghetti with chopped up tomatoes and boiled veg. Lol
I am sitting in a fake "starbucks" where I can get free wifi and nice coffee.... It is my treat. I tried getting chocolate cake yesterday but the cream was rancid and I still had to pay for it which was very disappointing. All I do all day literally is play cards with 2 guys from the US who are jehovahs witnesses. I was commenting that I regretted not bringing a book, so one of them gave me thier bible... So, I have been Reading the bible. I have finished the first part so far...
I haven't washed in over 10 days. I have 1 wet wipe left actually, which is a problem if I don't leave today! I would have to pay the equivalent to 1 nights board to get a bucket of hot water, which I totally would do at this point but it is so cold that nothing dries so I would have cold wet hair for days. I washed my quick dry underwear 2 days ago ( I am out of clean underwear) and they are still wet. So yes, I am currently wearing wet underwear. I also have been wearing the same 2 set of clothes Since nov 21, the same clothes I hiked in. They are smelly and dusty and very dirty. So another reason not to bucket shower because my clothes are so dirty. Lol.
People are really freaking out here. Seriously, there is palpable tension as more people keep coming and are stuck without knowing when and if they can leave. The first plane that comes in I think might get mobbed.
Weather report for Kathmandu says rain till sat. Weather report for lukla is funny cause it says 50% chance of rain/ snow for everyday into future.
I am in a town surrounded by a cloud that won't lift. And feel like I am in a Stephen king novel....anyone read "the mist"?
A person beside me is having the conversation that they are spending a week "vacation "in lukla and it is cold and disgusting and they wished they never came to everest and all their clothes are wet so they don't know if they can do the walk to jiri and they must be a dr because they had to cancel all of thir patients next week
K I have to go... Save the battery on the iPod! Lots of love!...Anna "
