12/14--Day 10--Lukla to Kathmandu---30/9/2022

After an early bath (we couldn't get enough of them 😀) and breakfast, we left the Cafe Danphe for Lukla Airport next door. Did some last minute shopping for giveaways and also bought a little yak cheese to take home to make Ema Datshi with.  The flight to KTM was by Summit Air (again a Twin Otter) and it was again delayed by around 2 hours. Security checks at Lukla were all manual, and the cheerful Officer checking our bags took out a few rocks that some of us had collected as keepsakes. Apparently, no rocks are allowed to be taken away from the Everest Region.

While waiting for our flight, we hung out of the window of the departure area trying to get a glimpse of the group from Bessie Dreamers (many of whom we knew) who were to land in Lukla that day. Planes came and went; often the same plane and the same pilot; but no signs of our friends from the other group. We were to learn later that evening that their flight out of Kathmandu was cancelled. Added to that, from the next day, flights to the Everest Region were to take off only from Ramechhap, which meant a four-five hour drive from Kathmandu. (The Bessie Dreamers group eventually did turn up the next day and had a great, if eventful, trek.)

Our flight eventually took off after 12 noon, and we landed in Kathmandu after an uneventful 25 minutes, and checked in again to the Potala Guest House. Captain and I went to the Air India office in Kathmandu to get our departure advanced to 2nd October instead of the originally planned 5th. It took a while, and the advancement entailed extra payment, but it was all done, thanks to the support extended by Priti Sawant, the AI Country Manager. 

After resting a bit, Rathika and I went out shopping for curios and trinkets, had coffee and snacks at a charming bistro, and then returned to the hotel. All of us in the group then met up in the open seating area on the terrace of the hotel and had a "spiritually" lively session. It was here that the achievement and all that went into making the trek a success, began to sink in, and we let ourselves laugh and scream like schoolkids as we recalled and narrated various incidents of the last 10 days. The night was young, the session was long, but eventually we did wind up after dinner and turned in for the night.