Day 1 - Lukla to Phakding

Rob McCarthy
Oct 18, 1988
2 min read

I flew into Lukla with one of the trek staff a day earlier than originally planned, on Oct 16, as there were insufficient seats on the aircraft on Oct 17 for all the group. I had spent time in Kathmandu in 1985 and was happy to fly out to the mountains early. Oct 17 was a leisurely day in Lukla, acclimatizing to the altitude and watching the aircraft arrive and depart from the short dirt runway. We were sleeping on the floor of a building right on the end of the runway and therefore had an excellent view of the aircraft coming and goings. The remainder of our trekking party arrived on schedule in mid-afternoon.

It was late morning before we set out from Lukla, 8 trekkers (Harold, Muriel, Ian, Anita, Jesse, Elizabeth, Jo and myself), 2 British guides (John and Eileen), and a Sherpa staff of 7 (Sirdar Nima), 4 guides and 2 cooks. The route from Lukla to Phakding is a fairly easy one, initially dropping down from Lukla into the gorge of the Dudh Kosi and following the river on its eastern side, passing through a number of small villages. This is one of the busier portions of the trail as pretty much every trekker arriving aa and returning to Lukla must walk this trail. The depth of the gorge only allows occasional glimpses of snow-capped peaks to the north

Unfortunately, something I had eaten the previous day had not agreed with me, and shortly after leaving Lukla, I stated to suffer from bad stomach cramps, which increased in severity until I reached Phakding. I retired to a pretty disgusting public toilet, took some Immodium, and refrained from eating or drinking until the cramps slowly passed. Coming down with a stomach bug is pretty much inevitable at some stage, and I hoped that I was getting it out of the way early and would be ok for the remainder of the trek. I retired to my tent that evening still feeling unwell and weak.