April 20 - Kathmandu to Ramechamp

Happy Birthday Lorraine!!!

Today I collected my flight tickets to Lukla and then I wandered around Thamel - which is the tourist area of Kathmandu.  This is where most foreigners find hotels, shops and restaurants. I'm staying right on the edge of Thamel and once I ventured far enough I found familiar shops and restaurants.

I will not have any time for sight seeing today - just enough time to make arrangements for the flight tomorrow and to wander the shops close to the hotel before I have an early dinner and try to get a bit of an afternoon nap.  My bike should be arriving on the 8pm flight from Hong Kong.  I'll have to get it back to my hotel then prepare for the journey to Ramechamp.

I will only have a few hours of sleep tonight as I will be leaving at 0300 to catch my flight.  The Nepalese government made the decision to close down the Kathmandu airport from 10pm until 08am in order to repair the runways.  This started April 1st 2019 and I'm not sure when it will be completed.  All the flights to Lukla take place before 0800 due to the weather conditions in the mountains.  The Nepalese government has been heavily criticized for this decision - closing down the airport at a time when all the climbers and many tourists are flying into Lukla to start their trek to Everest base camp.  It's easy to be critical - but in reality I don't think that they had many options.  If they delay too long - then the monsoons will make the work more challenging, and then it's winter.  They only have a short window to repair the damage done by the earthquake in April 2015, and this is what they have chosen. 

I have options to get to Lukla - I can take a helicopter - at a cost of $300-$600 each way or I can travel to a neighboring airport at the town of Ramechamp.  It is 135 km away, and travel time is 5-6 hours each way.  There are very limited accommodations at Ramechamp so most are planning on leaving Kathmandu at 0300, travel through the night on rough roads and arrived in time to fly to Lukla.  It will be another sleepless night, but as I said yesterday, I'll sleep in Monjo, the first stop in my trek to base camp.