Daily Chronicles

The doors of the monastery were closed but seeing us, the eager tourists, a couple of young monks opened the door for us and let us in. The peace and tranquillity one gets to feel inside the monastery with its colourful motifs on the wall and smell of incense is simply ethereal.

Our flight was scheduled to leave Lukla at 8:30 am. At the airport, we met Sharada and Sophia again, and exchanged stories of our EBC experiences. We also met other trekkers who had attempted Kala Patthar that day; they shared that the views had been hardly clear. We hadn’t missed much. Half an hour past Nine and there was still no sight of our Sita Air Flight. Thin layers of clouds could be seen floating above the sun kissed mountain peaks. As our Guide Dilman used to remind us frequently, weather in the mountains could change within a span of a few minutes.

Luckily for us we saw the Sita aircraft land and within minutes boarding was called for us. We finally boarded for Kathmandu and this time all of us took seats on the right side of the aircraft.

This was our final aerial view of the Himalayan ranges, and we eagerly soaked in the grandeur of Ama Dablam, Thamserku, and countless peaks—an unforgettable farewell from above. Shortly after we had left Lukla, the weather along the Himalayas turned bad. Trails were closed, treks paused. Reflecting on it, had we still been descending on foot, we could have been stuck for at least a week somewhere along the trail. Landing in Kathmandu, a van awaited to take us to Hotel Thamel Park. After check-in and lunch - finally something other than dal bhaath, we took a moment to express our appreciation to our guide Dilman, whose steady guidance had been our anchor throughout the trek.

After a quick rest and showers, we headed out for souvenir shopping. Some of us were craving a South Indian Meal. We visited Swarg Restaurant, probably the only restaurant in Thamel serving South Indian Food. Only to find out that the chef, from Bihar, was on vacation for Chath Pooja and South Indian dishes weren’t available. Undeterred, we found the MTR restaurant in the suburbs of Kathmandu, and finally ate our hearts out. The chef over there was more than happy to get authentic feedback from his South Indian customers. A perfect way to end our Himalayan adventure with a comforting taste of home.