Hot on the heels from:
25 May 2018, Friday, Lukla
Finally, the day to head back to Kathmandu. I woke up a quite edgy, hoping for a clear sky, so that our flight back to Kathmandu would be as scheduled.
I wouldn't say that I eagerly wanted to get out of the Himalayas. I just had one of the best 10-days of my life.
But I wanted to have another shower, which I didn't have for 2 days (since Namche Bazaar). The lodge at Lukla didn't have hot water, citing the lack of sunshine for the Solar panels...
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| What a morning! |
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| CCTV in the hostel to have real-time monitoring of the Lukla Airport runway |
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| No more hard-boiled eggs and toasts - There's no more hiking left, so it's time for some pancake with honey and jam |
We were told that we are on the third out-going Tara Air flight. We kept our fingers crossed. We are required to gather at the airport (which looked more like a bus station) when the second flight comes in.
In anything you do, never lose hope
However, in true fuzzy Nepali standards, Henry suddenly told us that we were on the 6th flight out. Alas, we were still hopeful.
On a slightly different note, we learn that our porters had ditched us, apparently not being happy with the tips they received the previous night. According to Henry, the 'market rate' was USD 60 for the whole trek. Our own research showed that it's about USD 40-60. I have no qualms tipping the porters this amount. There were 4 porters, each carrying 2 x 10 kg for the 8 of us in the team. So the 8 of us put our tips together, and handed it to head porter the night before. We then had a pleasant dinner with the porters. So, I was quite disappointed learning that porters didn't show up as promised.
To my dismay, I would later discover that a team member chose not to tip anything. Our total tip amount would be unexpectedly lower. Again, tipping is a culture, and everyone has their own right to decide. I felt annoyed knowing how people could spend on 'luxurious items' such as unlimited cans of Pringles, coke, cakes, a USD 200 half-day horse-ride...
Yet, refuse to acknowledge the work of the porters, who enabled him to 'walk' his way up empty handed (with a mere day-pack of 2 Litters of water). It was a shame. It wasn't a lot of money to us, and we could easily earn it again. However, any amount is significant income to the porters, who are still mostly teenagers making an honest living. I doubt most of my team members adhered to the 10kg backpack rule like I did. So the porters worked really hard, and were always on time in their collection and delivery.
Needless to say, our guide (performed average, at most) and assistant guide would get nothing too from some of my teammates, supposedly from a 'first world' country.
I was disgusted.
