April 12th
We caught the 7:30am flight to Lukla but because of fog we had to stop in a village called Fablu. There are army men all over carrying guns. Our flight attendant said that they're still here from the elections. The farmland that we're flying over is on the top of mountains, now that we're out of the Kathmandu valley. Between some farms are deep gorges with rushing rivers deep below them. I see the winding yellow dirt roads on the tops of these foothills and I want to get back on my bike and live these roads, meet the locals, sweating while biking up the mountains, smiling like crazy while going downhill. Now we're flying not above but between huge mountains. They don't have snow on them yet though. Numbu mountain is in front of us now, it's bigger and covered in snow.
Lukla
I'm sitting in a tea-house with the group and we're re-sorting our bags so that the Sherpas can carry them. I don't have much stuff but Coach White insisted that we use sherpa porters. The reasons being that 1. our bodies are not accustomed to climbing in such high altitudes. 2. It is the Sherpas lifeline. I still feel guilty for not carrying my own bag though. Lukla is at 2700m. When I spent Christmas in Litang, Sichuan province in China I was at 4012m but had a massive headache and altitude sickness. Anna and I climbed a glacier in Moxi, Sichuan province earlier and went up to 3000m but again it was tough going, less air, more tired than usual and a headache.
Now I have burps that smell like eggs and acid. Coach White gave me some pills called Tiniba to take. Hopefully I won't have another round of 'Soup Ass' like in Beijing.
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