Day 12: Jorsalle–Lukla

Day 12 - Oct 11, Fri 

Jorsalle (9022’/2750m) – Lukla (9,300'/2,840m
Approx 6 hrs 9 miles

Final hike day! We did the water chemistry for the last time that day! We were so proud at having been very environmentally friendly. Throughout the trek we hardly bought any bottled water which really adds to the plastic waste. After breakfast we headed out for Lukla.

We took our final day picture sitting on the bench beside the river and had all our our fingers and both our legs out to denote Day 12!! Shachin and I went down to the gorgeous river and enjoyed sitting on the rocks and admiring views we would not be seeing for a long time!

Soon after we set off on the beautiful trek alongside our lovely river and mostly through the forest. The trail hugged the meandering river and revealed lovely vistas around river bends with the glistening silvery water, the rocky beaches, and the stately conifers clustered on the mountain sides!  There were brightly colored roofed houses littered along the way!

Gorgeous! I really wanted to absorb the views and etch them somehow in my mind since this was our last day in such ethereal beauty!
Most of the way we were singing along with the songs that I was playing on my phone. It was all very relaxed and enjoyable. We stopped for tea and lunch at a small village just as the trail was getting ready to leave the Dudh Kosi behind to climb higher towards Lukla. They took a really long time getting our food. While we were waiting I went and bought some nice oranges from a shop nearby. Just a little later to our surprise a herd of jopyuk overturned a  bowl of oranges perched outside on a table! 

A little ways up we came across a fresh guava stall! We bought some yummy fresh guava’s and enjoyed hogging them while walking.

We also met an Indian film director who said he was shooting a move about the trek. Maybe you will see us on TV ;-)  The rest of the hike was uneventful and mostly uphill.

We finally reached Lukla and our lodge and the End of our 12 day Hike to Everest Base Camp! Quite befittingly the first thing you see as you enter this city is a giant prayer wheel! We danced with joy and the thrill of having achieved such a major task! We had realized our dream! We felt such a surge of fulfillment and joy over our accomplishment! We danced to Cheykyo Cheykyo and another Nepali “thumba” song that Sanjiv had found. It was also a tad bit depressing L Our Lodge was really luxurious as compared to the ones we had experienced on the trek. The biggest luxury was having running hot water showers! It was so refreshing and relaxing! We took showers and then headed down to Lukla village. The girls went to a Coffee shop and had really expensive coffee ;-) But the ambience was nice. I dragged Anisha along to do a bit of shopping. I wanted to get T-shirts that said Everest Base Camp instead of Kala Pathar. I found some and got some other trinkets. We then went to “Wave’s Pub” and had a few drinks. Anisha and I danced a Lot. Sanjiv was not in his usual high spirits. It must be the thought of it all ending…

A little later at night Revant and Tej also came over to the bar and we danced some more with them. 

We also wrote about the details of our trip along with the all our names on the wall of the pub! It is now inscribed on the walls for eternity and for all to see! We were all quite drunk and the walk back to the hotel was quite crazy!

At the hotel we had dinner and the famous Thumba drink! The chicken was delicious! The drink was like nothing we had ever had before and Quite Awesome! It was such a unique experience. Thumba is an alcoholic beverage (a.k.a. "warm beer") that was served in a plastic mug with a large straw. The mug was filled with millet seed. They poured hot water and "Raksi" (a local millet-based alcohol) into the canister over the millet and let it soak for awhile. Then it was ready to drink. Once you hit bottom, the waiter would come and "refresh" your drink with another pot of hot water. This was quite a social drinking experience! Very enjoyable and a befitting end to a Marvelous trek!

We met up with the porters and Revant and partied one last night with them. It was quite heart wrenching cause we had really formed such strong bonds especially with Revant and Dunbar. We thanked each and every one of them for all for their great work and support over the last 2 weeks. Dunbar would be travelling with us to Kathmandu but the others we would leave behind in Lukla.  We drank beer and soda together for the last time.
That night we all slept very well. 

The next day we took the early flight out of Lukla. Saying Good Bye to Revant was the hardest. Seated inside the plane we saw the last glimpse of him outside and felt very sad.

This marked the end of a truly  once in a Lifetime experience that was exceptional and absolutely amazing. Infinitely gorgeous, inordinately challenging, this adventure will forever be etched in our memories and the bonds formed with the friends we shared this with will be everlasting!

 END Of FABULOUS TREK! Back to Day 1