Nothing could have prepared us for the unbearably long ride on this day. It took a total of 21 hours to get from Kathmandu to Kharikola by Jeep! Starting our journey at 3 am, we loaded up our bags onto the jeep in the dark and began our journey to a town called Phaplu (near Salleri). We took some short breaks in between and also a breakfast break. The journey there was quite pleasant, mainly well-pathed roads with a little bumpy roads at times. By the time we reached Phaplu, our altitude was around 2500m and the time was already 2 pm.
At Phaplu, we stopped for a longer break as we had already been on the road for more than 10 hours. We took our lunch there as well, some nice Chow Mian (fried noodles) and Momo. We had some extra time here, so we played some cards to pass time as well.
At Phaplu, we had to change vehicles as the jeep that we took only drove to this stop. We had to wait for another Jeep to come and drive us further in as the road ahead was way bumpier and more offroad style so a different type of jeep was needed. we waited for quite long here. We also met up with another group of Singaporeans who had the same fate as us of missing their flights at Ramechapp. After a few hours, our jeep finally came at around 5 pm.
We were totally unprepared for the rough and bumpy ride ahead of us. The roads were extremely uneven and muddy, not to mention there was a fog that gave us almost zero visibility. All of us in the jeep were literally flying off our seats every minute because of the bumpiness of the ride. It totally challenged what I thought was possible for a car/jeep to traverse. Going up Steep, wet and muddy slopes and making sharp turns, we were fearing for our lives half of the time. Luckily, most of the journey was in the dark and the true perils we were in were mostly hidden from us.
About an hour into the ride, we were caught in a jam as a large truck in front had run out of gas. We waited for about 30 minutes or so for some emergency gas to arrive and get the truck moving again. From there, it was another 5 hours of bumpy car ride. we drove past perilous cliffsides, sleep muddy slopes, brides and even waterfalls. We had a small dinner break near the end of the ride, but most of us didn't have the appetite to eat much, so we just had another chao mien and fried momos this time. Then after another 2 hours or so, we FINALLY reached our last destination, Kharikola.
We quickly settled into our rooms in a place called Namaste Lodge. And hence our first Mountain Lodge experience. The lodge here had basic amenities and is smaller than those in the coming days. I suspect it's because Kharikola is not part of the main EBC route that usually starts from Lukla, hence they do not get many visitors. But it was still more than enough to give us a much-needed good night's sleep.
Day 1: Kathmandu to Kha