Day 4 -- October 1 => Kathmandu to Jiri

The road from Kathmandu to Jiri

Today was the official start to my trek. It was a long bus ride from Kathmandu (1400m/4,590') to Jiri (1905m/6,250'). We met in the lobby of the Kathmandu Guest House at 7am. I was somewhat concerned about the weight of my kit bag. No surprise to me that the "baggage weight" police checked my bag! Okay, so I had 1.45kg (3 lbs) of Gatorade but I quickly explained that it would be all gone by the time we got to Lukla for our flight back to Kathmandu. We were told that the maximum weight of our kit bags for the flight back from Lukla was to be 15kg or 33 lbs. I definitely exceeded that limit on this day but I was confident the weight would not be an issue when we arrived in Lukla. After removing a few more "unnecessary" items, we were on our way. Chris, the CHE trek manager, unofficially awarded me the great distinction of having the heaviest client kit bag in the history of CHE treks! :=)

With the narrow streets and traffic in Thamel, the bus would have problems getting to the KGH. So we had to walk about ten minutes to the bus. Fortunately for us, the staff carried our kit bags to the bus. After a brief stop to pick up the kitchen supplies, we were off. We stopped at a tea house in Charikot (1951m/6400') for lunch. Sarah tried a local dish but I wasn't quite prepared yet for that ordeal so I had a sandwich and cookies.

After Charikot, the road narrowed even further to essentially one lane for the rest of the way to Jiri. When we came across other vehicles, sometimes there was just enough room on the dirt shoulder to get by. Other times, either our bus or the other vehicle would have to back up to a spot that allowed enough room for the other vehicle to get by.

Two of our guides, Baboram (left), Jagat (center) and our sirdar Padam (right). Taken just after we broke camp in Jiri the next morning.

We passed a couple of army checkpoints along the way. One or two soldiers usually stepped onto the bus for a quick look but there we did not have any problems. We arrived at the army checkpoint in Jiri just after 4pm. Most of the staff's personal gear was searched (my gear was not searched); Sarah and I had to sign in a register officially stating our reason for continuing past Jiri. On the way down the road to our campsite, we passed several dozen soldiers on the side of the road. The Nepalese army did not cause us any problems. We arrived at Hotel Jiri, where camp was setup in the back yard.

Day 5 - Jiri to Shivalaya

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Created: November 20, 2002. Revised: November 25, 2002