Saturday, November 22, 2008

A Reality Check and Team Talk

Today was meant to be a day of rest and purchasing of final necessities for our trek. However, after breakfast when we met in the foyer there was a strange and tense feeling around. World Expeditions staff were very quite and serious and a group that was to leave that morning, came back from the airport. As the day unfolded we found out that there had been a plane crash at Lukla (the town that we were to fly into on Friday to start out trek). A group of German trekkers, two Australians and the Nepalese flight staff were killed in the crash. This was quite a shock to us all, and certainly made us stop and think about what we were doing. All credit must go to World Expeditions as they had contacted all our home contact numbers and advised family that we were all okay before it hit the news.

Through the day we met the other members of the group we were going to be trekking with as they arrived at the hotel. That evening we all met at the pool bar/restaurant for our first official meeting and information session. The Head Sherpa who was to lead our group was not able to get back from Lukla because of the crash so one of the local leaders took us through all the details, advised on equipment we may need and answered our many questions. We were given out red bags (which were to hold all our gear for the trek) and down sleeping bags and jackets.

Tomorrow was to be our first official day of the trek, and this would be a guided tour of some of the sites around Kathmandu followed by a group dinner at a local restaurant in the evening.

No comments: