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I never lose anything in my life and during all my travels and climbs I have managed to stay away from robbers and thieves.

But last January, right after Vinson, I had lost my passport in Mendoza. It had survived 7 continents, was completely full with stamps and visas, so it was time to get a new one anyway. But in the dark Kathmandu night I realized I had made the classic photographer's mistake: I had taken my big lens bag but had left my camera in the taxi, in a city where there seem to be more taxis than any other vehicle, and most are unnumbered. It had my Canon 5D, 2 lenses and 4gb flashcards inside, together worth many Nepali year salaries..

The taxi had left already and I took another one to the entrance of the airport to check the long row of waiting taxis, to see if mine was anywhere. But no luck, my taxi had driven back towards the dark silhouette of Kathmandu, my plane about to leave and my camera gone.

As a last shot I took another taxi back to where the first one had dropped me off, to see if anybody there might know the taxi driver. Just when I was explaining what had happened I heard a loud horn and my taxi drove up towards us. The young driver came out, looking for me, with my camera bag in his hand! I cannot remember switching emotions so fast in my life! Apparently he had enjoyed the conversation we had while driving over to the airport, talking about politics, future of Nepal and the Maoists. After dropping me off, he had driven back to Kathmandu and happened to look onto the back seat while stopping at a crossing, noticing the black camera bag and he immediately returned to the airport.

I must have done some things right in my life upping my good karma, and his definitely got a huge boost that day. He was very happy to have helped me, I asked his name (Pradeep) and told him when I would be back and where I would stay. So I hope he drops by, as I only could give him a relatively low reward, when walking back to my luggage to get more he already drove away... Still wondering about the goodness of some people who have so little (as I have experienced in many places around the world), I paid the other taxi, rushed into the airport, went through the 3 security checks -still finding my pocket knife myself afterwards and managed to get on just in time, Lukla here I come!

The 30 minute flight is quite spectacular, but nothing compared to the landing: we aimed right for a mountain, where a short piece of tarmac was placed from the edge of an abyss to the mountain wall. We hit it and immediately started braking, ending just in time. It helps that the airstrip actually goes uphill: apparently the height difference is 40 meters between the start and the end of the runway. Can’t wait to take off again, downhill!

I went into the Himalayan lodge, and talked to the owned, Dawa, a friend of Igor & Ekatarina. He arranged a porter for me,
Ang Furba, 48 years old and the father of one of his cooks.

I took a little breakfast; we divided the weight and started the walk. What a beautiful place, from the moment you start the trek from Lukla, you are surrounded by 5000 & 6000 m high peaks, lush forests, countless houses and lodges, prayer wheels, Mani stones (sometimes more like Mani walls) and many friendly Sherpa’s. Also you will see countless incredibly heavy laden porters as all supplies are portered up in baskets. I saw one small guy carrying 4 bags of rice, 30 kgs each!

The Trek to Everest BC is very popular and the route is completely catered for trekkers. But that does not mean it is dirty or not attractive! The track is well-maintained and the route is simply stunning. And for a $200 flight, about $10 per day for a porter and the same amount for food and lodging (together!), so pay far too less for what you receive. A lot of new lodges are being built, you can hear it from far: up to 30 people are hammering away to convert rocks to nice bricks, all by hand.

Very simple work, but a source of income but impossible for the numerous blind people in the Himalayas. Imagine that your donation of $20 to the Cureblindness organisation can make a difference between someone sitting blind at home or giving him or her the opportunity to work again.

From Lukla, the first part is quite easy as it is actually 200m downhill towards the small town of Phakding, usually the first stop. So we arrived at lunch time, finally time to catch up with some sleep But after a quick nap my finger started itching and I took my camera bag and went with Ang Furba to the local monastery, about 150 uphill after crossing the river. After turning the countless prayer wheels we went inside where the monks were chanting while some locals were praying as well, while receiving tea and some money from the monks. I spend over an hour inside, just listening to and looking at those wonderful people.

On the way back I took some nice shots of the very poor, but apparently happy kids who were playing hackysack with some kind of rubber string tied into a ball. Some of those little ones would make Romario jealous!

Ang Furba and I left Phakding (2600m) early this morning, around 07.30, when it was still nice and chilly. It can get really hot in the Khumbu valley so it is best to leave early when possible. The first half of the route towards Namche Bazar is relatively flat with some small hills. But after crossing yet another impressive suspension bridge we arrived at the finale: 400m climb through lovely forests, ending up at 3440m.

Though quite out of breath as a result of the new altitude, I decided to go a bit higher to acclimatise some more and to find the famous views. Well, I was not disappointed: after another 400m up to a plateau, Ang Furba and I climbed up a little hill. I could not hold back a well meant ‘Wow’ when I saw the panorama in front of me:

to the right Kamcherku, slowly giving way to maybe the most beautiful mountain in the world, Ama Dablam. Behind it the Nuptse/Lhotse massif was starting, but in the clouds, and to the left, far away in the distance one single peak was sticking out. Higher than all the others with a familiar plume at its summit: the Nepali call her Sagarmatha, the Tibetans Chomolungma, we know her mostly as Everest…

The next days will be spent getting as close as possible to the Nepal Basecamp, but it is deinately over with Internet, so next report will likely be from Kathmandu again, where from the 7th or April most climbers will arrive. Signing off from a wonderful Nepal, hope you can all live to see it with your own eyes.

Harry