Today was the true start of our trek, complete with walking, yaks and Sherpas. Before all this could happen though, we had to be acquainted with another terrifying form of Nepalese transportation, local flights.

A quick flight over the mountains in a small two prop plane may sound quite nice and idyllic, and it is for the most of it, it's just that the flight ends with you landing on a steep incline and having to do a handbrake turn (or whatever it is that planes do) to avoid hitting the wall/mountain.

Once we arrived in Lukla though, we were in true mountainous Nepal. It all seemed so rustic until I saw the local Starbucks.

The weather was actually really nice, much to Jon's disgust, so we spent most of the day wandering round in t shirts. It's a bit of a far cry from what I actually prepared for, but our guide tells us that the down jacket will be useful once the temperature starts to plummet.

Only a short walk today due to flights and stuff but tomorrow is apparently one of the harder days, with the guidebook describing most of the route as tortuous. Throwing myself into the local culture, I've already eaten two dhal bhats in two days. The locals apparently eat it for all three meals though, so I've got a way to go yet. Also ate yak for tea, seemed a bit strange to me that they'd be eating the useful animals.

No pictures as they're all on my camera and walking around with a tablet out to take grainy photos would be a bit weird. Interesting fact though, the airport this morning had a load of monkeys near the entrance. The guide told me that they were trained to find illegal goods, much like sniffer dogs back home. Thought he was having me on at first, but I figure that as a guide he wouldn't (shouldn't?) be making up nonsense to see if the tourists believe it.