Start: Chumoa, 9300 feet (2820 m)
Low Point: Phakding, 8700 feet (2650 m)
End: Lukla, 9300 feet (2800 m)
The final trek day has come and gone. The trek is over. We walked over familiar ground today and it was a bit tedious, but I walked with Frank and Claude today, challenging myself to keep up and did except for an interruption by a nutty Israeli fellow close to Lukla. He offered to buy my trekking pole for 100 rupees. I've been hiking with one only, as Dad's broke his in Gorak Shep and I gave him mine as he needed them more for the decent than I did. I declined the ridiculous offer. I raced up and caught the gents just near the airport. They were impressed that I could keep up and so was I.
We settled in at the campsite- I could not believe it was over. Dad came along about an hour later and neither could he. We reminisced and waited for what seemed like forever for the tents to be set up. We even bought a bottle of wine for the evening. Later, we had dinner indoors. Fried chicken if you can believe it! It was the best meal of the trip.
After dinner, all the staff joined us. We presented them with their tips that we had carefully collected and prepared. Base amount goes to the porters. Double that to the assistant guide and cooks and double that again to the lead guide and head cook. We each put in 4550 rupees into this pot to be divided, having already given 450 rupees to porters who had earlier departed. We also decided to give a slightly higher amount to Bohla, Amrit, Babu Ram and Battam and Chandra as a thank you. Frank made a considerable extra donation personally as well! It was a veritable bank and we were pseudo accountants as we counted and shifted out huge stacks around. The group also gave a bunch of our gear away. We had lots of things that were not important to us and that we did not want to have to travel home with, so it made for a large pile. In a lottery of sorts, it was divided up amongst the staff. Everyone was so happy to get it all. We were sad to be leaving them behind and the mood was melancholy more than celebratory. We said our goodbyes. The trek is over. In the morning, we fly to Kathmandu.