Location: Kathmandu
Local Time: 15:30
Weather: Overcast

Hi, It's Paul Adler here, updating on a day where we hoped to get our first taste of the mountains, but ended up staring at the walls of the departure hall in Kathmandu Airport.

We all had an early start today as we were booked on the first flight into Lukla.  It was bags down to the foyer at 4:30am, breakfast at 4:45 andthen  into a mini bus and a ute just after 5am to get to us and all our gear and equipment to the airport.  The domestic airport is usually extremely choatic and it always amazes me that any of our bags actually end up at our destination.  Today the airport was a little quieter than normal, but it was still jam-packed with local & foreign passengers, baggage, freight, security staff & airport staff all milling around the check in area.  (There were lots of people carrying bags on their backs, so I think it's appropriate to describe the baggage as milling around too!)  After getting our bags checked in we went through the security screening (seperate line for men and women) and then moved into the departure hall.

At the departure hall we found a spot to settle down to wait until the weather cleared, as a quick glance outside told everyone that there was no flying now.  There were low hanging clouds, that looked pretty set in to me.  After waiting until 1pm, we finally were told that the weather isn't going to clear today, so  we all got back into our bus and came back to the hotel.  Luckily were were able to get rooms in the same hotel again.

Everyone is in good spirits and either headed off for some shopping or went to their rooms to catch up on some sleep.  We will try again for Lukla tomorrow.  Luckily we are on the second flight, which still gives us a reasonable chance of geting into the mountains as the weather usually gets more cloudy as the day goes on, so first flight is best. 

Wish us luck - we are going to need it!
Paul Adler.