Kathmandu to Lukla - Sprawl to Scenic to Scary

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After an early morning arrival at Kathmandu’s small scale domestic airport we FINALLY boarded our tiny plane… 4 HOURS LATE! Our tiny Tara Air propeller plane took off into the clear skies above Kathmandu. The city sprawl of the capital soon transformed into the gorgeously green Kathmandu valley. With rice paddies & vegetable patches cut into the steep slopes as the valley sides ascended it looked as if someone had drawn contour lines into the hillsides. We coasted along at low attitude, passing over raging rivers that cut through the farmland. The waters carving course was close enough to see its rapids, but far enough away so they seemed frozen in time. The great valley views soon gave way to a cloudy abyss as we neared our destination. In breaks through the mist we cruised past grandiose waterfalls & homes in the hills close enough to touch as we approached the tiny runway of Lukla’s Tenzing-Hillary Airport. We stopped just in time to avoid crashing into the wall of the shockingly short lonesome landing strip!

... & all of this in just 35 minutes!!