Page 8 - Seniorstoday September 2022 Issue

the ATR was close to an A 380 in comfort. It was just so serene and beautiful. It was
Once you reach Nepalganj your
aircrafts are no longer the ‘luxurious’
ATRs - 15 - 18 seater aircrafts now. Yeti,
Sita, and Tara Air operate most flights.
Usually chartered, rarely scheduled. Not
pressurized, fly up to 13000 feet altitude,
and what I had earlier seen only in the
movies, never believing I would ever get
into one. And here I was in one!
Dr Sujeet Rajan
Flying in this 19 seater is a surreal experience broken stone. The elderly would need a
A single air hostess at the back, one
flight attendant/technician in front, and 2
outstanding pilots, I’m sure. A thumbs up
sign from the pilot to the air hostess is all
that’s required for take-off, and we were
revving up on the runway to take off. The
experience is surreal.
Simikot airport is one of the most
dangerous airports in Nepal (pic) - situated
between mountains and a valley, it is a
breathtakingly beautiful airstrip just
over 500 meters long. The airport lies
about 9000 feet above sea level. Road
access to Simikot is very poor, and though
the distance is just over 200 km from
Nepalganj, air travel is the most frequent
mode of transport for travelers and pilgrims
to Kailash.
Simikot: On Aug 26, we arrived in Simikot.
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almost like we arrived in a place where
we felt there couldn’t have been more
beauty - with a mixture of mountains, a
valley, and a small airstrip, and a quaint
little hotel, nested in the hill. 4 people to a
room, sharing a bathroom, but that hardly
mattered.
Dr Sujeet Rajan
A room for four
After lunch, we left for a walk across
poorly paved roads, largely made up of
walking stick to not trip, and hiking shoes
were safest to use, lest anyone twists
their ankle on bad roads. Nepal’s roads
(especially the interiors of the country)
could do with a lot of improvement.
Nepalese children watched us from rooftops
as we trudged along.
Dr Sujeet Rajan
Kids at Simikot
In the evening we were told that we had
three options the next day: 1) a helicopter
ride to Hepka (next stop at 12,000 feet