It Took Three Attempts Over 14 Years to Finally See This Sunrise
Third time lucky, I learnt that getting up in the cold and dark can be soul-tinglingly magnificent
It was my third time walking this very trail.
The first was when I was 11 years old. I’d persuaded my mother to abandon our planned annual trip to Israel for Passover in favour of visiting my father where he was currently contracted to work — Nepal. But it came with a condition. That condition was that we would spend half of our two-week vacation trekking in the mountains.
Reluctantly, I agreed. However, I spent most of the weeks on the run-up to our trip trying to persuade my mother that we should forget the idea. Really, I just wanted to spend time with my dad, and he wouldn’t be able to come with us on the trek, due to his job. But she was having none of it.
By the time we’d arrived in Kathmandu, I’d given up trying to persuade her to drop the idea. But I dragged my feet when, on our wanders through the streets of Thamel — the area of the city most popular with tourists — we stopped in at the office of the tour company our trek was booked with.
The company owner sat us down and began to explain what we should expect. We would take a tiny aeroplane to the airport of…
