Sept 11th & 12th - Mt Everest!

The road from Saga to EBC was a long one and something we'd seen before. After 6 hours of driving we hit pavement for the first time in a very, very long time. The sensation of not having your bones jolted around every 3 seconds, and yet all the while still making forward progress, was quite odd.

We had lunch in Tingri, where we had stayed the night previously (stray dogs, yak carcasses, check) and then hit the road to head to EBC. Imagine our delight when we found out that the drive wasn't an hour down paved roads but another 3 hours of off roading. In actual fact it was probably the worst road we drove on the entire 3 weeks - which completely puzzled me for a bit, since it was well known that Chinese drive up here by the busloads and I couldn't figure out how minibuses could make it over the passes we were.

(Turns out there was another road but it approached from a different angle, further away from Tingri, and therefore would have added time to our trip.)

Along the way we passed a few Tibetan villages, by now a fairly usual sight though these were harvesting barley in large amounts in the middle of the road.

2 hours and a bit into it - I had been looking around constantly to figure out from where this mountain would appear. All of a sudden Galek & Megma point out a white peak just in the horizon hiding behind a large hill - there she was!

It was very exciting to see Everest for the first time and know exactly which one it was! No mistaking this time. They pulled over so we could get a photo, knowing that sometimes clouds obscure the view or even completely hide the mountain from sight. This could be the only opportunity for us to see the mountain summit.

How wrong we were...

30 minutes, one monastery and a checkpoint (of course!) later we're at the nomad campsite where we'd be staying two nights. And the most perfectly framed view of Everest you could imagine was before us.

It was quite late and very cold - sunset wasn't too far away and we sought refuge inside the tent (with the fire going). By this point my cold from Mt Kailash was a full-blown coughing runny nose adventure so I was also trying to keep warm to recover. After fried rice with egg (which was, well, just rice and egg - Kai opted for yak with green pepper and then complained that the yak part was inedible...well, yeah - see any refrigerators out here pal?) for dinner we went to sleep in the U-shaped formation on the benches around the stove. The funniest thing was, as we selected several blankets to sleep under, our hosts came with more and tucked us in. It was reminiscent of Dad's super-tuck circa 1983 and made us giggle a bit.

Naturally after I'm all tucked in, nature calls. I walked outside the tent in full hat/ gloves/ softshell coat/ boots to manage the cold. Looking up I was taken aback...the most starry sky I have ever seen in my life. Millions of 'em. You could see the milky way. It truly was incredible and I don't think I'll ever forget it.

Quite a romantic loo setting really.

The next morning was sunrise at Everest followed by the 4 km walk between the tent camp and base camp. After the initial clouds from sunrise lifted, we couldn't believe our eyes - a perfectly clear day with bright blue sky for Everest. Galek said he'd been taking groups here for years and never has he seen such perfect weather to view Everest. We were so lucky - sometimes you could stay at the camp for several nights and not see the mountain once, and here it was in perfect view for at least 8 hours!

Though we were sleeping at 4900 meters and walking up to 5200, it was a very gradual and easy walk - particularly for us seasoned mountaineers who had been above 4500 meters for the better part of 10 days now. Having said that for my newly transitioned chest infection-like respiratory system is was hell and it took a lot of stamina and will power to keep myself going and NOT take the 25 kuai minibus to our destination.

When I started on my travels, I said I was going to walk to Everest Base Camp and by god I'm going to!*

*Of course at the time of setting this goal, I didn't specify which side of Mt Everest I'd walk to. Nepal = 15 days minimum. Tibet = 1 hour. Still counts.

Made it though and we took in the sights around us. No hot mountaineers with frostbitten noses, juts a lot of Chinese people who had taken buses to the base camp and a few bored-looking military checkpoint guys whose presence is to ensure that we do not walk one centimeter past the allowed base camp area. Took photos, turned around, walked back to the tent camp for lunch and another 4 kms in the other direction to the world's highest monastery. We had been told the monastery was free but a monk tried to charge us 120 kuai for entrance so we passed.

That night, another great sunset. More tucking in. More starry skies. Satisfied that, if the world's divided into those who have seen Everest and those who haven't, I know into which camp I fit.