12 June - Tibet - Zhangmu - Nepal - Kathmandu Our guide had said breakfast @ 7.30am so we arrived on time to find the dining room dark with 1 light on & a huge round table set with bread, jam etc. so we take a seat and a lady appears with coffee & fried eggs. Then more courses of french fries & tomato omelet arrive ... As we survey this lot all the lights come on & we are surrounded by money changers who were happy to give us '15' ... So as yo...

11 June - Everest Base Camp to Zhangmu We are awoken with hot water & pancakes for breakfast & then the walkers set off. R said it was a tough 4 kilometres as the road is inclining all the time. I baled out & took the bus as wanted to see the base camp as was so near, but felt too terrible to walk. The views are great but I must say that because we are already at 4000 m above sea level the mountain does not appear that grand. We take our pho...

10 June - Shigatse to Rongupuk ( near Everest base camp)(ECB) We leave the hotel at 8.00 am & start the trip to ECB. It's a stunning day, about 15 degrees & not a cloud to be seen. We have our thermals at the ready for later. The barren plateau is covered with a blue heather like shrubbery which is picked & dried for burning in the temples/monasteries. As we go west the villages become increasingly traditional & again, it's like taking a step ba...

9 June - Tibet - Lhasa to Shigatse What an amazing climb up to the pass taking to Lake Yamtso Tso !!. A stop at the top for pics & for a small fee one could have photos taken with a Yak, a baby goat or a Tibetan Mastiff, ( a type of dog that looks like a St. Bernard). We snake down the other side & hug the side of the lake until we reach the sacred point where there is a Stupa, flags, little piles of rocks & you can put your fingers into the water....

8 June - Tibet - Lhasa Another local day with a morning visit to the Drepung Monastery a little way out of town. It is huge & used to house over a 1000 monks in the past. Today's it has less than 200. The point of interest at this one is the fact that it has nuns as well. ( I take the guides word for it because they look like men to me. ) A couple of these nuns live in caves hewn into the hillside surrounded by their worldly possessions.... Such that they a...