After spending 2 full days in Lhasa and getting my fill of monasteries we set off for something a little different… Mt. Everest. For the next 2 days we drove for 7 hours a day in order to reach base camp. At the time I didn’t think 7 hours sounded that bad but the roads in Tibet are not so good and soon 7 hours seemed like an eternity. Since the majority of Tibet is so high and dry the landscape was completely brown and the only thing that the surrounding villages grow is barley and wheat. Along the way we passed by a village where the driver had come from. He told us that it was very common in this village for the brothers of a family to share one wife!
Tibetan landscape
We arrived to Everest Base Camp (EBC) in the early evening and our guide gave us the option of sleeping in the guesthouse at the monastery or in a tent near Everest base camp. We chose the tent!
Tibetan tent at Everest Base Camp
Since Mt. Everest was covered in clouds we rested a bit and then set out on the 2 ½ mile hike to reach base camp. It was really just a simple walk along a dirt road but it felt like an uphill climb the way my heart was racing and how out of breath I was. I guess that is what happens at 17,000 feet!
Everest Base Camp at 17,000 feet
Sadly when we arrived to base camp Mt. Everest was still covered in clouds but it looked like they were dissipating. We decided to stick around for a few minutes but the chilly wind was blowing so hard that it took our breath away so we decided to give up and headed back to camp. On the way back my hands were so cold that I couldn’t even use them. I’m not use to this kind of weather. Luckily when we arrived to the tent there was a fire going in the stove (using yak dung as the fuel source) and we sipped on hot tea to warm up. The sun was getting ready set so we stepped outside just in time to see the most spectacular view of Mt. Everest lit up by the sun. It was absolutely stunning!
Mt. Everest at sunset
The night in the tent was not one of my more enjoyable nights. To begin with the Tibetans in the tent decided to play a loud card slapping and shouting card game into the wee hours of the night while chain smoking. Imagine being stuck in a tent with 5 chain smoking guys! Overnight the fire in the stove went out and the temperature dipped down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. In the morning the water in my water bottle was completely frozen (as was I)!
After eating a traditional Tibetan breakfast of tsampa (roasted barley flour mixed with water) and drinking salty yak butter tea, we set out on our final 7 hour drive to the Nepalese border. We ended up making our own path “a shortcut the driver tells us” along a dried up riverbed, stopping occasionally to remove large rocks out of our way. The drive was spectacular though, taking us through the Himalayan Mountains where it was snowing.
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