Everest!

We've had a great trip across Tibet.  The scenery continued to amaze me as we spend day after day visiting monasteries and driving through the incredible Tibetan plateau.


The skill of our bus driver was amazing - he is to be congratulated for going over the high passes and around continual hairpin bends with big trucks and crazy Chinese tourists driving Landcruisers on the wrong side of the road!

Another dramatic drive through the roof of the world finally brought Mt Everest into sight.

 

We stayed at the Rhongpu Monastery, close to Everest Base Camp and did the walk up to the base camp the next morning.  It was very cold (about -2 C) but the views of the huge mountain were fabulous.  The sky was  clear and blue, making a perfect contrast with the white snow caps.  Walking at 5200m was ok seeing we only had to walk for 2 1/2 hours and it was relatively flat. The walk up to Base camp was highlighted by huge cliffs that were almost like fingerprints after being buckled by the colliding tectonic plates.  There were also plenty of yaks around, dotting the hillsides and eating the extremely limited ground cover.  How they survive in this environment I do not know!   

At Rhongpu Monastery the afternoon before walking to Everest Base Camp.

The setting sun shining on Mt Everest.

A yak we passed on the walk to Everest Base Camp.

Views of Everest whilst walking to Everest Base Camp.  Half of this pond was frozen!

The sign for Mt Everest (Mt Qomolangma in Tibetan) at the Base Camp.

We enjoyed the views of Everest and then headed back to the monastery and back into our trusty bus.

After a night in an extremely poor Tibetan village on the high plain (4200m) we hit the road again early yesterday morning.  As we began to descend, the terrain changed remarkably.  It went from dry rocky, mountainous scenery to lush green steep hillsides with numerous waterfalls and landslides.  The Friendship Highway followed a river all the way down and we dropped 2000m in  a couple of hours of stunning scenery (somehow avoiding crashing over the edge - this road has to be seen to be believed!).

The incredible road heading towards the Nepal border.

As we appraoched the Nepalese border, the number of landslides increased and the bus could continue no further, so we donned our backpacks and walked down the road, over the broken landscape.  Trucks lined the road - they were waiting to get through the border checkpoints.  It was quite a fun experience!

Walking down the highway with our backpacks, dodging the trucks queued up and making our way over the landslides!

As we came across the border yesterday, our Nepalese guide mentioned the change in the road conditions (as if we hadn't noticed it going from wide paved roads to broken up narrow roads with landslides everywhere)!  However, I asked him would he prefer good roads or his freedom?  Of course he prefers living in a free country to being dominated by the Chinese army anyday!

Landslides blocking the road.

We stayed last night in 'Last Resort' an amazing retreat on the edge of the Nepalese hillside.  To get there we had to cross a suspension bridge across the mighty roaring river below.  It is an adventure resort, but we just enjoyed seeing greenery (there are very few trees in Tibet), lazing by the plunge pool and having a few beers, cocktails and wines!

The view across the river towards 'Last Resort'.

The suspension bridge across to 'Last Resort'.

 The landslide riddled road continued this morning and we finally made it back to Kathmandu.