Another spectacular day in Tibet, but before I begin with today I want to tell you about yesterday’s once in a lifetime event, our visit to the base camp at Mt. Everest. We checked in at the check point, climbed a small hill, VERY SLOWLY, due to altitude and there she was in all her majesty. We celebrated our accomplishment with smiles and pictures. A few of the guys brought their bikes up the hill and posed for a picture with the travel section of the Denver Post hoping the picture will eventually be printed. Then we returned to our campsite which also gave us a clear view of Mt. Everest and was situated right next to a monastery. We had another scrumptious dinner and all turned in for the night. Several of us got very little sleep due to altitude symptoms and yaks traveling through our campsite. This morning we awoke to a windy 26 degrees…definitely not our best night of camping.
This morning we left Rongbuk for Tingri. The trip was all on rough gravel roads. Four of the guys rode their bikes; four rode in cars and vans. I rode in the fourth seat of the van all by myself and decided to stretch out. A short way out of Rongbuk I felt a cool breeze and thought to myself “ why would someone open the window when it’s 26 degrees outside” but finally realized the back door of the van had opened in transit and everything packed back there was gone. We retraced our path and found all the items accept Ang’s pack which had his passport and cash for the rest of the trip. Since there was no cell phone service we continued on till Ang and his staff could begin to make calls. While we were parked alongside the road another tour guide pulled up and told Ang the bag was dropped off at the hotel back in Rongbuk. While Ang returned to Rongbuk, the rest of us decided to hike up the road the cyclists had travelled. This incident reminds me about the warmth of the Tibetan people. Everywhere we’ve travelled we’ve been met with smiles, and the children are precious to behold.
We met up with the cyclists at lunch who looked none the worse for wear given the rough roads. We followed their route in the van and travelled through miles of boulder fields spotting the top of Mt. Everest at one point. Tonight we’re all tucked in to a hotel in Tingri, thankful for shelter with warm showers and warm beds.
