On toward Everest!

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So off we went again, not spending much at all because there is feck all to do in these villages, a room costs about 20 yuan ad with the stomach still dodgy too much beer was outta the question. Next stop was Shekar and Snowlands hotel which an interestingly bare tiolet and fridge standard rooms. The further wst we went the tougher and higher the surroundings and the rougher the towns.
Next day was a long drive across a lanscape with sparse or no vegetation to Rongbuck monastery, which is 8 km from Everest Base Camp (EBC). The accommodation offered in the "hostel" beside it was as filthy as it was expensive - basically 4 beds in a room (no heating) for 40 yuan each. They served food, but after a visit to the "toilet" we all decided not to eat thre and headed to the chinese run state hotel a 5 minute walk away (normally 2 minutes, but at the altitude of 4900m we were all a bit sluggish). It was just breathtaking to see this famous mountain up close and we were fortunate enough to have a clear sky. I must have taken 30 photos as the light changed with the sun going down. It was just the most amazing experience of our trip so far. Eventually the long creeping shadows brought an evening chill that forced us to seek warmth by the goatshit-fuelled stove in the hotel (no wood or plants around here!). We still popped out now again to take a snap and see snows of the huge peak turn orange with the setting sun. The hotel manager was a hardy looking Tibetan chap and when I enquired he communicated that he he had been to 8200m on Qomolungma (it's real name) as a porter with a japanese expeditin 10 years previously. Asking about his equipment: just what he had on that very night, plus a jacket, no oxygen - tough feckers!
He had been part of a troop of 150 porters and this is essential to mount an expedition, as the ferry supplis up and down the slope for the foreign climbers. A lot of times some porters die because they are ill-equipped or too much is demanded of them.

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Photos

Tibetan Man
Has he not changed/washed for a year? Who cares - fairplay, the 5 yuan for the snap made him happy at least!

Emptiest toilet in the world
Not a drop of water to be had and the wooden thingy cover the hole in the floor. Worse was yet to come ...

Skinning a sheep
Agnes: It was mud-ha on the sidewalk there, dude!

Boiling for free
The strong sun is useful for making tea and picking up sky sports