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Published: January 5th 2008
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10-11-DEC-2007
We rise extremely early so we could make it to Everest for sunrise. Nobody else seems to realize the significance of my statement that the sun rises in the east. But alas, I go along with it because it's easier than arguing. On the way to base camp from the village, we are confronted with ice sheets on the road and large snow hunks (or very white rocks) along the steep roadside. It is most definitely a four-wheeling adventure the entire way. We finally arrive, but do not realize it because we do not see Everest or the heaps of people camping in tents sipping tea from lounge chairs. Apparently no one else is stupid enough to trek out here this time of year. And unfortunately for us, it is cold, blustery, and cloudy, with snow falling on a majority of the mountain. We cannot see a damn thing, except for the smaller mountain in front of the big guy. But we are here.
The weather doesn't clear up within an hour, so we begin our journey back to the border. The driver elects to take the highly scenic off-road route which words cannot describe. The scenery from
the front window over the next few hours is amazingly diverse. We head up the bumpy, dry plateau and pass quant villages nestled into the hillsides. From the top of the plateau, it appears as though we are in the Sahara desert with the rolling sand-colored earth, but hit additional ice patches beneath our tires. At least we have four of them.
The earth changes to a red-orange color and is shaped into vast mounds. We run into a sprawling ice patch and must bypass it by forging a new path across a frozen stream and severely uneven earth. The ground beneath us soon consists of large, smoothed boulders. It is quite a bumpy ride.
We find ourselves traveling along the side of a steep hill alongside a mostly frozen aqua-colored river below and emerge into the plains. It is very windy and dusty. We see beautiful children playing in the remote villages pointing at our jeep rolling past. It is obvious they rarely see Westerners. Eventually, we come to the main paved road- The Friendship Highway, and resume our journey back the way we came.
Along the way I am treated to a breathtaking view of
a mountaintop enveloped in fast-moving snow clouds. It is amazingly surreal. After making it past the endless amount of road work along the mountainside dirt road, we stop for the evening in the border town of Zhangmu where I enjoy the most amazing hot shower that I can remember. Remember, it has been some time since I've bathed.
After a long, restful sleep, we cannot locate our jeep driver to take us down to the bridge. We don't know anything about him besides what he is wearing because we are unable to exchange a word with him due to the language barrier. This most certainly does not work in our favor. After tracking him down, he drives us down to the border crossing and we walk to Nepal. After a bit of effort, we track down a jeep to take us back to Kathmandu for only 500 Rs each ($8.33). Not too shabby for about a three hour drive! First, we notice a topless woman crossing the road, and another washing her hair. For as modest as they make themselves out to be, this is quite the shock!
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