Blogs from Everest, Tibet, China, Asia - page 2

Mount Everest and its surrounds must be every British persons dream come true? The vistas are without compare, the locals are incredibly friendly and like nothing more than sharing stories over a hot cup of Yak butter tea, for history buffs ruins abound and the wildlife would be enough to satisfy David Attenbrough for at least a whole series. Perhaps greatest of all however is the weather which would keep most of us in conversation for a life time. Arriving in the blistering sun we faced rows upon rows of mountains. While I thought I would have had no issue at all identifying this iconic mountain - after all it was a constant fixture on the wall of the geography class room - embarrassingly I could not work out which one Everest was. I decided that ... read more

9/8/2010 Wednesday - We started our journey this morning and at Tingri’s boarder we had to get out and show our papers (I’m seeing a pattern here). We actually had two more of these stops on the way to base camp. The trip is about 60 miles each way on a very bumpy dirt road. About an hour into the ride we stopped at the first observation area, OK the only official one before base camp. There was a persistent cloud just over the peak of Everest so we waited for a while and then headed down the road. We stopped in front of a farm that had a nice view of Everest and took a few more pictures of the same cloud and then off to base camp. After about 4 hours we were there. ... read more

Got to BC last night, stayed at 'Everst Guest House' - well equipped tent owned by local 'Champi'. Havent had showers or toilets in days, and have another camp tonight. James, one of the guys in the group, and I are cooking dinner tonight....vegetable soup...yum Had a great view of the summit last night at about 9pm. So warm in the tents. Head hurts a lot! - Altitude Got up to go to the loo (rock) a bit later last night and was surprised when I walked to the door and it was dark out but all the local Tibetans had congragated and were chanting in a circle and dancing. It was cool that they were just doing it for themselves and not for tourists. Ill never forget that. At first I was a bit worried....well....it ... read more

Bought up big at BC, a gorgeous necklace, prayer flags and prayer symbol things...showing the 8 lucky buddhust symbols. Translated by our lovely Tibetan - Lobsong - guide for me 1. Net - Buddha's mind is like a net, it captures any kind of wisdomin the universe. 2. Concha shell - represents buddha's voice, because when buddha gives teachings people can hear from far away. 3. Umbrella - If you study buddhism then it can really protect you from suffering 4. Golden fish - represents Buddhas eyes. They can see clearly. Eg If you put a fish in dirty water they can find clean water. 5. Lotus - represents buddha's body.Once attained enlightenment it can never be destroyed. Lotus grows in the mud but grows into a beautiful flower. 6. Vase - Buddhas mind is like ... read more

Today our aim is the Everest Base Camp but first we have to deal with bureaucracy and red tape, breakfast is at this small Tibetan restaurant on Walk St. the main drag it seems in this sprawling city, i thought it would be a small town but I was mistaken, Shigatse is big. After breakfast Sofie our guide went along with our passports to the PSB office to get the permit for Mt. Everest base camp, on a Sunday we are glad to find out it's open. Russ and I went for a walk to find an internet cafe, while Boris went with Sofie to hopefully extend his Chinese visa. Failed at that he joined us to find a lace to but snacks, we found a local market selling fruits and nuts, chicken, doves,pigeons among other ... read more