The trip to Mount Everest

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Monday 10th - Our trip to everest today, Rox woke feeling ill....not a good start plus an 8hr drive climbing to 5000m - poor Rox. We stopped for lunch and had curried rice......... little did we know Rox would be seeing this again! Lots of stops on the way - passport checks... Our first sighting of Everest was really cool we were so lucky the weather was perfectly clear. Pretty damn impressive. A few photo stops went by and then we made it to base camp - hmmmmm what can we say, not quite what we had anticipated. Just a desolate piece of land with a sign saying toursists go no further. The view was great though..... we were disappointed there was no snow on the ground. It was a great experience running up the hill to see Everest and only getting 20yds before collapsing gasping for breath. Rox even climbed up the hill, feeling ill and braving her fear...very proud!

Back at Rongphu monestry our room was very basic but had a view looking directly out at Everest... We shgared with another couple - thankful for the extra body heat.... Again Rox was still ill, so i walked to the local hotel to buy some oxygen that we paid through the arse for - 50 yuan (5 pounds)... The walk back was nice though - full moon and lots of stars... Rox was really brave as it was touch and go whether she should stay up at the monestry for the evening or go down a 1000m to the local town. Our guide was keen for to go down, but Rox stayed up as she wanted to be able to say she had stayed at the highest monestar in the world... So tucked in for the night, Rox had three duvets, my spare one, a blanket, a sleeping bag, a sleeping bag liner, two hot water bottles, a sick bowl a six layers of clothing.... Peter had a cover, blanket, sleeping bag and thermals.... Rox made it untill 10 before we had to go out side why she threw up (after two types of altitude sickness drugs and an anti nausea tablet - given by a doctor who was in our group).... Rox puked for England (and won a gold medal) - but felkt much better after... We slept under the the gaze of Everest in the highest monestary in the world - BOX TICKED....

Tuesday 11th - Peter woke early to view sunrise over Everest... This was so cold, probably the cvoldest i've ever been. One of the girls had brought her water bottle out and with in 10 mins ice had started to form inside it.....crazy cold..... Sunrise didnt really happen (well it did) but wasn't what we expected so we ditched it for a warm room anf veg noodles for breakfast.... The drive to TO the Old Tingri was prob the best ever, it was so scary - like extreme off roading for 3hrs, going along cliff edges wiuth shear drops, driving up frozen rivers, going down hill so steep - Rox slept most of the way untill she smashed her head on the window after hitting a big bump - prob best she didnt see most of the drive.....

In Old Tingri we had diiner in a local place, it was heated by burning Yak dung - lovely....

Wednesday 12th - The government decided to close a road toward the boarder between Tibet and Nepal so we were stuck in a small town for 5hrs - we just ate, chated and brought some crates of beer.... We all played Uno and drank in the eve when we made it to the boarder town - ready for our crossing into Nepal....

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