We stopped by a lake side to have lunch. The rocks were stacked up by the Tibetans for religious purpose.
The road to the Base Camp was ungraded for a long time and Calypso could only making slow progress. Even so, we were shakened out of our bones. It wasn't just bumpy, it was windy as well. Anyway, here are a couple of photos showing the road sneaking up the slope.
It was an early start on 20th July 09. We left the bush camp at 7am so we could get to Pala Pass as early as possible with the chance to view the great Mt Everest before the usual cloud cover. When we got to the top of Pala Pass (5220m), Mt Everest cleared up. There was euphoria with an immense elation when Mt Everest showed itself. It was in deed an emotional moment for a lot of us.
Mt Everest is on the left of the picture, taken on top of Pala Pass. On a clear day, one could see 5 of the world's tallest peaks (all >8000m). This particular day, we saw three: Mt Makalu 8463m (to the left of me in the picture; it is actually in Nepal), Mt Lhotze to the right(8516m) and Mt Qomolangma to the left (ie Mt Everest, 8844,4m).We arrived at the base camp village about 3pm. Mt Everest was still cloud covered. After "checking" into our "hotels" - ie, Yurt tents, 5 to a tent - we made our way up to the checkpost, officially the Base Camp. Some walked (1/2hr) and some took the bus. I was expecting a strenous climb and took the bus. The road to the checkpost was actually very gentle. The Chinese soldiers refused us entry over the checkpost for the final 50m. Chinese citizens were allowed through while bone fide tourists like us were not allowed. Still can't see the logic in their decision. LH and I decided to walk back.
Not long after we arrived back at the base camp village, the glorious Mt Everest opened up again and remained cloudless until we left the next day. Some of us parked ourselves out in the open early in the morning and watched the sun's rays striking the mountain. What a glorious sight it was. Here are some photos.
(the mountain is in between my fellow travellers, on top of Calypso). Here are a couple of close shots of Mt Everest using May-Le's zoom lens without Image Stabilizer, taken from the North side of the great mountain:
On the way down, we stopped at Rongpu, the monastary village and took a few more pictures of the mount. The photo spot was recommended by TaWa, our Tibetan guide. Here are some of the pictures:
On the way back to Lhasa, we stopped at Pala Pass for the last time and here is a photo showing the remaining two peaks (>8000m) which we did not see the previous day, ie Mt Chu Oyu (8201m) and Mt XixiaBangMa (8021m). Unfortunately, Everest was covered up by that time.
We bush camped about 10km passed Lhaze township on our way back to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Here is a picture of Steve and Alan. Sadly, this was both their last bush camp with us, and they had packed their tents for the last time. Steve was being dropped off at Xigaze to explore a bit more of Tibet while Alan, Rachel, Emma and Lindsay would leave the truck to journey themselves as from Lhasa. Hope to catch up with them again soon.
Xigaze is the second largest city in Tibet and also the second most important to the Tibetans because the number two religious leader (next to the Dalai Lama) stays there. We did not stay in Xigaze for long as we were pressing for time to arrive back at Lhasa.
22nd Aug 2009 had an eclipse of the sun and many had travelled thousands of kms to see this eclipse. We were lucky, we saw it all and we felt it - the sudden darkening, birds singing, etc. Here is a picture of the eclipse taken from Tibet through a cheap plastic film, but very effective spectacles, courtesy of Jenny.
After Lhasa Potala Palace ..... after Everest Base Camp, are there more exciting places to come?...... just wait.....
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