Archive for the ‘Tengboche’ Category

Trek day 7, Pheriche back to Tengboche

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
We were at the highest point of our trek this morning, and had to spend 24 hours there to acclimatise, so had a chance to get some decent pics! A nice little treat was seeing the local heli dropping off supplies – the only way to get anything up here is via foot or helicopter (not a good place to be badly ill!). The village also houses the last medical outpost before Everest.
The heli is the only way other than foot to reach Pherice which is at 4.3 km up
Me with the glacial valley, floored with peat, in the background and the glacial head (corrie) in the distance
A local girl decided Rohan’s tripod looked like a fun climbing frame!
Abu Dami (or something like that), one of the most challenging peaks to climb int he region.
A real mountain Yak – the others we had seen (with less hair) are cow-yak hybrids. These ones can only survive above about 3,000m.
Half-way back to Tengboche
Everest (far left) and its neighbours wreathed in their own personal clouds.

Posted in Pheriche, Tengboche | No Comments »

Photos from Trek day 6, Tengboche to Pheriche

Monday, September 29th, 2008
Last night was my first without John for simply ages (probably two months) and it was very strange. I have not been able to speak with him either, in fact all I managed was a couple of messages sent via the Danish channel 5 film crew’s borrowed satellite uplink and Facebook of all things!

I was thoroughly back into the swing of things today, and resumed my usual position at the head of the first group. I have really started to get the hang of using poles now too – it is rather like cross-country skiing if fact, using them to push myself along. The reason I was up the front, by the way, is so that I could stop and take pictures of some of the breath-taking scenery without getting left behind the group – rather like I do when SCUBA diving!

We stopped for lunch just past 13,000 feet – a massive 4km up. Unfortunately the weather turned, and it was very much “head down and get there” for the last stretch to Periche at 14,000feet (4.3km) – the highest point on our trek. Despite the rain the scenery was still awesome, walking along the base of a glacial valley dotted with massive morraine (boulders deposited by the glacial flow several thousand years ago). We had also no moved well about the tree-line, and the plant life was become more and more sparse; small shrubs clinging to the landscape.

Posted in Pheriche, Tengboche | No Comments »

Mafia Monks

Sunday, September 28th, 2008
At 3pm the monks were holding a ceremony, and apparently we would be allowed to come and watch. We had heard, though, that they were very financially minded and getting rather big for their boots, but we thought nothing of it. The Tengboche monastery is the main one in the region and was certainly impressive.
The monastery

The attitude of the monks did seem rather odd, and they all looked rather “thuggish” for want of a better word. They also seemed very well fed compared with the locals. We were told that we were not to take film or use flash photography, which was of course fine. To our surprise (and disappointment), once we were inside the leading monk was extremely rude, barking at us not to take film or flash (which we were not doing), and going on to say things like “this is my country, you do what I say!”, and “I know what you westerners are like, I know what you are thinking, but I won’t let you”, implying that we would surreptitiously take video, also stating “you must not film – this is a sacred ceremony and no filming is allowed”. None of us had any intention of violatiing their wishes of course, and there was no need for such aggression. One of our party was even kicked out for taking still shots with a camcorder despite stating that he was just taking stills.

The ceremony itself consisted of about 30 minutes of chanting, and they blew a thick cloud of Juniper incense. I found myself getting rather light-headed as I listened to the chanting, and a bit “floaty”, and a few minutes later to our collective embarrassment Lucy (one of the leaders and skydiving journalist), Holly (intended first woman to do a solo jump here) and I got totally uncontrollable giggles in response to another of our party dozing off! I just about managed to hide it by pretending to have a coughing fit, but I have not laughed that much in a long time. I think I blame the incense + altitude!

Inside

Once we left the monks were again very rude, actually laughing openly at Holly with her video camera that they had not allowed her to use. We also then discovered from Serena (the trek leader) that she had negotiated with the monks about filming but had rejected their outrageous request for $900 per camera; so much for “a sacred ceremony that must not be filmed”!

Back in the lodge another piece of the picture fell into place with a sign stating that the monks owned the lodge and the rent was very high therefore they had to charge extra if we were not going to eat there (see below). None of us were at all impressed, and have concluded that the monks are more like a local mafia, and not at all what one we expected from Tibetan Buddhist leaders.

Posted in Tengboche | No Comments »

Day 5: Trek to Tengboche

Sunday, September 28th, 2008
I was mostly better again this morning and was ready to get back on the trail. Unfortunately though, John had twisted his knee badly the day before during the monastery trip and there was no way he would be able to come with us, so this morning we parted ways but I will see him again in 3 days time.

The other thing I was saying goodbye to was nice Western-style loos. For the next 36 hours or so I would have to bite the bullet and use the more traditional “hole in the floor” type loos that you have to squat over; some are not too bad with porcelain bowls (although manually flushed with a bucket), but some are basically a shack with a gap underneath with a hole in the wooden floor! Definitely not one of the highlights of the trip.

Loo!

Despite still being a little weak the day’s trekking was fine, especially given that our Sherpa kindly took my pack for the two long steep climbs. During the morning we contoured around a higher south-facing mountain side which was very different to the other locations, with barbed scrub bushes, many more of the beautiful (and usually sparse) mountain flowers and a constant sound of grasshoppers in the air. It was a beautiful day as well which was a nice change, although I managed to sun-burn my hands.

The winding mountain path
The powerful river with prayer flags hanging off the bridge in the foreground.

We arrived in Tengboche in early-afternoon, just before the cloud moved in. It is a grassy plateau on the mountain top with a big monastery (the main one in the region) and a number of houses and lodges dotted around the edges.

Posted in Namche Bazaar, Tengboche | No Comments »