Our luck with the weather continued as the clearing night turned into a cloudless morning, providing unobscured views of the mountain all morning long. We had a long drive ahead of us, and it was still bitterly cold, but I wasn't feeling any of the effects of the altitude, and I was ecstatic with our luck, wanting to stay in this place for as long as possible. Everything had worked out - the weather, the clouds, the hotel, no altitude sickness, etc, and I couldn't have been happier. Betty, on the other hand, was not feeling well at all, and David didn't seem to be doing great, so we decided to get back on the road around 10 am. I had woken up early, around 6:45 to make sure to catch the sunrise. Of course, watching the sun first hit Mt. Everest is quite a sight, though the spectrum of colors from the night before couldn't be matched. I also headed over to Rongphu Monastery across the dirt road from us, the highest monastery in the world, though there's not really much going on over there. Driving back to Tingri, we saw how magical the approach road could really be. Along every pass, every bend, every small hill, we were treated to views of Mt. Everest and the white string of Himalayan peaks. Sitting just above rows of brown mountains and the winding road below, we stopped for innumerable photo shoots, just as amazed every time we were treated to the spectacular views. This was the shot shown on the Everest brochures and entrance pass, and we were lucky enough to see it with our own eyes. Wu, our guide, mentioned that this was the clearest that he had seen the place all year, in 7 visits, so we were quite lucky. Stretching out before us at the stops, the white peaks piercing the deep blue sky contains something like 3 of the 5 highest mountains in the world, with 5 of them over 8,000 meters (24,000 feet). David may have put it best, exclaiming "Wow, wow, wow, wow," pretty much after every corner, as though he forgot the mountains were there until he saw them again. Another classic line from him, he asked Wu, about halfway through the evening at base camp "This is Everest?" In spite of some random comments, he kept us entertained, and we were all impressed for someone of his each to be doing such extreme travelling. Eventually, many stops later, we made it back to Tingri and Gyantse, back for lunch at the same place we had stopped before, again marvelling at the scenery along the way.
(Mt. Everest awakes. Actually, I think he got up before me. You have to try hard to beat this guy.)
(Here's our hotel and the group of Land Cruisers carrying us and a big group of Polish and German tourists. Our little box/room is in the right corner of the picture, on the second level. You can't quite see it here, but we had to walk from that group of rooms above the two windows on the bottom right to the door in the middle of the picture on the second level. This is also where the balcony is located.)
(The classic view of Everest and the pagoda of Rongphu Monastery. Rami and I wanted to wait for better light, but that wouldn't happen until around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, so that wasn't really an option.)
(The finest view I've ever seen from a urinal. This really is one of the bathrooms outside our hotel. "Where peeing is a pleasure." Man, I should have written that on the wall.)
(One of the inspiring views of the brown mountains and snow capped peaks on the road out, looking back towards Everest and his friends. I believe this one is Cho Oyu, the 3rd highest in the world.)
(As you may have guessed, Everest is the highest one in the middle. If you didn't guess that, you may need some help with the whole concept of being the highest mountain.)
(The long and winding road. This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip, almost capturing the incredible beauty of the place.)
(Same beauty, different view.)
(Our Land Cruiser at the last pass with this incredible view. This is also where I talked again with one of the young vendors, who wanted to try to trade jackets with me but eventually just gave me a nice beaded bracelet. Little did he know that my last name is Brace. Ooohhh.)
(And this is the view just minutes later to the North. Not the Himalayas anymore, but I think that's Snow Mountain again in the distance.)
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