From Nayalam the road wound up, and up, and up to reach Qomolangma/Everest Base Camp. We spent quite a lot of time thinking about how bizarre it was that we were covering in two days the elevation we had spent nearly eight days walking up in Nepal. The whole group was feeling the altitude, it’s intense to go from 1,000m to 5,000m in two days, so there was lots of quiet time napping in the van. It took most of the day to travel the 221kms to Base Camp, with a few stops on the way for lunch and to check out the view from some of the scenic passes. Unfortunately it was quite clouded in, but we were so excited regardless just knowing how high we were. Again, we were in awe of the quality of the roads and the general infrastructure, even the highest passes and the smallest towns seemed to have constant construction underway. As we got higher the landscape got more and more arid until there were basically no trees in sight. China has implemented a policy where everyone travels to the base camp area by electric bus or minivan, leaving all personal vehicles at a facility about an hour down the road. This does wonders for reducing the congestion at the top and reduces pollution in these special areas, something New Zealand could learn a lot from for some of our major sightseeing spots.
Once we arrived at the main Base Camp area I was in shock, we found what looked like a prefabricated tent city with literally hundreds of tents available for accommodation! After a quick confused text exchange with Lydia, I learnt that the actual climbers stay further up the valley at the foot of the glacier which made a lot more sense. We weren’t staying in the tent city, and instead pulled up to what was called a guest house but in reality was more like a hotel. Our room had two very comfortable beds, an oxygen dispenser that pumped the sweet stuff into the room during the night and a private bathroom. Very different from my experiences at base camp on the Nepal side a few years ago!! We were coping pretty well with the altitude, mostly due to the help of our altitude sickness pills and the fact we didn’t really have to walk anywhere. It all felt very lush and luxurious compared to when we were last at this altitude a few weeks ago in Nepal. We were pretty limited to where we could go, there were cameras everywhere and only a short stretch of road to a viewpoint that we were allowed to explore. I asked Yeshi if we could wander to any of the points up above base camp and was quickly told that under no circumstances was I to try and explore out of bounds, or he would likely lose his job.
It was about 5 PM by the time we arrived, and it was pretty clouded in. Our spirits weren’t too fallen though, we had learnt from our time in Nepal that the mornings were always the most reliable time to see the big mountains. Alongside the obvious views of Qomolangma, there was also an incredible monastery, Rongbuk Monastery, right next to our “base camp” which was a real privilege to visit. This is the highest monastery in the world (!!!) and it used to be home to 500 monks and nuns. This monastery has an average temperature of −17,5 °C, due to its severely cold winters. While in June and July days commonly hit temperatures of 10 °C, they drop significantly during nighttime, making it the coldest continuously populated place outside of Antarctica. The lowest temperature recorded around the area is −55,7 °C.
As with most monasteries in Tibet, this number has now reduced significantly, and now only 20 monks and 10 nuns live here. We enjoyed looking at the different meditation halls and enjoyed some conversation with Yeshi away from the scrutiny of cameras and microphones in the van. One of the highlights of the monastery visit was sharing yak butter tea with a few of the monks in their kitchen/dining area. A Tibetan specialty, butter tea has a very acquired salty taste, but apparently it helps with altitude so we all gladly enjoyed a few refills. One of the monks was pretty enamored with our camera, and enjoyed trying it out which resulted in some great photos. We also met a 85 year old monk who had spent 20 years meditating in a cave further up the valley, and although he can’t sit so easily in the meditation position anymore, he still regularly visits to look after the altar and offerings.
After the monastery we wandered down to the viewing area, and despite mostly cloudy views we had the best time. The area was packed with tourists from Mainland China and it was so fun chatting to different groups of young people who were so interested in where we were from and if we were liking our time in China. One pleasant change was how polite everyone was when asking for photos, they really stopped to ask if we would take a photo with us and made conversation. A stark contrast to the arm grips and cameras in the face we experienced in India. We were mainly chatting with other young people, and soon enough our WeChat contact lists were filled with locals from all around the country. If we can remember who is who, we will definitely be calling them up when we get to their respective home towns. It is a totally different experience to visiting nature in New Zealand, Nepal or even a more remote part of China (I’m sure). There are photo spots with lines and time limits and speakers talking to you and selfie sticks everywhere and clear rules about where you can and can’t go. But rather than critique this approach, we just tried to enjoy it. Of course it’s different, that’s why we come to other places! A lot of the other tourists were using supplemental oxygen, either through hand held respirators that you used every couple of breaths for a “hit” or hospital style tubes that sit under your nose. One of the most hilarious things was meeting a young guy who had his oxygen in one hand and a cigarette in the other!
Dinner at the guest house was a whopping 80 yuan per person, so we ventured to tent city to find some instant noodles to make in our room. After a quick browse in the supermarket Josh was sad to see that every flavour had meat. We decided to look elsewhere and ended up at a little place selling meat kebabs and beers, and that was very quickly the end of Josh’s vegetarianism. All jokes aside, we were quickly realizing that being vegetarian in China would be hard, and from what we had heard this would only continue as we headed west. (Note from the future - chatting with Tekla and Edda as they kept traveling across China proved this point, they are struggling to find anything vegetarian.
It seems weird that I have written 1,000 words and hardly actually talked about the mountain, but I guess the true experience of this place was everything else around it. It felt so foreign to us, but also so fun. The following morning we woke up at 6:30 AM to a clear sky and dark but clear views of the mountain! We walked down to the viewing area with Edda and Tekla and parked up to wait for sunrise, with only a few other people around. It was a totally different experience from the chaos of last night. Unfortunately as dawn approached, so too did the clouds, and by the time it got light we couldn’t see anything. Feeling a little defeated, we headed back for breakfast still maintaining some hope that it might clear before we had to leave. After breakfast and some quick packing, we were all very excited to see the mountain slowly but surely coming into view out of the clouds. We headed back out to the viewing area and it was very satisfying watching the cloud slowly move away, apart from a little on the summit. We took the compulsory photos at the designated spots, trying to give the locals a run for their money on their posing. Spoiler alert: we didn’t, it’s hard!!! We wandered back to put our bags in the bus and get on the way to our next stop.
As we were walking back, Josh looked back and saw that Qomolangma had totally and utterly come into view! No clouds! It was a dream! I ran back and quickly checked out while Josh found a great spot for some photos, and we promised Yeshi we would only be “5 more minutes”. Of course you want the photos and the memories, but really there is nothing more awe inspiring than staring up at the biggest mountain in the world in all her glory. For me, I’m always reminded how much bigger this world is than any of us, and how we must do whatever we can to protect her. There’s been a very special feeling of synergy between the Tibetan people and their land, a kind of mutual respect and way of life that feels very complimentary. This was personified to me as I sat watching an old Nun feeding a friendly yak under this beautiful mountain. A scene that could have been the same for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Qomolangma actually means ‘Goddess mother of the world’ in Tibetan, and in that moment, even surrounded by feats of Chinese development, it couldn’t have felt more true.