Everest Region December 2003 - Day 5

Acclimatisation Rest day - Tengboche

You can see a slideshow of my best pics from Everest on flickr.
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Wherever you look, there is normally some amazingly high mountain in your way. In the lodge that we stayed in at Tengboche (shown left of centre in the picture below) even the dunny had a stunning view of Everest. The toilets in the lodges varied from western style flushers in the more expensive and "closer to home" villages to a couple of planks above a pit. The latter were the ones with the interesting views! Fortunately, the weather is cold enough in December that it is not that unpleasant, in fact the instant freezing contributes to some interesting stalactite growth. … hmmm, it must be time to talk about something else. Whilst December is a good time for healthy toilets and no crowds, it also creates a dearth of flora and fauna. Whilst we did see the odd Himalayan tar (mountain goat) and damphe (pheasant), macro fauna was pretty light on. The forests of huge rhododendrons which must look amazing in the spring were all pretty flat looking, creating an eerie wintry scene.

Mount Everest peeks over the Nupste-Lhotse wall. The beautiful Ama Dablam, which dominates the whole Imja Khola valley is on the right. This shot was taken from Tengboche, a few lodges attached to the famous Tengboche monastery. An inauspicious introduction to technology occurred when the old monastery building burnt down after an electrical fault. However, micro-hydroelectric schemes work very well in this area, and more and more villages are getting connected. Set on a ridge, Tengboche at 3860m (400m above Namche bazaar) is a beautiful area, with the forests of rhododendrons, stunning views, and the gorgeous new monastery (below, on the right), rebuilt with assistance from the Himalayan Foundation, set up by Edmund Hillary (he was probably a Sir Edmund Hillary by then).

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As seen on Andrew Purdam's Bushwalking Treasure Box blog.