September 16 Shigatse - Sakya Monastery - Everst Base Camp (EBC)

September 16 Shigatse - Sakya Monastery - Everest Base Camp (EBC)

We rose early as we had a long (8-hour) drive ahead plus visit time at the old Sakya Monastery and needed to cross three passes to get to Everest Base Camp (EBC) before dark. The road covered mostly high desert type lands with vast barren landscapes with current villages and old mud brick ruins lying in the valleys, which were themselves at roughly 14,000 foot elevations.

We turned off the main asphalted highway for the 25 kilometer dirt track up a beautiful valley to see the Sakya Monastery. An imposing grey fortified structure built in 1268, it has walls that are 50 feet high and 12 feet thick. It's columns are made of entire tree trunks, one of them reputedly a gift from the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who also donated a sacred chank shell that can be blown as a horn. There is a palpable spiritual atmosphere inside with the worshippers.

This is a Kagyupa order (red hat) and a family had established a hereditary abbotship there and the abbots were allowed to marry. The current abbot lives in India with his two sons, who were allowed to visit the monastery last year. Two of their ancestors had been made de-facto rulers of Tibet by Mongols.

Besides beautiful Buddha statues that contain the remains of earlier abbots, hidden behind the main temple is a narrow ancient library about a hundred feet long that is believed to have amazing powers of prediction. We were able to see it but no photographs are allowed inside the awesome structure, although from a space between statues from the outside some small part of the library can be seen. In the library we could see that some of the ancients books had come out and protruded from their shelves, which (popping out) was said to occur without any human touch (like in movies such as " Ghostbusters"). The protruding scriptures are then studied by the abbot and have predicted earthquakes and floods. Sonam did the pilgrim ritual at this Monastery with the yak butter and also gave us all yellow blessed scarves for protection.

As we left Sakya, we saw farmers walking on the road carrying flags and religious books to celebrate the successful harvest. Back on the main road, we crossed two high passes, then turned onto the dirt track for the 125 kilometer drive to Everest Base Camp, where we were to sleep. The road was more challenging and dramatic, but not as challenging or with the steep drop-offs of Wadi Bani Auf in Oman, for example. The altitude was much greater, with the pass at over 5,000 meters. We had the good fortune to see Everest when the cloud that usually obscures the peak started clearing as we came within 15 kilometers of EBC. As we reached Rongbuk Monastery, the highest in the world, it became clearer and we were able to get good photographs. We passed bikers who had climbed the pass and were sleeping in unheated tents just outside the monastery! That made us feel old!

Base camp was just a few miles further, and our guide made a deal for us to sleep in the hard tent called "Holiday Inn" for about $8 each. We threw our few items into the tent and caught one of the last minibuses up to the viewing area, which is as close as you can go to Everest without the climbing permits. Leslie was too tired to climb the small hillocks to the viewing area, which was replete with prayer flags. David and the guide carried up our string of flags with our prayers for the Bosch and Zinola families, and were able to attach the flags closest to Everest of any of them, and to get some more pictures, although the top of Everest was clouded over. We caught the last minibus down, and Everest cleared up at dusk for good pictures from Base Camp. This was lucky as it had not cleared for the three days before.

We were to sleep in our tent with our guide and driver, and three other Tibetans were in the tent, but one was the proprietor and two others probably drivers who were his friends. He served us local noodle soup and fried rice and when we got in bed he tucked us in with two thick quilts.

The tent had a central stove that burned a mixture of dried yak and sheep dung, but left a very pungent odor that was difficult to ignore. It was allowed to die out at about 9:30, and we tried to sleep as the three outsiders left and the driver and guide talked quietly.