We drive along the Tibetan plateau. The land is cold, dry and barren. We reach a pass and the Himalayan Range appears, dominating the horizon. It is amazing.
We drive on, climbing slowly but surely. After 4 more hours we arrive at the tent city at over 5000m. From here we will walk the final 3.5 km to base camp.
It's sunny when we begin so I start off with a thermal shirt but it's not long before the temperature drops and I start to layer up.
We travel up the rock mountain valley. There's a small icy river nearby. Occasionally there is the clitter clatter of rocks from the nearby slopes. We don't see anything so we assume they are rock slides on the other side of the hills.
We see a few deer and then a few more and then maybe as many as fifty here and there.
The wind picks up and clouds roll over. I rug up further until I am comfy and press on.
Base Camp is cold. Everest is overcast. It is wonderful. I have a modest sense of achievement. Okay, we drove up most of the way. Two years ago I did an 8 day trek to base camp in Nepal which was way more challenging. Way more.
Still, not too shabby. My mobile has reception so I phone my brother in Australia - so he can share in the experience. (Or am I gloating perhaps the tiniest bit?)
It's a 7km walk back to our accommodation. The weather clears up so we have great views of Everest behind us.
The next morning we have a beautiful view of Everest in the chilly morning air.
We drive back the way we came. I guess I hadn't thought about it but Everest isn't likely to be the best way to get across the Himalayas into Nepal.
We head back over the pass with the panoramic view and travel further East before we approach the mountain range again.
As we descended there are still a lot of high mountains in front of us and I wonder how we are going to get over them.
We don't.
We drive into a valley that gets steeper and steeper - a gorge that gets more pronounced, and more temperate as trees start to appear on the steep sides.
There is a lot of mist. The river sinks down quicker than the road and our bus drives down many switchbacks, twisting and turning on the steep path.
There are a lot rhododendrons on the other side of the valley - a beautiful mix of pink and white trees.
Eventually we come to the border town of Zhangmu - the last stop in the Autonomous Region of Tibet.
Tomorrow I will cross the friendship bridge into Nepal. I will be in Kathmandu a week earlier than planned and I still don't know what I will be doing for the next week.
(The next part of my journey is told out of sequence a year later in "Children of Nepal" after my trips to Paris and Borneo.)
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