EBC - Day 4 (Life with the Monks at 12,000 Feet)

Day 4... Tengoche - 3800m (12,400 feet)

The next day was, well, a bitch. We were going to Tengoche - which is a fantastic little village perched in a high valley, surrounded by mountains and home to one of the world's highest Buddhist monasteries:


So, needless to say, we were pretty excited to hit the road. However... there were two small factors to consider:

1. Our luck ran out with the weather - and it rained. All day. Sheesh.
2. Tengoche is at the top of a BIG hill, which (surprise, surprise) meant that our afternoon was spent slogging through the worst sort of steep climb. I mean, sure, all steep climbs generally irritate, but ones that feature slow back and forth switchbacks that have a special place in my heart. Lots of pain, without even the slightest feeling of making progress. Lovely.

It wasn't ALL bad - along the way, we got to make friends with some locals with balloons while waiting out a heavier than normal spell o' rain.

But, Tengoche was more than worth all of the pain. We stayed in a cozy little lodge just across from the monastery - and after some tea and (yup) more mo-mo's, I wandered around the town.

Lucky for me - I wandered into the monastery at the start of their afternoon service, so got to chill out while the monks did their thing:


It was a cool, cool experience - listening to the rise and fall of the chants, smelling the heavy incense, and trying to decipher all of the wall decorations. It's probably the best place to be a bored kid if you have to stay for a religious ceremony - even after an hour, I was still only about 20% of the way working my way 'round the room.

Tengoche had one more surprise in store. As I left the monastery, the weather had improved, and all of a sudden there was sunlight exposing the mountains (Everest and Lhoshe) in all of their glory.


Yup - my jaw dropped. I went up to a high overlook above the village, and just watched, snapped some photos, plus again overused my favorite superlative adjectives on my videos. The Himalayas are good at that!

The evening was again pretty relaxed - with a hot shower the high point... after hiking all day, paying a few bucks for a few minutes of hot water seems WELL worth it. The only wee downside was that you also get to scurry in from the bitingly chilly air between the outside shower stall and the dubious warmth of your room. I felt like an Indy driver in a pit change - quickly working out the absolute most efficient way to dry off and change in the cold, cold air. Brr!