Lhasa dag 2: Ik was een beetje pissed off vandaag, helaas .... Deze ochtend heb ik gerealiseerd dat ik mijn télélens vergeten/verloren ben of dat ze misschien gepikt is? Maar ik vrees dat het mijn eigen schuld is. Na 13 jaar, bye bye Minolta ... gekregen voor mijn 21 ste verjaardag van mijn meter! snif

We zijn vandaag vroeg begonnen, om 8u30 stonden we klaar voor de bezoeken van de dag: Drepung Monastery gevolgd door de Potala viewpoint (lichtjes slechtgezind) Onderweg een Italiaanse koffiebar gevonden met Free Wifi (het gaat al snel véél beter). Na een lekkere momo lunch zijn we de Sera Monastery gaan bezoeken gevolgd door de enige Nun Monastery. Daarna werden we getrakteerd door onze gids 'Lamo' in een super lokale non toeristisch café op cheescake & sweettea. Nog een wandeling door de stad en het was weer tijd om te eten. De jongens waren snel moe dus zijn we maar om 20u30 terug naar onze guesthouse vertrokken met de taxi. En we hebben natuurlijk een taxi gevonden die zijn weg hier niet kent!

Lhasa dag 3: We gingen om 10u vertrekken .... dus moesten we zeker en vast geen wekker zetten en toch ... om 10u zaten we nog lekker te knorren. Ontbijt in het centrum van de stad. Bezoek aan de Potala, lunch, bezoek aan de Jokhang temple en daarna een lekker biertje op een aangenaam terras. Ondertussen zijn we blut en hebben we geen enkele ATM gevonden waar we centen kunnen gaan halen ..... Dit wordt nog SPANNEND !!

Tibet day 4: Every morning we drink Yak milk at breakfast, it's ok ... it taste a little bit like Chang. Today we left Lhasa to go to the Kambala summit (4700m) to see the Holy lake of Yamdrok-tso. Then we stopped at the Kharola glacier and at some other point of view. We drove a lot today and the views were absolutely magnificent ... I almost cried in front of such a beauty, of course I was thinking about family and friends (and yes, I'm a Woos). After a 3 hour drive we arrived in Gyantse for lunch and visited the Pelkor Chöde Monastery. Finally a Chinese man asked me to be on the photo with him, it took me +/- 10 days. (it's going much faster in India) We're ending the day in Shigatse (3850m), where we're spending the night but first of all: we found an ATM, now we can buy souvenirs again. We also visited the Tashilhunpo Monastery ... but after 3 days, I'm done with the monasteries. The boys had a huge laugh when they bought some fireworks but anyway .... Let's go to Mount Everest!!!!!!!

Tibet day 5: Breakfast was Chinese so .... You can imagine I didn't eat a lot. Today was again a long day of driving with magnificent viewpoints, lots of passes from 4800m till 5400m. The downside is all the checkpoints we had to go through. Every time we have to show our passports, our permit and the ticket for entering the Mount Everest National park. But the real name of Mt Everest in Tibetan is Qomolangma. We have an excellent 4WD driver who knew all the shortcuts, it was fun. Around 5 o'clock we arrived at Everest Base Camp. From there we had a 1.30 hour walk/climb to get closer to this huge mountain .... Climbing at 5000m is just NOT easy ... I was exhausted. But the view and the feelings were absolutely indescribable. Back to the tents for dinner and a good night sleep (at 4985m !!!!!!!) We were 8 sleeping in the tent and apparently I'm the only one who did sleep. In the tent next door, they were having a party to celebrate the end of the season (they're breaking the tents down in 2 days) and some girls were singing local songs all night, drinking beer, it kept everyone awake except me. Irony: The only man being having trouble with AMS was a Nepalese but didn't like him anyway. He survived with a few oxygen shots.

In the morning we woke up for the sunrise on Everest ... NICE!!! We drank sweet tea, had breakfast in the car and spent the whole day driving towards Zanghmu, close to the Nepal border. It took us 45 minutes to find a hotel and we finally ended up in a humid room with a bad smell. We went to a shitty restaurant but we had a nice evening with our friend Ferdi (from Holland) while drinking beer at the side of the road.

Let's go to NEPAL !!!!!!

Thank you everyone for your comments on this website. It's nice to have some reactions, it keeps me writing!

A Special thanks to Alyane & Bernard and also to Brigitte & Jean-Claude. They know why. It's much appreciated! THANK YOU!!!!