Breakfast at shigatse Hilton
We woke up early to have a lovely breakfast at our hotel Shigatse Hilton. We were spoilt for choice and everything was great. After breakfast we checked out and was on our way to Mount Everest Base Camp.
It was a long long way to Mount Everest Base Camp (ECB). According to Baidu Map the journey would require 7 hour over about 300 km, but our guide said it would take about 8 hour. We would have to stop at a Zhaxizhong Village (often spelled Tashi Dzong), 扎西宗镇 and from there transfer onto a eco tourist bus that would take us up the ECB. For the night we would stay at one of the hotels in Zhaxizhong Village.
We nearly did not want to visit Mount Everest Base Camp (EBC) because of the long route and the tour agency told us that the accommodation was very basic, with no ensuite toilet in the room. But in the end we still included the attaction into our itinerary because the agent kept repeating that the scenery was great and that he had found a good accommodation alternative for us.
A visit to ECB required additional authority permit. This permit was applied in person (one of us) at a local police authority in Shigatse. It was an “Alien’s Travel Permit issued by Public Security Bureau which allowed visit to “non open” and restricted areas like the EBC. Apparently this permit needed the present of an applicant and a tour agent. Such permit was not issue to the applicant without the agent and vise versa.
My agent was “pretty” inefficient, he had no idea as to the operation time of the Public Security Bureau, he dragged us all to the Bureau building. Four of us was coped up in the van with driver and one of us had to wait in the cold outside the Bureau Building with him until the Bureau opened at 9am. It was a one hour wait!
Enroute to Everest Base Camp
Our first stop after obtaining our “Alien’s Travel permit” was awas about 2 hours into our journey. At the rest place there was a huge sign board stating G318. Our route to ECB took us to the end of G318 before it crossed over to G219.
G318 was China National Highway stretching from Shanghai to Tibet over a distance of 5476km. It was known as China’s longest highway and was a premier scenic route.
Another two hours later we reached a huge “Archway” over the two-way road. We were crossing into Qomolangma National Park.
Mount Qomolangma was the Tibetan and Chinese name for Mount Everest. The park, opened in 2012, occupies 78,000 square kilometres, and contains mountains of altitudes ranging from 7,000 to 8,848 metres.
Wow, Mount Everest was one of the greatest nature wonders we heard frequently in our lifes. Coming close to this nature wonder was a important milestone for us. At the archway we saw a couple of vans wth barista machine mounted behind. .” A milestone needed to be made more memorable with a fragant cup of coffee!”. We were only too happy to stop and enjoyed cups of cafe latte in the cold.
After the Archway we soon left Highway G219 and went onto S515 which was also called Mount Everest Road 珠峰路. The S515 highway served as the crucial and final access route leading up to the Mount Everest Base Camp region. Soon we reached another entrance and our went down to get the entrance ticket.
Soon a winding road started. We could see the winding road ahead and it looked amazing and exciting. From Baidu Map we already saw the many bends and curves of Highway S505.
Then we reached a viewing platform and came down to have a look. There were many peaks ahead, the sky was gloomy but fortunately we could still see see some peaks. Definitely one of them was Mount Everest!
After the viewing deck we were back to the van and continued the bends and curves to ZhaXiZhong (扎西宗镇) Village.
ZhaxiZhong Village (扎西宗镇) was where all tour vans stop. From the village we had to go by tourist Eco bus to Everest Base Camp (ebc). We could either go to EBC for sunset or sunrise. It was already 6pm when we reached the village which did not leave us much time to go ECB for sunset. Besides the sky also looked gloomy and it might be a wasted trip. After much consideration we decided to visit EBC the next morning.
As for the rest of the day, we check in to our stay and then walked down the street in search of dinner. It was a great that on the same street as our “hotels” were a rrow of restaurant. We went into a Beef Hot Pot restaurant and had a lovely dinner. Dinner cost ¥86 per person.
Everest base camp
We woke up very early next morning and went to the town square. The weather in the early morning 6.30am was very cold and we all had our “layers” piled on. Fortunately we did not have to wait very long before we boarded a green Eco Tourist bus.
It was a ride to 38 km from the village (ZhaxiZhong) to ECB. The ride took about 35 minutes. We arrived at a big parking place where we all alighted. We noticed that the road did not end here but went further inward. According to my guide the road was for those staying at the EBC campsite.
There were two Everest Base Camps one on Tibet side and the on Nepal side. Tibet Everest Base Camp was on the north side of Mount Everest was at 5150m was accessible by vehicle. Nepal EBC stood at 5364m required 10-14 day trekking through Sherpa village.
From the carpark, we walked about 20 minutes (1 km) on the boardwalk to its end. There was a large rock sign/monument with Mount Everest summit height stated, 8848.86m. We thought at EBC we should be seeing many tents hosting those that were attempting to climb Mount Everest but there was non in sight. Our guide explained that for visitors (who were not attempting to climb Mount Everest) this was as far as we could go. As for the camp/tents were further inland.
“Monkeying” around the rock sign of Mount EverestThere was no way we could reached the summit so we “pretended” that we had conquered the summit by “monkeying” around the rock sign.We were supposed to be able to see Mount Everest at the “rock sign” unfortunately at 8.10am in the morning the sky was still misty and all the peaks in front were covered by dense cloud/mist. It was also definitely too late to see sun rise and the sun was already somewhere high up. We waited around and at about 9am the cloud began to clear and we saw the “shy” peak of Mount Everest!
By about 9.30am we turned around and started our walk back to the start of the boardwalk. On the way back we saw Rongbuk Monastery 绒布寺. It was known as one of the highest elevation monasteries in the world. It elevation was 5100m.
Rongbuk Monastery also offered very basic accommodation to visitors. The advantage of staying at the monastery was that one could directly see Mount Everest on a good day. ZhaXiZhong town where we stayed was 38km from Rongbuk, though it offered good accommodation and restaurants it did not offered a view of Mount Everest.
During the planning of the Tibet trip, we requested for good accommodation which was the reason we were “housed” in ZhaXiZhong village. But on hindsight we should forgo “some comfort” and stay at Rongbuk Monastery or one of the other “hut dwellings” around the area. If the weather was good then the “sacrifies” paid off else all was for “noughts”.
Our stay at Zhaxizhong village
Our stay was EBC Fuyang Hotel. It was in the Zhaxizhong, a town nearest to ECB. EBC Fuyang Hotel turned up better than expected. It was new and the furnishing were modern.
The hotel reception was near the town front. After we check-in we were each given a pack of food (milk, bun, canned assorted bean drink, etc) which was our breakfast since we would be out early to go to EBC. Our rooms were distributed over several different blocks along the street down from the reception. Each block had a cool gathering patio for its guests.
Some of our rooms were on the ground level and others on the upper level. Sadly there was no “lifts”, so we needed to “huff” our luggage up to our room. Our rooms were nice and comfortable, the toilet was modern and warm with overhead heater.
Other Accommodation in ZhaXiZhong Village, EBC
