The North Face

The second half on our trip through Tibet has all been about the Himalayas and in particular a trip to the north face of Everest.
Four long and increasingly bumpy days' driving took us west from Lhasa into the Himalayas and finally to the border with Nepal. Whilst the scenery was mostly vast rolling plains (rather than jagged mountains), it was stunning none the less - and being in the mountains put an immediate smile on both our faces :)
Some highlights of the first couple of days of this epic road trip included:
- Four passes over 5000m - the highest either of us have ever been
- The bright blue Namdrok Lake [sidebar: outrageously, each one of these so called 'sights' had an entry fee just to drive along the road - and at each one there were locals charging for anything and everything they could - from taking a picture with a small monument to going to the toilet]

- An impromptu, lung-bursting training session on the steps of a fort at >4000m:

- Some silly photo ops:

- And generally some pretty stunning views:

As the sun was setting late on the second day of driving we got our first glimpse of the highest mountain in the world (the far left of this photo):

As we proceeded west, life became a lot more basic - with eating, sleeping and Tibetan toilets all becoming increasingly less pleasant
On the third day, a four hour, bone-rattling drive took us up the valley to a yak hair tent village - just below Everest base camp. The weather was kind on route, giving us our first close-up glimpse of the peak - albeit partially shrouded in cloud:

It wasn't long before the clouds had settled in for the day but this didn't stop us making the c.1 hour hike up to the base camp that afternoon, in the vein hope it would peak out again. The trip did allow us to visit the highest monastery in the world and spend a little time reflecting in a very peaceful meditation cave.

Unlike some of the rest of the group we were pretty much unaffected by the altitude - so after dinner and some drinks in our homely tent - we headed to bed relatively early to rest ahead of an early morning trip back up to base camp to see the sunrise. Unfortunately the weather wasn't playing ball again, but we still had a fun trip - including catching the local wildlife (it's pretty amazing anything can exist in this sparse environment) at it's most active:

- A naked yak (many of the previous ones we'd seen had been dressed/tied by locals for photo purposes):

An inquisitive beaver:

A herd of local deer type things:

Having returned to camp for a late breakfast, we were just loading the bus when he (or is it a she?) finally popped out of the clouds to give us a stunning view:

We have spent the rest of today on the bus again - retracing our steps out of the valley, before hanging a left to continue west to Nepal. Another couple of 5000+m passes gave us great vistas of a much larger part of the Himalayan range:

And we are now rapidly descending to a town near the Nepalese border, for our final night with our tour group, before being dumped at the border tomorrow morning. We think living conditions should be back on the rise and are very much looking forward to showers, a filling & tasty meal and a good night's sleep!

Addendum: We spent the night in the border town in a Sherpa owned night club where the locals were calmly swaying to the music until we exploded onto the dance floor limbs flailing. Our dancing was nothing short of hilarious, AND there was a smoke machine...'nuff said.