Trek to Everest Base Camp
I have been to Tengboche Gompa 4 times, in 1994, 1998, 2003 and 2006. 2003 was one of the most interesting visit. The Rimpoche who presides within the Buddhist monastery, the Incarnate Lama, Ngawang Tenzing Zangbu, is among the most revered lama from the Sherpa people inside the Solu Khumbu region of Nepal. And he is really a revered figure in my own life.
May 29, 2003 was the golden Jubilee with the first summit of Mt. Everest. Government entities along with the class of Sir Edmund Hillary joined forces to celebrate the anniversary in the May 29, 1953 summit by Hillary and his awesome Sherpa climbing partner, Tenzing Norgay. Sir Edmund would co-host with King Gyanendra a black-tie bash in Kathmandu, and Hilary's son, Peter, would co-host with Rimpoche Tenzing the best party on earth due to the Tengboche monastery. Mountaineers from all of around the globe were invited into the future to the anniversary celebrations. I heeded the letter.
At 12,700 feet Tengboche could be the highest major gompa (monastery) in Nepal. To get there, one flies by prop plane from Kathmandu for the airstrip within the Sherpa village of Lukla. It is then the three or four-day hike from Lukla on yak trails, passing over the Sherpa villages of Phakding, Namche Bazaar and Khumjung. The ultimate stage in the trail zigzags up 100 meters through a forest of scrub firs, birches and rhododendrons. The trail ends about the plateau of Tengboche. The weary trekker can drop his pack, rest beside a gray-stone stupa with golden spire, and eat one of the most majestic vistas on the globe. The monastery can be a traditional Tibetan-style complex of stone and whitewashed buildings, with brightly colored red and green sheet-metal roofs, covered with the four-story temple. Giant Himalayan white-capped mountains surround the plateau.
Near you the stupa on the side of the monastery grounds, one's gaze is drawn across the soccer-field size grounds, dotted by trekkers' tents, well as over a flowering rhododendron forest, which falls off in the steep gorge cut through the glacial-fed Imja Khola River, and after dark most beautiful mountain in the Khumbu, the alabaster Ama Dablam, there, directly prior to you in high relief could be the Everest Massif. The Sherpas call Mt. Everest, Chomolungma, Mother Goddess. Her summit is the highest point in the world at 29,035 feet. Her pinnacle is obviously over the clouds. Surrounding her are her handmaidens, Lhotse at 28,000 feet, Nuptse 26,000 feet, and Pumori 23,000 feet.
The temple entrance is via eight-foot high double wooden doors. Through the room is really a fifteen-foot tall statue of Sakyamuni Buddha. Each wall is very covered in colorful Buddhist paintings. Visitors remove their shoes and take a seat on mats contrary to the sidewalls. Burning yak oil candles create a heavy milky quality on the air. Morning and afternoon services are ready to accept people. The monks arrange themselves on rows of low benches. They may be seated in the hierarchical order which has a senior monk using front facing others. He leads them through their chanted lessons. A monk serves tea towards the older monks. During certain chants, a few of the monks blow on trumpet-like instruments although some beat on drums or cymbals. Although music is atonal, and sounds to the Western ear like a kindergarten band, the steady chanting occasionally together with the blowing, bleating, banging and clanging is quite hypnotically restful.
May 29, 2003 was the golden Jubilee with the first summit of Mt. Everest. Government entities along with the class of Sir Edmund Hillary joined forces to celebrate the anniversary in the May 29, 1953 summit by Hillary and his awesome Sherpa climbing partner, Tenzing Norgay. Sir Edmund would co-host with King Gyanendra a black-tie bash in Kathmandu, and Hilary's son, Peter, would co-host with Rimpoche Tenzing the best party on earth due to the Tengboche monastery. Mountaineers from all of around the globe were invited into the future to the anniversary celebrations. I heeded the letter.
At 12,700 feet Tengboche could be the highest major gompa (monastery) in Nepal. To get there, one flies by prop plane from Kathmandu for the airstrip within the Sherpa village of Lukla. It is then the three or four-day hike from Lukla on yak trails, passing over the Sherpa villages of Phakding, Namche Bazaar and Khumjung. The ultimate stage in the trail zigzags up 100 meters through a forest of scrub firs, birches and rhododendrons. The trail ends about the plateau of Tengboche. The weary trekker can drop his pack, rest beside a gray-stone stupa with golden spire, and eat one of the most majestic vistas on the globe. The monastery can be a traditional Tibetan-style complex of stone and whitewashed buildings, with brightly colored red and green sheet-metal roofs, covered with the four-story temple. Giant Himalayan white-capped mountains surround the plateau.
Near you the stupa on the side of the monastery grounds, one's gaze is drawn across the soccer-field size grounds, dotted by trekkers' tents, well as over a flowering rhododendron forest, which falls off in the steep gorge cut through the glacial-fed Imja Khola River, and after dark most beautiful mountain in the Khumbu, the alabaster Ama Dablam, there, directly prior to you in high relief could be the Everest Massif. The Sherpas call Mt. Everest, Chomolungma, Mother Goddess. Her summit is the highest point in the world at 29,035 feet. Her pinnacle is obviously over the clouds. Surrounding her are her handmaidens, Lhotse at 28,000 feet, Nuptse 26,000 feet, and Pumori 23,000 feet.
The temple entrance is via eight-foot high double wooden doors. Through the room is really a fifteen-foot tall statue of Sakyamuni Buddha. Each wall is very covered in colorful Buddhist paintings. Visitors remove their shoes and take a seat on mats contrary to the sidewalls. Burning yak oil candles create a heavy milky quality on the air. Morning and afternoon services are ready to accept people. The monks arrange themselves on rows of low benches. They may be seated in the hierarchical order which has a senior monk using front facing others. He leads them through their chanted lessons. A monk serves tea towards the older monks. During certain chants, a few of the monks blow on trumpet-like instruments although some beat on drums or cymbals. Although music is atonal, and sounds to the Western ear like a kindergarten band, the steady chanting occasionally together with the blowing, bleating, banging and clanging is quite hypnotically restful.
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