May 16, 2007
To foot of Pang La: Road to Mt Everest Basecamp
During the night, we hear sleet/snow hit the tent, and this morning the water bottles on the bikes are frozen...the ground is lightly white.
It. Is. Cold!
Our fingers freeze as we pack up and fix breakfast. There are clouds in the sky, but the view is clear. For the first half hour of the descent, we have the road to ourselves except for two cars.
We get a glimpse of a mountain range, and we believe Mt. Everest. It was nice to have camped high and have this quiet descent to start early. After about 25km, the road becomes unsealed, and we see the Kiwi's camp. Not much further on we come by the Germans, Jorg and Tina just coming onto the road. We stop for a food break and the Kiwis pass us. The road continues through arid hills and canyons.
We reach Baipa just as the Kiwi's head out. We follow the signs posted for the entrance ticket to Qomolangma National Nature Preserve, Mt. Everest, and are told it was back in town. We go back the 500 meters to town and see the Germans. They explain where to buy the entrance ticket and go back across where we were at first. Patrick goes in to buy 2 tickets 180 yuan each, (8 yuan = 1USD) without any problem, no questions asked. We talk to a "ranger", says the Dutch government has sent him to Peru to study the National Parks (Machu Picchu). Patrick asks about the checkpoint and he says, "always open." We have the ticket into the Park, but not the Tibetan Permit that allows us to be here.
Back in town, Patrick buys more supplies and cooks the 10 eggs he bought, gathering a crowd to watch. We eat with the Germans in a restaurant before heading out. We figure to go with them, try to get through the entrance and if we fail, at least we have scoped things out to better sneak through later at night.
Once at the junction, we are not absolutely positive it is the road to Mt. Everest Base Camp. Patrick and Jorg ride further on the main road a few km to make sure. Rachel and Tine stay at the junction and ask Land cruisers as they go by. Yes, this unsealed, corrugated road is the correct road. After 3km we see houses and in the distance the Kiwi's camp.
The four of us ride to the barricade, Rachel stays with the bikes as the others go in to show our entrance tickets and we are in the park! No getting up early and sneaking through in the dark is necessary!! We join the Kiwi's and camp at a distance. We think we were seen as part of their group, that had all the necessary paperwork. A few of the Kiwi's come over to chat. We have Chinese takeout from Baipa for dinner, finish the one bottle of brandy and relax in the tent as the wind picks up.
From our camping spot at 4384 meters, we can see the prayer flags at the top of the pass and the 41 switchbacks to get there.
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