Tashi Zong

Next destination: Tashi Zong, where we encountered the most basic accommodation.

The moon was still visible in the morning.

The stonehenge lookalike.

Take care of Mount Everest.

We were close to Mount Everest.

Surrounding landscape.

Photo stop.

Landscape.

Done with the off-roading and onto the vehicle. (Oh yes, there was quite a stretch of off-roading which I really enjoyed even though I'd never done it before.)

The ascent. We're ahead of our logistics vehicle (that 4WD).

The grand snow peaks. I never tire of them.

Prayer flags.

On the way to Everest Base Camp. (And that's an outhouse.)

Shot from the vehicle.

More views.

The road up. It looks like a doodle. We were happy in the vehicle. It would have taken us too long to ride up.

We did, however, "ride" our way down. I say "ride" 'cos it didn't involve pedaling. Gravity took care of everything. The challenge was not to go too fast 'cos the road was all gravel. One could easily lose control and well... So our hands ached from all that brake control.

On the way down.

We got into Tashi Zong in good time. This was the "living room" of our accommodation for the night. The big pots/kettles (on the right) that boiled water also kept the room warm. Be careful not to touch the pipe though.

Oh dear. I did say it was very very basic accommodation. Not shooting any further towards the ground was a deliberate decision.

So the "living room" was downstairs and our rooms were up this narrow (and rickety) steps.
We had plenty of time before dinner. And since there was nothing to do in town (which was usually the case), we decided to entertain ourselves with a "city tour". The tour would take all of 3 min, but being the brilliant explorers that we were, we managed to discover a lot more.

Streetscape of a one-street town.

Local architecture - colors in a bare landscape.

Well.

That's a school.

Scenery just outside the village. It was lovely actually. Really idyllic.

School's out and the kids were heading home. We've no idea where they live though, 'cos there weren't any "settlements" in sight. Well, none that we could see. I wonder how far they'd have to walk to get home. See how precious education is? They were really cute though. Couldn't stop saying "hello" to us. Mainly because that was the only English word they knew.