30 April 2014 – Tengboche Monastery

30th April, 2014 : – REPORT BY EASHAN BHATT

A Walk to Remember-Tengbouche Monastery.

Team in front of Everest, Lhotse and Amadablam

After our acclimatization day at Namche with a sumptuous breakfast of egg omelet we headed for Tyaengboche which was at an exalting altitude of 3876ms. The terrain was a typical Nepali flat plain where we climbed up steep slopes and headed for Tyaengbouche through beautiful pine tree forests with Rhododendrons and Junipers along the way. I was even lucky enough to capture a detailed picture of a Finch and a Danphe i.e. the national bird of Nepal. I found the male in its nest and it seemed simply majestic. I came for trekking but here my hobby for bird watching was rekindled. I was now on the lookout for the Himalayan Thar (Mountain Goat) and the Himalayan Blackbird.

Yak carrying expedition load

Finally I reached Tyaenbouche at 2:30. Majority of our group wanted to eat lunch at Tyaengboche as we all wanted to attend the prayer ceremony. I was a bit late for the ceremony after an amazing lunch of Ra Ra noodles but the monk there tied a string around my neck. Later when I went there to offer a helping hand, the monk took me into the monastery’s kitchen where I had a nice cup of tea with them. I was really lucky because amazing stuff had happened. It ended with a perfect dinner followed by an amazing night’s sleep .We were all ready for Dingboche.

Team on the way to Tengboche