September 12, 2010

Tukla to Deboche. Living like Elves (Clean elves).

The next morning Jack joins us at breakfast. He then sets out for Gorak Shep and Base Camp and we head down to Debuche.

It is a short hike to Debuche. We stop at a teahouse named Rivendell Lodge, and for those geeks out there like me, it is instantly recognizable as the name of the Elvin home in Lord of the Rings. It’s a beautiful teahouse, the nicest one we’ve stayed at and the valley it lies in is magical.

We drop off our gear, eat a quick lunch, and then head up to Tengboche, a town about a half hour away. It is home to the biggest monastery in the region. This is the monastery where Tsering’s eldest son, Ngawa is a monk. He decided at age 9 he wanted to be a Buddhist monk, joined the monastery and never looked back.

Today is the last day of a major Buddhist ceremony. A high lama from India has been there holding services for over a week. It’s clear that our team is anxious to get up the monastery and join in. So off we go. We get to the temple and head in. It’s raining so the open central courtyard is covered with tarps. On the ground sit a couple hundred Nepali citizens, drinking tea and listening to the service being broadcast over the loud speakers and shown on two live feed TV screens. Every stairwell is packed and every inch of ground covered in people. Monks make the rounds passing out cup after cup of hot milk tea. The service is a continuous monotone chant of which I can make out no distinct words.

We stand and watch and listen for an hour or so, taking a few pictures, though we’re rather uncomfortable doing that as we are the only Westerners in the place and are already garnering enough looks based on that alone.

We three ladies then opt to head back to the teahouse, knowing a hot shower (the first in over a week) is available. We leave our team to enjoy the rest of the ceremony and head back. And then: shower time. Blessed, blessed hot water. And soap. I had forgotten what soap was like. And a razor. Oh, it’s the little things.

We each clean up and then head to the common room where a warm fire is going. To top it all off, we buy a bottle of wine and enjoy a leisurely dinner and cards by the fire. A lovely evening.

Pictures:

Climbing Memorial

Entrance to the temple

Monks at the temple

The Crowd

Tea house