When we went to Everest yesterday, we were stopped 3 differrent times and had to show our passports. Today, since we're trying to get there before dawn, the guards can't be bothered.
Yesterday's pictures didn't turn out, but it's amazing what a little sunlight will do:
And, for you man-ox followers out there (Hi Ptero!):
As we were leaving, our driver exchanged some words with one of the girls who worked at the lodge. Later, after a cell call, Stefan tried busting his chops by asking if it was the girl who called - he didn't deny it.Another interesting thing about our driver - he has an MP3 player. It has plenty of Chinese music, but there's also quite a bit of rap (or whatever the kids are calling it these days). It's a little jarring to go from "Om mani padme hum" (a buddhist chant) to "Smack That." He also played a rap cover of "Sorry seems to be the hardest word", and we've established that he likes Dido but not Eminem (when he realized it was "Stan" he couldn't change fast enough).
As another digression, there are children begging all over the place. They've mastered enough english to beg, but instead of "please", they've shortened it to "Hallomoney." This call is so pervasive that it's become a joke in the group. It seemed a laughing matter until today when we came into a village where there didn't seem to be any adults. The first two cars took the normal path, which was barricaded for some reason. Our driver elected to instead shoot off to the side through a gap that was just wide enough.
As the cars slowed, they were swarmed by kids. There was a real Children of the Corn vibe going on. At one point Stefan was going to get out to move a rock, but the driver wanted him to stay inside. The driver used the wheels to move the rocks. It's a good thing Stefan didn't get out - we might have never seen him again.
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