Berg Adventures International: Everest Base Camp Expedition Cybercast

Today we woke up to a foggy, misty day. Perfect weather for what we had in mind, a visit to the Thame monastery.

After a long breakfast we all got ready for the uphill hike to the Monastery. Once we got there we were informed that the monastery’s keeper was in Namche, for the weekly Saturday market, buying food supplies. Ang Temba walked around and luckily found the Rinpoche himself, reincarnate lama. He offered to open his special quarters to our team and we definitely felt very special to receive such an honor. He blessed our katas and showed us around. Definitely a privilege.

Jim with the Rinpoche at the Thame Monastery

He also allowed the members to take photos of him close to his sanctuary and this team didn’t miss an opportunity, They started flashing away and before we knew it, they were taking photos with the Rinpoche! I think that the Rinpoche must have really enjoyed our group since he offered to have a group photo taken right in front of the monastery.

We then hiked down back to Lower Thame, where our lodge is located and got ready to hike down to Thamo for lunch. We left later than usual around 10:30am, and for the first time since we started we actually arrived for lunch around noon. Of course we had a small distraction on the trail; a Tibetan lady, who probably heard about us coming down the valley, was waiting on the trail with an open carpet full of jewelry and other souvenirs. I probably don’t need to mention that we all stopped to take a look and of course some shopping was done.

We did make it for lunch and our ‘grocery’ table was set and the hot drinks were definitely great. After a long lunch we made our way to Khunde where a beautiful warm lodge was waiting for us.