Everest Base Camp Trek Dispatch

May 5, 2009 – Team Receives Blessing From Lame Geshe

It’s about 11:00 am on the 5th of May. I’m calling you from a very special and beautiful place, Ang Temba and Yangzing’s lodge in Pangboche. This is BAI headquarters at 13,000 ft above sea level on the way to Everest Base Camp. From the lodge I’m looking up at Everest and Lhotse and then towering over us is Ama Dablam.

Yesterday when the team left Khumjung they walked very steadily and efficiently to the Tengboche Monastery where they had lunch. Jetya and I came a bit behind and by the time we reached Tengboche the group had finished lunch, had gone into the monastery and were enjoying baked goods at the bakery that sits at the Tengboche Monastery.

Later in the afternoon we did a very pleasant walk up to the Ang Temba and Yangzing’s lodge. BAI groups always enjoy at what we call the “sky lounge”. The upper dining room is a big large glass room; it is very beautiful. (Transmission interrupted). From the lodge we also have an opportunity to meet other Sherpa friends and trekkers that are coming and going from the trail.

This morning we did another BAI tradition that the group really enjoyed. We went up to the monastery that is located in the upper part of Pangboche. We then spend a couple of hours with Lama Geshe. Lama Geshe is a very knowledgeable man in Tibetan Buddhism. He is a teacher in this area and has been an inspiration for a lot of BAI climbers and trekkers coming through here. His laughter, his joyous demeanour and his sincere best wishes for all of us are something we appreciate every time we visit. His advice for us today was that we need to slow down our lives and to spend some time every day trying to live in the moment. Try and not to get too distracted by television, cell phones and the busy pace of modern life. He made the point to us that the greatest reward in life is to live in the present moment, to live well.

We left our visit with Lama Geshe with beaming smiles. He blessed all of us and ended each blessing with his notorious head butt before we left.

As we walk higher today towards Pheriche, this wise man’s spirit will continue on with us all of the way to Everest base camp.