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Camp at the EBC Tent Village

Rikaze Shi, China

Description

Added by John Maurizi

A chance to sleep in a Yak wool tent at the base of Mount Everest.

This is the recommended place to sleep when visiting Mount Everest from the North. There are many Yak wool tents, each has a unique name outside the entrance. It's very interesting to see. A few issues with any of the tents. If you need to go to the bathroom, all the "toilets" are behind the tents on the right (when face Everest). All the "hotels" have tables in front selling Tibetan items and fossils. There is also a post office. Near the post office is where you would catch the bus to the "faux" base camp.  The Post Office also seems to be the congregation place for the locals to have a good time.  I walked up and found a few Tibetans Dancing and singing while other locals watched.  They were having a great time!

The tents are technically, hotels.  Each tent has benches lined with wool blankets and a "wood" burning stove in the center of a large room.  Well, it's not really a wood burning stove.  The area is completely void of vegetation.  So, they burn harden patties of Yak dung. 

All the tents say they are a hotel with interesting names. The Tibetans do have a sense of humor. The name of the tent I stayed in is Some Gyi, pronounced as you would imagine, "some guy." I have to say it was the best wool tent I've slept. The tents are made of Yak wool.

Each tent has a back room attached to the tent that serves as a kitchen. Each tent serves meals. Very basic meals. A few things to consider when ordering. There is no refrigeration here! I made the mistake of ordering a pork dish for dinner. Needless to say the next several days were extremely uncomfortable. Luckily I brought along Ciprofloxacin and after about 4 doses over the next two days, I was back to normal.

By day, this tent is extremely HOT! I'm not kidding when I say that the temperature inside had to be 120 degrees Fahrenheit! Compounding the fact that you are at nearly 17,000 feet above sea level and probably suffering from some level of altitude sickness, it is one uncomfortable afternoon. The night's sleep was comfortable. They give you plenty of blankets and the stove stays lit until about midnight. 

None of the tent hotels have a place to wash up or bathroom.  There is a community outhouse.  It is large and raised on stilts.  Whatever you expel falls to the rocks below.  Not a pleasant experience.  I also took note that there is no toilet paper and unfortunately, this outhouse is about 50 feet from a good size river carrying glacier water to the villages below.  Bring a lot of bottled water! 

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Nearby

Explore Rongbuk Monastery at the Base of Mt. Everest

Visit Everest Base Camp, Tibet

Trek to Everest Base Camp

Climb Kala Patthar

Hike Around Gokyo Lake

Climb Imja Tse (Island Peak)