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 Everest 2006: N. Ireland and England Everest 2006 Expedition: update | |||||||||
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The team were awoken for the first time this morning by the Sherpas, for the 8am Punja, now for those of us of the non Buddhist faith, this is a religious ritual, that is carried out as a blessing of good luck for people climbing Chomalungma (Everest). So all the team, were promptly made get out of their semi warm tents and sit on a freezing cold mat in the wind around a stone built cairn, this ritual must have gone on for 45 minutes, but was very interesting with a monk from the local Rongbuk monastery leading the service, he blessed all the climbing equipment we had present and will bless the rest of the equipment when it finally arrives, the ritual ended with the drinking of Coke (Black Gold) and beer everyone then the throwing of flour and rice over each other so quite messy, although we have not changed clothing in a week or so another day's dirt will make no difference, after the 45 minutes, all of us have agreed never to complain about religious ceremony taking to long in a church building as the cold had to be felt to be believed! After this Punja, we enjoyed breakfast in the recently rearranged mess tent, yes as predicted, the Sherpas had rearranged the tables, something to do with planning permission? Fergal thought we were exempt, as this was a temporary structure, but it seems the rules are different in Tibet than back home. Having been blessed we took our chances and sent a text to enquire about our gear . The results were good and Adrian might have something to be blessed at the next Punja when we get to Advanced Base Camp (ABC). Life at base camp is pretty routine with the drinking of tea and the teaching of Chess under Raymond's watchful eye. Book swapping is also a popular pass time however Geoffrey is holding this up as he insists on chatting idly with senior officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth office. With this much excitement there is plenty of time to see each others true colors (Linda you will see what we mean when Alan takes his hat off). Andy is entertaining the camp site with some high altitude juggling . And our doctor has dealt with Sherpas suffering from dog bites, sore eyes, coughs, alleged altitude sickness and camp chair sores. As for Steve the electrician his qualifications are subject to a stewards inquiry as base camp is still without street lighting. He seems too preoccupied with noting down quotes and quips. Neil has managed a coffee with most of the other groups at base camp and even managed an interview with the Discovery Channel. Oh, tinman if you are out there please make contact again, and iceman please reveal yourself. Adrian/Neill All articles, grammer and spellings are subject altitude and attitude.
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