• Day 17: Morning hike up to Gokyo Ri 5360m

We were up fairly early and opted to have some breakfast before heading up to the peak. Most trekkers leave for the views before sunrise and enjoy the sun rising up over Everest. We had heard it can get pretty packed up on the top and so we wanted to leave it a little later so we would get up there and have the views all to ourselves.

We took it very slowly and we were all feeling the altitude slowing our bodies down. We passed many trekkers making their way down from the sunrise, some of which had started out at 4am and exclaimed that it was freezing for the most part. Even though most days the clouds close in as the afternoon arrives it’s usually pretty clear in the mornings and we were not disappointed by any means when we woke up to bright sunshine and clear views.

There are many paths all intertwining with each other as you start heading up the so called hill that is Gokyo-Ri. We took around 2 hours to reach the top and as we were on our way up we kept looking out across the lakes, the glaciers and to Everest. When we reached the top we felt emotional, this was the ultimate part of the trek, the highest we would go and we’d taken 17 days to get here. Before long the 3 French boys whom we’d travelled with on the bus out of Kathmandu had arrived to join us in our little moment of triumph. They had been to Everest Base Camp, trekked up to Kala-Pattar, crossed over the Chu-La pass and were now on Gokyo-Ri, all of this they’d done in the exact same time as we’d taken to get here! They were mountain boys though after all and we felt like we’d achieved what we wanted to. Still it was very ironic for us to be up so high with those guys and we timed it right, for over an hour we were on the top enjoying our time with no other trekkers or groups around. For a little while we weren’t sure which one was Everest and felt stupid when it was confirmed by the French lads as we’d been looking at peaks much further away!

We were a little trigger happy as the prayer flags were blowing all around us and we were just in awe of the views out across to Everest (In the below image Everest is the highest peak with very little snow). The four of us tied our prayer scarfs onto the line of hundreds that were already there and relished the moment. We even took time to enjoy a mars/snickers break.

It took us an hour to get back down to the lodge where we chilled out for the rest of the day. We were happy to be in Gokyo at our little lodge with our quirky lady owner entertaining us! Later on we were joined by a loud group of American, Brazillian trekkers with their highly accomplished guides and porters (their head guide had summited Everest 12 times). They spoiled our little haven but we were amused by their bragging stories of guru’s, buddhism and the Vietnam War.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

Having had a great experience with the Chinese Cultural Center last week on the Great Wall of China hike we booked up another tour for the Silver Mountain and Pagoda Forest which are about 1.5 hours out of Beijing at a cost of 250 RMB each. We arrived early as usual due to not knowing how bad the traffic would be and relaxed with a coffee and green tea. Our comrades for the day arrived and we began introducing ourselves and making friends before heading off in the bus. Upon finally arriving at the village (a driver even in China without a sat-nav is useless) we headed for the hills with enthusiasm ready to stretch the legs and get some fresh rural air in our lungs.

The CCC guide Michael was the friendly coordinator from last weeks trip so he lead from the front and we followed, not knowing he had only done this walk once before last year in the summer-time following someone else. Soon we were shoulder deep in thorny brittle branches climbing into the rocky hills. Our faith was intact and spirits high as we ambled onwards towards the blue sky, the scenery was very good and the Leica and Pen were working hard. Before long it became apparent that we were not on the right “path” and could well be on the wrong side of a very large steep hillside with no sign of the Pagoda Forrest destination. Mobile phones from the CCC guides began ringing and a few of the hikers were getting nervous, it had only taken an hour to get up to where we were and wouldn’t take long to get down. Midday had only just passed when we decided to head down and get the bus to the Pagoda Forrest where the CCC would pay for our entrance fees. Whilst waiting for the bus we got to know the locals and their donkeys, ate local produce and drank coffee. These trips are a great way to meet fellow travelers and we got chatting to Dave and Chris from the UK and Jen from California, lovely people!

The Pagoda Forest loomed from the bus window and we proceeded to have a look around the site. The guide gave us 30 minutes to have a walk around, but this was clearly not long enough and feeling like naughty school children cheated by our previous adventure we headed into the hills to get to the top vantage point. It was worth all the steps to get there as the views were great. The eight renegades made it to the bus 30 minutes late but all was fine and we had a group photograph with everyone on the trip. The CCC offered us 100RMB each refund for the trip so that eased the pain of a tour that failed to match the Great Wall visit.

Helen’s friend Lizzie in the UK has a sister working in Beijing; Jess, who we organised to meet with later that evening, so after a quick freshen up we headed over to meet her at The Bookwork followed by a lovely meal at a nearby Yunnan food restaurant. It was lovely catching up and chatting away.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We’ve opted for some sightseeing and thrown ourselves headfirst into the height of Beijing’s tourist center; The Forbidden City. Helen came here many years ago on a hot summers day. On this day the sun shone and the sky was blue, but it was very cold. Along with panda hat wearing locals, westerners and street vendors we approached the Forbidden City through the front gates passing under Mao’s portrait and through to the grounds. It’s a massive site built up of several temples, shrines, gardens, halls and statues that were home to the Qing and Ming dynasties many moons ago. It’s a must do in the whole scale of things to do when you visit China. However Dave was expecting a little more!! It is quite tired and the money coming in from the thousands of visitors every day doesn’t appear to be going into the upkeep of the site. However given this it’s still very impressive and is also host to a 4 star toilet facility! Well surely this is enough to go on it’s own merit!!

You can easily spend a day here as there are so many routes within the city, gardens and museums to explore. We opted for a long morning. The colours of the brickwork and walls within the Forbidden City are beautiful and we loved the textures that exist within this environment. Later that evening we ate at The Korean Bistro on Nanluoguxiang, a tourist Hutong area that has a mixture of western and Chinese food, gift shops and bars.

The following day we went on our first of two trips booked with the CCC. This one was for the Great Wall of China and we were going to an area of the wall that isn’t walked often, has no tourist traps and was around an hour and a half away from the city. It was lovely to get out of the city and the weather was again perfect from a photography point of view, although it was bitterly cold in the wind. Our local tour guide is from the village where we started the walk and he along with others from his family had helped to re-build parts of the wall so that people can hike in the area. He had even carried a table to a watch-mans tower so that we could stop there for lunch. We had a lovely group including Trisha and her two children from Portland, Joyce from NYC and Becca from England, our tour guide from the CCC Andy spoke excellent English and had great knowledge about the hike. Both he and the tour co-ordinator Michael were very dedicated in carrying hot water, coffee and snacks all the way. As you can see by the photographs the scenery is quite mystical with a very hazy layer on the horizon. We really enjoyed the walk and were breathtaken by the Great Wall itself.

As we got back down we were invited into the home of our local tour guide. We sat in their living room drinking tea and chatting away, it was a lovely finish to a great walk. When we got back to the CCC we were invited back to Joyce’s for beer and popcorn, Dave, Becca and myself took her up on the offer and before long we were sat in her serviced apartment in Sanlitun. We discovered Joyce is an author of 30+ books!! This is someone who has sheer dedication and is an inspiration to us all. We met up with Trisha minus the kids and went to a very local chinese fast food restaurant for noodles and chinese burgers. We ended the night with a hot chocolate at The Bookworm.

On sunday we went to a charity Christmas gift event at the Canadian International School of Beijing, we bought a few Christmas gifts and soon found ourselves back at The Bookworm using their free wi-fi. This was followed by a spot of shopping before we made our way back to the CCC for their noodle and dumpling making class. This was taught to us by a local professional Chinese chef who specialises in Chinese pastry. We made our dough for the dumplings, left it to rise and in the meantime we had a go at stretching and pulling the dough used for noodle making. This was loads of fun and many people ended up with theirs on the floor as the dough stretched too far. There is a real knack to this and it does take many years to perfect so one lesson wont do much!! For the dumplings there was a meat and veggie option for the filling. The meat is pork and vegetable and the veggie option is egg and spinach. We rolled out our dough, chopped it, flattened it out and then filled it with a little of the stuffing. After this you close the dough in and around the mixture and then make a nice pattern with the dough. We hope that the photos describe it better. Once they were ready they were boiled and then we ate them with a soy dip. They were okay! I’m sure next time they’ll be loads better!! Only a few people got to make the actual noodles but we didn’t cook them so it was more of a demonstration. It was a pretty cool little event, although it would be good to learn how to make the mixture ourselves rather than having it ready to go. We also met Jen from Tinyurbankitchen who is traveling with her husband and writing a food blog.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)