Rongbuk Monastery has a spectacular location on the roof of the world (Tibet)

Rongbuk Monastery in Tibet just might have the most spectacular location you can imagine. It’s located at an altitude of more than 5.000 m., surrounded by snowcapped mountains. The distanse to Mt. Everest Base Camp (5.009 m) is only a few kilometers. From the monastary you have the view of Mt. Everest (8.849 m.), the highest mountain in the world. Imagine to wake up every morning with the view of some of the highest mountains in the world. A few years ago I drove across the Himalayas, from Lhasa (Tibet) to Kathmandu (Nepal) in 6 days. Our tour included Rongbuk and Everest B.C. We lived right next to the monastery and had the same dramatic view of Mt.Everest's north face, as the monks at the monastery.

Mt. Everest

I don't know if this monastery is the highest located in the world, but it is probably one of them. Despite the altititude, the monastery is easy reachable by car. The road that leads from the Friendship Highway to the monastery, uaually takes 2 – 3 hours. But our driver punctured, so the drive did take a little longer for us. We stayed two days. One day we took the trip to E.B.C. On the second we visited the monastery, together with a guide who walked with us around and gave us information about the place and the monastery. We were supposed to have stayed in the guesthouse that belongs to the monastery, but it was full when we arrived, so we had to stay in a building next door.

Rongbuk can be dated back to year around1900. It has been a place for both nuns and monks. It’s not a large monastery, but there are several rooms and practising monks, even there are not that many still living here. The art on the walls are impressive too. During China’s Cultural Revolution (1966 -1976) the monastary was destroyed. Like most Tibetan monasteres, the Rongbuk also had its share of valuably books, paintings and other treassures. To keep these treasures safe, they were brought to Tengboche (Nepal). Unfortunatly Rongbuk suffered from a fire in 1983, which led to all the treassures were lost. The monastery has undergone renovation in the years after the fire. Since the original paintings burnt, these are new.

The building in the background is where we stayed

At the other side of the border between Tibet and Nepal, you will find the Khumbu region (Nepal). To the people living on the Nepalese side of the border, the Rongbuk Monastary was important as a pilgrimage site. The monastary is also visited by most people who come here to visit base camp (tourists like us) just as the former expeditions. The expeditions who attempted to reach the summit of Mt. Everest by attempting this from the north side, set up a Base Camp close to the Rongbuk Glacier. It’s located about 8 kilometers to the south of the monastary. The lama who founded Rongbuk did give these climbers both his protection, but also helped them by giving them supplies.

Mt. Everest

Outside we can have a closer look at the architecture of the monastery, the «chorten» and the mani stones and . We did see these stones most places we visited in Tibet. The inscriptions are prayes or other sacred syllables. As far as we learned from our guide, Rongbuk Monastary has played an important role, depite its young age. The most impressive is definitive the fact that is is located on this high altitude. We found it quite challenging to move around. Any movement that was too quick, left us breathless. The view of Everest was breathtaking and worth the detour on our way to Kathmandu.