Between 1800m (6000ft) and 5600m (18500ft), the environment can change a lot, and nature threw just about everything she had our way during the 1-month return trip to the top of the world and back.
Like this crazy blue bamboo? What is this? Somewhere around 2000m.
At the other end of the spectrum, these high altitude yaks chillaxin’ above snow line.
Animal husbandry is pretty viable until fairly high up, and all the locals have cows and goats.
This edelweiss type stuff is everywhere as well.
As well as happy-go-lucky kids.
Masticating kids.
Kids with broken legs.
Inquisitive adult goats.
The locals dry some of their green veggies so it will keep longer.
You can tell I like baby goats.
At the middle elevations, farmers herd chowri, which are like half-cow, half-yak, and live where, duh, it’s too cold for the short-haired bovines and too hot for the massive, shaggy-haired variety.
Cows and humans sometimes share seating areas too.
Cows also hang out at temples.
Up to about 3000m, donkeys are the vehicle of choice for transportation of goods, and there are so many of them that the entire road from Junbesi to Namche (about 3 days’ walk), we just started calling the “donkey piss trail,” as the whole thing was just a muddy, smelly mess. I wish those damn tourists didn’t need to have all that crap shipped up to Everest base camp.
Donkeys cross a bridge.
Donkeys make for good bokeh pictures, and look picturesque in front of Tibetan stone carvings (The stones say Om mani padme hum, a common Tibetan chant, over and over again).
Yaklets are super cute too! Out of many attempts, this one was my most successful at getting one to cuddle with me for the camera.
Mike’s meta-selfie was pretty good too (from www.threeruleride.com)
Then there was Dambar, quite possibly the most endearingly loyal dog in the world. We saved him from the drug dealing old lady and her devil child, who kept trying to pull his fur out. Actually all we did was pet him, and he was like “These people are way awesomer than the drug addicts; I’m outta here” and proceeded to follow us the entire day to our next destination.
He (she?) kept watch, barked at other dogs, went ahead to reconnoiter the route, growled at cats, and frolicked with us at rest stops. I really wanted to take him with us all the way to base camp, but Mike said no, something about being responsible and taking animals’ welfare into consideration or some other crap.
Dambar slept outside the front door of our guesthouse, all night long, protecting us from marauding murderers, and it hurt me so much to have to pretend like I didn’t like him anymore the next morning, so that he wouldn’t follow us to even higher elevations, and so we wouldn’t have to start paying for his food.
A lonely yak stares me down (left), and (right) there were some wild animals too, like this mountain goat. He was as big as two men and looked like a diabolical Gandalf the Brown. When I rounded a corner and caught him off guard, he basically jumped straight off the precipice you see above, and landed perfectly on a rock that was probably about 2 feet wide. Amazing.
We also saw a deer.
And a couple of these peacocky birds. I think they were called Himalayan Pheasants or something. (above and below)
That’s it for the animal farm, folks. Stay tuned for photos of purty mountains and more selfies.
Like this crazy blue bamboo? What is this? Somewhere around 2000m.
At the other end of the spectrum, these high altitude yaks chillaxin’ above snow line.
Animal husbandry is pretty viable until fairly high up, and all the locals have cows and goats.
This edelweiss type stuff is everywhere as well.
As well as happy-go-lucky kids.
Masticating kids.
Kids with broken legs.
Inquisitive adult goats.
The locals dry some of their green veggies so it will keep longer.
You can tell I like baby goats.
And they like me!
At the middle elevations, farmers herd chowri, which are like half-cow, half-yak, and live where, duh, it’s too cold for the short-haired bovines and too hot for the massive, shaggy-haired variety.
Cows and humans sometimes share seating areas too.
Cows also hang out at temples.
Up to about 3000m, donkeys are the vehicle of choice for transportation of goods, and there are so many of them that the entire road from Junbesi to Namche (about 3 days’ walk), we just started calling the “donkey piss trail,” as the whole thing was just a muddy, smelly mess. I wish those damn tourists didn’t need to have all that crap shipped up to Everest base camp.
Donkeys cross a bridge.
Donkeys make for good bokeh pictures, and look picturesque in front of Tibetan stone carvings (The stones say Om mani padme hum, a common Tibetan chant, over and over again).
Yaklets are super cute too! Out of many attempts, this one was my most successful at getting one to cuddle with me for the camera.
Mike’s meta-selfie was pretty good too (from www.threeruleride.com)
Then there was Dambar, quite possibly the most endearingly loyal dog in the world. We saved him from the drug dealing old lady and her devil child, who kept trying to pull his fur out. Actually all we did was pet him, and he was like “These people are way awesomer than the drug addicts; I’m outta here” and proceeded to follow us the entire day to our next destination.
He (she?) kept watch, barked at other dogs, went ahead to reconnoiter the route, growled at cats, and frolicked with us at rest stops. I really wanted to take him with us all the way to base camp, but Mike said no, something about being responsible and taking animals’ welfare into consideration or some other crap.
Dambar slept outside the front door of our guesthouse, all night long, protecting us from marauding murderers, and it hurt me so much to have to pretend like I didn’t like him anymore the next morning, so that he wouldn’t follow us to even higher elevations, and so we wouldn’t have to start paying for his food.
A lonely yak stares me down (left), and (right) there were some wild animals too, like this mountain goat. He was as big as two men and looked like a diabolical Gandalf the Brown. When I rounded a corner and caught him off guard, he basically jumped straight off the precipice you see above, and landed perfectly on a rock that was probably about 2 feet wide. Amazing.
We also saw a deer.
And a couple of these peacocky birds. I think they were called Himalayan Pheasants or something. (above and below)
That’s it for the animal farm, folks. Stay tuned for photos of purty mountains and more selfies.
