China Day 14 - EBC – Lhatse – Xietongmen

Packing up in the morning we headed to the Everest Scenic Tourism Center buying a ticket to catch the shuttle bus to the viewpoint. China has perfected the way to establish checkpoint to ensure good tourism money is spend to see spectacular views.

This was the closest one could get to Everest basecamp in China roughly 8km away from the hikers basecamp. Any further than this would involve the hefty hikers permit and of course the requirement of attempting to actually hike to the summit of Mt. Everest.

Mt. Qomolangma aka Mt. Everest with the naked eye 

Me & Team Jaguar E-Type (Mike & Paul) at Mt. Everest Base Camp (CHINA)

At the viewpoint, Mt. Everest or Mt. Qomolangma was gigantically up-close and with binoculars one could actually see hikers climbing up to the summit on a clear day. 

We got perfect weather making the journey even more spectacular since not every group that comes gets to actually see Mt. Everest since weather plays a huge factor.

The whole morning was spend at the viewpoint and then it was back to the shuttle point where we picked up our bikes and back on the road via G349 we go to Xietongmen via Lhatse which was around 238km. 

Route G349 to Xietongmen

Route G349 to Xietongmen

Route G349 to Xietongmen

Little town of Xietongmen

This part of Tibet, the mass tourism pilgrimage along G318 vanish and we rode mostly alone through the beautiful landscape.

Little villages dotted the path every hundred kilometer or so and when we reach Xietongmen town it was barely a 1km square town that had not much things to explore. 

It was a stop to break a journey of sorts in a way mostly due to distance that we had to travel. One of the slow days in China which felt like a fleeting dream.

Traveled on: May 2024