Pangboche - 13,240 Ft.

I woke up this morning to perfect, sunny weather and awesome views of the Himalayas. Mornings like today's are uncommon during the monsoon season, so I jumped out of bed and took a few photos out of my hotel window, then ate a quick breakfast and was out the door by 6:30. During the this time of year in the Himalayas the sky is usually partly cloudy for a few hours during the morning, then it pours rain for the whole afternoon. I got lucky today and sky was clear enough to get a few good shots of Namche Bazaar and also of some of the mountains as I was hiking to Tengboche. About an hour after we left Namche I turned a corner and there was the most incredible view of Lobuche Peak right in front of me. A stupa on the edge of the trail lined up perfectly with the peak and I got some awesome shots of the sillouette of the stupa with the towering, snowy mountains in the background.
According to the itinerary I was going to spend tonight in a village called Tengboche and then hike another four hours to Dingboche tomorrow. When we got to Tengboche Min told me that the only guesthouse in town was throwing a party and it would be noisy all night, so we continued on until we reached another town called Pangboche. On the trail I bumped into a few guys from Cincinatti who I met the day I flew into Lukla. They said that this morning they hiked past Tengboche, and with the sunny weather they had a perfect view of Everest. I hope I get that lucky. I'm at a point on the trail now where any clear weather during the next five days will mean amazing views of some of the highest, most famous mountains in the world. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping there are a few more mornings like today's. One sweet view of Everest would make the whole fourteen day trip worthwhile.
I snuck up on a giant yak today and got a few good pictures. Min called out to me from a distance and told me that some yaks are very aggressive and even dangerous. Apparently some hikers have been killed by belligerent yaks while hiking in the Himalayas. I took the rest of my yak pictures from a distance with my telephoto lens. Those ones were better anyway.
I tried the typical Himalayan dinner of rice, dahl, and fried chapatti tonight, and now I'm wishing I had eaten that every night up here. Dahl is a spicy green lentil soup and most guesthouses will refill your bowl until you can't eat anymore. For lunch I had a few gummy frogs and some granola bars that I bought in Kathmandu, so by the time dinner came around I was ready to chow down. I think I'll be eating a lot more dahl during the next ten days up here.