Tibet

There is a saying when travelling in Tibet: "Eyes in heaven, body in hell." Its meaning is that we see the beauty of Tibet with our naked eyes, but the body is in torment. Tibet has so many majestic snow-capped mountains. The tallest peak on the planet can, after all, be viewed from Tibet. There are turquoise lakes, endless grasslands, and, if one is lucky, miraculous lighting. But at the other end of the spectrum are the harsh and extreme conditions. We must withstand difficult living conditions and the worry of altitude sickness.

I first visited Tibet in 2008, and in the years that followed, I entered Tibet at least once a year.

Each time I went to Tibet, it gave me different experiences and challenges. Here is an account of one of those experiences.

A few of my tour mates and I went up to a hill to wait for sunset. The idea was to use the pagoda as the foreground, with Mt. Everest as the main subject, obviously.

We went early, far too early. Sunset would take place at 9:30 p.m., but we were already up on the hill around 4 p.m. The weather was fine in the beginning, but the wind grew stronger as the minutes passed. It was so strong that we could not set up the tripod at normal height. We had to lower it while sitting on the ground.

We waited patiently. The weather grew colder, and the wind cut like a knife. We had finished our snacks and water. Finally, the moment arrived. But alas, the colourful clouds were on the opposite side of Mt. Everest. How we wished we could direct the clouds to the top of Mt. Everest. There were no golden rays shining on the mountain either. The mountain looked pale, and nothing was as we had anticipated.

A few of my tour mates had given up and wanted to retreat. However, after some persuasion, they decided to hang on for a while, and I am glad they did. Suddenly, we saw a ray of light appearing at the bottom part of Mt. Everest. It looked as though someone had switched on a spotlight and was beaming it at Mt. Everest. What was even more magnificent was that the light was moving up gradually.

I was absolutely thrilled. I had never seen or experienced anything like this in my life. Worried that I might miss a moment, I just kept shooting greedily. I could hear my tour mates shouting gleefully. When the light finally faded, we hugged each other, and tears began to fall on my face. I felt blessed to have witnessed such a rare phenomenon.