It is located at an almost unimaginable latitude for ordinary mortals. And it’s no wonder, as Rongbuk Monastery is the highest inhabited place in the world. It is in the city of Basum, in the Tibetan county of Dingri, in China, and there are 30 Buddhist monks and 30 nuns .
The altitude at which the monastery is located is frankly enormous. It is at the foot of the Rongbuk glacier , at no less than 5,100 meters high , only 200 meters lower than the North Everest Base Camp (as you know, the highest mountain in the world, at 8,848 meters high).
More than four centuries of history and meditation
Rongbuk Buddhist Monastery belongs to the Nyingma branch, and today it only welcomes 60 people (30 monks and 30 nuns). However, long ago, more than 500 religious , monks and nuns lived there. It was founded in 1902 by Lama Zatul Rinpoche in this place. Here there were huts inhabited by monks and hermits dedicated to meditation for more than 400 years.
Given the location of the monastery, it seems almost impossible to get there, but currently it is not that difficult, since it can be accessed with prepared vehicles driving along a rural road .
A balcony to the immensity of the mountains
This place is on the path that climbers who start the adventure of climbing the north face of Everest have to travel . So if you are adventurous and you like extreme sports, here you have an interesting and special destination like few others.
It is not strange that it has been described as one of the places with the most spectacular views in the world, since from there you can see the peaks of, in addition to Everest, mountains such as Cho Oyu , Gyachung Kang and Shishapangma . An almost religious experience.