Rongbuk Monastery
The monastery was built in 1899, as a Nyingmapa monastery since it was said that once Padmasambhava, founder of Nyingmapa, preceded his religious cultivation here. The monastery destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, having 8 sub-monasteries including a nunnery, is gradually restored. It houses Lamas and nuns in the same monastery. Sakyamuni and Padmasambhava are enshrined in the small temple. Pilgrims trek a long way to pay votive offerings or see lamas playing operas during big Buddhist days.
There is a hostel in Rongbuk with 100 beds, a dinning room and a store, where tourists and mountaineers may have cooked food and instant food, even beer. 300 meters (980 feet) south of the monastery is the famous Rongbuk Glacier. A distance of 10 kilometers (6 miles) lies between the monastery and Everest Base Camp.