10th September. It almost never happened. Everest Base Camp, that is. Out of 11 hours on the road, we moved for about 3 hours covering 84km yesterday (8 Sept). We were stopped at the second checkpoint despite having the correct permits. Everest Base Camp was a mere 50km away.

After we were turned back, we camped nearby to await further negotiations with the authorities. After a sleepless night, we were greeted with the best news we’ve heard. The team’s 70% chance of moving forward was upgraded to 100% at 9 this morning.

We cleared Rongbuk Monastery (the highest monastery in the world) and were at Everest Base Camp by 10am. It’s a historic occasion for the PETRONAS Adventure Team as this is the first time a convoy has been allowed into Everest Base Camp from the North side. Expedition Leader Halim Abdul Rahman thanked family and well-wishers for praying for them.

After taking many photographs of Mount Everest’s North Face, the world’s tallest mountain, we returned to Rongbuk Monastery as we heard there were some sick nuns and villagers there. Expedition Doctors Avtar Singh and Dr Khairuddin Mohd Ali set up their mobile clinic, and through a interpreter, treated and provided medication for flu and lung infections.

Website producer Harun Rahman read out messages to the team, which were all gratefully received. “Unfortunately, due to the unavailability of a consistent Internet or GPRS connection, we are unable to upload the messages to the website,” he said, but he promises that he will read all the messages over the radio, so keep sending more.

It is 3:30am and we are still driving to Xigaze. Everyone is tired, but memories of Everest Base Camp still lingers on. Tomorrow, we will have a late start. Our journey continues with Lhasa.