Featured on the cover of the 2003 inaugural edition of the Study Abroad Journal, students from the University of Hawaii at Hilo began their two week journey to Tibet in Chengdu, China, and ended in Kathmandu, Nepal. From Lhasa, the trip went overland by Toyota Landcruiser, crossing  the Tingri Plain and visiting Everest base camp at Rongbuc Monastery before the steep switch-back jeep trail down to Kathmandu, Nepal.

"The journey of a lifetime," Kawika Kaula, University of Hawaii.

Monks at the monastery, the highest in the world, call the mountain "Qomolangma" named after the goddess of the mountain.

The Tingri Plain is the gateway to the Mt. Everest base camp (China-Tibet) and the Rongbuk Monastery