Everest Base Camp & the Friendship Highway

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With our Chinese Visa's running out our minds had been made up for us, we were going to have to head for Nepal, which was no bad thing as it turned out.

DAY 1 13/11/2007
We left at 7.00 am, Pete, Anna, Lucia and myself, along with our new mate Dunba, who was going to be our driver and guide for the next few days. He had little or no English but he was a nice jovial sort who had a way of making himself understood. The reason for the early start was so we could catch the sunrise over the mountains and wouldn't you know it our driver timed it to a tee!

After about an hour driving he pulled in at the side of the road and ordered us out and down to a river bank a few hundred meters off the road. We hung around for about 15 minutes freezing our asses off in this stony clearing by a shallow river. All the while we could see the sun creeping over the mountains in the horizon. The spot was beautiful, extremely peaceful and soothing with the water flowing beside us.

This was to be the way the day went, the driver would drive for a while and stop at the most idyllic places you're ever likely to clap your eyes on. One such place was at the foot of a mountain with a glacier overhanging the edge at its top. Even with the naked eye the thing didn't look real!

The roads all along the way were perfectly smooth, a sign of the investment that China has put into the region. This road was to lead all the way to the Nepalese border. I reckon a few years ago this would have been much more of an off road experience. But what can you do.

Our next stopping off spot was Yamdrok-Tso lake. This lake is the most incredible colour you will ever see. Its a turquoise green colour and it almost glows up at you. Serious photo opportunity.

We drove until about 4.00pm or so, and pulled into a small town by the name of Gyantse (Jiangzi). We got booked into a nice place and went to get something to eat. We came across a guy whose restaurant was in the Lonely Planet and boy was he pushing it. He charged us an arm and leg but was entertaining enough. He is apparently renowned for his flame grilled sweet and sour chicken, which in truth was pretty good.

The town itself, would be famous for its Pelkar Chode and Kumbum monastery and Dzong fort which overlook the town. We took a walk up to the monastery which was very impressive. The Kumbum is the largest building in the monastery and comprises 4 floors and about 70 chapels. Kumbum means 10,000 images apparently. The monastery itself has lost some of its former glory but was still interesting to walk around. We got to meet with several monks and see them go about their daily routines.

Both the monastery and Dzong were both built in or around the 1400's. Dzong is quite an imposing site, towering over the city. It's original purpose was to house the governor of Gyantse and its administrative offices. Reachable only by a tedious twenty minute walk, which proved a step too far unfortunately. We had just climbed another 1000 meters since Lhasa so we had to abandon our excursion half way through and give Dzong fort a miss. It was a shame because the views from the top would've been incredible. Dzong fort was also the scene of a major battle between Tibetans and British troops under Colonel Younghusband as the British advanced on Lhasa in 1904. At the entrance to the fort there is a plaque which says "The Site of the Anti-British War." Pete and Anna got a few digs from us over that

We all had an early night that night because we had an early start the next morning again, and again the altitude had us beat again.

DAY 2
We had an 8.00 start on the second morning as we headed for the town of Shigatse. We got there about 10.00am so why we had such an early start I'm not quite sure. If I hadn't have had about 14 hours sleep then I might have been a bit pissed off. We checked into another hotel, which was again quite nice. Shigatse is quite a bit lower than Jiangzi so we found it easier to walk about. The reason for the stop here was that we needed another permit to continue, so Dunba went off for the day to sort out all this. The upshot of this was that we had to hang about.

The town itself is quite a busy place, with a lot of markets around its streets. The main draw to the place is the Tashilhunpo monastery which we managed to miss, shame on us. We had gotten something to eat which dragged on a bit and when we got there they weren't admitting anymore people for the day. We got a good look around its perimeter but it was a shame that we had missed having a look around as it is meant to be beautiful.

We spent the rest of the evening replenishing our supplies for base camp. I got another jumper, just in case, and we purchased some cans of oxygen. Thats right we folks we bought some fresh air.

DAY 3
We woke up the next morning to complete darkness. The whole hotel was out. We managed to get our stuff together with a minimum of fuss with our trusty flashlights. We were the about the only ones in the hotel who could say this, and unfortunately I include the staff in this. Pete actually met a couple who had come up with the ingenious plan of using the screen of their digital camera for light, not so effective as you can imagine, but I'd say they got some great shots.

Our first stop was Tso Prayer Flags and it was an amazing place. It was as harsh and barren a place as you could hope to see. It was covered with literally thousands of prayer flags. They were everywhere and even crossed the road. As vehicles passed by, people would throw pieces of coloured paper by way of an offering. Fantastic experience to see.

There were people up there selling prayer flags, and they were really some of the most unfortunate people you could ever hope to meet. The were up in this place day in day out trying to scrape a living. I was relaxing by a rock having an apple beside one of them, this guys clothes were tattered and he had massive holes in his shoes. He sat there looking at me with the customary inquisitiveness at this stage. As I sat there admiring the view an English guy from another vehicle approached. He stopped beside this guy and told him how lucky he was to live here. I felt like giving the guy a good shake because from where I was sitting this was probably one of the most unluckiest people I'd ever met.

The day was crystal clear and as a result the driver decided to change our itinerary. Dunba managed to find another guide who could interpret for him and we were only too happy to agree. It meant a longer days driving but it turned out to be totally worth it.

Next stop was the Gyatsoila pass, which was where we passed the 5000m mark for the first time. From here you got a view of the main Tibetan peaks, Makalu, Lhotse, Chooyu and the big fella himself, Everest! It was our first view of Everest and it takes your breadth away.

After this we went to a small place called Shigar Fort. It is an old, still functioning, monastery that sits on the side of a hill. The fort walls were built along the edge of a hill. It was a fairly tough hike up and took us the guts of an hour but it was worth it when you got to the top. I'm repeating myself at this stage but again the views were fantastic and looking down where we had come up we got a great sense of achievement.

That night we stayed in Tigri in preparation for our assault on base camp. Unfortunately Tigri is probably the worst place we've stayed so far. It was a one street dust bowl of a town that looked fairly dodgy to be honest. We stayed in the pick of the hotels in the place. It was called Amdoo Hotel, which comprised of a courtyard with dorms covering three sides. Facilities were what you'd call basic to say the least. The toilet was a long drop again, with an all merciful funky smell. The room resembled an outhouse, except you wouldn't put an animal in them. There was no heating and it dropped to about - 11 degrees, the night we were there. Electricity was by means of a generator that ran for a few hours in the evening, and there was no lock on our door. We slept that night in full battle gear, 2 pairs of thick socks, thermals, 2 pairs of trousers, 2 t-shirts, and 2 jumpers. It did the trick though!

DAY 4
We had a 5.00am start this morning for our assault on Base Camp. It was -11 degrees as I stated earlier and the heater in the Land Cruiser was taking its sweet time in giving us any relief. We got up there about 8.00 am just before the sunrise. Even layered up, the cold was unbearable, my hands, face, and feet were killing me. To cap things off Lucia's camera packed in with the cold, but thankfully Anna's was still firing so we were able to get some shots. It was amazing though when the sun cleared the peaks how the place warmed up. I had to take off my boots at this point and start rubbing my feet to warm them up and get the blood flowing again.

I was a little underwhelmed by Base Camp to be honest, and I do stress a little. But you don't actually get that close to the base of the mountain. I'd say we were still about 3 or 4 miles away. There is a strong enough army presence up there as well. Saying that though being that close to Everest was fairly awesome and something I will never forget! Don't think Anna and Pete will ever forget it either because Pete proposed to Anna up there. It was funny because they just went off on their own and all of a sudden Anna started to scream, with joy I might add!

As I said above the Chinese Army have a fairly noticeable presence here. They are there to control the visitors to the site and ensure no-one steps out of line, there is signs up all over the place telling you where you can go and can't go. A few months back some American students staged a protest here and hoisted a Tibetan flag at the site. The flag is banned in Tibet so as you can understand this didn't go down too well. Since then the presence has been stepped up even further. Further evidence that these western protests just make things worse for the locals.

The plan was to spend the day up here. We were meant to be staying in Rongphu Monastery. However Lucia and Anna started to feel ill, and we had been warned that in these situations to descend as soon as possible. So there were little point staying up here any longer. It meant that we were going to be cutting the trip short by a day but there was nothing we could do.

Our itinerary now was to head for the border town of Zhongmu. We had to make the last parts of the Friendship Highway by 6.00pm because the road was under construction and only opened to traffic from our side at this time. Dunba had us loaded up and took us on the scenic route out of base camp. The route was to take us back to Tingri, but this time through some of the best scenery Ive ever seen.

We were no longer creatures of the tarmac, we were well and truly off the beaten track as we negotiated dirt roads, rivers, and mountainsides to name a few. It brought back alot of happy memories of Mongolia for the lot of us. Altogether I'd say we were about 2 hours negotiating this terrain and the going wasn't easy but I don't think anyone in the jeep noticed. We eventually got back to Tingri and stopped for lunch. It had been a fairly eventful day thus far, but we were just getting started!

The good news from our perspective was that from here on in it was mostly downhill which was nice. Our last stint at 5000 meters was at a place called Tong-La. It was a flat plain that looked out over the main peaks of Tibet again and again it was lovely. We met some English cyclists at this point. We'd been flat out in a Land Cruiser for a few days and here were these guys doing what we did on bikes. We were chatting to them for a wee while and one of them told us that he had had a headache for the last week but he'd kept going because he hadn't been sick, what a legend!!

After here we passed through the town of Nyalam before hitting the construction site that is the Friendship Highway. Now this is hard enough to describe but needless to say we ill prepared for what we were about to see. The construction site, or road, is about 30km's long, all along the way the road ambles along the sides of the Himalaya's in a zig zag fashion. At various stages you go up and down the sides of mountains with some sharp bends and some hair raising drops off the side. Throw into the equation several hundred workers, gravel heaps, rock blasting, some heavy duty lorries and diggers coming in the opposite direction for about 3 hours and you get some idea. Fantastic to look back on but at the time there was alot of gasps and wide eyes. What a ride though!

We arrived into the town of Zhongmu that evening and booked into a local hotel. The place was family run but the guy that dealt with us was a real character. He toasted the happy couple with us that night and sat chatting with us for the evening. He told us he was an importer and he only helped with the hotel. He was very frank about his life, the good and the bad, and there was plenty of both. He told us all about his several unsuccessful attempts to go to America and that it had cost him $2,000 to obtain a Chinese Passport. He was reluctant to open up anymore than that really and it was understandable. He told us that there were "snitches" everywhere and he did not want to rise trouble for his family. He became a very useful guy to know the next day but I'll save that for the next blog.

It was our last night in Tibet and there was mixed feelings amongst the group. The experience is something I will never forget but at the same time its a very difficult place emotionally and physically.

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