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Published: July 13th 2006
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Barkhor Square
This is the square that pilgrams in Lhasa walked around and around and around and around! Hello!!!
Well that was officially the longest 6 days ever!!! We left at 9am last Thursday with our driver/guide who we gave a couple of names too. Freddy...because he looked like Fred Flinstone. Teddy....because he looked like a teddy bear (which I started calling him consistently....and sometimes he replied!) And his real name was Pintszo!! Which at first we thought was Pinto!! So off we went.....and left the capital and started climbing up and up....followed quickly with anti-nausia pills! These roads were crazy windy (not windy as in the weather but windy as in loopy?? Are they spelt differently??) Anyways.....saw some pretty amazing scenery and thank god or whoever that our car didn't end up down a 2000m valley!! I was holding on to the handles like a monkey and I was scared!! But our driver had 20 years experience and we were in an offroading jeep...apparently i wasn't giving him enough credit!! So I can summarize 6 days with lots and lots of driving....longest day was 10 hours! Everywhere you look you see mountains and valleys and some lakes and rivers and a WHOLE lot of Yaks!! This whole country is a postcard. We also did alot of offroading
Mt. Everest
Mt. Everest in the morning after the clouds cleared! and that got crazy as well....we we're always the leader car of 3 and the people behind us sometimes got scared at what they saw us doing first (sometimes they got out of their cars because they saw our car!) (we didn't get that option...Teddy was an aggresive driver) We always stopped at some random town for lunch and sometimes opted out of eating!! (little to sketchy for my taste) There are alot of small towns everywhere and we saw some mind blowing things!! (like 6 year old kids fixing the road we were driving on) Tibet is a developing nation and its very difficult to see. Everything is under construction....nothing looks finished.....the roads the towns....everything looks poor! Half the reason we had to go offroading was because half of the only highway in Tibet is not complete. But every day we kept getting higher and higher and the headache never quite went away and sometimes very nausiated!! By the third day we were at Mt. Everest Base Camp. The car can't drop you off so we had to walk an 8km hike to get there. SOme people opted for the horse but our car decided to walk. But not
Patola Palace
This is the huge palace in Lhasa. It was the Dali Lama's winter residence. One of the world's architectural wonders! being quite yet acclimatized to the 5200m above sea level yet....my brain was pounding in and out of my skull and my heart in and out of my chest!! We took it slow and around 2 1/2 hours later we arrived at some tents!! Again the scenery amazing....and really really getting colder and windier (as in the weather)! Bundled up in a fleece...a raincoat and a long sleeved t-shirt with a sports band around my ears...still cold!! I was feeling REALLY ill when we got to the camp....and we set up in a guesthouse tent...took alot of drugs and bundled under a yak blanket!! Once the drugs kicked in it was quite nice! We had a bunch of Nepalese guides in our tent and asking them millions of questions about Everest. One of them had climbed it when he was 17!! So when it was time for bed is when I wanted to take 20,000 more drugs.....my entire body was in so much pain and whilst I was taking care of bodly reactions to the altitude or food poisening behind our tent (don't know which one it was) I was admiring the gorgeous scenery around me and the full moon to light my way!!! Interesting night (i'll leave out the details!) ( Although I think at one point I did let out a small yelp for my mum!) and in the moring the clouds were gone and we had an amazing view of Mt. Everest. I opted for the horse ride back because I was exhausted!! Walked around the highest monestary in the world....and back in the jeep!! Teddy also listened to the same Tibetan opera tape for 4 days...the last 2 days were Tibetan dance music....very interesting!!
So we saw Everest and Shigatse, Shegar, tons of small cities...and finally Namtso lake. Apprently the highest in the world! Got there in time for the sunset and walked around....its a turquois lake surrounded with more mountains!!
So at the end of 6 days....i'm all jeeped out....mountained out....went to the bathroom in too many bushes and behind too many tents.....tented out......very cold...sick of eating noodles...and finally ready to get a good nights rest one last time in Lhasa before we're off to the southern part of China tomorrow!! (oh and I found out that our hostel is where the dali lama's teachers used to live!!)
So i'm probably leaving out tons of information but that's it for now!! Driving through Tibet was awsome but i'm very glad we took the 6 day and not the 18 day optoin!!
Oh and if i'm not married by the time i'm 35.....Teddy did propose to me!! Me and the Tibetan equivilant of Fred Flinstone.....what a dream come true!!
Thanks for the comments.....its good to hear from everyone!! Peace and Love!!
Wish you could see my photos...but get ready for the never ending slide show when I return!
Oh and if your ever in Tibet......beware that the toilets will make you vomit (literally).....peeing in a bush is cleaner and more private.....and you might want to buy a bottle of pure oxygen!!
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Impressed!!
Your blog on Mt. Everest was great!! I am very jealous of your experiences, and I really hope on day that one day I can do the same. Its great that you are seeing these places and experiencing such things. Stay safe and I am looking fwd to your return. Talk to you soon, Brent