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Published: January 1st 2010
On the train to Tibet
We had some fun with oxigen :-) Riding the highest railway of the world
Yes, China is first in this one too, not only with its population size.... It was a pretty interesting thing to get our train tickets from Xining to Lhasa. Apparently foreigners are not allowed to purchase train tickets at the train station to Tibet, this can be only done via travel agents with a 60%!((MISSING)!) commission charge... nice monopolistic situation... But we were lucky again as we met a group of Japanese trekkers in our youth hostel and one of them spoke OK Chinese. So he could pretend at the counter that he is Chinese, with a kinda immigrant accent. And he did this for us free of charge! So the guys went with him to the Xining station and came back with our tickets! Yuhhheee!
Travellers bound to Tibet have a separate waiting room in Xining (signs are also in Tibetan :-) and here we were waiting for boarding our train with loads of Tibetan families heading back home. They were very nice and smiley and appreciated our 'Tashi Delek' greetings (yes, we had to get used to this and quickly forget 'Ni hao' and 'Xie-xie' as Tibetans
Penis, Sir?
The "peanut" ladies with our favourite monk! and Chinese don't really like each other...). The train was a nice and clean one with English speaking speaker system informing us about the railway and the route and the precautions we should take due to the high altitude we pass (highest point 5200 meters, Xining was at 2200 meters). We crossed the 5200 meter in a deep sleep... So no clue what the view was like, but anyhow we've also passed the highest train station in the world, and again: while sleeping... Funny enough, the mountains along the railway don't look that high, but this is because Tibet is on a plateau, so the ground is already at around 3000-4000 meters, so a 5000 meter peak looks like one of 1000 meter. But this view dramatically changed later on our trip!
The 4 of us shared a 6-bed open coupe (hard sleepers) which was very convenient. The 25-hour train ride passed wonderful sceneries, we became more and more excited about our trip. At the China-Tibet border the oxigen supply was switched on, for the eventualities of someone suffering from lack of oxigen. Neat... But waking up in the morning and realizing that you've passed the highest point, without
any respiratory problems is a bit of a disappointment when you do have the goodies available. So just for the fun of it we've spent a good hour sucking in the O2, just for the cause of being able to say: YES, I DID THAT!
The train attendants were very friendly, we were teaching them English for half an hour, this was great fun, especially when we figured out that the word 'peanut' kept on being said as 'penis'. We stressed the difference, and crossed our fingers that on their next train ride these lovely female attendants don't offer some delicious penis to a foreign traveler...
Later a fellow traveler, a monk joined us and offered us dried yak meat which was yummie!
Capital of Buddhism, Lhasa
Upon arrival our guide was waiting for us at Lhasa train station. We jumped into our jeep and were on the way to the Yak Hotel. He, Pasang, is a Tibetan guy, but he and his family moved to India when he was 6 and he just came back to Tibet a few years ago (now 27 years old) as his malaria could not be cured in
India (no medicine...auch!). Yes, if any of you had been to Tibet would ask the question, how come he could be a guide... Normally only Tibetans who always lived in Tibet can be a guide (unpoisoned by the western life). We know how Pasang managed to get his papers done, let's say red tape in a shady grey area does a lot... anyways, he was a cool guy and an OK guide.
Lhasa has clearly two parts, Chinese and Tibetan. Life in the Chinese part is like in China, but life in the Tibetan quarter is different. There are several military stations throughout the area, served by Chinese soldiers holding machine guns and "having road blocks at hand". Besides these 'fixed' stations mobile patrols were walking through the streets and on top of buildings Chinese soldiers could be seen watching the streets... We were never stopped by soldiers, but the view resembled a bit to North Korea. The difference becomes bigger that in our 2.5 months traveling through China we have seen hardly ANY Chinese military display. But here in Tibet it was all over....
Tibetan people are extremely friendly, they were so happy to see us tourists.
They greeted us on the streets all the time with big smiles. We spent most of the afternoons in the Barkhor area, near the Jokhang temple and did the pilgrim circuit with the crowds several times. Surprisingly a lot of youngsters spoke English (even kids), apparently they learn it in school now. They spoke more and better English than the Chinese.
December is not a tourist season in Tibet so we were a pretty unique view for them and a chance to practice their English. Lot of them want to become a tourist guide, so they take extra classes. In addition, people from the rural Tibetan areas do their pilgrimage with their families in December, when there is not much else to do in the harsh climate. So we could see people from all over the Plateau. And Jokhang temple opened up more areas for these pilgrims and for us as well therefore ;-)
We have done the major tourist sites in Lhasa, the most impressive one was the Potala Palace, home of Buddhism and residence of the Dalai Lama (except when he is exile, like now since 1959, he actually lives in Dharamsala in India). After 4
Buddhist bells on the roof
Top of Jokhang temple with amazing view... days we boarded our car again with Pasang and Tsiring (our driver) and headed for the Friendship Highway towards Nepal.
The Holy Lake and Gyantse
So after our stay in Lhasa, we took our jeep (ok, the driver and guide took us...) to Yamdrok-Tso (Yamdrok lake). This time the jeep wasn't a 'donation from UNDP', as our previous guided jeep in N-Korea. Leaving Lhasa was good. It's a nice city, great sites, but after a few days you really can't follow the string of Buddha's, Lama's , deities, protectors and local important statesmen... Nature was calling!
Going through over the plateau in the direction of Gyantse we saw the Yamdrok lake up and close: deep blue turquoise and surrounded by high rolling hills/mountains. The lake is holy for the Tibetans. So when we came near the pass, from which we could see the first glimpses from the lake, the ceremonial banners were waving in the air: lovely site.
FYI: I have to stop myself from using the word 'mountain' too much, as only on the 3rd day on the road we saw the REAL mountains.... Now we were cruising through the first rangers and OMG
Tibetan hairdo
A local lady helped me to complete my mission. Tibetan braides. They all liked me with it :-) these were already huge and beautiful.
In the afternoon we reached Gyantse. We took the time to look around in the town and figured out that this place has its own Chinese cook, who speaks some Dutch: "heel lekkel" and "smakelijk". Apparently loads of tourists do the trail we did, but then in the summer. For the eager Hungarians among us: No, he didn't know any Hungarian words. I even suspect he didn't know where Hungary is located... But the food he prepared wasn't "heel lekkel" and far from "smakelijk". We paid also too much. Therefore the lesson learned is: Avoid the Chinese in Tibet.
The next morning we visited the monastery in Gyantse. This monastery has the biggest 'future' buddha in the world: 26 meters tall and coated in gold. (Agi and I are still not sure whether this Buddha was indeed the tallest, as the one we saw in Ulaan Baatar had a Guinness Book of Records sign next to it...).
Shigatse
Shigatse was only a short ride away from Gyantse, so we got there relatively early afternoon. We were free to visit the local monastery and other sights as Pasang had to go
And the real local version
An other example of how nice hairdo's the ladies have... to the police office to arrange our permit to the Everest Base Camp. So we went off to town, checked the goods sold by the locals on the streets and ended up in a street-pool place, scoring a few games along with the locals. We had to pass time till the monastery opened for afternoon visits, and playing pool was the best activity we could come up with :-)
The monastery was a really cool one, residence of the Panchem Lama's. Don't ask as please about the difference between Dalai and Panchen Lamas as we dont really know, but apparently China does not like these guys either, as the current Panchem lama is in house arrest somewhere in China... At the last temple of this monastery complex our guide could catch up with us, but he brought bad news! There was an issue with the entry stamp of Winnie and Erwin into China (badly readable, suggesting expiry), so our EBC permit was not issued. Shit.. Winnie went back to the police with Pasang (actually with an other guide, who is Pasang's friend and has a genuine guide permit) to explain the story but as the computers did not work,
they had to go back again next morning to check the systems for the real entry date to China.... auch. We had two choices. Either skip a monastery next day or skip the Everest. You don't have to think a lot to find out our choice: byebye Sakya monastery, here we come EBC!
EBC
Next morning the police could justify our story so we were off the Friendship Highway again towards the Everest Base Camp. On the way we stopped for some food and booze as it was Christmas day (!). At our lunch place our guide found out that we cant sleep at the EBC as nobody is there, which can be tricky if for example the car does not start next morning in -20C. So we settled to stay at a Guesthouse 2 hours away from EBC. It was an OK place with lots of blankets and we could eat our instant noodle Christmas dinner there.... yummie. I had my mom on the phone and she was telling me what they were having for Xmas dinner (halaszle, makos beigli, etc.:-(((, I was so jealous!!!
And my stomach really did not like my jealousy,
The Potala Palace in old times
This is how it used to look like with the park and lake in front of it. Now there is a concrete square with Chinese patrols and monuments instead. so I ended up with a heavy stomach flu on Xmas eve and lasted for over 2 days. Not good. But Chris was very helpful, forcefeeding me with water and biscuits continuously. I hated him for this, but secretly I knew he was right. And indeed!
Next morning with still mourning stomach I decided to be strong and join the guys up to EBC. We bought a can of oxigen for just in case as at 5200m the air is very thin and my general weakness after the flu was not really ideal. But still, come on, you don't go to EBC every week so we all went on. The ride to up there was beautiful. In the last part the road was sometimes covered by ice and all the rivers were frozen, including waterfalls! Never seen such view before, big rivers all frozen!!
At the base camp there was not a single establishment, all tents have been dismantled long ago due to the winter weather. We could walk around though and took lovely pictures. Breathing was all right, climbing some hills took some time though as we had to stop for rest after every 5-10 steps. We
Monks shopping...
They also have needs... met 2 aussie girls there who brought their mountain bikes. Crazy idea, but cool at the same time. Took some pix with the bikes too... cycling at 5200m is indeed tough.
Old Tingri
From base camp we drove along the Himlayas to Old Tingri, which is a small and really authentic village at the feet of the mountains. It has a special microclimate being in a half valley with strong sunshine. We could sit outside comfy without jackets. And here we had a unique experience. Pasang, our guide's family lives in Old Tingri, so we visited their house. They received us with great hospitality, offered us all the local foods, made lunch for us and we could walk around the house freely. The village is self-supporting, they produce everything they need from food to clothing, etc. Impressive.
Zhangmu, the border town
From Tingri we wanted to visit a hot spring and I especially wanted to dive into bed asap with my stomach flu. But our group had a disagreement about the hot spring (price) so we had to continue our search for other accommodation. We could touch the warm water though, it
Debating monks at Sera Monastery
Every weekdays they have a 2--hour debate session, Q & A about their religious knowledge. If the answer is wrong, an imitated hit is given to the answering monk. felt so nice, would have been nice to stay... Anyways, we with my rumbling stomach were off the highway again, by now reall asphalt highway, which I really appreciated, so we decided to head to the next town (150km more) near the border. Don't remember the name anymore, but apparently all hotels were closed here (off season). I was a bit upset with our guide, as he should have known this, but whatever... So we went further, extra 40km to Zhangmu. Well, this last part was an experience again.
This part of the Friendship Highway is called the 'Green Hell'. This is because the altitude here is just over 2000m, so the hills are full with vegetation, trees, there also lots of streams, rivers, waterfalls (just imagine, most of the water supply of the World comes from the Himalayas!!!) The view must be beautiful, unless you are driving in darkness. This latter is what we did. Driving through the serpentine road was still a funny thing, we could see the shades of the hills. The road was far from great here (apparently the Chinese ran out of money by the time they got to this section???) and on top
The peak...
Qomolangma in Tibetan, Mount Everest in English. Awesome! of this we ran into a genuine roadblock. This roadblock was built by trucks, drivers simply thinking for themselves only, trying to pass a narrow part from both directions. It took at least an hour (including some trucks deliberately bumping into each other to show superiority) to pass this block, part of the section was also washed by an artificial waterfall.... Later on we found out that this waterfall was a broken pipeline, which normally supplies the water to Zhangmu. Yes, the town was out of running water when we arrived and remained like that during our stay.
The hotel in Zhangmu was a Nepali-run place in a noisy neighbourhood, but as it was late we just took it. Apparently there was a discothek in the basement, so we ended up sleeping with ear plugs. I did not even go for dinner, just dove into bed (4 hours later than initially wished for) after arranging a bucket of water for our bathroom. The night was shit, but Chris was helping again with biscuits and water and the morning came again. We were ready to REALLY leave China!
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Gyuri
non-member comment
Qomolangma
What a story, Agi! Hope you're feeling better now ... Did you do any hiking to the peaks from Zhangmu, BTW? Pictures with hairy Chris smiling at the top of Qomolangma?! Cheers, and may the force be with you! :-) Gyuri