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Published: July 16th 2010
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Sid at Kharola Glacier
We stopped on the way to see the glacier- unfortunately it was an over cast day. On the way to Everest!
Sunday 11th July 2010
We set off on the Friendship Highway and it wasn’t long before we stopped to see the biggest river in Tibet, and then the dam and then the Kharola Glacier (5560m). It’s a pity the sky was so grey as there was no contrast between the sky and the glacier, which made it hard to photograph. It was very impressive though and Eoin decided to dip his head in the glacier water and got a numb skull! There were lots of ladies around in traditional dress trying to force the newborn lambs on you for photographs. We got to the town of Gyangtse at 5pm and went out for a walk after being on the bus for so long. It was the night of the world cup final which started at 2.30am in China. Eoin, Jimmy and Stu opened their hotel room up for viewing but despite all the beer games, or maybe because of all the beer games most had gone to bed before half time, and everyone missed the winning Spanish goal against Holland….. Jimmy woke up to the cheer of the crowd on the TV and watched it
Gyantse Fort
Nigel and Sid outside the fort - like the monastery's, it was a long way up! on the replay!
Monday 12th July 2010
A few of the world cup enthusiasts didn’t get up for our early morning stroll to the Monastery. We were on the way when we spotted Gyangtse Fort which we decided would be a nice change…. So the others walked on while Stu stuck with us. I walked up the hill to the front entrance (half way) and found a perch to read my book while Nigel, Sid and Stu went all the way in and investigated the guns, dungeons and the jail. We got back for lunch with everyone and then it was a 2 hour bus ride to the next town- Shigatse. Bryn was in a bad way; clearly not a hangover, so he went to the hospital and got put on a drip and antibiotics to kill whatever was causing his vomiting and diarrhoea. He had to get rehydrated before heading to the highest point on the trip -Everest basecamp.
Tuesday 13th July 2010
The road to Everest was awful. We had 4 hours of tarmac, lunch, then 3 hours of dust, bumps and switchbacks- we went up the mountain, down again and up the other
Everest Hotel!
A very loose term for the nomadic tents that you stary in at Everest base camp. You pay 4 euros for a bed for the night... the stove keeps the tent as warm as toast fuelled by dried yak and sheep poo. side before we got our first glimpse of Everest in the clouds! We were told we had a 10%!c(MISSING)hance of seeing Everest without cloud cover so we were not expecting much. We arrived at base camp at 5pm and checked into the cool ‘hotels’ which were really nomad’s tents. The tents had sofas / beds around the edge of the tents and a stove in the middle to boil kettles and keep the place warm. Stu took a bed on one side, Eoin was up the top and Sid, Nigel and I were along the other side. Every hour the stove/ heater was topped up with dried yak and sheep poo and we were as warm as toast. We put some beer in the glacier river to cool and watched to see if the cloud would blow past and give us a view. At 7pm Everest came out from behind the clouds and wowed us! It was gorgeous. Of course we played the luck of the Irish card to see such a tremendous sight!!!! We spent an hour looking and expressing our joy before it became too cold as the sun disappeared.
Wednesday 14th July 2010
Our
Nigel, Sid and Ciara
With Everest in the background..... guide had suggested meeting at 7am to walk the 4ks to the closest walking point possible. One of the ‘hotels’ wanted the lads to take their rucksacks with them, so it was 8am before they set off for their cold, bleak cloudy walk. Sid was still comatose at 7.30 so we let him sleep and have breakfast before catching the local bus up to the same place for a small fee. As luck would have it (again) the cloud cleared just as Sid and I arrived- we saw Everest clear as day with the sun bouncing off it!!!! What a sight- photos just don’t do it justice- it is a very special place. Eoin kindly took my place on the bus with Sid for the return journey and I got to walk back over the rocks to base camp. It was 11am when everyone had returned and we jumped back on the bus for the return journey to Lhasa. We were on the bus all day and arrived in Shigatse at 7pm. I took Sid for a quick dinner before checking in to the posh hotel (our police barracks were booked up)- and I have to say the beds were
The gang!
This is the closest you are allowed to Everest.... and it is still 80ks away! Looks and feels close...... but it's not. ultra comfy and I slept like a baby!
Thursday 15th July 2010
10am check out and back to Lhasa- arrived in the afternoon, checked into our 8 bed dorm- like returning home at this stage…… and we celebrated our end of tour with a few Lhasa beers…… tomorrow is our last day before we split up to fly to various destinations.
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Mum
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hols
Wow! what an achievement. I love reading your travels and to see where you are at. I get so excited when I get notification of a new blog - you are brillo Ciara to keep us all up to date. Eoin looks fantastic and looks as if he has put on weight, his face looks fatter. I'm sure Side loves having him there. We are just back from Turkey this minute and I must say we had a ball. It was very hot though 48dgs so didn't lie out too much. The little place was Bitez and was like a picture post card. I will email you in a day or two. Lv U. Mumxxxx