Long over due update

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Okay so it might be a little long and I am sorry but I have to back track about 10 days or so b/c i have not had the time to write and actually the last city we were in I was in the middle of a novel for everyone when poof the internet just shut down... I was very angry and frustrated and wanted to cry but I just reminded myself where I was... things here are unpredictable all the time. So back to Tibet (by the way I am now in Lijiang and we are on our way to Kunming tonight on a sleeper bus...yikes... dirty).
Tibet and the 6 day trip to Everest Base Camp... we started early on July 8th around 8am with our first stop being at the top of some mountain side just to get a view of one of the tourquise lakes and then all the way back down the mountain... p.s driving on a mountain side is something I will never get used to (mom you would have cuts in your hands from hanging on so tight) On the top Adele and I decided to get our pictures taken on a Yak (you will have to wait to see them when I come home) it was cheap and thought who else can say they were on a Yak! It was off roading time after that and what a bumpy ride it was (I think I may have lost a few brain cells and it sure didn't help the stomachache or headache that I had since getting into Tibet). We later stopped at a monastery but we were too cheap to pay the price to get in so we walked around the small scary movie town (which there are plenty of in Tibet) for a bit. Adele was getting harassed by this little boy who was grabbing at her skirt saying" Hello money, give me money" probably repeated himself about 100x. I am a bit of a germ freak as most of you know so I was running away (sorry Adele). On to more off roading where we saw some 6 year old children fixing up the road (there actually does seem to be some kind of child labour here 😞... it was quite sad). I have forgotten to tell you about our driver... his name was Pintso but we all called him Teddy b/c he looked like a huge teddy bear and he had the cutest little voice when he tried to speak English (which most of the time was to Adele... he proposed). He was a very skilled driver and also extremely fast which made the 6 day adventure that much more exciting... he did like to smoke a lot which I think most Tibetan's do so we had many smoke breaks which were always enough for him to have at least 2! In the end however, we forgot to tip him oops😞
The third day we made it to the highest monastery in the world about 9km from base camp. We had to hike the 9km to get to the base camp where we were spending the night. The hike was interesting, drastic changes in temperature... I started out in a t-shirt and ended up having about 5 layers including a coat and I was still freezing by the time we got there. Everest is incredible to see. We stopped to take pictures quite often. We stayed in a "Guest House Tent" for the night. It was the 4 of us (the two boys who I forgot to mention came with us in our landcruiser) in this tent and then a bunch of the local Tbibetans and Napalis came to have a disco party for the night... (Matt you would be proud of us for "mixing" with the locals... p.s need your address)! These guys were all guides for Everest and they were very informative and able to answer (in English) all Adele and my questions about the trek! In case any of you are considering climbing Mt Everest I suggest you start saving now b/c it costs $65000 American and it takes 3 months! I think I will pass, seeing it was good enough for me. Not to mention the stories we heard about some of the deaths (including that of the guide getting extreme altitude sickness and almost dying) and so on. I think I went to bed with all my clothes on, a random girls marshmellow jacket and about 5 blankets including a yak fur blanket which smelt horrible but when in Tibet.... So all in all, EBC was an amazing, once in a life time experience (unless you want to go Mark but the altitude sickness is as bad as some people say it is 😊
The next day I walked back the 9km and we got in the land cruiser to sit for 10 hours of driving. I think the driving really got to me after a while and I wasn't enjoying that part of the trip too much... in 6 days we travelled something like 1775km... pretty crazy! We went to Nam Tso (Tso means lake). The weather here was unbelievably cold (it was actually freezing rain) so of course with the limited clothing I had I was freezing. Nam Tso is a sacred holy lake (but then again EVERYTHING in Tibet is). We got there in time for the sunset which was something like I haven't seen before... the pictures will not do it justice either. The lake is tourquise, the background is snow capped mountains, and the sky continued to change colours over time with reds, purples, pinks, etc etc. So even though it was freezing, I sucked it up and took it all in! So this was the last night of the trip and I was pretty anxious to get back into Lhasa where there was a dry heat!
I have forgotten to talk about the people we have continued to meet on our journey (most of them being European b/c I think every European person travels instead of works in the summer). We became great friends with a couple Emma and Elliot (who actually got engaged at EBC 5200m high) and Joey and Ada (friends from Hong Kong but who too have an English accent). They were great people to travel with and it is too bad that they are just ending their travels after 7 months. We did get some useful information from them and hopefully will keep in touch!
So it is finally time to move on or so we thought (unfortunately our flight got cancelled after 5 hours in the airport listening to them just tell us it was delayed). Anyways, we met another British couple and 2 Americans who also didn't understand what was going on. We got hoarded like sheep to follow this man who was taking us on a bus to some hotel for the night. We were all expecting the worst but somehow we lucked out and stayed at a 5 star hotel with white robes, free dinner, an actual bathroom and plenty of things to steal (shampoo, soap etc). So I guess it wasn't too bad. We got up early the next morning to enjoy a free Chinese breakfast (have I mentioned that I will never eat Chinese food again... I can't eat without feeling sick). We were getting passed around for a few hours again b/c they didn't quite know what they were to do with us since our plane was still having some mechanical problems... but finally at 12 or so we were off. The plane was very sketchy and made some horrible noises that scared Adele and I and I am sure everyone else too!
On to the Tiger Leaping Gorge! stay tuned... trying to type that one up too right now!

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