2 Princes, 9am, 5000m

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Thats how I found myself one morning in Tibet, surrounded by mountains, prayer flags and 4WDs, dancing around to the 80s track '2 Princes' track in woolly hats and flip flops. Beats a 9am in the office. Having said goodbye to Sarah, I had a few more days to kill in Beijing, making the most of fast food little in the knowledge that the closest I was going to get to a big mac was a yak burger. No mean exchange. Remaining on the subject of food long enough to say I also had the most amazing peking duck in the most unlikely restaurant in Beijing - needless to say you usually find the most amazing things in the most unlikely places. Meeting up with my first GAP trip (it is pretty near impossible to visit Tibet without being in an organised group), I managed to fit in another visit to the great of all great walls, - this time a far more leisurely and dare I say less energetic visit, although a part of me was sadistically missing the broken wall and crumbling edges of my previous visit. But who am I to complain about visiting one of the modern wonders of the world for a second time in two weeks! Had a meander around Tianamen Square and also a look around the not so anymore Forbidden (read ever so slightly) disappointing City.

Lugging large amounts of luggage, we left for the train station to embark on our 4000km, 47 hour train journey to Lhasa. And no, there were no showers. Train was a hard sleeper (not as bad as it sound - simply means 6 to a compartment). Was sharing with 2 guys from the trip and some Chinese (needless to say communication was limited to the odd nod and smile). It sounds crazy writing this a few months after the event but in fact the 47 hours werent that bad. I mean how often do you get to travel across what was mostly snow covered plateaus, most of the time over 4000m in altitude (the train is pressurised for that reason) awaking to an amazing nothingness that I have never witnessed anywhere else. For some ironic reason the buffet car only served Budweiser, so we welcomed the occassional stops in what seemed like the middle of nowhere to jump off the train, stretch our legs and indulge in large bottles of beer for the ludicrous (ludicrously cheap that is) price of 3 yuan.

Finally arriving in Lhasa, immediately noticing the change in both the temperature and the ability to catch our breath. Lhasa is 3700m above sea level and even there people that fly directly in can suffer from altitude sickness. I always imagined Lhasa to be a bit of a Timbuktu destination (an actual place in Mali - see everyday is a school day), however we were confronted with mass Chinese expansion and development almost but not quite overshadowing the far more beautiful original Tibean area near which we were staying. We saw our special first glimpse of the Potala Palace at night before dinner and the altitude sickness finally hit me. I in fact got off quite lightly, only suffering for the first few nights - mostly being not able to sleep. Its a weird feeling to know you cant sleep because you getting enough oxygen to regulate your breathing, allowing you to relax and fall asleep. Bloody annoying at the time but a bloody amazing story to tell afterwards. The next day we visited the Jokhang Temple, the most spiritual place in Tibet for Tibetan Buddhism. Many Tibetans make a pilgrimage here once in their lifetime to do a Kora (circumbulation) of the Barkhor area around the Jokhang. The pilgrims were probably the least Westernised people I have ever seen - no Nike and fake Burberry here thankfully, these places still exist, in today's world. I quickley discovered I wasnt the only one with braids and despite theirs being infinitely more impressive than mine, mine still proved to be of great interest attracting a lot of stares, thumbs up and people wanting to touch them. They were all so friendly and if you smiled you got the most genuine smile back. Amazing.
The Jokhang also introduced us to the most common smell we came across in Tibet and I have to admit its not an altogether pleasant one - melting yak butter, it smelt exactly how you imagine it believe me. After satisfying my extreme craving of mashed potato that evening we headed to the Sera Monastery the next morning and the Potala Palace in the afternoon. The Potala Palace is the former residence of the Dalai Lamas and is now basically just a museum. Ironically after the ornate decorations inside the one thing that stuck with me is the boy outside white washing the palace walls, Tibetan style which basically involved throwing buckets of the stuff at the wall. Brilliant. In the evening we went to a ever so slightly touristy but very entertaining cultural evening with some very enthusiastic performers (one of which I deemed the 'Colgate Man') and a too enthusiastic yak comprised of a man in a yak suit, followed by the experience of drinking at altitude and anyone that has done that will know exactly what I am talking about ;-) Although disappointement in the drining stakes was to occcur the following evening when I discovered the 'Fantastic sex' drink on the menu sadly wasnt available. I kid you not.

The next day we finally left Lhasa for Gyantse. The only way you can really get around Tibet outside of Lhasa is by 4WD, as the roads (well I hasten even to use the word roads) are at some points non existant and although a car ride like a roller coaster maybe fun for a few minutes, after 5 hours it gets a little tiring, but just all the part of the joys of travelling! Travel around Tibet by car also has its other experiences, including using an outside toilet (read: finding a place where no one can see you) - which attracted what i think was the funniest story of my time in Tibet. So - as Janice - a shall we say more mature Canadian lady is squatting away in a her big new red coat, I think her coat had the same affect on a passing yak as the red cape of the bull fighter did as it started to charge - needless to say Janice pulled her pants up in rather a hurry! Toilet stories seemed to follow us around on this trip - as after a roadside lunch we were treated to a extremely confident Tibetan boy who along with taking the mickey out ofmy laugh, doing some break dancing and telling us he was not going to take any bullshit in Mandarin, demanded payment from all the girls to go to the public toilet, and was literally blocking the way. The ironic thing about it was that those toilets were probably about the worst I think I have ever seen and that, after all the places I have been, is saying something. At least you get a blog story out of it eh!

Gyantse was a little bit like Coober Pedy in Australia - a town that seems like it was dropped out of the air. By this time we had already encountered snow but the sun was so gorgeous during the day that I was wearing flip flops in the car! On top of the world wearing my flip flops. I was beginning to think this was my kinda place. A visit to another monastery and some welcome time to sit and contemplate filled up the rest of our time in Gyantse, although once again its the people that stick in your mind more so than the places. After out visit to the Pelkor Chode Monastery we met a young boy who lived with his aunt that looked after the toilets there, a total case of role reversal as he was the one giving us sweets in return for some of our hand sanitiser. He kept wanting to touch ouf faces to show us how clean his ands now were. Simple things.

Next stop was Shigatse, slightly lower and hence slightly warmer than Gyantse. Again more monasteries - this isnt to say unimpressive, but its a little like getting templed out in SE Asia. A slight overload of Buddha images, yak butter and prayer flags. Unfortunately I think the thing I think of me when I recall Shigatse was the 'night out' we had there - flashing fairy lights (a recurring theme on asian travels), beer, beer or beer and some lovely karaoke songs ranging from Auld Langsne to Bryan Adams, put together with an extremely low tolerance at this heights and the necessity of going to the toilet by the light of my lighter due to the lack of light in the toilets, a good time was had by all. Leaving Shigatse we arrived in Sakya - a really end of the world place where it seemed the favourite pastime was outdoor pool (of the snooker kind- you dont really want to go outdoor swimming at 4900m!). After a taking your life in your hands moment as we walked round the upper levels of the local monastery which they had liberally slapped with yak fat - honestly a hilarious moment where you are so scared but cant stop laughing. Even at the end of the earth they still have their luxuries though - as I fell asleep that night with my electric blanket on. Nice.

Next day: EVEREST. I dont know if I will ever top this, well ok no I wont literally because at 5200m at base camp you arent going to catch me walking up mountains but in terms of the life experience who do you top that??? Setting off that morning in the dark wearing about 10 layers of clothing. That night after a full on day of driving, constant permit checking and dancing in the street to pass the time (you know me) we finally arrived at Rombuk, basic monastery accommodation but the closest to Everest, where Michael Palin stayed on his Himalaya trip. Itching to get to the mountain, we drove the last few kms to base camp and struggled walking up the hill - (you have serious issues breathing at this height) we were there. We were truly truly blessed with the most amazing clear sunny day and everything was perfect as the birds flew overhead and the colours of the prayer flags seemed even brighter against the snow of Everest. Everest. Jesus I cant even believe some days that I was there. Back at Rombuk we hibernated next to the fire in the common room drinking copious amounts of hot sweet milk tea and wolfing down the basic noodles and rice. Sunset and sunrise was perhaps even more impressive than seeing it in the light of the day and you felt like you could never get enough photos of this spectacular sight. That night I dont think anyone slept a wink but it didnt seem to matter. Another trip to base camp in the morning before we left for our last destination in Tibet - the border town of Zhang Mu, a town literally built on the side of the cliffs. Luckily we dropped a lot of altitude that day as some people really werent feelling well, not helped by what were probably the worst roads of the trip. Our driver did extremely well until we came to a complete standstilll as part of the road builing machinery had got stuck under a overhang on the road ahead. Oh yes I forgot to mention on these treacherous windy mountain roads they were still building the bloody thing around us. Faced with the prospect of spending the night in our 4WDs accompanied only by a bag of Chinese white rabbit chewy sweets there was nothing to do but get out, have a cigarette with all the drivers and just laugh at the situation. Needless to say in true Chinese style it was sorted very quickley, without the need of 10 foreman, a health and safety inspector and 30 workmen that would be called in to deal with the situation in the UK! Zhang Mu was exactly what you expect of a border town - functional, slightly dodgy and a bit grim but with the prospect of Nepal the next day who was I to complain?

Its easy to sum up Tibet in lists - yaks, prayer flags, monasteries, but of course there is so so much more and my constant mentioning of the people there are one of the reasons why TIbet now along with Cambodia heads up my list. It affects you in every way, and I will leave it there, apart from to say go - go and experience this amazing place and appreciate its amazingly humble people.

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Photos

Tibet
Prayer flags and yak. Could it be more Tibet?!

Hurrah I made it!
Me at 5200m