To Mount Everest and beyond

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Friday October 13, 2006 - Had to wake up at 7am yet again, this time after not such a good sleep. Once I was ready, Brian walked me to the agency where I would meet my group. Then it was time to say goodbye to Brian, another sad time in my trip. That is the problem with making so many new friends - you always have to say good-bye. But I did get four new friends in return, so that was a good trade. We put our luggage into the back of the truck and squished ourselves in for the ride to Gyantse. At first the road was good, but the skies were gray. It was still hard to hide the fact that there were stunning mountain views all around. Our first stop was Yamdrok Tso, the third largest lake in Tibet. We actually looked at it from a very high mountain pass. At this point we were standing in light snow and it was quite cold. We could only see the lake occassionally, as the mist was so thick. But there were plenty of people selling photo opportunities of their yaks, "bambis", or funnily shaved dogs to keep us occupied.

I believe it was also at the this point that we first met Linda, Lisa, Kay, and Jeri, the self proclaimed "Four Bossy American Ladies." They had flown in from Nepal and were taking the land road back, as we were, with the same company, and we frequently traveled together. They had a guide as well as a driver, and he was also helpful when we needed something.

After this the road became bumpy and dusty and it was also very windy. This didn't help Kindie or Dave, as they were both feeling sick all day due to the altitude. When we stopped for lunch, the toilets were apparently so gross that it made Kindie phycially sick, so I stayed well clear. The food was also outrageously expensive, as there are probably only foreigners that really travel this route and eat in such places. We had a long drive to Gyantse, where we would spend the night. The hotel was also relatively expensive for the kind of dorms we ended up with - three in one room and two in the other. The bathroom was in the reception and was unfortunately a squat toilet.

We had an epic search for dinner, as everything in that town was priced high. We did eventually find something acceptable, but it took us forever. I guess it is important to keep in mind that outrageous and overpriced falls into the $2 a meal range, but here and with my budget, that is too much. You should never pay more than the regular price anywhere you are, but as a tourist you are often give higher prices in many parts of the world. The meal was good though, so it ended up ok. The highlight of the night though was the shower. There is only one in a different building and as it was occupied by Kindie and Guillaume was waiting behind me, the attendant let us use the beautiful bathroom in one of the unoccupied double rooms. Guillaume let me use it instead of him, which was so nice. It also had a western toilet - living in style! I took hot hot shower as it was cold outside, and then ran back to my room to write in my journal and get under the covers. We turned the lights out at 10pm and I listened to some music for an hour or so before sleep.

Saturday - Today we slept in until 8am, though I got up a little earlier as it is hard for me to sleep when I know it is getting close to the time to wake up. We did wake up to a beautiful blue sky though, and that was a prefect way to start the day. Everyone was feeling better, and we just chalked yesterday up to it being Friday the 13th. For breakfast Tomer, Dave, and I went to grab some little round breads that the others had gotten, and Tomer and I also got 5 dumplings each. All this for 50 cents. We got back at 9:05am, 5 minutes late, and we had to rush as our 4x4 was blocking the way for everyone else on the assumption that e would be ready by 9am. We got on our way and had 90 minutes before we arrived in Shiagtse. Ninety minutes of listening to the same music tape we heard for about 9 hours yesterday. It was a warm day and just beautiful. In Shigatse there is the Tashilunpo Monastery, which everyone else decided to skip due to price, but I decided to see it since I was here anyway. It was the right choice - I really enoyed it. It was very calm there, and very large and spread out. There were no signs and I was able to use my guide book to find out what there was to see and in which direction to find it. There were several buildings with chapels that contained tombs of different Panchen Lamas, one of which cost $8 million to construct in 1994, as well as one that housed a 26 meter tall Buddha. Very impressive. There was even a monk at one of the chapels that wanted to look through my guidebook, and managed to flip through everything. There were also all kinds of winding alleyways and places to just meander. It was the first time I have done anything alone in a long time and it was a nice, relaxing time. I walked behind the buildings as well as wandered into places that other tourists don't seem to go. I was trying to get to a huge line of prayer wheels on either side of the complex but was denied on both accounts. The setting for the monastery is beautiful as well, with the mountains as the direct backdrop.

After two hours I met the group back at the car and we grabbed some fries in a bag before driving off again. I had this for lunch, along with one of the round breads I had gotten in the morning. We only drove for about two more hours to get to Lhatse, the small town we would sleep in. Along the way we asked to stop at a place in the road where there were prayer flags everywhere - very colorful flags strewn all about, with tons of other tourists there taking pictures.

We drove for a bit more and reached Lhatse, where we would stay the night. We all checked into the same dorm for the five of us and then I wanted a meal, as always. I ended up ordering freid noodles, which were not fried at all, as the friend rice my friends ordered was not fried. But it was good enough. Afterwards they all got some instant noodles in a bowl from a shop. I didn't get any as I was full enough but Dave couldn't eat his as they tasted like dust. They were a bit old I think, but in all fairness he hadn't added any of the spice or flavoring, so I helped myself to his leftovers. We had a little basin in the room and some hot water in a flask and in this way I washed my face and then got to sleep.

Sunday - Today was a long day. We basically just had a full day of driving to get from Lhatse to Rongbok Monastery near Everest Base Camp (EBC). It was a beautiful drive thoguh bumpy and dusty like the rest. Kindie had on her trademark bandit bandana to block the dust a bit. That coupled with her hat and sunglasses prevented us from really seeing her all day. Although there were always four of us packed like sardines in the back, we had some nice conversations that way and it was a good ride altogether. The only problem was that my stomach was hurting a bit. All I needed was a clean sit-down Western toilet, but I knew this wasn't to be. At a pee break I tried to find a quiet place but really, no luck. Travel becomes so much about health and toilet issues it's hilarious. Sometimes. Once we got to the monastery, Tomer and Guillome decided to go ahead and walk to EBC and spend the night there. The rest of us decided we didn't have the right clothing for that and it was already freezing. We checked into the reasonably unpleasant dorms across the street which had the foulest excuse for a toilet area I have seen yet. It was essentially just a small square room outside with no hole, but some sawdust and lots of waste. No thanks. Tibet officially has the grossest toilets in the world thus far, though other bits of China are close. Could also be that my memory is short, but I don't think so in this case.

After settling in I wanted a meal, like always. We went to the restaurant where I got noodle soup. It was alright. Then Dave and I walked outside to watch the sunset on Everest. It was cold and we kept ducking down behind a brick wall to dodge the wind and looking over every few minutes. We also took a brief walk around the monastery - the highest in the world - but it didn't look like much was going on, so we got back inside to the warm. The three of us got into our beds early and the lights were on a generator with no switch so we just slept with them on. It was cold but warm enough in my sleeping bag.

Monday - This morning we got up around 7am so we could get ready and find out some information about getting the bus to Everest Base Camp (EBC). Well, as it turns out, the "bus" is a lie but you can walk up for two hours or take a horse cart. Ok. Well, at this elevation and considering that Dave and Kindie had been sick at elevation previously on this trip, we decided to take the carts. There was also an Irish girl who would come with us, two people per cart. I was trying to work out a price and a payment scheme (I didn't want to pay for the return trip all at once in case the boys didn't wait for us and we were stuck up there) but Dave and Irish girl were impatient to get there so they just paid and left. Finally Kindie and I paid as they wouldn't do things my way and we were wasting time. It took about an hour by horse cart and it was the coldest hour of my life. I didn't exactly have mountaineering gear, but I had two pairs of pants, and five top layers including a nice castoff by Dave that he was planning to give to the needy, which I am. My toes were freezing and I really began to think about frostbite. It seemed so slow that I could have walked faster, but I know this isn't true. We had beautiful views of Everest and the surrounding mountains but it was so hard to care. When we arrived we saw the Irish girl leaving and she told us where to find the others. They were in a big black tent when Tomer and Guillaume had spent the night. We settled in and had some tea and took off ours shoes to warm our feet by the fire. After an hour in there I felt better and it was time to go. Got a quick look around base camp and then we went to search for our horse cart. Of course it was gone and we found ourselves having to walk back. The boys had gone on ahead and we walked for a while, in silence, trying to stay warm. Finally the American women's guide came down in a horse cart and got the driver (a bitter little boy) to agree to take us most of the way down. At one point the horses stopped for water and I thought our horse was going to dump us in the stream, but we stayed upright and it was fine.

Once we got close, we had to exit the vehicle as there are only allowed to be two people per cart it seems. But this is where we met up with the boys so that was nice. Once we arrived we talked to the horse guys about getting our money back and they pretended not to speak English anymore and then told us that our cart was still waiting at the top. No, it wasn't but what could we do? This was exactly the situation I was worried about. So in the end we had to leave it, but I will say that if you visit, walk rather than give those crooks your money. The walk will keep your toes warmer too.

When we arrived back at the hostel/monastery, I was ready for some lunch but Gya La told us we would eat when we got to Old Tingri, the town we were sleeping in. He gave us some really yummy cookie sticks to satisfy us and told us it wouldn't be too long. It was definately more than three hours later that we finally arrived, down a long dusty bumpy road, so familiar to us by now. Again we had one room to share and it was fairly clean, and the toliet situation was not great, but far better than it had been at the last place. Once we got our stuff settled in we went to find some food. Ended up at the closest restaurant, the title had something to do with it being a meat momo restaurant. Momos are like a smaller steamed dumpling. We all had some pretty decent food there, and got to watch them preparing and steaming plain buns. Restaurants in most parts of the world are not like American restaurants in any way. Health standards for one. For example, the man was kneading the dough on a board near the door while the woman was sweeping up all the dust on the floor. People spit on the floor and water gets tossed there. The high pressure steamer is just in front of the door and when the pressure gets let out there is hot steam pouring out the door. Not the right time to enter. And if you don't speak the language, you can occassionally go cruising through the kitchen to pick out your own ingredients, but I choose not to see the kitchens myself. Would rather just eat in ignorant bliss.

After dinner we walked around the town a bit. It had only one street so that didn't take long. Saw some dogs, some dead meat hanging up for sale in the dusty breeze, and some babies. Somehow this has escaped every entry until now, but it's one of the best things about China in a strange way. Most of the babies don't use diapers. Instead, they have clothes with holes cut out in the nether regions (or rather, just never sewn shut) and the babies and small kids can just go whenever, wherever. Everywhere you walk in China and through Tibet there are baby bums everywhere. In Tibet it must be an extremely cold baby bum, as mine was covered and I was still cold. I haven't figured out what happens when you're holding your child and it goes, but most of them just squat down in the street or get help over a sewer in some cases. Or just go on the bus apparently. Not super clean, but no dirty diapers. I wanted a picture of a baby bum the entire time in China but couldn't figure out how to get one without turning into a child pornographer.

After the excitement of the day we headed back to the hotel and I had a good chat with Lisa, Linda and Kay. It was good to have some time to chat with them. They had all kinds of questions about my trip, as well as Kindie and Guillaume's, and that is always flattering. Later I got to sleep and got some well earned rest.

Tuesday - Woke up before everyone else today and started to get ready - visited the horrible toilet, washed my face and started to slowly ease everyone into waking. We packed up and got ready to leave. Then we headed to the restaurant from last night to get some breakfast. This restaurant has only teo tables and they were both occupied by a Japanese tour group that must have arrived just before us. But they gladly relinquished the smaller one and we all sat down. We were just planning to get some dumplings but they started bringing out what must be their standard breakfast fare...rice porridge, dumplings, steamed bread, pickled something, boiled eggs... We explained we didn't want this and we just ordered individually. I had a few dumplings and a boiled egg. Just as I was putting salt on my egg, a wonderful guilty pleasure of mine, the waitress took the salt away, thinking soy sauce would be a better alternative. Luckily I had just about finished but as I was eating my egg she kepy pointing out that I should use the soy sauce, clearly thinking I was too daft to realize what it was for. So I have in and dipped. Wasn't as good but of course, as soy sauce is just liquid salt, it wasn't so bad either.

After breakfast we had to rush back and gather all of our things as it was time for us to hit the road. This process was somewhat impeded by the fact that we couldn't get the key to open our door. Finally the owner had to come out and give it a try. He eventually succeeded. With the four bossy American women waiting in their jeep, we quickly took a group photo with all of our cameras and said goodbye to Dave and Tomer who would be heading back to Lhasa. Everyone waived as we drove away and then we settled into our next few hours in the car.

I had the front seat and used it to spread out a bit, mostly reading my book or enjoying the views. We did have some more spectacular views along the way - we could see several mountains, including some over 8000m! There are only 14 in the world from what I understand and we have seen five or so now. Really amazing. From there it only got better. We went from high altitude barren landscapes and began descending into lush green vegetation with rivers running through them. I had to stop reading and just stare out the window. Really really beautiful, like a tropical wonderland all of a sudden.

We stopped for lunch at a small, overpriced restaurant, like they have all been as only tourists come through here, and sat at a table next to the American women. We had a bit more time to talk and I got a chance to hear a bit more about their lives and jobs, and got their email addresses as well. Really nice and interesting people. From there we said our goodbyes and drove off to the border.

Zangmou, the border town, was really crowded and the line of cars just did not end. It is in the hills, beautiful, but the windy road of traffic was unpleasant. Finally Gya La pulled over and said this is where we get out. It would be quicker to walk from here. So out we got, said good bye and started walking. We got to the customs area relatively quickly, once we had squeezed through all the trucks and motorcycles that were inching along. Kindie and I used the bathroom - fairly clean but no running water - and then we got stamped out of China and got into another truck that for $1.25 would take us the 8km to the Nepali border.

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