EBC & Kathmandu (food glorious food)

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Gidday All,

I could really start with those atrocious Lions but will save my energies for the Wallafags when we hopefully trounce them into the mud.... can't wait.

I'm writing this blog back to front being that all my recent travels with Waz and others have originated from Lhasa till here. But, Nepal and Kathmandu has really hit the spot so what the hell. We arrived just over a week ago after a diet of noodles rice and not much else this place was heaven ... any type of food and any type of restaurant has had us stuffing ourselves with the odd drink chucked in.

But to add to the journey so far read on.

It was in Lhasa that we decided to do our 4x4 safari and so advertised around all the cities guesthouses for two people to share expenses. Within 24 hours we had the delightful Shoji and Asuka from Japan joining our trek. We met with our guide Kyiche and through an interpreter made sure we where getting exactly what we where after. Next morning we where off on our 10 day (later only ended up being 9) best bits of Tibet road trip.

Starting far far too early at 4 or 5 am we headed north to NamTso Lake, which was quite high. This was Tibet's largest and also one of the world’s highest salt-water lakes. It was on top of an enormous plateau and was pretty cold even in summer. From the shoreline of this lake where our first real sightings of Himalayan mountains and white tops everywhere. If mountains are one thing here then valleys and plateaus are another. They are very underestimated. Some of the coloring in these areas is really really beautiful.

We found that with our itinery we could spend around a day in each place with 2-3 spare days chucked in. Not completely certain where to spend this spare time was never an issue thanks to our relaxed and flexible driver. Next morning we where heading south back past Lhasa (later ... shit hole!) onto the next high pass for our travels. The Kampala Pass (4794 m) was to lead to the YamdrokTso Lake District. This lake was very distinct in its geography as it slowly winded through its lower lying gorge still visible on both sides and no less an attraction than the last lake. We wound down from a decent height to the lake edge to end up in Namgyartse ... another dump with next to no attractions. I can attest to the fact that it had by all standards the most disgusting toilet imaginable so far. The only other highlight was the free beer gladly given to Waz and I after a somewhat later than usual drinking night. We didn't get the impression that the owner had many Australian or Kiwi visitors.

After two traveling days in the country we now headed towards our next city of some size Gyanste. An actually famous city in British history for all the wrong reasons. This was the point at which the British (god bless em) staged their invasion of Tibet around the turn of the last century. The Dzong (Tibetan for FORT!!) was in my mind far more interesting than the Monastery, esp. after a bespectacled monk strode up to us on its entrance and demanded some fee (Get F**Ked pal - you see real monks don't need cash so that means he a Chinese merchant!!) isn’t that right Mottie?).
Anyway, Younghusband (British General) smashed them in the end and regretted it for the remainder of his years. Not that he had to concern himself; the Chinese and Mongols and later Nepalese had plenty of successful attempts. Before we got to Gyanste we passed the next major high point the Korola Pass at (5200m). Pretty cool Glacier and plateau at the top. We spent the rest of that day running around the old fort like a couple of school kids off the chain. Of interest was the Anti-British Museum, which was filled with loads of anti-British - propaganda. Very funny.... I mean interesting.

Next day’s travel saw us reach Tibet’s second largest city Shigatse. Fairly modern by today’s standards and not a lot happening. Had a trek around the Kora where we where luckily able to see how & where locals relieve themselves ... constantly. There was also another Dzong (That’s FORT in Tibetan!!) but this one the Chinese got to in the 1950's and blew to pieces. This was our last major stop before EBC (Everest Base Camp). Next was a scattering of towns and villages that really did not deserve anymore than an hour of ones attention. So we pushed on that morning past the shithole of shitholes (esp. Latse that to begin with sounded oh so nice ... not) and ended up at one off those Western like movies towns with tumble weed running down the street and really annoying kids selling you ...wait for it ............ rocks! They had some kind of fossil relic thing inside them but it was still very much a rock in my book. We were in Shegar, we where now on the boarder of the great national park of Chomolongma (I'm sure that’s wrong so lets just keep calling it EBC ... cheers) and crashed for the night in the best place to date since leaving Chengdu some weeks before. This was all on account of the big beautiful stove in the centre of the room.

From here as any Westerner will attest the Chinese step in and start ripping you off for the pleasure of it. We paid park fees, 4x4 fees, doge Buick fees to get us up to the Rombu Monastery and where then accosted by the Tibetans charging for everything from rocks to horse and buggy rides to EBC itself. They do quite well.... So at the park entrance we walked the final 5 km or so to Base Camp at 5200m and exhausted ourselves completely, more on principal than anything else.... bastards! It was now right in front of us ... Everest. Everything up to this point was conflicting in our minds (the distance and the expenses) before it dawned on us that we may not even get to see Everest’s North Face due to the weather. Sure enough there was one big bastard cloud that covered only Everest. So we had to put up with waiting and forcing down more awful noodles and tea to keep warn. Later that evening the very summit popped out for what seemed like 10 minutes. We where soon resigned to maybe missing out completely. Waz was adamant that we where not leaving until the mountain came out of hiding ... I think that scared as all a little.

That night we determined that maybe the best thing to do would be to get up as early as possible and see if the sunrise would improve anything. Easier said than done when your alarm goes off at 6.30 am and it’s probably not much over freezing outside until the sun comes up. I could once again relate to my brother and his poor choice of occupation and for a fleeting second thought about kissing the whole idea away. But then with an almighty surged of strength I pulled myself upright and with 10 blankets in tow tiptoed out the door like I was wearing a kimono and shuddered to a halt.... there in front on me was the towering face of Everest’s North face. All of it ... and it was incredible. I raced back inside and woke everyone up in a flurry and grabbed my camera. It was photo-slut time! We had to wait for the sun to come up a bit further but then it was all go. Everyone in camp was up at this stage and it was a very cool experience. Everyone was in awe of the view before us. It was more than I had expected. The previous evening we had discussed trekking with 3 Danes up to the second base camp for a full view of one of the glaciers. But we weren't able to cross a small river, not me anyway in my shoes. I got across eventually (not before the others had kept going) and hiked about a km up the valley taking more photos before heading back. Waz and I spend the rest of that day just chilling in front of the mountain. The idea got the better of us and like many before us I'm sure we both showed Everest our bits and flashed away unabashed. Photo's are available from a discreet website ladies.... private email requests will be answered.

We came down (to my relief - as apart from cards and more noodles there was not much else to do up there) on motorbikes and that was cool. Twos till my bikes back tyre blew out. I thought I was losing weight >? Soon we where back on the road with our driver heading to the Nepali boarder. On the way we past some great big pass which I think was the last from Tibet to Nepal and then dropped some substantial amount of height and headed to Nyalum which according to Waz meant arse end of the earth in Tibetan - man, some of these translations are so accurate. We got there knowing that a large landslide meant we would have to ditch Kyitche the next morning and walk out of a very very wet valley. We got up early for a huge day ahead and eventually reached the massive slip that had apparently taken out a few Chinese ... hmmmmm I won't say anything. We said our goodbyes to Kyitche and kept on marching. At the bottom after being followed and harassed by a seemingly not so sober driver (I could have been wrong) we got a lift to Zhangmu and proceeded to say goodbye to China and HELLLLLLO Nepal.

The change across the boarder itself was noticeable and Nepal has to have the friendliest customs officials anywhere! . We changed our Yuan to Rupee and got a bus and where off. About 5.5 hours later we where in Kathmandu Valley and 3 hours later where in Thamel. We passed maybe 10 boarder controls along the way. Very interesting trip with the scenery and all.

We are now starting to get restless again and are making plans for both Pokara in the north of Nepal and also India. I don't know where we will be writing from next but I assure you I won't be hungry...

Till next time

Dirtman

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Photos

Nam-tso-lake Tibet
Prayer Flags flutter in the wind ... ohhh !

Korolah Pass - Tibet (5200m)
Don't worry ... its frozen

Korolah Valley - Tibet (5200m)
Where on a road to nowhere ....

Gyanste Dzong - Tibet
Big old fort ... heaps of fun.

Everesty and F**king coldy !!
Me & Waz in front of the big E ..

Everest Base Camp - Tibet 2005
Big Beautiful Mountain ... amazing !

Everest Base Camp - Tibet 2005
Go you Shammies !! ....

Kathmandu - Nepal
Food , Beer , never missed it ... shaved heads also universal escept for Asuko !