Tibet

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Friday: Up at 5am for 5.30 departure from hotel. Chengdu airport was bigger than I expected and for some reason we seemed to travel there via back roads. Boarded plane at 8am but our plane was delayed so the hostesses proceeded to serve us our meal while we sat on the tarmac. Very bizzare! The plane was empty so most of our group managed to get window seats and we finally took off 1 1/2 hours late. We were able to see Gongga Shan Mountain (7556m) as we flew west and finally arrived in Kunggar at 11am. Bus ride to Lhasa took one and half hours along the river road. We passed through a massive tunnel to traverse the mountain range which was more than a kilometre long. Coming into Lhasa was so amazing and seeing the Potala Palace made everything feel like waking from a dream. I have so longed to see this place that I almost felt like I needed to pinch myself. Our hotel is in the middle of the Bakhor which the Tibetan market and about 20-30 minute walk from the Potala Palace.

Saturday: We went to watch the monks debating today. it was lots of fun as they sit in the courtyard under the shade of the trees and learn through debate and recall of historical accounts and buddist scripture recall. The debating is such an animated process but has been used as a traditional learning style for centuries.

Sunday: Today we visited the Jokhang Temple and the Potala Palace. The Jokhang is one of the oldest temples in Tibet and the most visited by the tibetan people. Many of the original buddist scriptures are kept here and as it was built in the 7th Century AD there was so much rich history to take in. The Potala Palace was breathtaking in so many was. First you have to climb the stairs to the entry and then there are so many rooms to walk through including chapels, caves, temples and the seat of the Dalai Lama. It was amazing to see all the solid gold, silver and bronze tombs. It was similar to the misgivings we felt when we saw the extreme wealth of the Vatican; as these are such a poor people. The palace really is a one of the wonders of the world! I am still in awe of its beauty and the view from our hotel rooftop is spectacular especially as the sun rises over the mountains and hits the palace early morning.

Monday: One of our group has fallen to altitude sickness. A young arming guy Brett from NSW who had helped to carry Ian's bag when he was sick. He is still suffering and Ling has taken him to the Lhasa hospital for treatment. We all thought he would be the most likely to suffer as he is very active and had trouble taking it easy. He had also been sick in Chengdu but had tried to keep going and didn't rest like Ian did.

Today the rest of us visited a blind school to meet with the children. The school takes in about 50 blind children who live in for 5 years to learn english, braille, maths, tibetan, chinese and massage. They are aged from about 7 years to 18 years. Ian sat with the boys and tried to fix their yo yo and we saw them in lessons and learning to use the braille typewriter. it was such a wonderful and humbling experience. I have encouraged our entire group to save all their toothbrushes and combs from the hotel rooms as we have been travelling so we are going to donate them to the next blind school we visit as it does not get as many tourist visiting it and needs more donations.

We also had momo (meat or vegetable dumpling which is steamed or fried) cooking lessons which were great fun. Ian managed to make every shape of momo other than the ones we were taught which was a great amusement for our chef. We then cooked them and had some ourselves but we had made so many that the guys took them out onto the streets to give them to the locals. They were very well received.

We also we to a cultural show dinner which was really funny. the local tibetan dancers and singers were very good but they included a Yak dancer which harrassed us all during our dinner try to spear us with his horns.

Tuesday: Having had about 3 hours sleep (insomnia seems to be my only altitude issue) we got up early to go to the hospital to see Brett as he has had to be medi evacuated today back to Chengdu. The doctor was flying up this morning to take him back. He had fluid on lungs and brain which is why they were keen to get him back to low altitude. He is hoping he might be able to catch back up with us in Nepal.
Good news is Ian is feeling much better and we are both taking it easy to avoid altitude sickness. His knee is holding up so long as he doesn't push it too hard.
Janet and I walked through various neighbourhoods mixing with the people for a few hours while Ian read and watched the passing traffic. It was so much fun, but we managed to totally loose ourselves as we took so many turns in the back streets. We finally hailed a rickshaw to peddle us back to the hotel as we continued laughing at how totally lost we were. We were sad this was our last day in Lhasa.

Wednesday: Finally after a good nights sleep (7hrs) we were up at 6.30 to pack and head out for breakfast before we head off for a 4 hour drive to Samye. Our 4wd convoy consists of 4 cars and we have 3 plus driver in 3 cars and 4 plus driver in 1 car. taking turns for the 4! Left Lhasa at 9 and by 10 we were off the highway and on dirt road heading into the remote area where the towns were very small and primative and they were just running the first electricity line along this road for some of the towns. Samye monastery was the first built in Tibet in 700BC. It was very interesting and it is so amazing to be touching wood colums that are so old. Ian and Keith climbed to the top of the nearby Holy mountain to take a photo of the monastery while I explored all the outer temples within the walls. the entire monastery has been built as a mandala. We stayed in the monastery hotel which had no showers and shared toilets but comfy beds. Dinner was a feast at a local restaurant and cards continued after our meal. We all enjoyed star gazing on our way back to the hotel as there were so few lights to interfere with the view.

Thursday: Long drive (8hrs) to Gyantse over mountains and passes. We reached 4500 altitude along the way. Yamdrok Tso Lake was such a turquoise colour-simply amazing! Even Ling had not seen it so blue and she has visited a few times. We also stopped to check out the glacier and tie our farewell white scarfs from Lhasa onto the prayer flags. this electricity pole was so weighted down with prayer flags tied off in every direction. We also stopped to see where they conduct water buriels and lucky for us none were in progress.
We explored town a little and then we to a local restaurant for Yak burgers. They were fantastic but Ian Yaked his right back up when we got back to the hotel. Having a toilet and shower in your room are such a luxury when your sick!

Friday: Another sleepless night for me and Ian has diahorrea again but we were up early for a walk up to the Fort at 7.30. From the fort you could see the Pelkor Chode temple and after we left the fort we walked out to the temple and explore it. On our way back to town Ian hitched a ride with a couple of local boys in their tractor. Ling ran after him but they wouln't stop for her. After a great lunch we drove to Shigatse: only 1 and half hours on good roads which was a treat.

Saturday: 5 hours sleep and I got up early for a walk up the mountain with Keith, Malcolm and Janet. Ian not feeling too bad but decided to sleep in. Our visit to the Tashilunpo monastery built in the 14AD and seat of the Panchen Lamas was very opportune as we were able to see a cermony where the head teaching monk was renewed. The yellow hat monks held a ceremony to appoint and cloak the new head monk. Within the monastery we also saw the chortens of the previous 5-9 and 10th Panchen Lamas. In this monastery the largest gold/copper buddah (future) 26m high and with 6900 ounces of gold and 116,000kg copper built in 1914 resides.

Sunday: After a 4 hour drive we reached the town of Sakya, which was very old and dirty. The monastery here is the seat of the Sakya sect of Monks and houses one of the largest and oldest set of buddist scriptures. Ian climbed the mountain to check out the ruins and nunneries while I joined the group and visited the monastery. Afterwards we took the 60+ toothbrushes our group had collected from our hotel rooms and donated them to the local school.

Monday: We set off early for a 8 hour rough road drive to Mt Everest. The first 4 hours were on sealed roads and we crossed a number of passes along the way each reaching over 4000m. We reached tent city which is about 3km from base camp at about 4pm. The view was spectacular so we decided to trek to base camp straight away as the view may not have been as good in the morning. 7 of us walked without a guide and got a little off the beaten track. We ended up about 200m higher than base camp with spectacular views of Mt Everest and the lower glacier. We did not realise that base camp is heavily monitored by the chinese army and that Ling and our guide were being grilled by the army about our whereabouts. From our position we waved to the rest of our group below and quickly the army sent out troops to round us up! 5 of us were escorted off the mountain by the army while Ian and Malcolm managed to allude the guards and headed back to tent city. The guards were very angry with Ling and our local guide for allowing us to go outside of the sanctioned area and kept us in there headquarters for about an hour checking our passports and visas.
A night in tent city is a memorable experience. Each tent is owned and operated by a family or in our case the monastery. the family cooked for us and beds are the seats around the room. Not a great sleep but who cares when the rest of the experience is so much fun!

Tuesday: We set off about 10am after seeing a beautiful sunrise on Mt Everest and picked up a monk from the Rongpu monastery who needed a lift to Old Tingri. The monk provided a lot of background on ruins and myths and legends. He also had us stop along the way to talk to farmers and exchange yak milk and barley flour. We stopped at Old Tingri for lunch and decided to give the Northcliffe first aid supplies as it was a very poor town and the little clinic was so poorly stocked! Ling and I had to describe what the bandages were used for and Ling wrote notes in chinese for the doctor who was also chinese. The doctor was very grateful for the donation as these items will be invaluable in the case of a severe accident. Most people don't go to the clinic unless their injury is severe.
The long drive across the Tibetan Plateau was truly spectacular as we used dirt roads through remote areas. The scenery changed continuously from the plateau to the mountains. we crossed two passes at over 5000m including Toongla pass where we saw the full range of the himalayan mountains laid out in front of us. So spectacular. After crossing the himalayas we headed down in altitude and the landscape changed to lush mountainside as we drove towards Zhangmu. A landslide had the road blocked so we decided to walk to the town and leave our gear with the 4wd to bring when the road was opened. we walked for about an hour and half into the town. THis is not a very pretty town built on the hillside. Like many border towns it has many brothels and a sleezy feel to it. Our hotel was very ordinary with shared toilets and showers. We had dinner at the hotel and the 4wd's arrived just as our food arrived but the poor drivers had no accomodation for the night. We stayed and played cards for a while after dinner but Ian and Keith stayed played on till early morning and were quite drunk by the time they went to bed. Tess had to convince Keith to put clothes on to go to the shared toilets and he went without shoes on😞

Wednesday: Woke at 7.30 and went to go for a shower. Not hot water, in fact no water at all so you couldn't even flush the squat toilets. Not happy camper! A water pipe had busted up the mountain due to another landslide. We were keen to move on and not stay another night in Zhamgmu, so Ling arranged for us to go to Nepal a day early. Our drivers and guide drove us to the border crossing which was half an hour further down the hill but a hairy drive as there were landslides and washouts and big trucks trying to pass us in the opposite direction. We said our goodbyes and gave them a tip for their excellent service.
At the border the chinese guards went through all our luggage looking for papers or pictures of the Dali Lama. Poor Nepalese who had gone to china to purchase goods carried massive loads on their heads to avoid the extra costs of taking goods through in trucks. these people were in severe pain carrying the weights on their head and it was not only men, but women and boys. We crossed the river bridge on foot into Nepal into Kodara and made our way to customs and then on to our mini van which just fitted the twelve of us. Kodara was a slumb city made up of shanties on the side of a cliff road. We could not go anywhere as a bus had broken down a little further down the road and no cars could move up of down the mountain. We all got out and walked down to check it out. Ian suggested to them that they move a couple of parked cars and push the bus to the side which they did. They couldn't even work out how to move one of the cars they couldn't find the owner of until Ian opened the door and pointed to the ignition which had the keys in it. So many people, so little idea! Everything got moving again slowly and we were heading out of Kodara by 4.15pm. Crammed into the minibus it took us till 7.40 to reach our destination travelling along steep mountain roads with landslides every kilometre. The scenery was spectacular and we saw Ping's a special bamboo swing constructed for the Dashain festival in villages along the way. It got dark about 6.30pm which meant the rest of the journey was crammed with nothing to look at. Everyone was extremely glad to escape the minibus when we arrived at our hotel. The 100+ steps up to the hotel were not a problem as porters carried our bags (70rupee tip for 2 bags) (66rupee to $1AUD). The hotel was great! Each room overlooked the valley without any obstuction and the rooms were spacious and clean with private bathroom and toilet! We were here for 2 nights and very happy. Dinner at the hotel restaurant was a suprise as Brett had made his way back via India to rejoin us.

Thursday:

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Photos

Friendly Lhasa
the children loved seeing their photo on the camera

Tibet travel
our 4wd convoy

Toilets on the road
most toilets are outdoor

Samye monastery
Ian and Keith climb Holy Mountain to take photo

Glacier prayer flag
Ian adds his white flag

Lake Yamdrok Tso
Ling had never seen it so blue before!

Glacier
Driver has a smoko break while we check out the view

Fort
another stair climb

Gyantse Fort
looking back to Pelkor Chode and Dzong

Hitching in Gyantse
Local boys give Ian ride to town

Donkey transport
used regulary so droppings are everywhere

Shigatse
View from early morning mountain climb

Tent City
at the base of Mt Everest

Our Tent
run by Rongpu Monastery

First aid supply donation
Old Tingri

Old Tingri Clinic
donation from Northcliffe SLSC