Chomolangma
Tibet has to be one of the dustiest places on the Earth's surface. It rains here once a year and in between stays sunny and cold. The afternoon winds create massive sand dunes, though the sand is just dust; very fine and powdery like talc.
The trip to Nepal over land through Tibet was not as epic as the description sounds, but it took us through some pretty remote places where the only road was an unsurfaced track through the valley. On the way through you could see only the ocassional yak or shepherd and in the middle of the the desert you would find lots of tiny villages full of smiling faces and grubby children.
Our jeep in this journey was another old Landcruiser, a blue one this time, named Rose. Our guide was a nice chap called Tashey whose main specialisation was as a trekking guide, so he's used to walking the route we drove. Our driver was as crazy as the last guy.
We started from Lhasa and went on the only road out of the city to a dust-bowl in the middle of nowhere. This was another crummy Chinese town and I do not remember much about that except that the bedroom in the hostel we stayed in was cold. I brought rations with me in the form of pots of instant noodles (not as bad the Pot Noodles, though close) and ate one of them for dinner.
The next day was a similar experience, another bloody monastery, though this one was (mercifully) closed so we did not stick around. We stayed in a similarly uncomfortable hotel and the following day we headed off for the highlight: Everest Base Camp.
The journey there was enjoyable. The scenery was as you'd expect a desert, bleak though beautiful; the desert stretching out in front of you with the Himalayas rising up at the horizon. Then when we saw Everest for the first time I thought it was much shorter than it should be, though even on the valley floor we were close to 5000 metres up so Everest "only" stretches up another 3800 metres or so.
We got closer and closer, moving up the valley with the mountain straight ahead and before we knew it we arrived at base camp. Base camp is a scattering of semi-permanent tents run by Tibetan guides and people, with smaller tents set up by the frequent expeditions. One tent stood out though as it had named itself "The Hotel de California". I could not pass this chance up and went inside. I was immediately offered tea from a nice man who called himself Tenzing (no relation). He spoke excellent English, as I'd come to expect from the Tibetans, and told me about how he was working in this out of the way place for a few months over the summer. He was studying English and Chinese and hoped to become a proper guide for the region. I certainly wished him luck as he was kind and even gave us dinner later on.
So we stayed the night there and ate. The chef was a full-time drunk who made a mean pancake. Tenzing got out an old tape player and shared with us his collection of ballads and the inevitable Eagles' hit. That night it was so cold that my feet went numb! I had managed to get into my sleeping bag and pile about 4 rugs and duvets on top of me so after rubbing my feet for about 15 minutes I soon warmed up, though I had to wear my woolly hat.
The following morning was beautiful and the sky was clear. Looking up at the mountian is probably the only thing that I have done so far on this trip that has properly touched me. To look at it, Everest is only another mountain, though to think of all the lives that have been squandered in persuit of the summit and the fact that I could look directly at the highest point on the earth's surface made me think about things. I certainly got more of a spiritual kick out of that than any of the monasteries that I'd visited. Only about 130 people have ever reached the summit since 1953 when Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached it. The dead, meanwhile, stay where they land.
So onwards towards the border with the Kingdom of Nepal. This involved another stop over in one of the most deadbeat towns I stayed at in Tibet. Another dustbowl, lousy food, but good company. It did not matter though as I will take a lot from this trip. I have seen a country that still few westerners have seen. It is a distinct culture within China and the people are of good character and friendly it is just a shame that we all let the Chinese screw them. They have very little so for the hospitality they offer I will always be grateful. I will definately go back, though next time I will bring a dust mask.
The trip to Nepal over land through Tibet was not as epic as the description sounds, but it took us through some pretty remote places where the only road was an unsurfaced track through the valley. On the way through you could see only the ocassional yak or shepherd and in the middle of the the desert you would find lots of tiny villages full of smiling faces and grubby children.
Our jeep in this journey was another old Landcruiser, a blue one this time, named Rose. Our guide was a nice chap called Tashey whose main specialisation was as a trekking guide, so he's used to walking the route we drove. Our driver was as crazy as the last guy.
We started from Lhasa and went on the only road out of the city to a dust-bowl in the middle of nowhere. This was another crummy Chinese town and I do not remember much about that except that the bedroom in the hostel we stayed in was cold. I brought rations with me in the form of pots of instant noodles (not as bad the Pot Noodles, though close) and ate one of them for dinner.
The next day was a similar experience, another bloody monastery, though this one was (mercifully) closed so we did not stick around. We stayed in a similarly uncomfortable hotel and the following day we headed off for the highlight: Everest Base Camp.
The journey there was enjoyable. The scenery was as you'd expect a desert, bleak though beautiful; the desert stretching out in front of you with the Himalayas rising up at the horizon. Then when we saw Everest for the first time I thought it was much shorter than it should be, though even on the valley floor we were close to 5000 metres up so Everest "only" stretches up another 3800 metres or so.
We got closer and closer, moving up the valley with the mountain straight ahead and before we knew it we arrived at base camp. Base camp is a scattering of semi-permanent tents run by Tibetan guides and people, with smaller tents set up by the frequent expeditions. One tent stood out though as it had named itself "The Hotel de California". I could not pass this chance up and went inside. I was immediately offered tea from a nice man who called himself Tenzing (no relation). He spoke excellent English, as I'd come to expect from the Tibetans, and told me about how he was working in this out of the way place for a few months over the summer. He was studying English and Chinese and hoped to become a proper guide for the region. I certainly wished him luck as he was kind and even gave us dinner later on.
So we stayed the night there and ate. The chef was a full-time drunk who made a mean pancake. Tenzing got out an old tape player and shared with us his collection of ballads and the inevitable Eagles' hit. That night it was so cold that my feet went numb! I had managed to get into my sleeping bag and pile about 4 rugs and duvets on top of me so after rubbing my feet for about 15 minutes I soon warmed up, though I had to wear my woolly hat.
The following morning was beautiful and the sky was clear. Looking up at the mountian is probably the only thing that I have done so far on this trip that has properly touched me. To look at it, Everest is only another mountain, though to think of all the lives that have been squandered in persuit of the summit and the fact that I could look directly at the highest point on the earth's surface made me think about things. I certainly got more of a spiritual kick out of that than any of the monasteries that I'd visited. Only about 130 people have ever reached the summit since 1953 when Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached it. The dead, meanwhile, stay where they land.
So onwards towards the border with the Kingdom of Nepal. This involved another stop over in one of the most deadbeat towns I stayed at in Tibet. Another dustbowl, lousy food, but good company. It did not matter though as I will take a lot from this trip. I have seen a country that still few westerners have seen. It is a distinct culture within China and the people are of good character and friendly it is just a shame that we all let the Chinese screw them. They have very little so for the hospitality they offer I will always be grateful. I will definately go back, though next time I will bring a dust mask.