Everest at Dawn

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Mount Everest ....and the trip to Nepal

:: A spectacular Tibetan landscape ::

We arrived in Kathmandu almost a month ago but only stopped very briefly before heading off to the Annapurna region. Since then, we've managed to squeeze in 18 days of tough, vegetarian fueled, trekking around the Annapurna circuit and into the Annapurna Sanctuary. Dee's Dad met us along the way and endured the hardship with us - he can vouch for the never ending uphill ascents of the mountains over many long days.
Fitter and a little slimmer now than we've been in a while we stopped back into Kathmandu to enjoy good food that is gradually reverting us back to our former selves....before heading into India where we are now.

So to catch up where we left off in Tibet.....

Our route overland route through to Nepal took us along the scenic Friendship Highway; this highway begins in Lhasa , runs over the Tibetan Plateau and crosses the Nepal border before finally ending in Kathmandu. From our observation there are two popular ways of making the journey, by jeep over five days, or if you're a real thrill seeker, by bicycle over a fortnight.

:: Yamdrok Lake ::

Opting for the former we teamed up with Marc and Imma (from Barcelona) and departed Lhasa in our aging Landcruiser. Stops along the way included the turquoise Yamdrok Lake, the fort city of Gyantze and Shigatse, the home of the Panchen Lama and then onto highlights of all highlights Everest Base Camp before dropping down to Zhangmu to cross the border into Nepal.

:: Kumbum Monastery - Gyantze ::

Over the course of the five days we admired spectacular snow capped mountains and huge barren plains as we passed through lots of small Tibetan villages. As we climbed higher and higher up into the mountains towards Everest what impressed upon us most was the fact that families live and survive in these areas of desolation and isolation with very little shelter from the hostile elements.

Day 4 brought the highlight of the whole journey.... reaching Everest Base Camp. Blankets of clouds that can envelop the mountain for weeks on end constantly threaten to rob visitors of the overriding reason most people embark on this route. After three very bumpy hours of off road driving which thoroughly tested the full capability of the Land Cruiser we finally reached Rongphu Monastery and proceeded on to the tourist base camp looking disappointingly down the valley to see white clouds occupying the space where Everest should stand imposingly. We could see one small peak but knew that somewhere in the clouds a mountain towered above it. Base Camp for tourists is located at the very end of the road on which vehicles are allowed to travel on. 100 metres of the road either side is lined with big black tent "hotels". We checked in to Hotel California, dumped our bags and started hiking the 6km to the actual Everest Base Camp at 5,200 metres hoping the clouds would lift long enough catch a glimpse of the mountain. Hours of waiting and imagining the clouds were lifting finally came to an end when the sun went down and an icy wind drove us back to tented Hotel California for the night with the hope that morning would bring a clear view.

Before dawn early risers confirmed that heavy cloud completely obliterated any mountain views so there was little point in rushing to get up and out into the cold. As people turned over in their beds to get some more sleep there were sudden excited shouts of "it's clearing" followed by a flurry of activity as people hastily threw on their shoes and ran out with cameras. As we all watched the clouds slowly dissolved revealing a breathtakingly awesome sight as the world's highest mountain majestically imposed her towering form before us.

:: Sunrise touches the Summit ::

These sensational moments and the minutes that followed as the sun came up and gave a Midas golden touch to the summit have become the absolute highlight of our trip. It's hard to put words to the experience and emotion we felt that morning.

:: Mt Everest ::

Rattling along towards the Nepal border later that day we'd all had enough of jeeps. An hour from the border along a stretch of road with a cliff on one side and sheer ravine on the other we encountered Chinese "road works". A fleet of Land Cruisers waited whilst workers laid dynamite into the cliff .... literally put their hands over their ears and blew massive sections of the overhang up showering the road with debris. No such thing as anything being a danger to the general public here. An hour or so later a bulldozer had pushed the massive rock debris over the side of the ravine (almost going in himself in the process) and we were waved on to our final destination of Zhangmu, the last Tibetan stop before the border.

:: Tourist Base Camp ::

The following morning, after a slight delay in which a Chinese border guard questioned the authenticity of Marcus's passport, we left Tibet in a little minibus and drove the 8km down through no man's land to the Nepal border. On crossing the bridge into Nepal there is a marked difference, you're immediately aware that you are in a new country. The new spicy smells and aromas are the first to hit followed by the vibrant colours, decorated buses and hustle of bustle of a new race of people living their daily lives. Clambering on board a bus heading in the Kathmandu direction we settled back to take in Nepal and form our first impressions. It was an eyeopening experience. Firstly all local buses have almost a colourful circus theme, they are adorned in lots of flare in the form of flags, tassels and pieces of material that are draped in the front window of the bus, lots of bells and whistles dance in front of the driver's direct line of vision as he negotiates narrow cliff side roads, hairpin bends and swerves to avoid stray goats and chickens. Over the driver's head there are two vital pieces of electronic equipment. The first is a cassette player which demands attention regularly, at the end of each song a new tune on a new tape is selected by the driver. The second is a horn machine with ten different sounds, depending on the situation, i.e. stopping, pulling out, coming around a bend, mood of the driver an individual horn trumpets a little tune to accompany the circumstance. Between driving and undertaking these tasks the driver is very very distracted.

Sitting up the front we watched as the bus stopped every couple of kilometres to squeeze some more people in until finally there was an overflow to the roof of the bus. We stopped in a small village and waited for twenty minutes as a woman ridiculously loaded fifty big boxes of Chinese whiskey (no exaggeration) in through the back window of the bus. Anyone unfortunate enough to be sitting in the back seats was relocated to the roof. Shortly later we stopped and a ridiculous number of boxes of brandy were added to the cargo. There just doesn't seem to be a ceiling on the amount of goods people are prepared to load onto a public bus. We picked up more and more passengers who squabbled over every available inch of space. At one stage we stopped and a man jumped in the driver's window and sat in beside him. You know a bus is really full when there are two people sitting in the driver's seat!!!

After a long hot day on an underpowered bus painstakingly climbing hill after hill we finally reached the top and freewheeled down into Kathmandu valley - and into rush hour traffic. We stayed in Kathmandu just long enough to pick up some essential trekking supplies before taking another bus to the Annapurna mountains.

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Lhasa

:: Potala Palace by Night ::

Our first impression upon scooting into Lhasa from the train station was 'oh no', this magical place has been turned into another Chinese 'Han' City. Thankfully as we wound our way through the new apartment buildings, hotels and KTV bars we found ourselves arriving into the backpackers area which borders the Old Lhasa we were hoping to see.

Streets lined with Butchers selling fresh cuts of Yak, Shops full to the ceiling with Yak butter and people on pilgrimages doing rounds of the Monasteries soon filled the backstreets of Old Lhasa.

Potala Palace is obviously on top of everyones list as visitors to the city. Knowing this the local bureaucracy has outdone themselves inventing the most obtuse system to acquire tickets humanly possible. Queuing up the day prior to your visit, before sunrise, passport in hand, you are ushered through into a holding pen to wait until they open the Ticket booking office. Once at the window you obtain a ticket booking receipt for an allocated time which you need to get in the front gate of the Palace the next day.

The Next day you turn up , show your ticket booking slip and enter the palace, only to walk 25 min through the palace to find the actual ticket purchasing booth. Upon location of said booth you surrender your ticket booking slip and passport and (200RMB later) are issued with tickets, 36 hours after commencing the process. Needless to say, the rigmarole was worth is. The palace is an iconic building and seeing the Dalia Lamas tombs inside is remarkable.

:: Debating Monks at Drepung Monastery ::

One of the most unusual things we went to see was the Monks Debating at Drepung Monastery. At 3pm every day the heated, noisy (need sound below) debates get underway. One monk sits on the ground while the other barks points at him, finishing every statement with a loud slap of the hands. It really was quite extraordinary to see and hear.

:: Potala Palace ::

The next leg of our journey takes on the mandatory Jeep trip to the Nepal border. Over 5 days we will bump along dodgy roads, visit Lakes, Monasteries and the highlight, Everest Base Camp. The weather seems to have been stable here recently so signs are good that we will get a good view of the big hill.

Our Next report will be from Kathmandu...stay tuned.... and don't forget to leave comments below if you are so inclined.

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The Highest Train Journey in The World ....

After 45 hours of smooth train riding we have arrived in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. We spent the first night on the train from Chengdu to Xining on a normal sleeper train before transferring to the swanky "Rocket to the rooftop of the world" in the afternoon. This superdooper train has state of the art engineering and is more spacious and comfortable than your average Chinese sleeper trains. During the train swapping process there was an excited rush of local tourists who barged onto the new train to claim their territory - even though it's seat assigned and we were all to sleep in the same bed number, and thus the same position on the train as the previous night. Once settled it wasn't long before all the equipment and facilities were put through their paces and all the computerised gauges admired. The only complaint on board was that the hot water tank, a vital necessity in the noodle making process, was slow to heat up so there were lots of people wandering around with dry noodles bowls at a loss what to do.

During the first hour on the new train we were subjected to a lengthy description of altitude sickness and every possible affect it could have on the human body. To be honest it went from funny to slightly unsettling. At the end of the health lesson there was a stern announcement of ...."Smoking is very very bad for you - this is a non smoking train" ... yeah right no such luck more like the kind where everyone smokes in between the carriages and waves the smoke towards non existent air vents.



The most interesting section of the train line is between Golmud and Lhasa, it's here that the special diesel engines, capable of operating efficiently at 3-mile-high altitudes, get put to the real test running over track laid on permafrost.


Out the window we saw some incredible scenery, snow capped mountains were plentiful. We also whizzed passed China's largest freshwater lake, Qinghai Lake. Due to the altitude along this section oxygen is pumped into the train cabins to fend off altitude sickness. Although I'm not sure how much sense this makes if you have to get out and breathe the real air when you arrive in Lhasa.

On the final morning on the train we were all roused at dawn by loud music. The amusing thing about long train journeys in China is that everyone gets up really early in the morning and then discovers that there's nothing to do and ends up going back to bed again. By the last morning some passengers discovered that the oxygen nozzles over each bed were now dispensing air once turned. It spread like wildfire and pretty soon everyone had their nostrils up against the valves taking deep breaths - for it to function correctly a tubed face mask must be connected up! In our carriage a woman "suddenly" became overcome with sickness and was dragged to the next carriage and back again by well wishers, with so many helping and rubbernecking they completely crowded her out so it was hardly surprising that she was overcome and couldn't breathe.

We reached Lhasa earlier than expected and stepped out of our "safe oxygen" chamber and out into the "real air".... everyone quickly forgot about the thin air and in true Chinese style rushed at full speed towards the exit and onto the bus to bags seats.

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