From left to right: Roei ("One yuan, one yuan!") from Israel, Emily, me, Simon, and Annabel (from the UK). We were secretly in competition with the Dutch-Austrian team in a newer Landcruiser who beat us everywhere because their driver was older, and our driver didn't want to pass him. We beat them to Kathmandu, though, and for half the price. Ha!
Passes are strewn with prayer flags. This one was no different. Whenever we passed a set of these, our driver made a sound like, "Shoo-shoo-shoo..."
Qomolangma to the Tibetans, Sagarmatha to the Nepalese, and Mt. Everest to the English-speaking world. On the Tibetan side, we passed through a high desert (it was hot in the Landcruiser) and climbed a series of switchbacks (passing a crazy mountainbiker with a heavy backpack) to a pass at 5100-m.
We stopped in this town to get some lunch and pay our Qomolangma National Park fee (405 RMB per vehicle and 65 RMB per person). I went into a small restaurant and asked the cook how much a bowl of noodles was. "6 Yuan," he replied in Mandarin. I brought the others in. When the bill came, they tried to charge us 16 RMB a bowl and even showed me the English menu to prove their point. I spoke with the chef and reminded him that he told me 6 RMB. He finally acquiesced. I have been lucky in China, being able to speak Mandarin, in avoiding such hassles, but I see that tourists tend to get ripped off like elsewhere in Asia.
Simon in Tibet. Note the Tibetan house on the left and the "ruins", as I like to refer to them as, on the hill on the left. There are ruins everywhere, but I don't think they're that old. Just abandoned places.
The third day had us heading toward Everest. It wasn't an hour after leaving Lhatse that we came upon our first glimpse of the highest point on Earth.
A lot of Tibetans play this game using seashells, coins, and pegs. I couldn't get a handle on it.
These keep the cold air out and the smoke-filled air in.
These interesting contraptions have replaced the horses for pulling wagons.
Lhatse -- literally a one street town. Cold and windswept. Citizens sat on the sidewalk on the sunny-side of the street, sitting in urine, spit, and poo, while the shady side had bricks of ice.
Like towns in the Old West or in those spaghetti-western movies that Clint Eastwood made.
So this is the seat of the Panchen Lama, the head of the other order of Tibetan Buddhists (after the Mongols recognized the "Yellow Hats" as the head in Lhasa). Anyways, photos the present Dalai Lama are illegal in China and Tibet, however there are photos of the previous incarnation of the Panchen Lama. The present one is under house arrest apparently after making statements supporting a "free Tibet". It's ironic since the Panchen Lama identified by the Dalai Lama was rejected by the Chinese government and they found their own Panchen Lama, but he ended up turning against them anyways.
The sun didn't rise until almost 0900 so that's when we left the towns on the five-day journey to Nepal. Everyday we drove for about five to seven hours. On the second day we drove to Shigatse a couple hours from Gyantse to look at the second largest town in Tibet, and also the head of the Panchen Lama.
A pretty cool looking place that the British once occupied while invading Tibet. You climb to the top from the back. I didn't go in. Too cold and tired.
It cost 40 RMB to enter, but I wasn't interested. Outside there were a few beggars, but nothing compared to Lhasa. Lhasa was teeming with beggars. It was explained to me that a lot of the beggars were nomads who had lost their way of life with the shrinking herds of yak in Tibet.
We ended our day in Gyantse, a small town with a dzong, a fortress, and a monastery. We didn't pay to enter either one, but walked around the cold Tibetan town. Gyantse is supposed to be one of the least Chinese-influenced towns in Tibet. There were a lot of folks sitting around the sunny side of the street drinking, playing dice, billiards, and socializing in the warm afternoon sun. On the cold side of the street (in the shade), there was frozen puddles of spit and water.
Another highpoint (almost all decorated with prayer flags) above a dammed reservoir, now providing power to this part of Tibet.
We stopped at this glacier for some photos. There were some Tibetans selling some wierd fake crystals. They also offered, "Photo? Yak?" No, thanks.
We stopped for lunch in a small town. Small towns in Tibet are windswept and dusty this time of year. They resemble towns in the Old West or Mexico from cowboy movies. We were brought to a place for tourists, but I led the group to an empty place for some cheap noodle soup (10 RMB). When we left, the owner surreptitiously slipped me a pack of cigarettes for bringing in some tourists to his restaurant. Every now and then, Chinese folks will mistake me for a tour guide taking Western tourists about. I guess this was my kick-back for bringing them business. Funny.
I remarked to the Mandarin-speaking Tibetan driver that the road was very good. He said, "It ends soon", and sure enough, we hit gravel outside of town.
A little while after, we started to see some snow and glacier on the peaks. The view got better and better. The roads didn't however.
At 4488-meters, this place was cold cold cold. In winter this freshwater lake freezes over. There was ice in some places and crazy ducks that hadn't migrated yet. Off in the distance is Mt. Nojin Kangtsang at 7191 meters. This is one of four holy lakes in Tibet where pilgrims will perform circumambulations.
We climbed to the top of Kamba-la pass, our highpoint of the day, and a place for great views.
At 4794 meters, this place had some crazy folks waiting for the tourists with their yaks to photograph. There was also a busload of crazy mountain bikers getting ready to ride down to their campsite down by the lake.
To get to the Nepalese border, you can hire a Land Cruiser from a travel agency in Lhasa. They tend to run about 3500 RMB for a five-day trip to the border, stopping at Everest Base Camp. This includes the driver, car, and fuel, but doesn't include entrance fees for monasteries, national park fees, food, or accommodations. I teamed together with some Brits and an Israeli for the five-day trek (700 RMB each).
Day one, five of us set out of Lhasa at 9 am, bundled in our fleece, thermals, hats, and gloves in a Toyota Land Cruiser. We headed west toward the airport (about an hour away), until we started to climb out of the valley. The road was remarkably new and pothole free. We kept climbing and climbing, and it soon became very warm in the car and we had to shed some of our layers of clothing.
In its various forms. Hard and dried and threaded together on a string, it can make a nice necklace, Christmas tree decoration, or ward off vampires.
