We've just returned from two magical weeks in Tibet. Our journey ranged from long days driving unpaved, high-mountain roads through visits to exquisite monasteries to trekking in freezing rain and, finally, culminated at the Mt. Everest Base Camp. I've given the itinerary as provided by our guides annotated with my own thoughts (and a few pictures!).
We approached Tibet circuitously. Rather than fly into the capital, Lhassa, as most tourists choose to do, we drove in from Shangri-La in the Yunnan province of China. Even getting there was not so easy. We had to first fly further south the capital of Yunnan, Kunming. From there we were able to fly to Shangri-La where we slept in a traditional Chinese bed in the charming Cobbler's Inn.
The next morning we headed for Dechen to meet up with our terrific guide and driver from
Tibet Nyingtri Shambhala Travel. Overall we were delighted with Dawa and his crew there who put together a wonderful, customized itinerary for us at a very reasonable price. Dawa's descriptions are in itallics below and my own thoughts and comments in regular type.
Day 01:Dechen – Yanjing 120KmMeet our guide and driver in Dechen and then Leaving Dechen, you will be driving through beautiful scenery and stop to view the spectacular Khawa Karpo mountain range forming the border with Tibet.I can't complain that Dawa's itinerary was unclear as to where we met our guides. Only that our guidebook didn't have much about Dechen (and nothing about it under that spelling!) and that Dawa neglected to mention that upon arriving by plane in Shangri-La (which he did tell me how to do when I asked him how to get to Dechen) we would need to find a someone to take us for a 5 hour drive to Dechen. Fortunately, the very nice lady at the guesthouse in Shangri-La helped us out and Saturday morning we set off for the connect in Dechen.
Once there we had no trouble meeting our guides and hitting the road. Well
before we crossed into Tibet the pavement disappeared and we were off on well-maintained but dusty, unpaved roads. We had our first Tibetan meal that evening in Yanjing in a typical Tibetan-style restaurant. Also the best meal of the trip, a dish which more-or-less translates to "add more noodles" and it is just that. They set up a pot near the table and served us noodles in a light soup. They cooked only a few bites worth of noodles at a time and every minute or two arrived with another tiny bowl of noodles to add. Entertaining, filling and tasty.
Day 02: Yanjing- Markham - Zougong, 258KmDrive up the Mekong Gorge into the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) via Yanjing, stopping en route to visit the salt wells on the river. Continue to Markham. Enroute, visit Markham Gompa and then continue to Zogong along the spectacular dirt road known as the '99 bends' route, through the upper basin of the Mekong River through farming villages, crossing several high passes ( 5,008m )
We started the day at the salt well in Yanjing (which, not coincidentally, means "salt well"). Here water evidently bubbles up through salt deposits and is collected in a well set into the river. The river banks are lined with drying pans where the sun slowly evaporates the water leaving behind the salt which the villagers collect both for local use and export. Salt has probably been made in the same way for thousands of years here.
'99 bends' was no exaggeration as we pulled out of town onto the windy mountain road that we'd follow north until we reached the main east-west highway to Lhassa. Late on the second day we reached our first 5000+ meter (around 16,500 feet) pass. My first (and, fortunately, only) altitude headache of the trip. The mountain passes in Tibet are interesting. Every single one is crowned by a wreath of prayer flags left by passing travelers. Often in addition to heaps of flags at some convenient point beside the road, they creep long distances up whatever remains of the mountain above where the road cuts through. Sometimes they also swoop across the road or even across rivers anchoring in what appear to be wholly inaccessible cliffs on the otherside. I can't begin to guess how people get them there.
Day 03: Zougong - Pashoe, 218KmAfter reaching Pomda in the Yu-chu valley, ascent the Zar Gama La Pass ( 4,618m ), descending through 180 switchbacks to the Upper Salween River and cross Nakchu Zampa Bridge at Po . Continue through the Pomda Highlands to Pasho ( 218km )Mostly more of the same. Driving along spectacular, but somewhat rough mountain roads. Prayer flags at the passes and all.
Day 04: Pasho - Rawok lake -Nyingtri,432 KmShort drive ( 90 km ) to Rawok-Tso up the Ling-chu valley via Ngajuk La Pass ( 4,468m ) which forms the watershed between the Tsangpo / Brahmaputra and Salween Rivers . From here descend into forested scenery to the beautiful Rawok-Tso Lake with a backdrop of snow mountains and villages. There are 342 more kms drive to Nyingtri along the Parlung Tsangpo and Yilong Tsangpo Rivers via Bomi and Tangme. Drive over Serkhyin La Pass ( 5,000m with views of Mt. Namcha Barwa at 7,782m , the world's 8 th highest mountain). The road condition for today is much better than the previous days. The most part of the road is paved.
Rawok Lake is justifiably famous. The specacular, almost shockingly brilliant turquoise water nestles among beautiful mountains. I have seen water that color only once, in Alaska at the foot of an immense glacier. In fact, an Alaskan glaciologist told me that the color occurs because of the very low oxygen content of glacial meltwater which has not yet been aerated by flowing as a river. Indeed, the only other place I've seen the color in nature is in glacier ice. While Rawok Lake probably is glacier water, the glaciers have receded so far that it clearly must flow from somewhere. Furthermore, there were schools of lively fish visible. I don't think fish can live in oxygen-poor glacial water so it seems that low oxygen-content doesn't explain the color of Rawok Lake. With or without explanation, the lake is magnificent.
We also saw our first small temple/monastery situated on a lovely little island in the lake. Although pictures weren't welcome inside, I snuck one in the crawl space under the Budha. We're told that many temples have such crawlspaces to allow creeping under the scriptures to receive blessings. It's the only one we saw, although most have a passage that allows you to circumambulate the holy items in the chapel. Perhaps crouching isn't really necessary. This crawlspace was pitch-dark. The picture is illuminated only by my camera flash.
Day 05: Nyingtri -Darksum lake-Lhasa, 520Km Today's scenery, You will drive along the Bharmaputra river on your left side of the road and beautiful green forest with lovely flowers of fruit tree till Kongpo Gyamda. After Gyamda county, the scenery is changing from the forested gorge into more opened area with grassland with Tibetan nomads and nomadic camps. Those nomadic camps are typically made of Yak wool. Along the way, you can also see some small monasteries.
Another long day in the car. We did, however, get to see the inside of a typical Tibetan home and meet it's mini-proprietor. Home was fascinating. Entry level devoted to storage space for animals and motorbikes. Up a super-steep set of stairs (ladder?) to the main living floor. One corner room devoted to the household shrine - almost as ornate and heavily gilded as some temples we were in. Main room along the front edged with carpet-covered couches used for sitting and sleeping. Kitchen along the back wall with shelves full of copper pots and kettles. Upper floor, I think, for storage of hay, vegetables, etc.
Day 06: Visit Potala Palace, Jokang temple & Barkhor,POTALA PALACE the Potala is considered one of the great wonders of the world. It is held sacred by Tibetans as the former residence of successive Dalai Lamas, and is one of Tibet 's most holy pilgrimage sites. A palace was originally built in the 7 th century by King Songtsen Gampo, and was believed to have been nine stories high, but around the 9 th century it is believed to have been destroyed by a big fire. The present Potala Palace was constructed by the great fifth Dalai Lama in the 17 th century after he became ruler of Tibet . The Potala Palace is divided into two sections, the White Palace (completed in 1653) and Red palace (completed 1694). It has more than one thousand rooms and is thirteen stories high. The White Palace was secular in nature and mainly used for government administration, whilst the Red palace was mainly used for religious functions and still has numerous chapels, including those containing reliquary stupas of the successive Dalai Lamas which are richly decorated in gold, silver and semi-precious stones.
I don't have much to add to the Potala Palace. It's huge and quite amazing. Although it's not really that long a climb, even after a week in Tibet, the altitude got us and made it hard work to climb.
JOKANG TEMPLE the Jokang is Tibet 's most sacred temple, the main point of pilgrims from the entire Tibeta
n plateau. Located at the heart of the ancient town of Lhasa , it was built in the 7 th century by the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo's queen Bhrikuti on a site identified by Queen Wencheng according to her geomantic calculation. The temple is 3 stories high and it is constructed with enormous chapels including the most sacred statue of Budhha Shakyamuni, enshrined. It has around 70 monks nowadays.Maybe the most interesting thing about the temple was the people praying out front (not to say the temple itself wasn't also interesting - it was). No sitting still and mumbling here. Praying is good exercise, it seems. From standing, drop to knees, place hands on ground, smoothly stretch out until you are lying prostrate. Push back to knees. Stand. Rinse and repeat...and repeat...and repeat...and repeat...and... We were told many people spend the entire day there.
ANCIENT BHARKOR STREET is the most sacred pilgrimage site in Lhasa and it is full of pilgrims from down till dusk. There are four huge prayer flags situated in Bhakor street which surrounds the Jokang, known respectively as Gadhen Dharchen in the northeast, Juyak Dharchen in the west, Kelsang Dharchen in the southwest and SharKyaring Dharchen in the southeast. The Bharkor street is the most active mar
ket in all Tibet and it is possible to purchase traditional Tibetan artifacts, religious implements, antiques, modern goods, books, music, clothing, spices, fresh meat and vegetable."It is possible to purchase traditional Tibetan artifacts..." Um...yes...just a few from the one or two (or several hundred!) vendors crowded all around the Temple. I don't think I saw any pilgrims here. They all seemed to be circumambulating the Potala Palace or prostrating themselves in front of the temple. Bharkor street was crammed with tourists where the vendors left space. We stocked up on prayer flags and scarves to give as gifts as well as a few nicer items- a protector mask, yak's wool carpet, etc.
Day 07: Visit Drepung and Sera monasteriesDREPUNG MONASTERY is the largest monastery in Tibet , built in the 15 th 
century by Jamyang Choeje who is one of Tsongkapa's foremost disciple. The monastery is beautifully located up in a hill at the distance of 7 Km from the old section of the city and it is the biggest monastery in Tibetan Buddhism. The monastery has four main colleges with numerous small chapels and house chapels, known as Khangtsen in Tibetan. There are around six hundred monks nowadays.
The monastery is large and elaborate. As with other monasteries, the chapels, meeting halls, etc. are filled with ornate gilded statues, tombs, etc. Although these were interesting as always, what I most enjoyed about Drepung Monastery was our visit to the monastery kitchen. It is a large room mostly filled with the largest wood stove I've ever seen. It is still used for all the monastery's cooking. Huge cauldrons rest on the stove. The back wall has rows and rows of shelves holding hammered copper kettles for carrying yak butter tea to the praying monks. Ben's favorite part of the kitchen was the monastery cat.
Sera was certainly...unique. We saw two things of particular interest. The first is the printing room where scriptures are hand printed from metal plates. Each sheet is about 3 inches long by about 14 inches wide. The printer holds the plate on his lap and rolls ink over it. Either he or his assistant lays a sheet of paper on the plate, the printer rolls over the paper to press it against the plate, lifts it off and is ready for the next. A complete scripture ranges from just 10-15 pages to several hundred. Each is bundled together, tied and wrapped in a piece of yellow silk. Passages can be purchased individually from the temple printshop store.
The second fascinating feature is the monks' debates. Each afternoon the monks gather in a large yard behind the monastery to "debate." The practice is essentially incomprehensible to outsiders and doesn't resemble any kind of debating with which I am familiar. Monks sit in small groups (typically about 3-7). Each is then addressed by one or two other monks. The standing monk says something (we're told he asks a question). One of the sitting monks offers an answer. The standing monk races up to the monk who answer claps very loudly and brushes his hands in the answerer's face, then continues past. We are told something about the way in which the hands are brushed indicates whether the answer was right or wrong. If the answer was right, the standing monk might also grab the prayer beads dangling from his wrist and pull them up into his armpit - somehow this indicates truth. It is all very noisy and active, but quite bizarre.
After visiting the Sera Monastery, the owner of the guide agency invited us to be his guests at a dinner and Tibetan cultural show, although he did not actually join us. The show consisted of a variety of music and dance numbers. Some were examples of traditional Tibetan music/dance while others were modern inventions intended to illustrate some aspect of Tibetan history or culture. The most entertaining of the displays was the Yak Milking Dance. Apparently yaks are not too fond of being milked and are a little difficult when milking time comes.
Day 08: Drive from Lhatse-Ganden monastery (4500Mts/ 60KM )You will start your tour at around 9Am and drive along the Lhasa river domin
ated by beautiful Tibetan villages and flocks of yaks grazing on side mountain of Ganden monastery. We will visit the monastery. After the monastery sightseeing, you will start your trek to Yamado and today you will just trek between 3-4 hrs.Ganden Monastery is a large, rambling collection of buildings high on the side of a mountain. It is lovely and was worth the visit but, honestly, wasn't really the focus of our day.
Day 8 we started trekking. 4500 meters (14,700 feet) is
high. There is not a lot of air at 4500 meters. Although the hiking today was really not that difficult, we had to rest for nearly 10 minutes out of every thirty. We hiked through high-mountain meadow on a slow but steady ascent. Although we completed the route in about 2 1/2 hours rather than the predicted 3, we were pretty exhausted and glad for the yaks, yak men, cook and guide who accompanied us, did all the carrying (minus day pack with water, lunch, etc.), pitched/struck tents, cooked, etc.
Day 09: Trek from Yamado to Tso Topchu valley.4-5 hrsYou will start your trek at around 8.30Am. In 2 hrs past Yama Do, ascend Shug-la pass ( 5250 m ). It takes at least 1.5 hrs from the basin negotiating boulders and lumpy ground along the final steep climb to the pass. The route continues over the Shug-la pass following the cairned trail descending gradually and reaching the valley in 1.5 hrs from the pass. Cross the Tsotup Chu. Nomad herders with their herd of yaks, goat and sheep can be found here.If we though trek day 1 was tough (mostly because of altitude) we definitely had another think coming! Day 2 of the trek was easily the most physically challenging thing I have ever done in my life. While we no doubt could have trained harder in advance, I don't think any amount of preparation would have made us ready for what we encountered on day 2.
We were up early to eat a lovely breakfast of omlette, pancakes, oatmeal, muesli and more prepared by our wonderful cook. It's good we ate well because it would be our last substantial meal for two days. Unfortunately, it was another 2 1/2 hours before our team was ready to move out.
Things started out ok. More meadow similar to day 1, although a slightly steeper incline. We worked our way toward the summit of the pass all morning. A couple of hours after setting out, just as we started to reach the most difficult part of the ascent our troubles began. The forbidding, grey skies proved our concern well-founded. We found ourselves climbing in freezing rain and hail for most of the rest of the day. Although we'd expected some rain, we hadn't anticipated the volume, temperature or hail.
The cold made it impossible to pause for more than a couple of minutes at a time so lunch consisted of just the few mouthfuls of bread and cheese we managed to choke down before chills set in. After what seemed an endless climb in the miserable conditions, we finally spotted a little stack of stones of the type that often marks Tibetan passes. We pushed on with renewed vigor, convinced we'd nearly reached the summit and the going would get easier.
Our hope was in vain. We reached the cairn, only to see another rise topped with another little cairn. Surely that was it? We pushed on again. 20 minutes later, we were crushed to discover just another climb beyond the second cairn. We went on like that for two very discouraging hours.
The first tears of the day were tears of relief. They came as we crested the next-to-last rise and saw prayer-flags. We knew then that the climb ahead of us was our last, that just a few more minutes would bring us to the summit. Like a storybook, the sun broke through the clouds just as we reached the pass. We were sure the worst was over. Through the pass, wind down through meadows similar to those we'd climbed up through and we'd finally be in camp...
...or so we thought. After a brief rest at the 5200 meter (17,000 foot) summit we moved on. As we came out the other side of the pass we had our first clue that the descent might not be as easy as we'd expected. Still, the gradual decline over tumbles of boulders seemed not so, so bad compared to the ascent. We even managed to munch a bit more bread and cheese as we walked.
And then we rounded the mountain. And then we knew we were doomed. The skies opened up once again, just in time to ensure the worst possible footing over the most treacherous, challenging terrain either of us had ever hiked. We faced an hours-long, gradually descending traverse across a nearly vertical mountainside covered with loose rocks and mud. The larger rocks were slippery with rain and the smaller rocks and mud saturated and unstable. Each step required both careful concentration and immense physical effort. Resources already drained by the challenging climb in the thin mountain air and terrible weather.
Tears came again. This time tears of fear and exhaustion. We'd been picking our way gingerly over the scree for a good hour, when we came to a spot with a particularly large step down - too large for my short legs, especially exhausted as I was. There was an obvious place for an intermediate step. Unfortunately, it was covered with an enormous pile of green, slimy, slippery yak diarrhea. With my mind dulled by cold, lack of oxygen and sheer exhaustion, I was simply unable to work out a plan for getting down. Completely discouraged, the tears came. I don't actually remember how I got down that step - probably with lots of help from Ben and the guide.
Another hour along and we ran into one of the yak men. My mind was so fogged by that point that I was convinced it was the cook and remained certain until Ben, guide, cook and yak men all insisted otherwise when we parted days later. At any rate, he was a very welcome sign. I knew we had to be near camp. The yak man took my hand and towed me along the trail at a much faster pace than we'd been making. It was only another half hour or so before we spotted the next obstacle.
We had to cross the river, now swollen from the hours of heavy rainfall. The stepping stones the crew had used hours earlier were no longer viable so we had to scramble our way well upriver to locate a passable ford. We couldn't find a clear set of stones, but found some that seemed more-or-less manageable. We passed our packs off to yak man and guide. The took up precarious positions on stones off the main path and helped us across. By the time we made the other side, Ben was soaked to the skin. His knock-off North Face had long since stopped keeping out the rain. My high-tech Marmot jacket was better although I hadn't taken the rain seriously enough at first and had allowed too much to drip down collar or through partially-opened zipper. Despite being wet, I no longer felt the cold so I stripped off the long-sleeved shirt I was wearing under my jacket and gave it to Ben who had only a drenched t-shirt under his.
We had finally reached the meadow terrain we thought we'd be walking in most of the day. We'd assumed once we crossed the river we just needed to climb the first small hill to get to camp. Not so...we wandered over one hill after another for nearly another hour before finally stumbling into camp.
Tears came for the third time when I finally saw the peak of our blue tent peeking over the hill ahead. I'd survived the grueling day and had only minutes to warmth and shelter. I knew I had to get out of my wet clothes and get warm. It wasn't a moment too soon.
By the time we finally stumbled into the tent I was suffering from full-blown hypothermia. Six hours after I crawled shivering into my sleeping bag my skin was still icy to the touch, even though, after he got warm, Ben had crawled in with me to share body heat. We were too cold, shaky and exhausted to eat the food our cook brought to the tent.
The 4-5 hour hike took us 8 1/2 cold, painful, exhausting, grueling hours and we weren't done yet.
Day 10: Trek from Tso Topchu to Herders camp.5 hrsYou will start your trek as usual and from the Tsotup Chu valley, follow a small tributary entering from the south-west. The route follows steeply upwards for 30 mins until you reach a large basin. The terrain is not particularly difficult to reach Chitu-la pass ( 5100 m ) which is marked by several cairns . A short steep descent will bring you into a basin with three small lakes. The trail at many points is not clearly marked and goes past several seasonal camping sites before it reaches the valley floor.Although by the time the cook brought us our morning tea on day 3 I had finally warmed up, I'd slept only a few fitful hours. Still exhausted we were unable to choke down much breakfast so we set off on our third day of trekking still running mostly on the food we'd eaten for breakfast 24 hours earlier.
The morning was just as grey and oppressive as day 2 had been and we feared we were in for more bad weather. We raised the option of bailing out with the guide, but it turned out it would take until the next day (scheduled to be the last anyway) before we'd get to somewhere we could be picked up. The hiking would actually be harder if we took the route out than if we continued as planned. So, we continued.
Fortunately, day 3 was, as advertised, easier going than day 2. It was nearly all downhill which meant gradually more oxygen in the air as the day went on. That being said, day 3 was far from easy. We spent many, many hours scrambling over the rocks left behind in now-dry river beds or by receding glaciers. The footing was every bit us unstable as the descent on day 2 had been - we had going for us only that the underlying ground was much less steep. The weather in the morning was much like day 2 - more cold rain and hail. At least on day 3 we knew what to expect and had dressed more warmly. Unfortunately, we started out exhausted and the cold prevented us from doing more than inhaling a hard-boiled egg for lunch.
We spent nearly 10 hours on the trail, almost all of it moving. We don't think we really came it at double the estimated hiking time, though. It seems as if we camped 3 hours further down the trail than the plan called for. We came through a big nomad encampment in a very welcoming meadow about 6 1/2 hours in. Our guide pointed to the next ridge down and said we just had to go around that ridge and down a bit to reach camp. "Around the ridge and down a bit" apparently meant "around the ridge and another 2 1/2 hours down the trail." Surely the nomads we passed were the herder encampment where the plan called for us to camp.
Day 11: Trek from Herders camp to Yamalung.5-6 hrsStart the trek at around 8.30 Am. The trail is now wide and easy to follow and goes through forest of shrubs and rhododendrons for 3 hrs. The trail winds through a series of meadows before reaching Gen Do, a place with a ruined stone structure. The forest thins rapidly and reaches the first permanent village of Chantan ( 4020 m ) after leaving Hebu. In 30-40 mins , arrive at the turn off at Yamalung Valley . Yamalung Hermitage is another 1 hour steep climb from the valley floor. From Yamalung, you will be driving on a tractor and then get to Samye monastery.We finished the estimated 5-6 hours on the final day in just 3 hours, supporting our theory that we hiked much farther on day 3 than the plan intended. Finally, day 4 th
e hiking actually started to be fun. The weather improved. Most of the hike was easy walking on a gentle decline alongside a river. We crossed the river more times than I can count, as the meadow opened on first one side then the other. Some of the crossings were on alarmingly makeshift bridges, others on stepping stones. Sometimes there was no obvious crossing available when the meadow ran out on our side of the river. Our guide would pull stones from along the river bed and toss them into the river to create stepping stones we could cross on.
Although we were finally able to appreciate the beauty around us, we were, nevertheless, very relieved when we came upon the first village. Although it surely had no runnin
g water, vehicles, probably not even electricity, we knew we were safe. Another half hour or so down the road and we reached the end, the village where the tractor would pick us up.
For the first time we were ahead of our yaks so we had to wait an hour or so for them
to arrive before piling our gear and ourselves onto the tractor for the hour-long ride to Samye Monastery. Although we were scheduled to stay at the Monastery guest-house, we quickly decided that it would be better to press on to the next city where we'd be able to sleep in a hotel with a hot shower. I am not sure I have ever appreciated a shower so much!
Before heading out, though, we did tour Samye Monastery. It's a little dilapidated and not quite as grand as the other monasteries, but interesting none-the-less. It also has one of only two paintaings of the current Dalai Lama permitted in Tibet.
Day 12 Drive Tsetang-Gyangtse-Shigatse, 360KmYou will start your tour at around 8.30Am from your hotel and then drive towards Gyangtse through 3 big mountain passes, Kampa La, Karo La, Simila respectively. Karola is the highest pass among them which is over 5000Mts with it's most beautiful glaciers, beautiful Yamdrok lake emerged as coral color from the top of Kampala pass. You will have your lunch at Nakartse country which is just between the Yamdrok lake and Karola glaciers. Once you arrive in Gyangtse, drive directly towards Palchoe monastery. Visit Palchoe monastery and Kubum Pagoda stupa. After the sightseeing, you will continue your journey to Shigatse by passing one of the biggest farming land in Tibet where people grow barley, wheat, different kinds of vegetables.We drove straight through to Shigatse without stopping at the Palchoe Monastery. We did, however, make a brief visit to the Shigatse Monastery when we arrived. It seemed to have three may chapels. One contained the largest Budha I've ever seen. The next two contained giant gold and silver stupa-tombs. We don't have pictures because, typical of Tibetan monasteries, there was a per-room fee to take pictures. Most places it was 10-20RMB/room ($1.5-$3.00). In Shigatse it ranged from 75RMB to 125RMB ($10-$18). We calculated that if we'd wanted pictures in every place that was permitted we'd have spent over $50 in picture fees. Not worth it!
Day 13 Drive Shiagtse-New Dingri-Rongbuk monastery, 340KmYou will start your tour at around 8.30Am from your hotel and drive through two big mountain passes, Tsola 4500Mts/ Gyatso la 5220Mts, Pangla 5000Mts and some beautiful villages and the first view of Mount Everest from the foot of Gyatso la pass. You will have your lunch in Shegar.When you reach Pangla pass 5000Mts from which you will have a fantastic view of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu respectively which are over 8000Mts. After your lunch in Rongbuk monastery, you will visit the world's highest monastery, Rongbuk. When the sun sets, you will have a fantastic view of Mount Everest in the red colored sun shade. Explore Everest Base camp on the same day.We spent a long day in the car driving through incredibly desolate, barren terrain. Southwestern Tibet is high mountain country, far above the treeline and, apparently, mostly above the plant line as well. We mostly saw bare, rocky sand for hours on end. We saw the occasional small herd of yaks, although, honestly, I can't imagine what they ate up there. Even the river banks were pretty barren.
By mid-afternoon after passing through countless checkpoints we finally reached the turnoff for Mt. Everest. It turns out basecamp is vehicle accessible by a 100km dirt road. We slowly wound our way along the road straining for glimpses of the famed mountain. At each pass or overlook point we'd stop so our guides could point us to where we ought to be seeing Everest but weren't due to cloud cover.
Nearly three hours later we passed Rongbuk Monastery and headed on for the last few kilometeres to Base Camp. It was shortly after 5 when we pulled in. Base Camp consists of a large rectangle edg
ed by black yak-wool tents. Each tent seems to be operated as a separate guesthouse. Our guides selected one for us and we quickly dropped off our stuff before climbing on the bus that would take us the last few kilometers up to the highest accessible point on Mt. Everest (unless, of course, you have permits for an ascent attempt).
The bus dropped us at the guard tent where our gu
ide had to register us. We were ordered not to photograph the little green tent and to go no further than the top of the hill just ahead. We dutifully stopped to have our photo taken next to the sign and then again atop the hill where we might have had spectacular photos with the summit in the background had the summit not been heavily shrouded in clouds.
In fact, we didn't realize at that point that we weren't seeing the summit. We were, however, surprised at how small the mountain seemed. After all, it should rise another 12,000 feet from the point we were standing - not exactly negligible.
After everyone had taken their photos we got back on the bus to return to camp. We settled in to entertain ourselves by playing cards in the dimly lit tent. About 8:30 our guide wandered out for a smoke. He quickly came back to hustle us outside. The mountain had finally appeared from behind the clouds. We were flabbergasted. The slopes we'd seen beneath the clouds barely even registered as part of the mountain that now loomed over the camp, glowing in the evening sun. We spent a cold half hour gazing at the peak before heading back in and to bed.
5200 meters (17,000 feet) is by far the highest I've ever tried to sleep. Unfortunately, sleep did not come easily. It turns out it isn't so easy to sleep when there isn't any air. At least we didn't have to hike the next day.
Day 14 Rongbuk – Shigatse –Lhasa.After two hrs trek, you get to the Everest base camp. It is the best point of enjoying the world's highest mountain and taking photos of it. You can have a basic lunch at Everest Base camp since there are many local tented tea houses where they sell instant noodles or bread etc. After you are back to Rongbuk monastery, you will drive back to Shigatse and then continue to Lhasa by driving along the Bharmaputra river with a landscape of sandy hills, villages, and Rulak Yungdrung ling at the otherside of the river. You will have lunch in a small town called Nyenmo which is the border point between Shigatse and Lhasa .Contrary to the outline in the itinerary, there was no trekking on the final day. Instead we left early for the 12 hour drive back to Lhassa. Exhausted from the poor sleep the night before, it was a struggle to keep our eyes opened as we climbed slowly up the dirt road we'd come down just the afternoon before. Our efforts were well rewarded, though, when the clouds lifted about 8 AM to reveal stunning vistas of Mt. Everest and its neighbors, Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Makalu and Shishapangma., 5 of the world's 14 8000+ meter peaks. We stopped repeatedly to stare at what just 14 hours before had been only dark clouds. Truly a spectacular close-out to two amazing weeks.
Day 15 Drive from Lhasa to Lhasa Gongkar airport.(3600Mts/ 60Km )
Our last day held one more adventure for us. Our driver picked us up to head to the airport. We were supposed to pick the guide up on the way. He had a new group which arrived in the morning and had gone to the Public Security Bureau to register them. When we pulled up to fetch him he wasn't quite done. He was, however, quite concerned about us. He reported that the police were following us (news to us) and wanted to be sure everything was ok. We assured him that as far as we knew things were fine. 10 minutes later he called again, still perturbed. They were still following us and were we really ok? An hour and a bit later he reached us we waited to board the plane. We assured him again that everything was fine, although there did seem to be police activity at the gate and we were delayed boarding. I don't know what the police activity was about - maybe it was normal since there were a lot more police in Lhassa than we're accustomed to seeing. Eventually a TV crew showed up and set up to videotape the flight's boarding. Once the cameras were in place they let us on board and we had no further adventures. I have no idea what the concern about police was about and certainly no clue as to what they were taping. Mystery abounds...
Bye for now...
Lots more pictures in
my Tibet album on Picasaweb.
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