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Seven Years in Tibet
At least it feels like it...
Got in last night from Everest. What a trip. The ride was a test of endurance as much as the trekking. The Southern roads are dirt trails for mules with not much thought to cars. Every major town on the way required a permit (Yandrok,Gyantse, Shigatse, and Rhongphu). We got into Everest Base Camp after three days or four wheeling from Lhasa and climbed up Everest to nearly 6000M before we were blocked by a new white water river that formed in the past few days by summer heat. We were able to cross two of them by stripping and wading through it, but the biggest was impassable. We were pretty well prepared, decked out in North Face gear and polarized sunglasses...I felt the altitude first, but recovered first, the rest of us were sick until this morning. (Jeff was laid out for a week and a half he later wrote... Above 18,000 feet, life is more about survival than enjoying the views...we have only key pictures and spent most of our time trying to concentrate on avoiding altitude sickness!) Every minute of struggle was worth it a thousandfold...I plan to write a more detailed account about it all later.
The views were beautiful, Everest looks as huge and high as any of us could have imagined. The ride there and back were snow capped mountains and gorges with little villages of very kind people. Lhasa is a pretty big town, so it was nice to see the real Tibet.
No showers, one heated room in the mess area via burning yak dung... No English, little Mandarin, only Tibetan. Of the few amatuers we saw, few made it as far as us. Many were so sick on arrival to camp they left without a climb. It was far worse than Peru last year. We slept in a monastery... imagine that.
Our Landcruiser broke down 7 times until we lost the front axle yesterday morning. The driver wired it together with winch cable and wanted us to finish the drive with him through some of the the worst passages in the the Himalaya (sheer cliffs and hairpin pins). When we refused and hitched a ride with a Tibetan family, he tracked us down and went crazy yelling that we would not make it back alive and he was rallying friends to follow him in support. The drama lasted all day... the guy was a jerk from day one. We had to go straight to the goverment travel office when we got into town and had him "restrained". They gave us a generous refund and we had a nice hot dinner in Lhasa with the money. He pulled up as we left and when they looked at the wired axle they lost it on him. The two groups waiting to contract a ride were visibly upset. Poor guy, he won't be allowed to drive again. The drama only made the trip more intesting (in retrospect of course...).
Our crew was two sherpas, two college students from the US, a Canadian climber from China, our Tibetan guide, myself and the Tibetan driver. Marc and Chris left this morning for Lijang and Jeff and Carol are staying for a week more (she works here and is local). I am on the way to the Potala Palace and then I'm catching a plane back to Changdu to hit Chogqing in the morning for the Yangztee River cruise to Yichang. We are planning to meet in Ko Pi Pi, Thailand a a few weeks.
Best wishes,
Joe
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The Rooftop of the World
Ahhh, the memories of Tibet...Prostrating pilgrims at the Johkang, walking the Barkor, spinning that prayer wheel at the Potala...and defrosting my family jewels from Everest... The Tibetans look Nepalese and emulate Indian Culture whenever possible. Their own culture has always been a fusion of the two with their own spin, amazingly little Chinese influence.
Here is the best shot we could get of Qomolangma (Everest) Summit.
Cheers and back to Sichuan Province...
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