The problem with farms… Roosters ! One of them was very confused waking us at 3am. We crawled out from under our mozzie net around 7 and after a quick breakfast (more sticky rice) said our goodbyes to the family (BTW. They are of the Thai Dam people).

Mr Phong was to be our local guide for the day and he led us 20 minutes to the closest village (Ban Nam Khon). The village was what you may expect with a population of 150. Less pristine than the farm (which had an immaculate loo) but still relatively unspoilt. The most impressive thing was that we were able to walk through without causing interruption to the lives of the locals. We were greeted politely and politely ignored (nobody begging or trying to sell us trinkets). At the primary school we were to hand over the books and pens. V and I did not really like the idea – we would have preferred to have remained anonymous but Alack insisted and I ended up in front of the class feeling decidedly uncomfortable – V cleverly hid outside 🙂

Then it was back into the jungle. Thicker and wetter than yesterday with persistent rain we climbed up down more hills. Without the benefit of rivers to wade through we ended up with a few kgs of clay under and around our strops. Wet clay should be used as an industrial lubricant – I ended up on my back in the mud a number of times as V managed to skate elegantly by in a state of partially controlled chaos. After climbing a large hill we arrived at the top to find Mr Phong laying out lunch for us. The plan was to forage for fruits and insects and cook a lunch on an open fire but again the rain meant we had a pack lunch prepared by Mr P’s wife and carried by this 50 something year old all morning (at least we would not have to try crickets and millipedes – phew !).

As we squatted eating lunch under our umbrellas we noticed the area was infested with leeches. Lunch was short. We said goodbye to Mr Phong and headed off. The trail got very steep and far more slippery making it slow going. We had to use our bamboo poles to control every step and that was only half the fun. The leeches were having an absolute feast on us. We felt like big buffet lunches for the parasites. Stopping every few minutes to pull off the latest guests of varying sizes was at first a novelty but soon became a pest. When they bite (which you can normally feel) they inject an anti-coagulant so the blood flows when you pull them off making it look much worse than it is. V ended up with one on her stomach somehow and I had a monster trying to drain me through my ankle in addition to the dozens on our feet over the afternoon. We did get skilled at removing them though. Forget squashing them, it’s like trying to squash a rubber band. Fun 🙂 And they are fast ! Fick one off and it seems to sprint back towards you at impressive speed.

It was a strenuous hike made harder by the wet. Six hours after starting off we arrived at a river which we crossed (and used to take a quick bath) before walking out to the road and a waiting minibus. The guest house with its hot water and shower never looked so good.

It was an incredible experience for us and we highly recommend it. What struck us most was the way we were received by the local people. We didn’t feel like we were the first westerners ever to visit the place but at the same time were not treated as an annoyance or a potential customer. It was the most perfectly executed example of ‘sustainable’ tourism we have seen. I think a lot of work has gone into setting these tours up and convincing the locals to play along – they are definitely worth the cost. The company we used was Luang Namtha Travel (www.luangnamthatravel.com) but Luang Namtha is lined with companies that offer similar packages.

Thank you LN Travel, Alack and the Phong Family for a truly unforgettable two days.

[Pictures: Leech !!! And the view as we left the jungle]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

A great breakfast to start the day and we were ready for our trip out to the jungle. No other travelers had signed on – but that didn’t bother us. Our Minibus driver was still having breakfast (Laos is so chilled out it’s great) so the manager in the tour office went through the plan. We started to feel concerned about the amount of time we were to spend with local families and in villages.

First stop was the local town market so that our guide (Alack) could buy a trail lunch for us. The manager in the office had said that if we wanted to ‘help’ we could buy books/pens for the village schools which V didn’t mind doing (next to backpacks it’s her next favorite shopping experience). The market was impressive and clean with wonderful smells. Fresh fruit, veg, spices, herbs etc. Nothing like a Chinese market. There were a few pots of live frogs, huge bull-frogs, frogs on sticks, deep-fried frogs, eels and roasted crickets – but in all it was a place I would not have minded shopping. A 30 minute hop in the minibus and we stopped to collect a local guide (we ended up with two) and headed into the jungle.

V and I have both been in the Amazon so we had some idea of what to expect. Travelers expecting to see animals or have a pleasant stroll in the woods will be disappointed. Jungles are about watching your feet, bearing the humidity and fighting off bugs. Any animals not hidden by thick bush will be scared off by the noise of traipsing tourists. That being said, there is nothing like bushwhacking your way through thick jungle – we had an absolute ball. Within 15 minutes our guide had hacked us a couple of sturdy bamboo walking poles (if we had know how useful they were to become we would have happily paid a fortune for them). The ‘trail’, more of a suggestion really, weaved it’s way along and up the river for the first few hours following our local guides. We gave up trying to stay clean and dry as often the easiest approach was to wade upstream. Lunch was great. Our guides gathered some banana leaves and laid out piles of food from the market. This along with sticky rice constituted a finger licking feast – when not chasing bugs off the leaves.

Our two ‘local guides, having carried water and food all morning, were to leave us at this point and return home. On packing up the food one of them tossed a piece of plastic into the bush. Alack immediately retrieved it and handed back to the guides to be carried out. We were very impressed and surprised, especially after China. After lunch we were guided past some huge trees, a tiny waterfall and up, way up, into a bamboo forest just as the rain started to pour down. The trail, already wet, muddy and slippery from yesterday’s rain, got even worse. We continued on using umbrellas (more suited to the urban jungle than the real jungle) where possible but in the thick growth it was often easier to just forge ahead. V managed to become the first leech victim. Aleck removed it quickly without a problem before any serious damage was done. For the rest of the afternoon the rains came and went in waves making sure we were thoroughly soaked, muddy and sweaty as we climbed and descended the hills eventually reaching the farm of Mr Phong :gps:(GPS)::20.918423::101.468117:gps:. Along the way Aleck had been instructing us, in his limited but reasonable English, about various fruits, nuts, plants and some of their medicinal properties. This seems to be a common thing to tell tourists while walking in a jungle and only mildly interesting. We tasted and tried a variety of things – not much took our fancy but we did enjoy chewing on some of Mr Phong’s sugar cane – haven’t done that for a very long time.

We arrived at Mr Phong’s home in the rain and were greeted warmly by the family as they went about their business. The farmhouses consist of a few traditional wooden buildings on stilts surrounded by hills and rolling fields of sticky rice (like normal rice but grows in regular soil to about shoulder height and is sticky – duh – when cooked). Alack was right at home with the family, immediately getting to work helping around the place and making sure we were sorted. He took us down to the river to have a quick bath where we noticed a small turbine behind a 1m high dam generating enough power for a TV and a few lights – we thought that was very cool. On our return we found that a couple of mats had been laid out for us in what we guessed was the ‘common’ building (TV room, lounge and dining area to you). The original idea was that we would cook dinner with the family outside, but the rain put an end to that plan. Alack insisted we take a little nap while he busied himself with preparing dinner (very fresh duck). We were not planning on it, but the sound of the rain on the palm leaf roof and the muted sounds of chickens, ducks, dogs and people outside had us both snoozing happily – besides it was nice to feel dry, warm and horizontal after 6 hours of reasonably difficult hiking in the rain and mud.

Dinner was brilliant and not just the food. We sat down in the common area around a small table with the family and Mr Phong pulled out his bottle of Lao-Lao (a strong rice wine/whiskey). Two neighbors promptly arrived to join in the meal. Before starting to eat we were the subjects of a small ritual involving eating broken hard boiled eggs and rice and having twine tied around our wrists by each member of the group while mumbling a kind of blessing (our guide explained it as something to do with good luck – must look it up some time). It was not at all posed or uncomfortable, and that is saying something for us. It felt like we were just guests at a friends dinner table – brilliant. The food consisted of the ever present (and yummy) sticky rice with bowls of pumpkin and a couple duck dishes, one of which was too deep in colour to be anything but duck blood, chili and spring onions (It tasted spicy but the thought what it could be had us avoiding that plate). As dinner wore on we chatted to our hosts via Alack as the bamboo shot glass of Lao-Lao made it rounds lubricating the proceedings. Hearing about Mr Phong’s life story was very interesting. He was a monk before military conflict left him homeless, then worked in an airport and lived in the city before selling up and moving to the country with his wife, daughter and her husband (and now a baby too).

Alack was on a mission to get the group singing – he succeeded partially. Mr Phong with his guitar sang for us followed by his wife and one of his friends – all were excellent. V and I can’t sing (or remember the words to any songs for that matter) and managed to wiggle out of embarrassing ourselves. Alack had mentioned earlier in the day that a lot of Aussies visit – I pondered how many times the family must have heard a slurred rendition of Waltzing Matilda. Keeping quite was the least we could do to thank our hosts for such a wonderful evening.

The table was moved, the guests departed with smiles and sleeping mats in a cozy corner appeared behind us. Laos is impressing!

[Pictures: In the Jungle and Lunch on a leaf ]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

We are in LAOS !!

In contrast to the Chinese border post the Laos one is a collection of shack-like buildings. The Visa on arrival guy was not yet at work (time zone change meant we were in Laos just before 8h30) but one of his associates provided us some forms to start filling in (well V fills in all the forms). The 30 day visa was a simple matter: 2 forms, 1 photo and around £28. On completing the immigration procedures were ushered into a full, but not packed, minibus for the ~2 hour (20 000 Kip) ride to Louang Nam Tha. I think the road was very good and the scenery was thick forest but can’t say for sure because I nodded off immediately and woke up as we pulled into our destination.

The driver conveniently dropped us outside the one guest house we were interested in (Thoulasith Guest house). What a win ! Double room with en suite, western toilet, wifi and all the trimmings for £2 each ! We like it here already. Not wanting to waste any time we booked a 2 day trek in the jungle starting tomorrow and after a shower we headed into ‘town’ (a few hundred meters up and down the street) to find a bank and food. The bank gave us a better rate on our remaining Yuan without the funny business and we we able to draw a fist full of cash at the ATM. It’s going to take a while to get used to a new currency.

The town, for some reason, feels like it should be on the Natal coast and it’s hard to spot the French influence. Quiet and laid back with palms trees and fine sand collecting in dents on the pavements. Hot, humid and sunny with buildings that vary from definitely Asian to decidedly Durban – odd, but that is how it feels to us. Lunch was absolutely brilliant – I had a fried rice dish the way fried rice is supposed to be done and we both enjoyed our first Lao Beer. We’re not sure if it was the slightly stronger beer or the anti-malarials but we got very tipsy and had no choice but to head back across the street for an afternoon nap.

In the evening we strolled around town. It’s low season at the moment so the place is almost deserted. The only visitors to the provincial courthouse were a few chickens loitering on the front steps. Unfortunately the lack of tourists meant that nobody else has signed up for the jungle trek so the price is a little high but we are still going.

So after just a few hours here we can say that we love it. Here’s hoping he leeches (yes, really) and mozzies don’t eat us alive in the jungle. We’ll be back in town the day after to tomorrow.

[Pictures: V with our Lao beers. Hangover to follow !]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

We arrived at Mengla at 6am. V and I really can’t handle lack of sleep ! It was still pitch dark but we had no trouble finding a minibus that would take us to Mohan (the border town) for £2 each. It was a large minibus and the driver started the usual ritual of driving up and down the main street in search of more passengers. We figured it would take hours so we just accepted our fate. To our surprise and with only four passengers on board he headed out of town just as dawn was breaking.

We are really in the jungle here. The hills all around are packed with dense forest. Heat, humidity and a little light rain sprinkled us as we headed to the Loas border along excellent roads bypassing the toll gate by detouring through some small villages for more passengers. We transferred to normal taxi who drove us into the pretty little town of Mohan and dropped us 1km from the border. We tried in vane to change Yuan to Kip at the two local banks and started walking up to the border checkpoint. As we arrived we were approached by money changers. The rate was good and we decided to change 500 Yuan to 550 000 Kip. Being tired we carefully checked the 500 000 Kip in strange new 20 000 notes and confirmed the amount but when it came to the 50 000 we missed a 0 and only realized much later that we had been sucked to the tune of 45 000 Kip. Cow !! Not to worry. It’s only R40. We decided to call it our tip for China (in Kip).

The Chinese border post is an imposing office block and stainless steel structure that towers out of the jungle. Clearing the border on the Chinese side was painless and we hopped onto a golf cart for the short ride through no-mans-land to Laos !

So long China. What a great experience ! 87 days of adventure in one monster country !! We have definately had enough though 🙂 We’ll post a pile of notes about China at some point in the next week. Roll on Laos !

[Pictures: Mohan main street. Looked like a pretty little town (if only just a single street)]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Not much to do today except wait for our bus this evening to Mengla (50km or so from the Laos border). We got up as late as possible and spent 2 hours !! carefully packing our gear – the new supplies we purchased made it substantially more difficult. We spent the rest of the day in the hostel’s courtyard making plans and getting frustrated with their Internet connection.

We got a taxi to the southern bus station (20mins instead of 2 hours) and with even more time to kill ended up at the mall (with it’s 5000+ shops) across the road from the station. We found a decent camera case (£3.50) just as the entire place was shutting down for the day. The scale of the place is mind boggling.

The Kunming South bus station looks new, clean and tidy – Stainless steel and marble like most western airports, but we were once again shocked by the toilets. Gross I know, but the trough in the mens was blocked leaving the entire floor a half-inch deep in overflow. Eeuuuww.

Our overnight bus (which wasn’t bad) left the station a little late and half empty. A problem the driver tried to remedy once outside the station but his efforts only netted him one additional passenger. Just when I thought we were off we pulled into another back alley to load up with freight – we ended up leaving around an hour later than scheduled (20h30). The roads were very good, I managed to move from underneath the TV to a bunk above V’s, and we settled in for the night. With no toilet on board (good thing) the bus kept stopping throughout the night for loo breaks and to rotate drivers leading to a disrupted nights sleep. Around 1am we hit a bumpy and windy section of road that threatened to throw me out of my bunk but it did not last long. Tomorrow will be tough with the lack of sleep but we are both extremely excited to be leaving China and entering Laos. (Note: The GPS tag for this post is Mengla where we arrived at around 6am on 13/09).

[Pictures: A mega mall in Kunming – it just keeps going]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Tibet was a good and worthwhile (if expensive) experience in the end. The highlight was obviously Mount Everest and the Himalayan landscape.

Some notes on Tibet (possibly will only mean something to us):
– A lot of stray dogs. Dogs seem to rule in Tibet. They are not harassed and you see them sleeping soundly in the middle of busy roads and on the pavements next to piles of raw meat in the markets.
– The cities were not at all charming or interesting to us.
– There are plenty of monasteries (mostly boring) but very few monks (possibly due to the Chinese?)
– Reportedly 20 Chinese to one Tibetan. Very obvious in Lhasa.
– Must be one of the highest Toyota Land Cruiser per capita rates in the world.
– Tonnes of tourist trinkets and curios. Unfortunately just about all fake and made in Nepal.
– Insanely beautiful and vast countryside. The Himalayas rule!
– Wonderfully friendly, hospitable and polite people (compared to the Chinese).
– Seemed to be a lot more English spoken but even better is that the Tibetan language sounds soft and quiet compared to the loud, crass Chinese.
– Hooters (not the fun kind) need to be banned in Lhasa
– Tibetan culture is endangered. Complicated and unfortunate situation.
– Hotels: The Banakshol is beyond basic and never take a street side room. The Tenzin in Shigatse was great. The Yak Hotel Lhasa is overpriced.
– Food: Namtso, Snowland and Summit were great. Dunya’s yak burger didn’t come close to the one we had in Shangrila.
– Potola is a cool looking and picturesque (from the outside) icon of Tibet but they really should silence the huge advertising screens near the entrance that you can still hear from the top.

If our comments sound negative; 1) You should know me by now. 2) The cities could have been a thousand times worse and it still would have been worth it to stand at EBC and look up at that marvelous outcrop (We’ll be back one day – but probably on the Nepal side).

Thank you to Bob, our travel companions and Tibet !

[Pictures: clip of the Alien travel permit required outside Lhasa ]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Today has been all about getting organized for Laos, stocking up on odds and ends and sorting bits and pieces.

We have washed everything in our packs including our jackets. We don’t expect to be using any cold weather gear until we hit the mountains in New Zealand. I’m also chucking my old thick blue fleece away as I really don’t need it anymore (have not used it since Russia).

We went to the Southern bus station and bought our bus tickets for the first leg of getting to Laos. If we had known it would take us 2 hours to get to the station by city buses we would have taken a taxi. It only took us 20 minutes by taxi to get back.

The plan so far is to take a sleeper bus to Mengla. We should arrive in the early hours of Monday morning. From there we think (from what we have read on the Internet) that there are direct buses to various towns in Laos. We are hoping to get one to Luang Nam Tha. Failing that, there are apparently regular buses that go to the border town of Mohan. By all accounts the border crossing should be easy as they issue visas on arrival. Once in Luang Nam Tha we will try to organise maybe a 2 day hiking trip before moving SW either by bus or by boat to Houayxay near the Thai border to try get on the gibbon experience thing. Then SE to Luang Prabang by boat.

Across the road from the bus station was a humoungus shopping mall. We went in to look for an ATM and see if we could find some of the items on our shopping list. There were thousands upon thousands of really small shops inside the mall (no really at least 5000) and we eventually gave up and left as we were tired and hungry and the layout was confusing.

The rest of the afternoon was taken up with a trip to Wallmart (we don’t think we will find the 3 in 1 Lipton tea sachets in Laos) and messing around on the internet when it was working.

Sim has been trying to sort out the graphs for our expenses. Though Tibet has put us over our original budget plan we still think we will be fine. SE Asia is expected to be cheaper than China and even with trekking and gibbon type excursions (which will be preicey) we will be ok.

Although we have not realy seen much of Kunming despite visiting it twice, we like it. It’s not too hot and not too cold and we feel like regulars at the local KFC. Walking home last night we noticed yet again that lots of people were out walking their dogs. We spotted a great Dane carrying his own leash and huge white dog that looked like he had been blow dried he was so fluffy. Pets seem to be common here and always look very well looked after. In Tibet, mangy packs of strays seemed to be everywhere. Maybe strays don’t last as long in Chinese cities.

[Pictures: Another very fancy looking bus station. The southern one in Kunming]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

An early start to an arbitrary day, off to the airport. We brought up the issue of the room rate with our guide who shrugged it off as a misunderstanding. We now regret having given him a tip. Anyway we were both very excited to be getting on a plane, our first since January. Lhasa airport is snazzy and looks brand new. It was very busy and slowed by the excruciating security checks. Oddly, once past security there is nowhere to buy nibbles. Food and water are marked up by around 300% – the worst price gouging we have seen in China (except for the Dadong duck restaurant water saga). Boarding the plane was a real novelty as it was the first time in a long while that we have see a queue in the English sense of the word – very civilized. The plane left on time at 11h25 and after exhibiting stunning mountain views below us and a short stop in Shangrila we arrived on time in Kunming at 15h30. Unfortunately the baggage handlers were slower than those at JNB and after a very long wait we said our goodbyes to Manouk (great to meet you Manouk and thanks for everything and especially for the Gibbon thing). We then spent another 30 minutes in a typical Chinese queue for a taxi fending off locals as they tried to push in and past. V was like the Great Wall. No one got past us, we must be getting good.

We have returned to the Camelia Hostel. It’s a really great feeling to be back somewhere that you know. Everything is familiar and easy. The Internet connection is still miserable and the public use laptop in reception (the only one we have seen in China with Windows and Office in English) still has the software and settings that I installed last month 🙂 . V had been dreading the rock solid beds at Camelia but we ended up with an unusually comfy one – what a relief. We will rest up here for two nights, stock up on supplies from WalMart and abuse the washing machine before heading off to Laos. We are incredibly excited about Loas and have been checking maps and plotting routes. Manouk sent us a link to ‘The Gibbon Experience’ which looks incredible and just up our street (if expensive). Laos… bring it on !

[Pictures: Home sweet home – Camelia Hostel]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Our last full day in Lhasa (and Tibet). We took full advantage of the included breakfast at the hotel and spent the rest of the morning relaxing and strolling around the old part of town glancing periodically at the tourist trinkets and such on sale. At lunch time we said goodbye to Egle – great to meet and travel with you Egle ! We popped out to that wifi enabled coffee shop for another excellent milkshake and to upload all the Tibet posts (you may have noticed). We stopped at a clinic on the main road (Beijing Road) for a consult on my rash that has spread enthusiastically. The Doctor (we assume since he was wearing a white coat but could not speak English) inspected me and provided some cream. We got Dr. Manouk later to confirm it is just another cortisone cream so will give it a try and hope for the best. Our last errand was to upload photos at that Internet cafe full of gamers (you may have noticed that too) before heading back to the hotel and a bit of a shock.

Our room key was not working so I visited reception. They informed me that I needed to pay for the second night. Confusion reigned. Eventually we discovered that we had been billed £30 for the first night and needed to pay another £30 ! That’s double our most expensive accommodation anywhere else in China and about 10 nights for both of us in a dorm ! I was fuming. We had been told £20 by the hotel and our guide but the receipt I had had been urged to sign (while exhausted) the previous evening stated had £30 per night. My fault, I didn’t read it, but we are really annoyed with the hotel and guide – they pulled a fast one ! For that amount we would never have agreed to stay there. Live and learn. Tomorrow morning I’m going to empty the bacon tray at the buffet into a stuff sack for later ! Google searches on: The Yak Hotel, Lhasa, Tibet – Beware… The rooms are severely overpriced. We’ll be very happy to be moving on in the morning.

[Pictures: None from the phone]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Before another full day on the road from Shigatse back to Lhasa we had one more monastery to visit but none of us wanted to go inside. Bob led us around the outside of the place with all the morning worshipers as they loop around spinning the endless prayer wheels and leaving offerings at shrines. If was far more interesting than touring the interior. We left Shigatse around 11 after a quick brunch.

I’m starting to feel bad for our driver. The roads are good but the speed limit is, well, limiting. We retraced our route from two days ago passing the lakes and then stopping for lunch. V and I started listening to Jon Krakauer’s ‘Into the wild’ – by the end of the trip we only had 40 minutes left to listen to. It’s a brilliant book.

The views were beautiful and the weather better than on the way out but the trip was uneventful until two hours outside Lhasa. Slow news day so I’ll explain. We stopped at a speed checkpoint and after having the time slip checked started off. A shiny new 4×4 behind us tried to pull in front of us on the inside and scraped his wheel arch against us. What ensued was a protracted argument between the drivers and discussion with the police. The driver of the other vehicle (clearly at fault from our viewpoint) was insisting that we had reversed into him ! The issue would have been easily resolved if the other driver wasn’t a friend of one of the policemen at the checkpoint. There was almost no damage – probably would have polished off – and in the end the police agreed with our camp. Ooo the excitement.

Arriving in Lhasa our guide informed us that the dive we had stayed at before had rooms and that the other options would either be full or expensive. We caved and were delivered to the Banakshol where we discovered that the only rooms available were on the road. I was not prepared to accept two nights without sleep and decided to keep looking for accommodation. Our guide was not happy (he must have a comm agreement with the hotel and/or he just wanted to go home – but we needed him and our permit to secure a room). Pissy and very tired from 4 days on the road we eventually settled on the Yak Hotel and the most expensive room so far in China (£20/night). The disorganization over accommodation soured the end of the trip for us. We were not given options or at least warned that we needed to book beds in advance in the more reasonable spots. If fact I was told that booking was not required. Oh well. At least we will be comfortable for our last two nights in Tibet.

[Pictures: None from the phone]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

[UPDATE] Have uploaded a whole bunch of photos but they have not been tagged or categorized.

Last night was very cold but it was cozy and comfortable under the blankets. V and the girls did not sleep at all well. At about 1am I woke to find V sitting upright and gasping. She was struggling to breathe and every time she tried to sleep the feeling of suffocation would wake her. Egle & Manouk had similar experiences. I guess it was a small taste of what high altitude mountaineers have to deal with – not a lot of fun. We had breakfast in the dark at 7h30 (being on Beijing time this far west is silly) and then set out on foot for the real EBC an hour up the track.

The walk was breathtaking in every sense of the word. V and Egle had a tough time with the steep sections in the thin cold air and the sun broke through making the surrounding hills glow against blue skies. On the way up we were treated to a stunning highlighted view of the summit on a deep blue background as the clouds swirled. Unbelievably magnificent. By the time we reached EBC the cloud had unfortunately moved back in for the day. We waited around for 40 minutes hoping it would clear as the sun strengthened behind our backs. My GPS put our location at 18.3km almost due North of the summit :gps:(GPS)::28.14052::86.85184:gps:. 18.3km !! Now that is just cool. After collecting a pebble each V and I turned our backs and walked away. We definitely have to get back to the Himalayas one day. It is just too incredible !

V and Egle opted for a bus ride back to the tourist EBC – I walked with Bob – we chatted and took a lot of interesting shortcuts. Time to stand on my soapbox again:

Bob told me stories of previous groups of tourists he had taken up to EBC. In a recent group, two of the travelers had walked up to the higher base camp alone after Bob had told them that they needed to go as a group with him. Their passports were confiscated and the entire group was held there for two days while the transgressors refused arrogantly to assist Bob in the diplomacy and begging required to get the passports and permits back. If you want to travel in Tibet, obey the rules ! Failing to do so only makes the situation worse for the locals and future travelers.

Turning to the issue of Tibet, Bob and I continued our chat. It seems to be a complicated issue and I know very little about it. There are a lot of problems and the way Tibetans are forced to live under China is almost comparable to apartheid with no end in sight – not cool. Tibetans are now out numbered 20 to 1 by Chinese immigrants that have been encouraged to move here. Four trains a day arrive full of Chinese – Tibetan culture is doubtless endangered.

That being said, Bob’s biggest fear is his tour groups doing stupid things like unveiling a Tibetan flag in public. A stunt like this will get the traveler fined and deported (back to the comfort of home and video games) while the guide could end up spending 18 years in prison.

So, if you want to protest to ‘Free Tibet’ here are some tips and notes;
– Travelers are bound by the laws of the country they are visiting. Don’t try to be a hero in Tibet. It will just make everything worse for everyone.
– Go home. Start a blog, a petition, organize a protest at an embassy. Protest within the law.
– Most importantly be aware of what you are asking for. The return of the Dali Lama to power is NOT a good solution. It could even be worse than the current situation. Remember when the Dalai Lamas were in power, Tibetans were reduced to a population of peasants forced into subservience to the Lama class. It was never a democratic country, it was a theocratic dictatorship. I recommend checking out Penn & Teller’s treatment of the subject (Bullshit episode – ‘Holier than thou’. I think ?)

Stepping off the soapbox… Phew.. Won’t do that too often !

The rest of the day was spent uneventfully on the road back to Shigatse. Our third full day on the road, we were all knackered and longing for some palatable food which we found in the Chinese fast food chain ‘Dicos’. Tomorrow we have another full day on the road to get back to Lhasa.

[Pictures: Big E in the morning. Don’t worry. We got much better shots with the camera]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

The Tenzin hotel in Shigatse was very good by our diminishing standards – clean and quiet. We slept in a little while our guide went to arrange permits for Everest Base Camp (EBC) and then we delayed the start even more trying to find some palatable breakfast. The town was still waking up so we settled for munchies from a supermarket and got on the road just after 10. The roads all over Tibet have been fantastic with crash barriers and centre lines. Potholes have been a rarity. The weather was perfect with blue skies as we started climbing up towards the Himalayas through beautiful flowering rape fields.

The trip started to drag out as we slowed to 30km/h for the longer and steeper climbs – Our Land Cruiser seems to have a few issues with going uphill. Eventually we reached the top of a pass just over 5000m. V had read in her guide that a view of Everest was possible from this viewpoint. It was a stunning view of snow covered peaks stretching across the horizon but Everest was obscured by heavy clouds to the South. We didn’t last long in the freezing cold before bundling back into the 4×4.

The road dropped down into another huge valley and four hours after setting off we stopped for a quick Tibetan lunch and to buy park entrance tickets in a tiny village followed by a visit to one of the worst toilets we have seen yet. Back on the road we cleared more checkpoints with our ‘Alien’ visa before turning off onto the 100km of dirt road to EBC.

The road was still good (not being in the back of a minibus helped) and our driver occasionally veered off onto side tracks I think to play with or test his off-road skills. We climbed up endless switchbacks past mind-bending geology including towering outcrops of folded rock (need to learn more about this stuff). From a viewpoint at the top of the highest pass we could still not see Everest through the cloud even though we had blue sky overhead. Another two hours of dramatic switchbacks took us down to the valley floor and then slowly up to EBC passing crazy groups on mountain bikes that made us feel even more like soft-core tourists.

We arrived at the lower EBC around 18h30 – only the base of Everest visible though. EBC is a large rectangular, baren and dusty clearing lined by ‘Hotels’ and has a post office but no mains power or running water. Probably will have all that and a cable car in a few years if the rest of China is anything to go by. Our driver pulled up to ‘Holy Mountain Hotel’, a large semi-permanent tent with comfortable sleeping space for 5 and an attached kitchen. Our host provided bottomless cups of green tea as we sat chilling out after the long day on the road while occasionally popping our heads out into the cold thin air to check the view status.

[WARNING: Gush]

Around 20h00 one of the girls popped her head into the tent to announce that the summit was visible. We rushed outside and were joined by tourists from various hotels in the open area, everyone excited and clambering to get photos. If it were possible for me to have a spiritual experience, the sight of that chunk of rock peeping through the cloud would have been it. V and I were ecstatic. We stood gawking in awe. Awesome ! Another highlight, possibly the highlight (haha) for us. We felt very lucky to catch a glimpse. After 30 minutes or so and more than enough photos the clouds shuffled back in and we retreated to the warmth of the tent high on the experience (or possibly the lack of oxygen).

Dinner in our little tent was simple but excellent (not sure if the food was good or it just tasted good after the high) and shortly thereafter our host converted the chairs to beds complete with duvets and 3 layers of warm weighty blankets. Perfect. What a day !

[Pictures: Himilayan view from the first viewpoint. Oxygen anyone ? Cans of air in a shop on the way (just above the chips). The Big E is in those clouds ! V warming up with some tea]

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Woohoo! 4 months on the road and still going strong if a little fatigued with China. I get a bit snippy after being in a car all day long but Simon is a sweetie and puts up with me still.

And today we were able to actually get on the road and out of Lhasa. We bundled into the car at 9am and headed off stopping ten minutes later at our first checkpoint. Papers had to be checked before we could even leave the city.

As soon as we left the grubby city we were rewarded with beatiful views of bright yellow rape seed fields against a backdrop of barren mountains and charming rivers. The road was new and smooth and trees had been planted alongside large portions.

About 2 hours out we hit another checkpoint. They don’t seem to do speed trapping here, instead at each checkpoint they write your arrival time on a slip of paper that the driver has to carry and then you get fined if you arrive at the next checkpoint too early. It’s ridiculous as what generally happens is that just out of sight of the next checkpoint all the drivers land up stopping for up to 20 minutes waiting till they have killed enough time to carry on. It’s either that or stick to the incredibly low speed limit of 40km/h.

About 4 hours in we reached the top of a pass which had views of Yamdrok lake. It was freezing up there and the lake view was obscured by cloud. Of course we had to buy tickets just for driving past the lake and to my annoyance, pay for the filthy poo plastered toilets. We also encountered what was to be at every stop, hawkers trying to sell stuff.
They were either trying to sell the usuall crappy trinkets, ropes of yak cheese or were trying to get you to pay for pictures of their yaks, dogs or goats. Occasionally they would try to muscle in and get themselves in your photo to try make a few bucks. The yaks were usually done up quite nicely and the dogs were Tibetan mastiffs with bright red fluffy collars which made them look like they had a lions mane. The goats were these cute long haired miniature ones that we had not seen anywhere else. We did not feel like paying 5 to 10 Yuan for a photo though.

As we drove on down to the lake, the clouds cleared and we could finally see the lake propper. It was a beautiful turquoise colour and we stopped at the bottom to take some more photos. There were plenty of other tourists all stopping at the same points and at least one idiot was taking a swim (against the current regulations).

We carried on and stopped at another point much further :gps:(GPS)::29.16094::90.50997:gps: on where the colours of the water were more striking and spent ages taking photos. Something to be noted is that at almost all the stops there were prayer flags plastered over everything, rocks, pylons whatever they could be attatched to and coloured prayer confetti ( 50mm x 50mm coloured pieces of paper with prayers printed on them) littering the ground. Plus the usual trash left by the people who stop at these points to take pictures or go to the toilet.

We continued on to our lunch stop in another nondescript Chinese looking town that pop up every now and then along the route. Pretty much every other land cruiser on the route had stopped at the same place.

Continuing on for a few more hours and we arrived at the town of Gyantse. It was one of the the more pleasant towns we had seen so far. Driving in we could see the Gyantse dzong (fort) on a rocky hilltop and in the afternoon light the scene really look quite wonderfull.

Closer to the fort, there was a large Chinese monument. We were told that the Chinese had erected it to celebrate their driving off of a contingent of British soldiers. On checking our guidebook however, it turns out that the British did send a diplomatic force into Tibet and did have a bit of a skirmish with some Tibetans. But since the Tibetans were armed with a motley assortment of arms that included rocks and protective charms from the Dalai Lama they soon got their bums kicked. The British hung out at Gyantse for a while before getting bored and moving onto Lhasa. So not quite what the Chinese make the situation out to be.

We stopped at yet another monastery :gps:(GPS)::28.92067::89.59610:gps: this time the Pelkor Chode to see the famed Gyantse Kumpum (building) Underwhelmed yet again, but the views of the town, monastery and fort from the Kumpum were quite pretty.

We moved on and arrived in Shigatse where we were overnighting. We tried a local restaurant that had an English menu but it turned out that it had not been translated properly and Egle spent a good while trying to explain to the waitress and then to the waitresses 8 year old daughter in Mandarin that she had ordered the fried yak with vegetables and they had given her fried yak with mushrooms which she could not eat. They eventually just walked away which inevitably led to confusion with the bill which was uncomfortable to resolve.

[Pictures: Beautiful lake. View from Kumpum of the fort. The view of Kumpum]

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More noise. Even less sleep ! We are both zombies today. We walked again to Potola Palace in the rain but the weather started to clear a little as we had our water confiscated at security (guess they only allow holy water). The main complex in Potola is quite a climb up but the views of the city and surrounding mountains are fantastic. We toured around the buildings, chapels, audience chambers and past one of the Dali Lama’s private bathrooms (complete with bathtub and prayer flag wrapped western toilet – it’s very good to be the king). The Palace also houses the tombs (in the form of Stupas) of past Lamas. Some of them are massive and all are covered in gold and precious gems. When an important religious figure dies the Tibetan people donate a wealth (and more than they can afford) of gold, gems and money to build the tomb. The more they donate, the more credit they get for the next life. P.T. Barnum would be proud. The excessive amount of gold and mountains of cash donations lying around (seriously – 100 US dollar bills in some chapels) started to annoy me as I imagined how many people it could feed or how many medical schools it could build.

We moved quickly through the place as Bob is a stickler for rules but I think he also wanted to get done early. I was relieved having seen enough after an hour. While the girls where taking more photos I had a chat with Bob. He identifies himself as Tibetan (not Chinese) and is very weary of the authorities. He is also paranoid with regards the rules for tourists. When tourists do stupid things or blatantly ignore their guides more rules are added and life becomes more difficult for the Tibetans. It can’t be fun living like that. So our soapbox advice to travelers in Tibet: Just behave and try not to make the situation worse for the locals.

After Potola we managed to get a bus out of town to see the final tourist hotspot (the Sera Monastery). We saw some beautifully crafted mandalas made from coloured sand and again were led around the dark chapels. One of the chapels attracts a lot of attention with its horse-headed Buddha of health. Worshipers Queue for ages with infants and the elderly to be able to touch their noses to the statue in the belief that they will be healed quicker. Bob explained that they come to this temple and then head to the hospital. Better late than never I guess.

We got back to the hotel early and were able to move our room to one with a few more prefab boards between us and the road. To celebrate the deafening silence we went in search of a well known Internet cafe and coffee shop. A brilliant spot – the cake and milkshakes were excellent (expensive) and if the Wifi had been working I doubt we would have left there until bed time. On our way back we stocked up on supplies for the next few days on the road and managed to spend a few minutes online at an Internet cafe. It’s seems so odd to find a huge hall brimming with fancy computers manned by hoards of online gamers in downtown Lhasa when our hotel a few doors down doesn’t have flush toilets !

V spent a good hour reading me sections from our LP about Buddhism. It really is an odd, complicated and confusing mix of beliefs. Tonight we should sleep (finally) and tomorrow we are off into the sticks – can’t wait.

[Pictures: Potola Palace]

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What a night ! Our room is above the main street in Lhasa and it only quietens down between 1 and 4am. It was like having a demolition derby in our room with the addition of raucus crowds, bell ringing rickshaws and hooting taxis. Today was going to be hard going. First on the agenda was to arrange a time slot to visit Potola Palace. The place gets so busy that you have to book a time the day before you visit. Our guide led us there on foot (about a 20 minute walk in the rain through Lhasa) and booked us in for 10am tomorrow. The Palace looms above the town and looks impressive from the road – the quintessential Tibetan postcard shot – even in the wet.

The plan for the rest of the day was to tick off a few temples. It seems temples (and/or monasteries) are what you do in Lhasa. First up – the Summer Palace (Norbulingka). Another couple kilometers on foot to get there. By this stage we were feeling out of breathe. Not sure if it is the altitude or the flu still toying with us. Bob led us around the palace grounds, gardens and through a few ‘chapels’ passing the offical seats (not really thrones) of various Dali Lamas (it’s good to be the king) – interesting but not excessively impressive. The Chinese horseplay is obvious at times for example: the officially recognized Tibetan 2IC (Panchen Lama) is ‘missing’ but not to worry because Beijing has ‘found’ a second one – who happens to be Chinese. Fishy me thinks.

With throbbing temples I vetoed walking all the way back into town, instead opting for a taxi which refused to let us squeeze 4 onto the back seat (no problem anywhere else in China) – so two taxis then making it even more expensive. The rules governing tourists are a little crazy. We are not permitted to enter any tourist attaction without our guide and are not supposed to use the cheap local buses – capitalism run amock.

Jokhang Temple in the centre of old Lhasa is one of the oldest and most revered temples in Tibet. It was packed with long queues of pilgrims and worshippers going through their rituals. The temples are very dark and feel stuffy with the smell of burning incense and yak butter candles. Not at all ‘inviting’. The pilgrims loop around all the chapels (each for a different form of Buddha or holy person) mumbling prayers and leaving cash and yak butter as they go. Some pay for the monks to write prayers for them to be executed at the next session. It was educational even if extracting information from our guide is like pulling teeth (he really isn’t enthusiastic).

After lunch at a resturant full of tourists (I suspect all the guides get a comm) we twisted Bob’s arm (he wanted the afternoon off) to take us out to Drepung monastery which is some distance out of town – so another expensive taxi (or two). Drepung was one of the largest at one stage and home to 10 000 monks but was mostly destroyed during the cultural revolution. It is being rebuilt and renovated at the moment – soon to become another typical Chinese tourist attraction. The most interesting part was the original kitchen with every surface and fixture stained black with soot. No taxis waiting when we finished meant we had to walk down to the main road but at least we were able to sneak (not really) onto a local bus for a ride back to town for one tenth the price of a taxi.

I have now had enough of temples but there are at least two more on the schedule for tomorrow. Back at the hotel we were not able to change our room so another sleepless night is waiting for us. We did however find a good dinner and our first ‘Bounty’ bar since Russia.

[Pictures: One of the main chapels and it’s courtyard at the Summer Palace. Back alleys and a Stupa at Drepung. No photos allowed inside the temples – unless you are willing to pay more ! ]

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