The Friendship Highway - Lhasa to Nepal

DAY 1:

Lhasa - Yamdrok-tso Lake - Gyantse

While we were in Lhasa, we spent a few days trying to find traveling partners for the trip to Nepal. We wanted 5 people as that would make the price much better - even if it meant being a little uncomfortable in the jeep. We left signs up at lots of the hotels around and just waited. Eventually, after one day of mad organizing, we had a group of 5 people - and the best part was that they were just as budget conscious as us!!

So on Mon, Oct 23rd we set out with our new friends - Chris (from Canada) and his girlfriend Emiko (from Japan), and Nils (from Germany). We had all checked out the car and the driver the night before and agreed that it was ok (who worries about bald tires anyway???). We were going in a slightly older jeep but figured it was best as it could just about accommodate 2 people in the front with the driver. Our driver's name was "Nima", which means "the sun" in Tibetan. Nils thought this was great as on his trip into Lhasa, he had a driver whose name meant "the moon"!!

Our first stop was the beautiful Yamdrok-tso Lake, which we viewed from the mountain pass of 4990m. The scenery was stunning, but the crowds of Tibetans flaunting their yaks or dogs to take photos of was a pain in the ass. Most of the dogs looked ridiculous, with fluffy collars standing out about 30cm from their heads. The yaks weren't much better, and only the crazy Chinese tourists were really making use of them.

Yamdrok-tso Lake is one of the three holiest lakes in Tibet, with pilgrims flocking here every summer to pray and receive blessings. Most Tibetan pilgrims believe that the water can make the old young again and make the children smarter.

Beautiful Yamdrok-tso...


After the lake-viewing, we snaked our way back down the mountain side and continued along the road towards Gyantse. We arrived in Gyantse at about 5pm and asked to go straight to see the Monastery. The monastery was founded in 1418 by the first Panchen Lama Reldrup. In the early 20th century, the town and monastery were attacked by British soldiers and you can still see some bullet holes today! The most famous part of the monastery is the kumbum, which is a multi-story Buddhist chapel kind of thing. There are supposedly only 3 kumbums in existence today and the biggest and best is this one we went to see.

The Kumbum with its 108 chapels on four floors


"The Eyes" at the Gyantse Kumbum in the Palcho Monastery


After a wander around the monastery for a few hours, we headed back to the town area and found some dinner and got to bed. It was getting really cold and everyone was starting to sniff! That night poor Martin couldn't sleep at all because the freezing cold air was affecting his lungs, and so I was up all night too worrying about him. Shame.


DAY 2:

Gyantse - Shigatse

After not too much sleep, everyone was just keen to get on the road and get to Shigatse... which we did. The journey only took about four hours, so when we arrived it was still quite early. Chris and Emiko decided to go and see the monastery there, which is supposed to be the main one for the Panchen Lamas. I stayed behind to nurse a poor sick Martin who huddled under the blankets in our freezing cold room! We had managed to find some flu medicine and vit c etc that morning, so we were doing the best we could.

That evening we had an interesting meal in a little Tibetan tea house. The whole area had a huge power cut so we had dinner by candlelight (so romantic!). I say interesting because Martin and I ordered stir fried veggies only to be handed a plate of deep fried onion pieces... mmmm.... The rest of the food was yummy though, and they had lots of hot tea which was great!


DAY 3:

Shigatse - Lhatse - Shegar

This morning we thought we'd be leaving around 9am (same as the day before), so went through the painful process of getting out of warm beds at about 8am - doesn't sound too early I know but believe me it was cold!! The only problem came later when we couldn't find our trusty driver Nima... apparently he hadn't slept at the hotel that night and was nowhere to be found! He sauntered in at about 11am, to find 5 grumpy looking faces waiting for him. We couldn't be angry at him for too long though because he was just always smiling and laughing at everything... plus our Tibetan and his English were about on par - not so good!

Off we set to make it to Lhatse for a late lunch break. I don't remember much about Lhatse except that it was a dirty dusty town filled with beggars. Heartbreaking but really difficult too, as some of them would just cling on to our clothes and walk half-way down the street just hanging on!


Traditional Tibetan doorway cover


From there we drove to Shegar... getting close to Everest Base Camp now! We found a cheap hotel and spent what was left of the sunlight wandering around the town. In the late afternoon we found ourselves in a little Tibetan tea house again, with the loveliest woman serving us sweet milk tea. She spoke very little English (only things like "milk tea", "noodle soup" etc) but we entertained her by using Chris' Tibetan phrase book. After a few hours we decided to have dinner there too and Martin got very excited about the idea of teaching her a little English from the book. Nobody knows why, but for some hilarious reason he picked "Do you get along with your family?", which our new friend took to be a very important phrase and set about learning it. It was so funny - she just repeated and repeated it until we all knew that it would be going round and round in our heads all night long!!

Tibetan costume (I love the jewelry!)



DAY 4:

Shegar - EBC - Rongbuk

Everest Base Camp day arrived!! We all got up really excited and went off in the jeep to get the permits and everything else we needed for the trip. The only problem I had was that I was now starting to feel really bad... the same stomach cramps from before (in Lhasa) were me plaguing again. Not sure where they came from (unless it was the rather cold and dodgy looking momo - Tibetan dumpling - I'd eaten the night before) but it was really painful.

From Shegar we drove to Rongbuk Monastery, which is the last stop before the trek to base camp. The drive was stunning... we were so high up that we could see the Himalayas right in front of us :0)

Not a bad view 'ey?


It was soooo cold when we arrived and the wind was icy. We decided to set off straight away on the trek, as we didn't know how long it would take and we wanted to arrive before dark. The plan was to walk there with minimal stuff, find a place to stay (our guide books told us we could sleep in a tent up there) and get some food.

Martin was worried about me and my cramps so sent me off in a jeep that was going up to the base camp with some other foreigners. I felt bad leaving the four of them behind, having to walk for a few hours at that altitude, but there was no way I'd make it feeling as bad as I did. As soon as I arrived all our plans went down the drain... base camp was deserted! The jeep driver explained to me in Chinese that everyone had left for the winter - it was too cold to be sleeping up there at this time of the year. Damn it!!!

As I'd arrived about 3 hours before the others I had to wait up there for them. It started out ok as there were other foreigners around and the sun was shining... but it soon got worse... the others took the jeep back down to Rongbuk Monastery and I was left all alone surrounded by the tallest mountains in the world... weirdly amazing but TOO cold! I sat beside the toilet block to try and get out of the wind and just prayed that they'd arrive sooner!! I lost all feeling in my feet and just sat huddled up with myself watching the crows trying to find food.

8848m high - Mt. Qomolangma (the Tibetan name for Mt. Everest)


After what felt like a decade, I saw two small shapes in the distance - Martin and Nils were the first to arrive. I had to give them the bad news that we wouldn't be staying there for the night and soon after that Martin and I left to trek down the mountain again. We didn't want to be caught out in the dark! We found Emiko and Chris further down the path and relayed the news. After about 2 hours of walking I could feel my feet again, but we were still far from the monastery... I was just dreaming of hot water and warm blankets! Suddenly we heard a jeep in the distance - it was Nima coming to rescue us!! Horray :) He drove back to pick up the others and then fetched us on the way through again. Hot instant noodles awaited us at the "hotel".

That night was terrible... we all slept in our clothes huddled up for warmth but still barely managed to sleep. I was in agony with my stomach cramps, but still refusing to take anti-biotics as I don't like just popping pills.


DAY 5:

Rongbuk - Old Tingri - Zhangmu (Nyalam)

Possibly the worst 'getting out of bed' moment ever! We all struggled to get ourselves into the jeep, but we're excited at the thought of going down in altitude. My tummy was just getting ridiculously painful and even after relenting to Martin and agreeing to take the antibiotics, I spent most of the trip down to Old Tingri in tears. What made matters way worse was the road... never before have I seen a bumpier, more-pot-hole-filled "road" - Africa has competition!! Even with a 4x4 it was agony in the car, it felt like being inside a washing machine!

In Old Tingri we stopped only for lunch, of which I managed about 2 mouthfulls of rice. I spent most of the time outside in the sunshine with Martin trying to make me feel better. I'm sure the altitude wasn't helping either!

From Old Tingri we drove to Zhangmu, the border town. This drive was wonderful... the scenery changed before our eyes from stark snowy landscape to green trees, waterfalls and valleys. Stunning. It felt so good to see trees again and to be able to breathe easily.

The border town nestled in the green mountains


We opted for a hotel right by the border, and said goodbye to our driver Nima. We thanked him for taking us all that way without a single burst tire :) That night we treated ourselves to a Western meal at a nice restaurant... but sadly, my stomach decided to reject the nice spaghetti bolognaise and I had to rush outside to throw up in the street. Nice.


DAY 6:

Zhangmu - Nepal

Border crossing day arrived and we got up early. Nils was so excited as he was heading straight to a river rafting spot in northern Nepal, but the rest of us were just happy to get over the border.

Goodbye Tibet!


After crossing out of Tibet, there's a 9km walk down the mountain to the Nepali border crossing. Martin and I decided to walk down and enjoy the sunshine, with Chris, Emiko and Nils taking our heavy backpacks with them in a taxi. It took us a few hours, and when we arrived we couldn't find the others!!! Had they crossed the border with our stuff? Were they eating lunch somewhere? Help! After a few arguments Martin and I decided to cross the border ourselves and try to find them on the other side. We finally found them eating curry in a little restaurant right by the visa office! Handy.

Hello Nepal!


Once we'd paid for and got our 2-month Nepali visas, we were off to find the bus. The four of us had decided to follow Nils in his white water rafting adventure at Borderlands Resort, a good introduction to Nepal we thought. We found a bus and first thing we're told is to get on the roof as it was full inside. Nice. The journey was scary though, Emiko and I just held on for dear life as the bus lurched down the mountainside on a single lane road. We had to duck often as the bus passed under electricity cables and I kept my eyes closed a lot of time when we had to screetch to a halt when another bus came in the other direction!!!

That night we lived in luxury, sleeping in fancy tents right by the river, eating delicious Nepali food and having our first hot shower in over a week!!! We'd decided not to go rafting as it was too expensive but stayed the next day to watch our friend Nils do it.

And that was our trip from Tibet to Nepal!