Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Ponies on lunch break, upper Base Camp, Qomolongma (Mt. Everest)
Yes, that is a soccer ball and a basketball they have strapped to their snouts. The balls are filled with.... whatever is pony food up here... Oats? Rice? Yak butter?
One cold, wet pony...Base Camp,Qomolongma (Mt.Everest)
This is what a pony looks like covered in 4 inches of snow. Poor pony! Ponies are kept up here to give tourists a lift up to the highest point you can reach at Base Camp, without a climbers permit. It is a 8 mile round trip walk, or you can hire a pony cart for a lift. We walked.
New friends-from Lhasa to Base Camp!
Siem and Melee were really great people we had met while in Lhasa. We knew it was possible that they would be at Base Camp at the same time as we were. They were there, but Siem was suffering from altitude sickness quite badly and we were happy to get to see him at all before we all left. The drivers were in a big hurry to leave before more snow covered the road. Getting stuck up there during a storm was not something any of us wanted to have happen!!!!!
Our BALD ASS tires!
Aye Dios mia! Dios guia mi camino.... well, anyway, SOMETHING kept us from sliding off the road on the way down from Base Camp. And it obviously was not our tires!
Andrea and I... Coming down from Qomolongma (Mt. Everest)
Andrea and I in the beautiful Himalayas! We were both happy to be out of the Land Cruiser for a moment, and to be out of the snow! It had been a nerve wracking morning plowing our way through 4 inches of snow, down the longest, steepest road any of us had ever been on! With Pubu at the wheel, we had nothing to fear...... But those bald ass tires gave us good reason to worry!!
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
At the top of a high pass...Himalyas...Coming down THE mountain
The top of a pass is a perfect spot to hang prayer flags. Constantly moving with the eternal winds there, you can be sure that your prayers will go out incessantly... until the flags have blown themsleves into shreds! As you can see, many people agree!
Sweet Pilgrim lady...coming down THE mountain
It seemed customary to stop at every high pass we came to as we drove through the mountains. Because of this custom, at many of the passes people had tents set up to offer tea, noodles, trinkets etc.. This woman had the kindest smile, and eyes that warmed your soul! Which was good, because it was extremely frozen and windblown up there!! She placed these prayer flags around his neck with a hug, like a lei, and we could not resist! With packs reaching maximum capacity, we were trying to buy less trinkets...but what are you gonna do?
Lunch Break... Shegar... coming down THE mountain
This beautiful little restaurant was attached to the Snow Lion Inn in Shegar. We stayed there 2 nights before on our way UP to Base Camp. Unfortunately the rooms were not nearly as.... inviting as their restaurant. We merely stopped here for lunch today. Had some DELICIOUS noodle soup, with a side of fried potatos, as I recall. Though due to altitude sickness, none of us had much appetite.
Off roadin' Tibetan style... coming down from Everest Base Camp
We were enjoying a smooth cruise down the Friendship Hwy. Suddenly, we came around a corner and were stopped by a military man who pointed down hill and said "Follow river" in English. There was some more discussion in Chinese between him and Pubu. Turns out there had been a bad accident involving several large trucks, and the highway had been rendered impassable for about 3/4 of a mile. If you look WAY up you can see the narrow thread of a road etched into the hillside. We headed through a break in the gaurdrail and barrelled all the way down to the floor of the valley. There was NO road, and not even a clear trail to follow. So we did as we were told and followed the river. The Landcruiser was old but rock solid! It was an insanely bumpy ride... the bumpiness accentuated all the more from the multitude of springs in the seats! We were all literally flying around the inside of that beast!! So much fun! Even a small element of danger can really spice a day up!
Off roadin' Tibetan style... coming down from Everest Base Camp
Hooray for Pubu! He was a very skilled and ever smiling driver! Except when it came to the Chinese...."Akkkkkh!! Chineeeeseee!"
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Views from the LandCruiser
Somewhere along the Friendship Highway, between Everest Base Camp and Shigatse. There were so many stunning views it became hard to tell one place from another.
The Tibetan Farmers Hotel...Our room... Shigatse
Though it was a little rough around the edges, the rooms were beautifully painted! As is typical in most Tibetan accomodations, from the barest room to a luxury suite, there is great pride taken in how the walls and interior beams are painted and decorated.
The Tibetan Farmers Hotel...Restaurant...Shigatse
They had a really good restaurant at this hotel! We had some delicious curry and mushroom masala!! This was a sugar and salt box that was on the table.
The Tibetan Farmers Hotel... Shigatse
We arrived in Shigatse at about 8 at night. We wanted to stay at the Tenzin, but it was full. At this hour Pubu told us, we did not have many options for Tibetan owned hotels. We had been avoiding Chinese owned accomodations for our whole trip, and did not want to change that now. He took us to this place. It was basic and comfortable, if only because we knew we were with Tibetans. The shared bathrooms were among the most heinous in Tibet, but, luckily, they were all the way at the end of the courtyard from our room. And it was decorated and painted beautifully!!
Our Everest Group!!...last morning... Shigatse
Pubu dropped us off at the Tenzin Hotel on our last morning together. Pubu and the Swiss sisters were on their way back to Lhasa, and we were parting ways here at the Tenzin Hotel where we had all stayed together just 4 days before. It was a fun adventure to Base Camp! Even though we did not get a view of Everest itself, due to massive storm clouds, we were lucky in many ways. We were surely lucky to have had Pubu as our driver! He was a skilled driver and a funny, light hearted man! And we also were lucky to have met Andrea and Nadia to travel with. They were fun, adventurous and very interesting. I learned a lot from our many conversations. We were a little sad to see them go, but excited for us all to have shared such an amazing journey to such a special place!
Got Goat?
In the morning to mid-afternoon there was a busy, but smaller market across from our hotel. One half of the stalls were souvenir-ish type items, while the other half was the neighborhood food market. Fresh meat and veggies daily. This day was a big one for the butcher... apparently it was goat day...or week. No. We did not eat goat. Ever.
Hitchin' a ride to the Onkor Festival...Tashilunpo,Shigatse
Families were showing up for this two day festival ready to party, with so much gear that some families needed a tractor to haul it in! Some had one or more large wooden chests with them, used both to carry party supplies and to lay carpets on at night for beds. Many people had wooden chairs and tables as well! It was a two to three day festival... camping included, obviously. It looked like people were setting up for a good time. The chang jugs had already started making their way around the when we arrived on the first afternoon. Chang is a home brewed alcohol made from barley. I was not given the oppurtunity to try any, but it smelled like some pure funk. A lot of men were hittin' that chang, some more than others. A lot of elderly men seemed to be into the chang... must help with the aches and pains of getting old in a harsh climate like Tibet.
Rock painting... Tashilunpo,Shigatse
These rocks were on the lower and final portion of the kora around the outside of the Tashilunpo Monastery walls, which was along the same road as our Tenzin Hotel. We passed these rocks on our way to see the Onkar Festival at Tashilunpo. This is the harvest festival for people in central Tibet. We were lucky enough to arrive in town on the first day of the two day festival. On day two we spent the whole day at the festival. We saw several traditional Tibetan dances, including amazing masks and costumes. We also only saw one other foreign couple the whole day! We felt very privileged to have stumbled into such a lovely and intense happening!
Street performer...Onkor Festival...Tashilunpo,Shigatse
We saw this girl with the same group of street folk in Lhasa a few weeks before. They had a small boom-box with some lovely Tibetan music that they would blast while she danced and posed in her beautiful costume. She was definately the bread winner of the bunch. So tiny and cute in her little costume, she always had a crowd around her.
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