Driving on the Rooftop of the World

The four day trip to Everest Base Camp left me exhausted but content. The Australian couple, Alex and Laura, were fine but the Dutch couple, Selly and Lily, had some alitutde issues. They tried to take oxygen right at our first stop but our driver stopped them.

Our first stop was Yamdrok-tso lake at an elevation of 4488 metres. The Kamba-la pass (4794m) overlooking the lake was a zoo. People were selling trinkets and several yaks were on hand to be mounted and photographed. Some of the more daring entrepreneurs attached a black collar to their dogs and chased every new arrival to the lookout with "Dog. Picture. Dog. Picture."

I made my way up the hill past the buses. Huffing and puffing all the way, I finally had to kneel to catch my breath. Looking around it was hard to take in all the summits. This truly is the rooftop of the world and my camera does not do it justice at all. The picture above is the view of the lake from the top of the mountain at 5200 metres and the picture below is the view of the road we took (taken from the same spot).



We figured out pretty early on that our driver was in a big rush for some reason. He kept waving in and out of traffic and took the curves on the mountain at 90km/hr. None of this bothered me too much until we had to off-road toward Gyantse. Having your ribcage jammed into the door of a 4 by 4 is not all that comfortable. Surprisingly, Tibet has sand dunes. I was stunned. The lakes are quite remarkable but the sand dunes were stunning.



In Gyantse I opted to not visit the Pelkhor Choede Monastery. I am monasteried out. Instead I took a walk with Laura and discovered a courtyard filled with people shelling garlic cloves. It looked like a little piece of heaven with its blue walls and the white shells covering the floor, swirling about at the slightest breeze.



The wait for Lily to emerge from the monastery was endless. We kept ourselves entertained with some small children that were begging in front of the monastery. One of the little boys took Laura's blond hair in his hands and kissed it. All of us melted at the sight. He then took to sitting on my shoulder while another one of the girls, baby strapped to her back, came by to fix my hair. Laura had postcards of Tibet on her and the kids were so excited to see them. They each got to keep one.



The following day we drove toward Shegar to get the Everest permit and tickets. The first half of the drive took place in the dark with a Bollywood DVD providing the only light inside the car.



The landscape changed dramatically. It was freezing cold. I had to layer up with an extra pair of pants and my fake North Face jacket.



The sunrise was spectacular. This made up for the foggy failure at Darjeeling. Plus, here I had the experience to myself. Laura was off peeing, Alex was layering, Lily & Selly were freezing in the car and I took a hike away from the car. There weren't any people pointing excitedly at the sun as they had done in India. No other tourists meant no hot chai at steep prizes to help me truly appreciate the Himalayan range.



Shegar turned out to be a road stop town. Nothing more than a highway and a hotel before the 50 hairpin turns up the mountain and 50 hairpin turns down the mountain on unpaved road enroute to Everest Base Camp. Once we arrived at the entrance to the mountain our driver set about popping the hood and fixing something on the car. Our hearts sank a little when we saw the fog covering Everest between the pass.



It was freezing. Our horses were severly underfed. Laura was texting Australia. Our horse carriage driver stopped trying to sell us trinckets and started singing Tibetan folk songs. The sun burnt us from above and the wind whipped my hands into a bright red shade.



A 1.5 hour horse drawn carriage ride later we were at base camp (5200m). I ducked into Hotel California, a white tent like all the others at base camp, for a hot tea. Quite a few people cycled up here from Lhasa. Everest was still fogged in.



I walked part of the way back from the camp, giving the horse a break. My legs felt like jello three steps in, I was short of breath. We drove up the mountain with the hairpin turns and the fog lifted. Everest is unmistakeably the largest of the mountains. The sun began to set and we discovered a leak in one of the tires. The spare tire was frozen to the car and could not be removed. Our driver asked for absolute silence on the 50 hairpins down the mountain in the dark with a leaking tire. He drowned out Laura's sniffling with Chinese dance music. Selly had a tight grip on my hands and Lily's altitude induced headache was replaced by complete and utter fear. The car spun out on some of the turns and a roadside pole on one of the turns went flying down the mountain...a sheer drop. The driver was rushing. 100km/hr down a mountain in the dark. Alex looked afraid for his life 45 minutes into dinner that night. Selly got out of the car in Shegar and threw up. This was the scarriest ride I've taken.

The fake Panchan Lama was in Shigatse the day after our near death experience. The monastery was the site of dancing and chanting and picnicking. Shigatse rivals Lhasa for power over Tibet. The crumbling fortress overlooking the town is now being rebuilt. We did the kora (circumventing the monastery compound in a clockwise direction) and were kept company by hundreds of prayer wheels. Alex cited some facts:
-The Chinese destroyed over 6000 monasteries in the last 40 years.
-1.2 million Tibetans lost their lifes during the 'liberation'.
-China has invested 1.3 billion dollars in Tibet's infrastructure. More than any other province.

The title of Dalai Lama (the title means Ocean of Wisdom) was bestowed by Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongols, upon the leader of the Yellow Hats. I also learned that the fifth Dalai Lama is revered for changing Tibet for the better. He named the first Panchan Lama. His follower, Dalai Lama numero 6, was known for frequenting the brothels around the Potala. His affections weren't only reserved for the working ladies, no monk was safe from his advances either.