Steintore
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Steintore
About Tibet:
With an average elevation of 4,900m (16,000 ft), it is the highest region on earth and is commonly referred to as the "Roof of the World."
From the early 17th century until the 1959 uprising, the Dalai Lamas (Tibetan Buddhists and spiritual leaders) were, at least nominally, heads of a centralised Tibetan administration, with political power to administer religious and administrative authority over large parts of Tibet from the traditional capital Lhasa. It is now an autonomous region within China. It is governed by a People's Government, led by a Chairman. In practice, however, the Chairman is subordinate to the branch secretary of the Communist Party of China. As a matter of convention, the Chairman has almost always been an ethnic Tibetan, while the party secretary has always been ethnically non-Tibetan.
Buddhism has been the main religion since the 8th century AD but there are also approx 5,000 Muslims and a few Catholics. There were over 6,000 monasteries in Tibet but nearly all were ransacked and destroyed during the Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976. Most of the major ones have been at least partially re-established but many still remain in ruins.
Tibet shares some of the highest mountains in the world with Nepal as they are on the border between the two countries, including Mount Everest. Several major rivers have their source in the Tibetan Plateau including the Yangtze, Mekong and Ganges. The atmosphere is severely dry nine months of the year, and average annual snowfall is only 18 inches (46 cm).
Sat, 24.05.2014: Kathmandu, Nepal to Nyalam, Tibet, (3,700m above sea level), 156km, sunny/rain, 18 - 36°C
We got up at 5-30am to start on our next adventure. Our bags were really heavy as we had bought new gear for ourselves plus presents for family back home. The large black bag on rollers weighed a ton but we also had two large rucksacks and a small rucksack full of electronics and food.
We would be crossing the border today from Nepal into Tibet so we had to have everything ready. We lugged all of our luggage down the three flights to the reception area, knowing we would be lugging it along with us through China and back to Germany. I pulled the black bag on rollers and carried one of the large rucksacks whilst Kirsten had the other two rucksacks - large one on her back and small one on her front.
We certainly weren't travelling light anymore! It's a good job we were getting picked up from the hotel and only had to negotiate the three flights of steps - no mean feet!
We had booked an 8 night/9 day trip from Kathmandu to Lhasa by Jeep which included all transport, guides, entrance fees for the sights mentioned on the itinerary, basic accommodation with breakfast for the first three nights and better accommodation with breakfast for the other nights, plus train tickets from Lhasa to Xi'an and the fees for our Group Visa for Tibet which would also include China and would be for 25 days. All of that cost us $1,130 each and was very expensive for such a short trip.
Our taxi arrived a bit late and we loaded up and then went to collect the two other people on our tour. Claudie, French but has lived in England for over 40 years, and Bar, from Israel who had done some trekking in Nepal to acclimatise for this trip.
We had also done all our trekking and were hoping that we would still be acclimatised enough even though it was almost 2 weeks since we had finished. Acclimatisation lasts for about two weeks but we would be stopping for the night at 3,700m. Tomorrow we would be driving over a pass at 5,153m but descend to 4,300m for the night. So we thought our bodies would get back into acclimatisation mode pretty quickly and we wouldn't have a problem.
Unfortunately, Claudie didn't even know acclimatisation would be an issue and didn't know that Tibet would be so high. We found out later that she had been told when she booked the trip but she hadn't done anything to get herself acclimatised and wasn't a trekker.
We also heard that other people had declined to come on our particular trip because they didn't think the others would be acclimatised and it would cause a problem for the tour. We didn't have that luxury because we never considered that there would be people on the trip who didn't know how high we would be going and wouldn't do some training to acclimatise beforehand. By the time we found out, it was too late!
But that was all in the future and our first stop was for breakfast at a restaurant in Kathmandu. We had 2 fried eggs, potatoes in a spicy sauce, toast and tea. Our bags were loaded onto the roof of the Jeep as we ate and we had to get them back off to put the covers on to protect them from dust etc.
We set off at 7-30am and it took us just over 4 hours to get to the Tibetan border including a short toilet stop and another to take a look at a bridge that Bungee jumpers use. The winding road up through a deep valley to the border was spectacular.
The border crossing took one hour. We wouldn't be allowed to drive across the "Friendship Bridge" which was blocked off by concrete slabs anyway, and we would have to transfer to another Jeep on the other side.
It had started to pour with rain just as we got to the border and we had to lug all of our bags and rucksacks to get an exit stamp from Nepal first and then across the bridge to the Tibetan side. There were two passport checks and then all of our bags were opened and checked through. The official took out half of the contents from each bag and we had a hard job re-packing everything. We had packed them really well the first time but had to rush to get everything put back in before all our stuff got mixed up with the next persons!
Our luggage also went through two x-rays, one before and one after the hand search, and then went to customs to get a stamp on our permits which were on an A4 piece of paper and separate to our passports. There were no stamps put into our passports. Then we walked to our Jeep and loaded up our wet luggage into the back. We had a short drive to a restaurant in the border town where we were left for two hours!
The guide, who we found out later wasn't going to be our guide, and the Jeep driver just disappeared. We ordered two Tomato soups which we ate with our bread rolls from Kathmandu and started getting really cold because all our jackets were in the locked Jeep and we couldn't find the driver or guide to get it opened!
Finally, the guide and driver reappeared, we got into the Jeep and drove 200 metres and then sat in a traffic jam for 90 minutes!!! This trip wasn't exactly starting very well! But we did have to laugh about the traffic jam - typical for Asia. One truck got stuck and then other trucks completely block the road trying to get past. We just had to sit there whilst they sorted everything out.
We finally got going at 6-20pm and drove for just over an hour to Nyalam. We have a new guide - Bedroom! Well that's what it sounded like even though we asked her to repeat it! (Later, we found out it is actually Peldon but the translation between Chinese and English gets hung up on the two different alphabets. That's why Peking got re-named Beijing.)
At least she seemed far less grumpy than the first guide who was now with a Swiss couple who had booked a private tour parallel to ours.
Our hotel room was basic but better than the tea houses we had encountered on the treks. There were three beds with lots of bedding and clean sheets. We would be sharing with Claudie for the first three nights. We had enough room for our bags and were brought a Thermos with hot water so we could make tea. At least we still had tea bags and sugar with us.
We had a meal in the restaurant - we shared a fried rice - and then we had a short walk around the small town in the dark. We had some fun with the people in the shops, trying to learn phrases that we had a hard job remembering! We bought the essentials - a toilet roll and Cadbury's chocolate!!!
We also saw a freshly killed pig lying on a pallet which was being chopped up into joints for the local butcher shop. Unfortunately, they didn't bother stopping the stray dogs from licking it and we decided to be vegetarians!!
By the time we had got sorted out it was 11pm before we went to bed. A very long day.
Sun, 25.05.2014: Nyalam to Tingri (4,300m), 252km, sunny, 12°C
We didn't get much sleep because of the hard beds and aching hips but we got up at 7-45 am and went to the restaurant for breakfast - omelette and chapati plus tea. We packed our bags so that we would only need one rucksack for the next two nights and left at 10am.
We drove along a wonderful road through the majestic Himalayan range with it's snow covered mountains and a beautiful blue sky as a back drop. There were lots of photo stops. We drove through the village of Yable at 3,900m with its white washed stone buildings and locals dressed in their colourful traditional dress and saw Shisha Pangma, a mountain that is 8,013m and the lowest of the 14 highest mountains in the world that are over 8,000m high.
Then we drove up to Tong La Pass at 5,153m for superb panoramic views.
Tong La Pass (5153m) - 360° Panorama
(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
Then we descended down to Tingri at 4,300m and saw Mount Everest and Cho Oyu in the distance.
Near Tingri - 360° Panorama
(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
We arrived at 1-30pm and, after lunch, went out into the strong, gale force winds with Bar from our group (Claudie wasn't feeling well) and the Swiss couple, Laurent and Tiziana on the parallel trip. We were covered up in baseball caps and face masks to protect us from the sand blasting and walked up a nearby hill for cloudy views of Everest and Cho Oyu.
We all met up later for a meal in a restaurant and already had our thermals on to try and keep us warm. It was fun trying to order food but at least they had a menu in English.
Tibet Tour Part 1 - Kathmandu to Tingri
Our room was very small for the three of us but we had clean sheets and blankets. The toilet was in an outside block and there was no sink but we managed because we had been used to this from our trekking.
Mon, 26.05.2014: Tingri to Rongbuk (4,980m), 90km, snow, 5°C
We had breakfast and packed up our stuff. Our guide arranged for Claudie to stay another night because she had altitude sickness as she wasn't acclimatised. We would be going up to Everest Base Camp and staying at almost 5,000m for the night so she wouldn't be able to join us.
We left at 8-45am and drove along a rough track that was very bumpy and got thrown around by the driver because he was driving too fast. We drove through some villages and it started snowing!
On the way to Rongbuk Monastery - 360° Panorama
(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
We got to our tea house at noon and would be sharing a room with Bar because Claudie had the other room allotted for the tour. At least we had a larger room with four beds and plenty of extra blankets - the temperature had dropped to a maximum of 5°C and was a huge difference to the 36 to 38°C from only two days ago!
We sat in the restaurant for lunch with Bar, Tiziana and Laurent. The plan was that we would be driven by Jeep and then get a 20 minute bus ride out to the base camp. We were hoping the snow would stop but it just kept falling and the snow flakes kept getting bigger.
At 3-30pm we walked out into the snow for a tour of Rongbuk Monastery which is the highest monastery in the world and has wonderful views of Mount Everest. We could hardly see the monastery through the snow!
This is what we should have seen!
Tiziana and Laurent's guide explained about the monastery which was built in 1950. The original one is further along the road and was built in the 8th Century. There is no chanting at the moment as the monks and nuns are busy building new houses and they were all eating their lunch when we walked into their kitchen/dining room.
We were allowed to take photos inside the monastery but the monks and nuns did not want their photos taken which we can understand. Their kitchen/dining room was very basic with a mud floor and central heater in a circular drum that we had seen every night in the tea houses along the Everest trek in Nepal. They had Yak stew with lots of meat and vegetables.
Our tour lasted 45 minutes and it was still snowing when we left. Even the huge woolly sheep were standing in the doorway trying to get out of the snow! We went back to the restaurant where we sat without a fire and knew that we wouldn't be going to Everest Base Camp today. We hoped we could go tomorrow.
We had great fun playing rummy with the others as the temperature dropped. We got our Sigg bottles filled with hot water to use as hot water bottles but even with those and all the blankets it took ages to warm up and get to sleep.
Tues, 27.05.2014: Rongbuk to Shigatse (3,900m), 390km, snow/rain, 12°C
Our alarm went off at 6-30am but it was still dark with thick snow outside so Kirsten put it on for 7-30am when we got up and packed. Breakfast was real pancakes with jam. Kirsten had a migraine, not from altitude sickness but the usual migraine that went with her period every month. She had also been sick whilst we were packing - sick bag provided by Bar!! At least she felt well enough for a cup of tea.
After breakfast we loaded up the Jeep and drove towards the buses but the snow was very deep and we couldn't see a thing! After only 200 metres we had to pull over for Jeeps coming in the other direction and the drivers told us we would have to turn around. The snow was too bad and it was too dangerous to go any further.
We would have to drive out without seeing Everest Base Camp. That was a real pity. This was the highlight of the trip for us and we just happened to get here during a snow storm. Most of the tours don't even include the Base Camp but we had specifically asked for it to be on our trip and then we don't even get there because of heavy snow. Such a shame.
We both knew that we wouldn't be paying for another trip in the future and if we did return to Tibet, we would have to wait until independent travel was allowed. Not the case at present.
So we had to leave and were driven really fast again even though the road conditions were far worse on the way back and we were slipping and sliding all over the place! The drive was at least 30 minutes less on the way back!
We had a toilet stop back at the hotel in Tingri and picked up Claudie and then drove to Shigatse. The road took us over three passes - 5248m, 4500m and 4050m - and it snowed or rained as we drove.
We went through a stretch with painted hills either side. There were several stretches where the road disappeared as it was under construction. We had a lunch break for over an hour where the only thing on the menu was vegetable fried rice and the toilet was a public one across the road. I was the first to use it and it was the typical open style with no doors for the cubicles. Fine for me because there was no one around but all the others had to put up with being stared at by some local girls!
We also had various police checks. At two of them we learned that there were timed checks for tourist vehicles to control driver's speed. Our driver still drove too fast which meant we had to sit on the side of the road until we could get past the next time check. At one we had a 45 minute wait! The last wait was just before Shigatse and we finally got to our hotel at 6-45pm.
The hotel on our itinerary was closed so we were taken to a different one. We had a really nice room with en suite bathroom, TV and kettle. After the last three nights this felt like real luxury. We had nice hot showers but flooded the bathroom! We went down to the hotel restaurant which cost us $22, expensive for us! Kirsten had sizzling chicken and I had a cheese and tomato toasted sandwich which had sweet bread but I followed it with banana fritters. We were joined by Tiziana and Laurent.
Back in the room, my bed was so hard I had to put two pillows length ways under the mattress sheet to sleep on and we looked up info on our computer about the upcoming attractions. We didn't get to bed until midnight.
Tibet Tour Part 2 - Rongbuk Monastery to Yamdrok Lake
