3/6/97

Woke up late, which was slightly embarrassing; I was the guy who usually got everyone else up! By 0650 we were picking up Sarah and on the road. After 60k of flat road, a stop for momos and crossing a river, we begin our first climb to the pass overlooking Lake Yamdruk. The view there shows the lake to be a beautiful shade of blue, and we then descended to the lake shore and along to Nagartse, where dozens of locals hang around the streets looking bored- you half expect Clint Eastwood to turn up. We then visited the local monastery after some arguing with the driver who thought the police might object, which was suitably isolated and next to a police post. The view was good and things were friendly, but by this time monasteries were all looking the same, especially after the Jokang, so I wasn't that interested. I'm afraid that by this time I was feeling like a little boy being dragged around old churches back home!

Getting back to the village, we looked over the local ruined monastery, then walked back into town to find a basketball game in progress. Gideon and Gal play at home, so I was dragged in to make up the team for the locals vs foreigners game, while Sarah concentrated on entertaining the younger ones; red hair causes a real fascination here. I think the result was just about even, as we had more experience (myself excepted), but the locals had all the puff; it was about 4600m here. After the inevitable egg fried rice, it was whist by candlelight until we turned in.

Lake Yamdruk from 5000m pass	Yamdruk from Nagartse

4/6/97

Up early, and the first intimations I had that this wasn't my day was when I accidentally locked everyone out of the room; including the hostel owner as he didn't have a spare key! Luckily Gideon managed to squeeze through a window. I then thought I'd say thanks by ordering breakfast. On the way out of the kitchen I gaily leapt over the doorstep, forgetting that the door jamb was lowered. Cue me rolling on the floor in agony with my head in my hands. After I'd then spilt half my tea over my leg, Sarah suggested that I do as little as possible before I broke a leg as well; I was doing my best to be very quiet as we started off again.

After a couple of hours we were at the Karo-La pass, where the Tibetans had first met the Younghusband Expedition of 1904. At the time, the good colonel thought that he could bluff his way past without firing, but unfortunately that wasn't to be. The Tibetans opened fire, and the British replied causing very heavy Tibetan casualties. In truth, they were even heavier in moral terms, as the locals had all been presented with an amulet by the then Delai Lama which he had assured them would protect them from all bullets. Firing stopped quickly, and a British officer described the sight of the remaining Tibetans walking off the battlefield with their beliefs destroyed as the saddest of his life. Today, I could find no sign of what is supposed to have been the world's highest battle at 5000m, if you discount the pointless glacier war between India and Pakistan; not a single 303 cartridge. On the way down from the pass we saw three Westerners cycling up; it's nice to see that some people manage to get past the restrictions, which included another checkpoint situated in a narrow valley; they must have had permits.

Gyantse had another temple, which was actually interesting, in particular the large tower which you spiral around as you climb, seeing a series of shrines along the way. We then had a little yak for lunch, followed by an attempt to visit the fort. The locals weren't very effective in keeping Brits out in 1904, but these days they're getting their revenge by charging 120Y for entrance, which we didn't feel was worth paying! People like us are not allowed to stay overnight, so we then went on to Shigatse for the night. After a long search for a restaurant that served egg plant, the Israelis showed some signs of being a little narked with China; the word "meiyou" got them very annoyed, while the Brits and Hong Kong contingent stayed calm; perhaps it's the endless rain which gave us the patience! We were staying in the Fruit Hotel (perhaps for nut cases) which was friendly and opposite the local monastery, which we resisted the temptation to visit.

Nagartse from ruined monastry	Karo-Lo pass
View from a pass on the way to Gyantse	Gyantse temple

5/6/97

We were awakened by the blare of the local Army barracks loudspeakers, presumably spouting propaganda, and were on the road to Sakya monastery by 9 am. This is most of the way to Lhatse, and is reached via a 20k turnoff. It had it's points, particularly the massive earthen wall that surrounded it. It also had a friendly restaurant that supplied Gideon with all the egg fried rice he could eat, which turned out to be quite a lot! After an enforced stop caused by an engine overheat, we carried on to Lhatse where we were to stay for the night. The Lhatse Hotel seemed OK, especially the manager, who told us where the local night-clubs were as well as informing us of all sorts of other things.

The nightclub proved to be very quiet, with practically no local women there at all, and none of them would dance with Gideon and I. The local lads enjoyed themselves dancing with us, even buying us beer at one point. It was time to reflect once more on the fact that 2-Unlimited have achieved levels of cultural penetration throughout China that have evaded Coca-Cola. Just say "No-no, nono-no" to anyone here, and they'll hum it back to you! After a few pints we were all in, and we wandered back to the hotel, apart from Sarah who managed a lift on a motorbike.

Sakya monastry; note village built into hill behind it	Fruit Hotel, Shigatse

6/6/97

It was Rongbuk monastery and Everest today, and we started off by stopping at the checkpoint just outside Lhatse, where we waited for half an hour while things were scrutinized. We then started a climb south instead of continuing west on the Kashi road that led past Kailas. For future evaders, you'd have to travel a way north to box the place! We reached the highest pass I'd been to at 5220m, and I tried a quick 100m sprint; it's tiring. Just on from there, the "Friendship Highway" disintegrated somewhat, before we got to see our first sight of the Himalayas. They looked big, even from this far away. On reaching Xegar, we were stopped by the local Army checkpoint for a while, then went on a couple of kilometres before turning off the the highway onto the base camp road.

After passing through Chay and paying our 60Y for our "permit", we started a very long and laborious climb to the Peng-la pass. If anyone doubts that the Himalayas are new-fold mountains, they should look out of the windows at this point as the folded sediment layers were starkly visible on the surrounding cliffs. From the pass, you had a great view of the mountain ranges ahead, but as was usually the case, the top of Everest was hidden behind cloud, making it seem shorter than the ones around it. We then descended through a couple of villages to Peruche where there was a cafe that served "sweet tea"; milky and very sweet, but a nice change from the yak butter variety. We then travelled on over a high altitude plain at 4300m where there's quite a lot of arable farming, supported by extensive irrigation. The people here have very dark skins, in fact the darkest I've seen anywhere in Tibet, which became more obvious as you progressed up the valley, which closed in as we got futher south. After a five or so hours, we rolled into Rongbuk monastery at about 5050m and quite late.

We'd heard that the monks hire out rooms these days, but had been warned to bring some food. I can now reveal that there is food at Rongbuk; tsampa, noodles, mantou (tasteless bread buns) and sweet tea! We spent a lot of time gazing at Everest, which dominated the head of the valley. It's size was accentuated by the clouds passing by well below it's summit. We'll walk to base camp there tomorrow, along with an Israeli and Brit who want to climb to Camp III at 6400m. If only I had the time!

At those high passes, the others take no chances with the sun!	First sight on the Himilayas, east of Xegar
Peng-La pass (5200m) on road to Everest Base	Base camp, Mt Everest

7/6/97

We should have been up early, but it was freezing so it was ten before we got going. I decided to be a hard bastard and go carrying the pack; well, got to tell Tony how it feels here! The valley is magnificent, but it was a gentle but difficult climb. Gideon got one of his migraines after 5k so we left him to recuperate in a small stone enclosure near a ruined monastery. Yeung went next, though for a guy of 55 he's probably super fit! Sarah and Gal started slowing down more and more, and eventually I left them behind as we climbed up a small rise (which had the heart rate at 170 and respiration's at 45), after which there was a gravel plain all the way to base camp, which consisted of an accommodation block (!) with a few Pakastani's sitting outside drinking beer and playing Chinese checkers. They all wanted to know where I was from, and after the "passing of the pictures" I asked about them. Apparently they got here over two months ago, and have already made five attempts at the summit, but have been turned back by bad weather each time- you can see the plume of snow being blown off the summit very easily. The expedition leader (a police general) explained how they get a climbing pair to the top in a three week process from base. After two weeks, they're at 7500m and climb to 8300, where they spend the night on oxygen, then hopefully climb to the summit and down to 7500m again in a day. Tomorrow another pair will try again, followed by another the day after. I wished them luck and then set off back to Rongbuk to find the others who had failed to appear in the hour I had been there.

I meandered a bit on the way down, but failed to find any of them. I got rather worried when I got back at 3-30 to find no-one else back yet! Gideon and Yeung came back at 5; they'd been sleeping off the road somewhere, but not where I'd looked it seems. Sarah and Gal got back at 8pm, by which time we were about to send out the search parties. They'd been looking for me! Why, I asked? Sarah smiled and said that I had set off this morning with "a strange gleam in my eye!". Well yes, but I'm just not that nuts!

While drinking some sweet tea later, we were talking to an 18 year old German girl when our driver entered the room. He grunted appreciatively at her, and to our astonishment she seemed to think that this was some sort of greeting and grunted back! The driver and his mates all saw this as very amusing, and the former motioned me into the kitchen and told me I would be "game on" in Shigatse in gestures if not in words. The poor girl had to leave soon afterwards, lest she attract any more nods and winks! Amazing how easy it can be to misread situations.

8/6/97

Up early to leave; we've got to make Shigatse by evening. It was a long drive but we made it, though there was a lot of snoozing in the back. Finally got to the Fruit Hotel, where it seems that the shower block is nearly finished! Wonders will never cease.
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© Rupert Fiennes 1998