On the Road to Nepal - Part 4

Loading up in our Toyota for the trip to Nepal


Fueling up at the local Tibetian gas station

The car is a cream Toyota Land Cruiser, pretty much identical to every other Land Cruiser in Lhasa, of which there were plenty.
We loaded up, Lianna was moderately better with the drugs, and happy to be leaving for lower elevation, despite the fact that it will take us 2 days to get there.
The land cruiser is comfortable: Mark and driver up front, then Lianna and either Artemis or Caleb, and then the guide. The last kid would be in the way back, where there was s bench and our baggage. Quie fun and comfy, especially since there were no seatbelts.

We were driking water like crazy which meant pissing like crazy. Every half hour at the very least, and usually more like 3 times an hour. On the first pee stop just out of the city of Lhasa, there were two ladies with blankets laid out and cool stuff for sale, so we bought some, and so it went. We drove a long day though, and did not arrive in Shigatse until 6-ish. Our hotel was ample, but compared to the previous one, which was stunning, it was a let down.


Stopping for lunch at a roadside restaurant



Artune(our guide) and the driver taking a break while we take a pee

For dinner went to a good local place that spoke English, was clean and had a menu with variety. We had curries and rice. After we ordered, a couple of white guys began singing happy birthday. We chirpped in. He offered us some of the cake, which we kindly accepted, as it looked great. There was a cherry tomato on the top of it too!

Then back to the hotel and early bed for an early rise, as we had a rough day ahead -luckily, we did not know how rough. Hehehehehehe.

Friday,
Up early and breakfast at hotel at 8:00 a.m. Fresh fried eggs, fried potatoes for the first time in a long time, some toast, and milky coffee. Guides eat with us, and we are on the way by 8:30 a.m.

The road starts off easilty enough, paved and flat. Most of Tibet has been like this: paved flat roads solidly placed in a large sweeping valley. The landscape is grey/brown; buildings come right up from the earth, as they are made of the same clay as the ground, with farmers using the earth to make bricks for their houses. So wherever there is a little village, the houses match the colour of the earth.





We pass farming communities in the middle of nowhere, far far far from each other, and from any city or town. Some have electrical wires; many use these funky tractors which are a cross between a sewing machine and a hot-rod lawn mower. With these they climb the steepest road, pulling a trailer usually packed with items and people. I don't know how they get supplies, but my hunch is a supply truck must service this road, as it's the only road, and all of the towns we can see are off of it.



On the way we pass:
-Mt Everest! We can see it perfectly from the road at multiple points. It is stunning as it rises above even the surrounding stunning mountains.


-herds of sheep, goats, yaks and cows


-nomadic people packing their yaks and moving on


-farmers beating their wheat crop, separating the wheat from the chaff
-road crews living on the edge of the road, working by hand, without the use of any type of machine
-some cars also going between Nepal and Tibet, transport trucks, small towns with many people.




We stop for lunch at a guest house at the end of some small town. The guest house is basic, but the restaurant cozy, with other westerners and their guides. There is a large dung fire in the middle of the room heating water and heating the room. Around the edges are comfy sofas covered in colourful thick blankets, and the ceiling is painted.


These westerners are not as friendly as others - usually we start talking immediately, but one group is Russian, and they are stand-offish, and the other is French; it takes them a while to warm up but they eventually do - one guy is cursing the fact that he has not received his food while others eat. I respond to him in French, and he makes his way over and we chat in English, talking about Nepal and Kathmandu. We end up meeting this guy over and over, and enjoy their company.

We have some sheep bones and cut the meet away with a knife - this is an appetizer, given to anyone. We have some yak meat and tatoes, as per usual. As we're eating a large group of Slavs from Slovenia show up. They are staying in the guest house, with their outdoor toilet comprised of a slit in the concrete and a pile of shit below - and not too far below either. There is a little metal half-door. That is the only toilet.

Artemis and Caleb befriend a kitten. The owner tells her she can take it home if she wants. She almost does!




Going through a pass over 5000m, its cold!

We take some photos of Everest and surrounding mountains, get some shots of some local kids, and are on our way. The guide tells us we can't have someone in the back, as they check around here - although there won't be any army checks like the previous day. She also says we have 108 Kms of bumpy road ahead - and she wasn't kidding.

Our driver wears white gloves no matter what

The road immediately turns to gravel. This goes on for hours. We go over two passes, each over 5,000 metres, go through one river; take a short cut down a mountain, as the winding road seems too long and finally we get to a town. The town is built on a sheer cliff which plunges probably 1000 metres straight down. There is one small road, and the houses are situated on it, with most of their structure on the cliff. One wrong move off the road, and you are gone over. The road is busy and full, with many people walking around. Kids play by the cliff, nonchalantly sitting on the edge. It's a part of life for them, and they think nothing of it. We, on the other hand, are terrified. And so begins the final 30 Kms to the border town.

The road begins as a windy cliff road, but nicely paved, and compared to what we've been driving through, it's first class, despite the limitless drops and chasms. We wind our way merrily along until the road turns back to gravel. And then we reach an army checkpoint. At this stage we are in much lower elevation. The mountains have gone from grey/brown to lush green, with waterfalls everywhere. The road is in good repair, with spots being built and others being fixed, but it has been good - until the check point.

It's an army checkpoint and our guide and driver go out and come back some minutes later. They inform us that the road may be closed and we may have to drive to a point where the bridge is out, and then walk 5 Kms to pick up another Land Cruiser on the other side (and its starting to get dark outside). We all sorta look at each other, hoping we did not hear what we just heard, and hoping it was not true, because once we pass that military check point, all hell breaks loose!!

The road goes from great, to, well an Indianna Jones adventure ride in Disneyland, with it falling apart as you drive it, and obstacles coming at you. The road is still extremely high, extremely narrow and extremely winding, with many workers on the edges. Some have pitched tents hanging over the road, and that's where they live. Others are heaving and pouring and shoveling and moving stuff. The road is cramped. It's falling apart as quickly as they can build it, with avalanches a standard obstacle. Huge transport trucks and dump trucks are on the road as well.

Two dump trucks make their way around a corner, and we can see bamboo holding up the road they are driving on, with nothing else below but a bottomless drop. We all hope the driver will let them go over that part before going on ourselves, but no go. He's right there with them. There's a huge waterfall which has been hitting the road, wearing it away. So in response the Chinese have built a little roof, trying to divert the water off the highway. Of course the road is still soaked and muddy, with erosion making it even more narrow than other parts. We go through it and our driver stops right in the middle of the muck. He revves the engine, and then gives it hard, and we claw our way out of the muddy pass, looking at the broken pillars which had been holding up the waterfall roof, but which have been replaced with bamboo sticks.

We continue our drive, passing hundreds of trucks parked on the side of the road. At one point we get to a single lane area, because they have dumped piles of dirt along one of the lanes. We meet another van going the other way. No one wants to give way. Our driver tries to pull in among the mounds of dirt which take up the other lane. He basically gets stuck. As we're doing this a herd of goats passes us by, and we will meet them again down the road.


As our driver tries to get unstuck and out of the dirt piles, other trucks and cars start to line up behind us. At one point a Chinese official in his landcruiser and 3 other accompanying cars comes down, and basically tells the truck facing us to move, which he does. At this point we are unstuck, move ahead and let the convey of 4 Chinese official SUVs go speeding at full speed down the road.

We follow them, honking our way through the goat herd, and then wending our way down down down the mountainside, over avalanche piles, through streams, around narrow corners without guard rails and any visible bottom, until nightfall, when we arrive at another one of these crazy towns that is built on the cliff of the pass.


It's a strange border town, with trucks parked along with side, and with single lane traffic only, there are people walking around, restaurants, hotels and shops. We get to a grungy hotel, which cost almost as much as our 5 star gem in Lhasa, and head down the road to eat. We pass an open gate between two buildings and I look through: it's a straight drop down, with the lower part of the town visible way way down below. No one is hungry. It's 9 p.m., we are the only ones in this weird restaurant. Artemis orders a pepper steak!!!! We take a chance on a tomato an cheese pizza. Both end up horrible. We head back to the room and try to sleep. We have only a 13 Km ride to the border, which is a nice thought.

Artemis won't sleep in her room with Caleb because of 2 huge spiders I have to kill. She sleeps with Lianna in our room. I cannot sleep because of the spiders. L cannot sleep thinking about the fact that our building is on a cliff. When I get up in the night, my jaw is so tense, it's been clenched so hard, I fear I may break it.

Not one shower in Tibet for Mark, Artemis, Caleb!! Lianna took one.
Mark