Nepal and Tibet

Eventually the morning comes. By this time she is asleep. We tiptoe around having our little wash, a dab here and there. We leave her in bed and go and have breakfast. We check out the mountain and it is still visible. How lucky we are! Breakfast is a pancake. It is light and fluffy and delicious. Robert orders eggs, which he is still waiting for. He has some nut bars, which he brought from home, so he makes do with that. We wash it down with more green tea.

By the time we leave, Everest is no longer visible nevertheless we head off towards base camp hoping that the clouds may part again. We leave our guide still asleep. For the first time, we are dressed in warm clothes. Our breath is condensing as it hits the cold morning air. It is only eight kilometres to base camp from the monastery and we are soon there but it's as if Everest has disappeared. It is totally enveloped in a grey shroud of fog. It is very cold when we get out of our vehicles and it is beginning to rain. We go exploring across the rockiest place I have ever seen. It is a real glacial valley where billions and billions of tiny rocks have broken off the face of the mountain and have been pushed down ahead of the glacier. The rocks are very pretty and we pocket one to take home to our granddaughter, Emily. We know it's a National Park and that we shouldn't but the entire population of 1.4 billion Chinese could come here, pocket a rock and no one would be able to tell they had been! Some go in search of Mallory's monument and others climb a small hill to erect prayer flags. I try to juggle the camera bag and an umbrella, which is threatening to turn inside out. My hands are colder than they have ever been and are turning purple. I feel miserable, probably, partly, because the mountain can no longer be seen and also because I am so very cold. There is no sign saying "Mt Everest" to have our pictures taken in front of. The mountain in Tibet is known only as Mt Chomolongma.

The only sign of human life, other than our group, is in the plastic tents set up at the camp, by enterprising locals. The tents are the red, white and blue plastic we see in cheap bags all over the world. It is the blight of the Tibetan countryside but we don't care what colour it is because they have a stove going in there and are serving hot tea. We stop shivering and sip from our hot cups and are soon ready to leave because it does not look like the weather is going to change in a hurry. On our return, we pick up our guide, who looks terrible but who was able to catch up on a little more sleep by our leaving her there.

We drive on the road we passed over the previous evening but only for a little way. Karma tells us there is a short cut to Tingri, our next destination, so we decide to take it. Well, what a shortcut! It is often "off-road" driving. We sometimes drive on cart tracks, sometimes on animal tracks, sometimes up creek beds and sometimes, just across pastures. Often, we rumble over rocks only a four-wheel drive could manage. We laugh and "ooh" and "aah" as we go. At one stage, we follow the vehicle ahead of us fairly closely. The driver heads up a steep little section between two low dry-stone walls. They stop very suddenly as they reach the top. One of the guides, who is in the car in front, points frantically to the right making sure that we follow. We see why they stop so suddenly. There is a sheer drop at the top of the rise, with no sign to tell us so. At one stage I do see a road sign, which I wish I could photograph. It is a round sign with just an exclamation mark in the centre. The symbol says it all! We rock across shallow creeks and at one time come close to being bogged. Eventually we come to a pretty valley, low and wide, which seems to emphasize the immensity of the sky, and where we decide to stop for our picnic.

Today is no different. As we sit there in perfect isolation, with the closest house a long way across on the hillside, we are visited by a group of three children. They are probably the dirtiest kids that I have ever seen. They are in varying stages of dress (or undress). The oldest is in his long pants, shirt, jacket and joggers, with a woollen scarf wrapped around his head. The middle one is a girl, whose hair is filthy and matted. She wears only long pants and joggers. The youngest is wearing nothing! He does not seem to be perturbed by his state of undress and hangs around with curiosity. They seem hungry so we keep back some food to give them before we leave. Suddenly from another direction, comes two young women with their horses. They tether them nearby and approach us slowly. One is so shy she hides behind the other one, who appears older. She is dressed in the traditional costume of the Tibetans and as well, wears a huge, ornate silver buckle on her belt. We do not know what it is. Perhaps it is a marriage symbol.

After we finish our lunch, we continue across the region, sometimes on roads and sometimes not. We eventually come to a road that in one place has slipped away and the road is not wide enough to pass. For some unknown reason, our driver is in front now, so we are in the car that tries to negotiate the road. When it begins to tip, I am quite scared. Our driver backs up and we get out. The men decide it is time to mend the road. Robert is the only one of our group to lend a hand.

A woman working in the field nearby comes over and gives them a spade to use. They cut away at the embankment to try to widen the road but it is a slow job. She goes a long way back to her house to fetch another spade and returns with it. She has left her two small children sitting in the field in the rain. One of our group gives her an umbrella to shield them with. Finally, after many tries, the road appears stable enough to take the vehicle's weight. Before we leave, the men offer the woman money but she will not accept it. She does, however, take the food items, a jumper and the umbrella, which is offered to her.

It is not long before we come to small villages. We almost feel like we are back in civilization. We go through a couple of typical little Tibetan villages, which I would love to have explored. This is the real Tibet. We finally meet the Friendship Highway, rough and all as it is, but, after the route we have just taken, it could be one of the world's greatest super highways. It takes us very quickly into the township of Tingri, where we shall be staying for the night.

From our hotel, the "Everest Snow Leopard Hotel", our guides tell us we should be able to see Everest but not today. It is still very cloudy over that way but we feel very fortunate to have seen it at all. The hotel is a low motel-like building, built in a compound. It lies guarded from the highway by a high fence. Robert and I get a room to ourselves tonight but this place still has no showers, just the basin and a thermos of hot water. Thank goodness, it is not hot weather. We give our bits and pieces a good warm wash and feel refreshed. On inspection, the toilets look very much cleaner than the toilets of the previous night and whilst there is no door, there are cubicles so there is an element of privacy. The restaurant is much nicer and we know they have refrigeration, so it is safe to eat meat here. I do not feel a hundred percent so I choose to stay in the room, reading but Robert goes for a walk with three of the others into town. Our hotel is about half a kilometre east of the town so it is not far. They really enjoy their "voyage of discovery" because this village is just like the little ones we have so often wished we could stop at. When they return and tell me about their sightseeing, I really wish I had gone too. They were amused at the locals, who were playing pool with a horse tied up to the table. They saw a cow eating goods out of a little shop when the owner wasn't looking. They just saw life going on as it would everyday. These people would not be awestruck by Westerners because, even though this town would have a population of less than a thousand, it is regarded as a good place to stay either on your first night in Tibet, if you are arriving from Nepal or on your last night if you are returning. This is our second last night in Tibet. Tomorrow we will be very close to the Tibetan, Nepalese border, when we overnight in Nyalam.