Back in late July Brian and I met up with our friends Barry and Nok in Chengdu China, and the four of us made the trek up to Tibet to visit the town of Yushu on the Tibetan Plateau.Most of you probably know that Yushu suffered a horrific earthquake in April this year and thousands of people died.The destruction was on a huge scale and it is said that 6000 to 8000 people lost their lives.

Our friends Barry and Nok had previously spent 4 years teaching English in this town and the students they had there had become like a second family to them.Brian and I had visited them twice (2004 and 2005) so we also had a special place in our hearts for the students and for the people of Tibet.So, it was our mission to go back and see all the people we knew, listen to their stories (everybody lost someone in the quake) and to generally cheer them up where we could.

We started in Chengdu where we met up with Lisa, one of the former students who is studying there.We then flew to Xining where many of the students are now living as they attend university there.Xining is just on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau at 2300m above sea level.In Xining we stayed at Keanna's family apartment with Su Nam Tso and this became our base in Xining for all the first year students to visit us.This was a really joyous time - parties every night, lots of home cooked food and outings with the students.You can see on the video blog small clips I have posted of them singing and laughing.These students are now 22 - 23 years old and their partying consists of singing, dancing and playing charades.They really haven't changed a bit as this is how the parties went when they were students back in Yushu when we visited them there.

From Xining we hired a car and driver who drove us the 800km up onto the Tibetan Plateau to Yushu.The trip up took 13 hours and I struggled with the altitude around 4000m.At one stage I was on all fours vomiting on the pass with my head about to explode with pain.I was so worried that I would not be able to stand the altitude and have to go back but luckily it passed and when we arrived in Yushu at 3700m I was feeling much better.I was determined not to miss anything and as it happened, I woke up the next morning fit as a fiddle - my dramatic hurlings at the top of a pass forgotten!

Arriving in Yushu was fairly emotional (actually the whole time in Yushu was emotional!).We pulled into a small refugee camp just on the outskirts of town and there were about 30 students waiting for us armed with white karta scarves to give as the traditional Tibetan greeting.We all piled into a tent and the reunion went on until we just had to call it a night around 11pm.Our accommodation in Yushu was in a couple of army style tents.The students had organised some free ones for us so in all, we had three tents - one for Barry and Nok, one for Brian and I and one for the students.Our tents were part of a refugee camp and nothing really, can prepare you for life in a refugee camp.Facilities were basic - water had to be pulled from a well - so we had one bucket of water a day between the four of us - so in effect, we only washed our hands and face once a day and that was the extent of the washing!

Power was intermittent but we had torches.The toilets - well they were a challenge and really do deserve their own paragraph.Basically it was a pit dug in the ground with a piece of canvas shielding it on two sides.Privacy was at a premium so I always took a "guard"!!!It was mid-summer so the smell was overwhelming and with over 100 people in the camp it was by far the worst toilet I have ever seen (and I've seen some corkers!).Still, it was all they had - 90% of the town had been destroyed so a pit toilet is the least of their worries.

Next day was our first trip into town (we had arrived at dusk so had not seen any destruction by this point).Arriving in the town was just staggering.It had mostly fallen down.Imagine knowing a town well, then returning to a pile of bricks, a sea of tents and a sense of destruction and suffering that is overwhelming.Yet, amongst it all are the strong and devout Tibetans, still willing to give you a smile and a "Tashi Delek!" (welcome), trying to make the best of it all.

We took a stroll through the town and over to the school where Barry used to teach and the house Barry and Nok used to live in.Walking through the town and having the students tell us stories of escapes and deaths was really hard to do.Everywhere there were collapsed buildings full of broken furniture, ruined clothes, odd shoes and you just know that there are still people buried under some of the rubble.You also know that loved ones were lost and that the lucky ones (the ones you see on the street now) made amazing escapes.

Arriving at the school grounds, it was just that - school grounds.The entire secondary school had been demolished.The class rooms where we had spent happy afternoons helping Barry teach and having parties with the students were gone.We then headed over to Barry and Nok's house which amazingly was still standing, but was full of cracks and will probably have to be pulled down as it's not safe to live in anymore.

The Tibetan family who lived there after Barry and Nok have now moved into a tent but a couple of the family members will still at the house during the day.The old man who lived there had tried to escape during the earthquake and the front courtyard wall had fallen on him injuring him.It turns out that he had subsequently died from his injuries the week before we arrived and they had him stored in a 44 gallon drum on the sun porch…. filled with sand….topped with a burning butter lamp.In one of the rooms off the kitchen they had an additional 100 butter lamps burning for the dead man.They were waiting for the right time to take him for a sky burial, but in the meantime, they were attending to the body and soul in the house.It was quite confronting to come across this scene in Barry and Nok's old house but illustrated quite well the Tibetan's matter of fact way of dealing with death. So, we respectfully gave our condolences to the family and left them in peace to continue their vigil for the loss of their elder.

The following days in Yushu were spent visiting the families we knew, listening to their stories (and there were many sad stories).We also visited Teacher Chunom - Barry's former colleague who has set up a tent school on the grasslands for little children aged 5 - 12.Chunom is doing some amazing work helping these children, ensuring that they continue their education despite having lost family and homes.

We spent one day doing a chora (clockwise walk around a temple or mountain for spiritual gain) with the students.Our chora was one we had all done previously on trips to Yushu.It took us around a mountain and temple close to the town.The difference this time was that it took us past the mass cremation spot where 2000 people were cremated in one day.What a sad day that was - probably the hardest one actually.You could still smell the burning oil and the sense of loss was everywhere as the cremation spot was on a hill overlooking the flattened town.The beautiful little temple that used to stand on this spot was in ruins.

After about 5 days in Yushu we decided to take a break and do a trek into Zaku, a mountain valley near Yushu.The valley itself has no road so we hired a vehicle to take us and 3 students (Frank, Mitchell and Mark) to the start of the valley, 2 hrs drive from Yushu.At this point the boys approached a nomad family and hired a horse to transport our food and water while we carried our packs into the valley.Zaku valley is breath-taking!!It is inhabited only by nomad families and I fulfilled my long time wish of spending time in a nomad tent.I got to visit 3 nomad families over the three days and it was wonderful seeing this way of life that is so simple, so happy and has not changed for hundreds of years.

We spent three happy days here, trekking up to 4650m, and camped at 4300m.A close by nomad family showed us how to make bread and cheese and milk and yoghurt from yak milk.We watched them milking the yaks and sat in their little hut chatting with them via the students who made excellent translators.You can also see videos on the blog of this time.

After Zaku, we returned to Yushu to spend more time with the students - much of it happy as although bad things have happened to them, they are lucky and survived so a lot of it was about celebrating life and making the most of the time we had with them.

After a sad goodbye, we headed back to Xining to spend a few more days with the 1st year students, then it was time for the last sad farewell (I am never good at these!).It was in total, 3 weeks with Barry and Nok and the students.It was the most worthwhile trip we have ever done.Being around the Tibetans with their strong faith and kindness to each other was inspirational.There are many other stories related to this trip - I just wanted to give you all an overview as many of you have been asking how it was.I can't seem to write them all down now - it has taken quite a lot of processing the whole trip in my mind to get this far!!If you look at the photos I posted previously, maybe more of it will make sense now.One thing is for sure - I feel truly blessed to have been part of it all.

Lots of love

Kerry

xx

PS.Since Tibet, we travelled to England, bought a car with the idea to drive it to Morocco; the car broke down just outside of Rome so regretfully we had to send it to a scrap yard.Finding Europe expensive and lacking in our required amount of adventure(!)… we then flew back to England.Here we got to spend time with Kim and Andy and you have all seen pics of the backyard festival (it rocked!).We then did an about turn and headed back to Asia via UAE to visit Barry and Nok. Now we are in Kathmandu and tomorrow we are starting a 3 week trek in the Himalayas doing the Annapurna circuit.It will be nice to be amongst Tibetans again! (there are many Tibetan villages in Nepal).So now we are up to date.Sorry for the lack of blogging over the last couple of months.It all got a bit hectic on the road!!I'll post another after the Annapurna trek - this one takes us over a pass which is 5400m - we have walking poles as apparently this is meant to help.I think really a spare pair of legs would be better.Wish us luck!