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I'm actually in Tibet and not China (ok I know it's China really) I think the Chinese Government have infiltrated this computer as Tibet will not appear on the drop down menu...anyway hello from Lhasa! Another awe inspiring city high up on the Tibetan Plateau. I'm now back with the truck having left Kathmandu and it now feels as though I never left! Having trekked to Everest Base camp I missed a few stops in Nepal so it was good to drive to the Chinese border and take in some of the plush green hills. Our final stop in Nepal was at the second highest Bungee jump in the world at Borderlands, some of the guys left Kathmandu early to do the jump so we had to stop off and pick them up...needless to say I didn't partake, I did however manage to acquire two new friends in the form of leeches which didn't want to come off my feet in a hurry...after staying the night by the bungee river it was off to the Chinese border the following day. We picked up our compulsory guide for China (entry for the truck plus guide cost a hefty 10,000 pounds for the company) and after a lengthy border crossing we were into Tibet otherwise known as the Peoples Republic of China....ummm. The language barrier was an immediate problem as we tried to order our first Chinese meal just across the border, we've got hand gestures down to a fine art now!
Although we had entered the country we couldn't go very far the Friendship Highway which connects China to Nepal is currently under construction and no vehicles are allowed to drive on it during the dy so we had to wait until 1am to move! Not content with the wait a small group of us went for a stroll up it to see exactly what construction was going on. Bad move. We saw for ourselves in the daylight quite possibly the worst road we had ever seen. It put the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan to shame and we knew that we'd have to travel on it in the dark...basically it was another hairpin bendy road with sheer drops over the edge along with several landslides and waterfalls running through it and Steve our driver said we'd be on it for 4 hours. It was extremely narrow in most places no safety barriers and the truck weighs 20 tonnes and to add to our fear the road workers were blasting bits of it with sticks of dynamite just 4 hours before we were due to drive up it...anyway 1am came and after we returned and put the fear of god into the rest of the group we were off...just as it began to absolutely pour it down!! I and about 95% of the truck folk thought we were going to die, we were thrown about all over the place and seatbelts didn't help, I had an escape plan in my mind along with the headlines "32 tourists plunge to their deaths" There were several moments when one of the wheels went over the edge and Steve admitted the next day he took some chances!! We arrived high up on the Tibetan plateau about 5am absolutely shattered as none of us were able to sleep through fear, I can't stress enough how terrified I was, they call it the friendship highway but it was far from friendly! The chinese need to stop building a road to Everest Base Camp and plough some money into that road instead!
Right I think I've gone on long enough now and I'm sure you get the picture!! So Tibet. Very barren but beautiful. The Changtang (Tibets northern plateau) offers one of Asia's most hostile environments this side of the Artic Circle (so I read!) and overlanding had provided us with yet more incredible scenery. Our first three nights here were spent bushcamping at a remote spot 4,000m up nebar Tingri, some of the truck folk struggles with the altitude but I'm not suprised as we raced up too fast and should have acclimatised first! Thankfully I was ok and instead tried to reassure some of the others that the headaches and sickness were perfectly normal at that height!!
Our reason for the bushcamp was that the truck folk could do Everest Base Camp on the Tibetan side by car!! Yes for those of you that didn't know it you can hire a landcruiser and guide for 50 pounds and be driven 180km towards Everest followed by an hours pony and cart ride to Base Camp itself. Now that's cheating and I refused to pay having just spent two weeks walking there on the Nepal side!! I'll admit I was tempted but it goes against my principles and the environment plus as I kept telling everyone "it's not the real Base Camp!!" So I and a few others who chose not to go had a leisurely day to ourselves and cooked Pork marinated in cider for everyone else, it was I have to say a roaring success!! The rest was much needed as the day before a friend and I climbed up to 4,500m to help with acclimatisation not realising how steep it was until we were on the sheer face but if you can't take a few risks on this trip it wouldn't be the adventure that it is!
Just before we left the bushcamp I did take a peep at Everest from afar at dawn and again it was worth rising at 5am to do so and if anyone fancies the trek from Nepal I'd happily do it again!
After Tingri and the wandering Tibetan nomads who would quite literally wander into our camping plot and sit and stare at us we were off to the second largest town in Tibet, Shigatse. After 5 nights bushcamping we welcomed a hotel and hot shower. We stayed there just for a night but saw much of the town on foot before dark (we're on Beijing time so it doesn't get dark until about half nine) After a few Lhasa beers we ended up in some sort of Chinese club and sat through some horrendous cabaret but it was priceless entertainment and we were looked after attentively being the only westerners in the building!!
Next day it was off to Lhasa, Tibets capital which is where I am now listening to Jo Whiley on Radio One (I'm missing western music but I'm so out of touch I don't recognise any if it!) in a huge cyber cafe with hundreds of Chinese folk playing computer games and singing very badly, it's great! So I've been here for 3 days now and we leave tomorrow, I've been all over the city on foot and seen the sights and met some wonderful Tibetan characters. Lhasa isn't what we expected though,the Chinese influence (which is putting it mildly) has taken over the city and it's hard to find the traditional Tibetan roots without wandering off down the back streets and getting lost which I did yesterday (that was my highlight thus far it was awesome!) Tibet is beautiful but horrendously bureaucratic and we know who they have to blame for that..so we leave tomorrow morning heading for some more bushcamps before we spend 3 days at the Tiger Leaping Gorge, in between that we have a fancy dress party we have to dress someone else up and no one knows who has who yet so it should break up the camping nicely with a few Lhasa beers thrown in for good measure. I picked my friend Dave out of the hat he doesn't know it yet but I'm dressing him up as a buddhist monk having bought all the gear yesterday from a monk shop!
Apologies again for not replying to you all individually but again I'm getting through them slowly, TP and Maff thanks for the top updates I felt like I came to Glasto and Barca with you! Little bro congrats on my message not bad after nearly 4 months away (doesn't time fly?!) keep it up I miss you! Eddie Happy Belated birhtday I hope you received my text reception is on and off at the mo, Mum/Dad my friend who has the roaming sim card is now being charged the earth to receive calls but when she sorts it out in the next few days I will let you know the number if you want to chat! And I love you and miss you.
Ok hope you're all well, is it still raining?? We're off to another club this evening but it should be a trifle better than the last one as one of the lads off the truck is DJ'ing no doubt it'll be a very long day on the truck tomorrow!
Missing you all, but not the weather...! Sorry.
Lots of love me xxx
Nicole I'm listening to Mrs Whiley and guess what she's reading out now... yes it's the "I'm depressed" changing track slot....laters.
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