Lhasa to Kathmandu
god, where to begin, i know, been completely remiss in everyway. So, have reached Kathmandu, via a bumpy 5 day landcruiser tour over the tibetan plateau. Left Lhasa a chilly friday morning after fortunately and after some difficulty finding a bunch of people willing to take me on (and with space to spare in their 4x4). First few days consisted largely of monestry hopping, taking in many monks, buddhas and their abodes. The journey took us through a frozen but dry tibetan landscape, white flat rooved houses dotted in mountain encircled valleys, shepards and herdsmen driving their livestock from one patch of thin emaciated grass to another. On the forth day, taking advantage of a perfect clear sky we turned from 'the friendship highway' (the lhasa to kathmandu track) and headed to the roof of the world.Arrived at Everest basecamp at around noon, the sun powerful, but at 5200m it can always feel a little chilly. From the bace camp we stared at the imposing north face, a white glistening wedge impailing the sky. The many memorials dotted around attested to its victims, cairns mostly with plaques baring the names of many nationalities and from every year. Hiking over the rolling scree pushed up in waves by the weight of the glacier sliding from the mountain left me gasping for breath with each slope. Just a 20m climb required several stops and a very slow pace, i tried to imagine extending these 20m acents to the 3500m odd i needed to cover to reach the summit - incredible. Due to the danger of a frozen solid engine we left everest without spending the night, the camp is totally deserted this time of year anyway. Headed for Tingri, the last town before the border along the 'old tingri road'. This little used track (or never used) bumped and splashed itsway along a valley through small villages that clearly hadn't seen a motor viehicle in some time. Kids rushed to the roadside to wave and the only other traffic were the locals pony and carts. Our driver clearly hadn't some this way in a long time either, looking around him as if reliving some boyhood journey. No disasters luckily, only once crashed through the ice of a frozen stream we were crossing, but luckily wasn't too deep, some heavy thottle seeing us to the otherside. The decent from Tibet into Nepal perhaps has to go down as my favourite journey so far. The road crossed a high tibetan plain, driving straight toward the main himalayan ridge (which contains everest and most of the highest peaks). At first i wondered how on earth we were going to traverse these imposing walls of tibet but as we neared we dropped down and started to follow a narrow gorge, cut by a river that had scoured a route through the ridge. As we followed the ravine and it widened into a valley, the landscape changed dramatically in the space of a few miles. At the top was the tibetan semi-desert, so yellow and sparse but as we decended suddenly trees started to appear and green! (a colour i hadn't seen in about a month) this was joined my flowers and high grass, warm air and a sweet aroma. Had a huge grin on my face the entire time, drinking in the sight of this beautiful and fertile world. Kathmandu is perfect, or pretty close to. This is the winter the the perpetual low sun gives the city a hazy indian summer golden glow. The streets are full of the bustle and crazyness of a real asian city, a relief after the relative calm and orderliness of china. Arrived into the thick of the action, a narrow streeted maze called Thamel, by night a cocophany of neon, people, rickshaws, bikes and taxis. One of which, driven by a nepali who proudly announced he was 15 and therefore didn't have a liscence, sped us through to 'freak street' the old hippy centre of town. The city is full of temples and palaces which of course are ancient, but everywhere in the streets, venerable houses with crumbling brick work and beautiful woodcarved door and window frames line the alleys. Have spent the last week or so really relaxing, after china its all so easy, english speaking everyone, cheap restaurants with sunlit roof terraces and well stocked book shops make for a perfect chill out venue. Tommorow it all changes as i'm heading off to Pokara to start to Annapurna circuit, a 3 week, YES THREE WEEK trek that encircles the annapurna mountain range and climbs to a gasping for air 5400m. All this means, no email, phone or communication of ANYKIND! so if i don't get the chance before i start, HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR ALL!
posted by justplainnigel @ 2:09 PM
0 comments
