Mountain adventures begin!!!

It's a squuuueeeeeze!
see all photos »

Overland from Zhongdian to Lhasa...without permit!

Preparations

suddenly we realise there's actually not one, but two surprise guests...one of which is a full on fluffy and ginger lap dog!

After days and days of posting silly  messagaes on hostel message boards ( even went and bought coloured markers and all especially!) and posting messages on internet forums to try and find a group to go to Tibet by jeep toegther, I had given up hope. But then, at the very last minute things somehow fell into place at an incredible speed and efficiency! In Zhongdian, the last real place before Tibet, there was a message that just seemed to be waiting for me and I knew as soon as I saw it that it would turn out alright..a trip leaving the very next morning! So Mat and I, who had paired up to combine efforts, met up with the group going and they seemed like a great bunch. All our age, all mixed nationality. At this stage however, they had nothing fixed yet.. and it really wasn't clear whether we'd all fit int he car. Six of us plus driver at this stage. So a few hours after arriving we met the man. And what a man he was! A huge brute of a guy that looked scary as hell when not smiling and like a big fat buddha when he was. We now know that is actually ex secret service and has nearly killed two women with his car. Not surprising at all considering we rammed a cow and never budge for anything! He also speaks Russian because he's from Hanbin. Not a word of English tho! Trying to explain what we wanted form him was quite a mission. But we seemed to get there in the end, it all seemed ok and reasonable, and he was fine with taking six of us, so we were in! It was finally going to happen, I was going to Tibet, to the mountains! And even beter- without permit! In Tibetan China EVERYTHING is regulated and prohibited and stupidly expensive. So we were all very hapy to be able to bypass the system and get out own backs by not playing by the silly regulations. What this meant in practice was that we had 4am starts practically every morning to avoid the checkpoints!!!

swimming in Basung-tso at 3500m, a glacial lake. Obviously only the girls were brave enough to do it ;)
see all photos »

Extra passengers

So next morning there we all are ready and packed to go ( I'd just about managed to wash all my smelly clothes!!) and as we pile inot the car and get cosy suddenly we realise there's actually not one, but two surprise guests! One extra driver ( girl..possibly also for nightly entertainment??) and a dog!!! And we're talking full on fluffy and ginger lap dog. Pekinese or something. So funny! His constant companion, won't leave his side! So we all got coy anyways! By the end of the week we had all used each other as cushions and blankets and headrests along the bumpy and tirind track.

what a cutie
see all photos »

The trip

But what a trip! Amazing scenery all along the way, we went from 2600m, up to 5000m passes down to 1700 and back up to 3500m. Along the way we saw a much more varied terrain than I had imagined, from deep gorges to red rock formations to vast plains to high mountain peaks. And we were so lucky with the weather! Although it's the rainy season we had clear skies every day ( after 10 anyway) and got burnt from the blazing sun!! And luckily too- because it turns out the 4x4 really wasn't that much of a 4x4!! Any little stone had to be removed from its path and hills were not happily taken...but all went well! And only minor damage was caused to the car by the end..although our luggage up on top always creaked very dangerously in every corner!!

And niu niu...our hairy companion
see all photos »

Also no probs at all with the PSB, the Chinese police. We always stayed at military barrack places or where the driver had 'friends' and were only even asked for a permit once...to which of course we sped away very speedily!! Apart from that our blackened out windows served us very well! Chris with his huge blone afro always had to duck at critical places and it always got very quiet when passing the problem towns, but reallyt there were only two crunch points: one manned checkpoint which we didn't realise was a problem at all beacuse the driver just honked his horn and waved brazenly. Turns out he didn't have connections here and was completely bluffing! He was gesticulating about that one and laughing near hysterically for about half an hour after that! The second was when a lorry got pushed off the road ahead of us and caused a huge blockage. ( Not surprising with their driving. It's like one eternal game of chicken- never give way!) Anyways so that meant waiting for hours for the police to come and sorti tout. So we had to climb up inot the forest up the mountain and hide for what turned out to be 4 hours!! More card games were had! :)

Would you trust him??
see all photos »

Apart from that it all went well. The week was passed playing silly card games ( I spy and who am I) to the soundtrack of U2 and Chinese high pitched wailing, playing football with the locals at every opportunity and playing cards int he evenings. In fact I think that's what I'll remember most about the trip! Other highlights include sighting the first 6000m peak, swimming in Lake Basung-tso at 3500m, and the shooting stars at night.

Also remembered will be the absolutely disgusting accomodation..one shower in six days! And that was simply because there was no running water in any of the places! How the locals do it I'd rather not think about. Once water was the lake ( as was the toilet as was everything else) once it was a bucket, and once there was actually a sink ( the luxury!) but it was out on the main road in front of the restaurant!! Toilets were also quite an adventure- my favourite was teh long drop in the field...you had to cross a little bridge to avoidf the river of poo to get there and it opened in such a strategic way that the next door neighbour had a brilliant view!! Top room was the one made completely out of cardboard with damp floordboards that smelt of pee and electricity that was run on a generator that looked like a lawnmower int he next door room. Aaaaah, all part of the adventure! Made the shower and yummy food in Lhasa  a heavenly experience! Food also was scarse- often no more than one meal a day, so we lived off bikkies and fruit. The poor guys and their rumbling bellies. They're still trying t make up for it now! We were truly Chineseefied with regard to food aswell- spicy noodles for brekkie, and aubergine and fried egg and tomato at all other occasions. Usually really good thouhg, thank god!

The first of many mountain sceneries
see all photos »

So what can I say... an amazing experience. I do feel a bit bad that I went with a Chinese corrupt guy that was probably part of the Tibetan suppression when I had qualms about taking hte train for the very same reason. But what can you do?! Actually Tibet is a lot more 'Chinese' than I'd expected. Obvioulsy it's part of China but I didn't quite realise the extent to which the Han had been imnplanted and the Tibetan culture suppressed. Tellingly our driver would not let us stay at Tibetan guesthouses beacuse apparenlty 'they smell'! And that's after you know what we ended up staying at along the way!!