Qomolangma and all its beauty

Prayer flags on the hill.
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RYAN...

I was up at 6:30 and ready to go for the trip to Everest. I began the day with a trip to the public toilets of the hotel - a putrid pit with a plank of wood to squat on so you can aim into a dark hole in the floor. I was not alone on this trip. Perhaps two minutes after I began my squatting (holding my nose) I was accompanied by a man who squatted down beside me, snorted, hacked, spat on the floor and then noisily emptied a stinking pile of shit right next to me on the floor, then got up casually and left. Those disgusted at my graphic writing, don't worry, I didn't enjoy it much either.

The Hotel California.
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The car climbed and climbed through a misty pass for around two hours. Claire and the Brazilians sat in the back and talked while I hung myself out of the window like an excited dog and took picture after picture of the mountains in the background. After a while the air became colder and was eventually too cold for me to hang out of the window anymore. We were starting to climb into the 5000's and the drop in temperature was amazing. Suddenly the car whipped 'round a corner/crest and the driver shouted out "Everest". And there it was shinning in the sunlight straight in front of us. We had just come through a huge pass and now were staring at the stretch of the massive Himalayan range that ran all the way across the horizon marking the border between the Plateau of Tibet and the Valley of Nepal.

The cold walk in the morning back to Rongpu.
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Everest is the most beautiful mountain I have ever seen. It peaks high above all the rest and is so bright to look at. From this pass the view was so amazing because we had the chance to see a really good part of the Himalayan range, not just Everest. Some of the other mountains come really close to being as high as Everest, but fall a bit short because Everest has that sharp peak at the top.

We stayed and clicked away from a while and then hopped back in the car for the drive down to Rongpu monastery.

Us and Everest.
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Rongpu Monastery is the highest in the world and makes up for its lack of size and interesting things with the amazing view it has of Everest. We were going to stay at the Monastery initially but when we got there we decided that we really wanted to walk to the base camp and stay there instead.

The Everest Base Came is about eight kilometers from Rongpu and the walk should be quite easy as it is mostly flat with only a small climb. Within thirty minutes we were panting and struggling for breath and having to take regular rests. The air is so thin (5200M) that it is an exertion to walk up even a small rise. The lack of air is like a tight vice on your throat and lungs.

The view from Rongpu Monastry.
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The Base Camp is basically a tent city run by Tibetan people and has a really amazing view. We tried with little success to barter for a price but eventually had to pay 40 yuan for one person which is quite expensive. We were later to realize why this was.

The tent we chose was called the "Hotel California" which was the reason we chose it. The Tibetan girl who worked there was really lovely and gave us lots of tea and wanted to practice her English with us. She also liked to sing "Welcome to the Hotel California" under her breath but was too embarrassed to give us a full performance.

The snaky road to the top of the high pass.
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The clouds rolled in to annoyingly obscure our view of the mountain, so we contented ourselves to climbing a hill with hundreds of prayer flags blowing in the wind and looking at the numerous stones erected to those lost people who had climbed the mountain and were never seen again. The stones had writing like "dedicated to Matthew Clark who was last seen at 8010M." Thats crazy. There must be hundreds of people's bodies up there just waiting to be found.

As darkness set in we settled down to drink tea and talk about different cultures - a discussion that eventually turned into a hot economic morality debate between us, the Brazilians and an English/Chinese girl that we met called Ying. Mid-way through this debate the owner of the Tent came and had a hurried conversation with Ying. She turned to us.

The road to Nepal.
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"He wants us to hide in the kitchen," she said.

"Why?" we asked.

"Because in a minute there will be Chinese officials coming along to check how many people are sleeping in his tent. The Chinese take the cost for the night from the each person as a tax and the only way these Tibetans can make money is by selling tea and food," she said. "So he wants three people to hide with all their things in the kitchen until they go away. That way he can make a little money."

"Sure, does he want us to hide now?" I asked.

So me, Ying and Roberta (who really scared and had to be consoled that it was ok and that if we were caught they were not going to shoot us) went in the kitchen. My socks got wet. We also hid our money in case we were caught and the officials tried to fine us for breaking the law. Within a few minutes we heard muffled voices and a shadow approached the flap that led to the kitchen.

"Shit," said Ying as the shadow approached.

It was only the Tibetan girl come to tell us that it was ok and that they had come and gone.

Ying asked the owner if she could write about this. She said she was leaving the country soon, she wouldn't use his name or anything. He said no. He was too scared

This kind of thing got us really angry. How dare they do that to people how work hard enopugh for their money as it is? It's a really good example of how the Chinese treat the Tibetans. Even if they find a way to make money the Chinese still try to keep them down.

Later that night I ducked out of the tent to look at the stars. I have never seen so many in my life. Up here I felt much closer to them to adna I had a really peaceful moment out there by myself. They were beautiful and took up the whole sky demanding attention.

We walked back in the blue-grey light of the next morning to Rongpu and by the time we arrived Everest was visible again.

We got back to the car and did the long drive to the border. At times it was like driving through a desert plain with mountain peaks in the background. Along the way we saw some wild Tibetan Donkey/Gazelles. They outstripped the car when they saw us. They were so fast!Also we saw lots of Tibetan nomads with Yaks and horses they waved madly at the car as we sped past.

We did some more climbing through one last big pass (5100) and after that we started the downhill decent. It was amazing. Soon enough we had dived off the Tibetan Plateau and were driving through a rainforest of gullies and huge waterfalls. The water collected in Tibet pours off the plateau into Nepal. Lots of waterfalls were so big that they cascaded over the whole road and we got a nice carwash driving through them.

Finally we arrived in the border town, Zhangmu when we saw huge traffic ques of trucks with Nepali script all over them. These were trade trucks heading for the border. All the trucks had big slogans painted over them, such as "Drive slow, long life," and "Be happy."

Finally after our long stint in China and our short drive across Tibet we were heading into a country where the people were happy and free.

Or so we thought.