9 January 2009
See the TV ad: Diamox, brought to you by Bastards Inc. Who else would make a product that you only take at high altitude; altitudes where t is freezing; a product to help you sleep if feeling the onset of AMS; a product which also happens to be a diuretic so you have to get up several times during the night to go out into the freezing cold to pee in a Tibetan hole in the ground!
The night was the coldest temperature either of us have ever experienced. At the start of the night, the sheer weight of blankets and doonas should have been enough to crush a car, but we were still cold. Slowly, we started to warm up, enough tot get an interrupted (thanks Diamox) high altitude sleep.
The integration of Tibet into China meant that all clocks were set to Beijing time. When the sun finally rose at about 0900 we were having a “typical” breakfast near the warm stove in the dining room. It was still bloody cold outside, probably in the vicinity of -15c or colder with a breeze that just went straight through the umpteen layers of clothing. Maybe it was the cold or the restless sleep, but TH wasn’t feeling too flash and ate very little of her Tibetan bread, flatbread and omlette; coffee was good though.
We paid our bill for the dinners and put our bags into the Landcruiser. We took the first turn off after town, turning onto a track that was barely adequate and for the most part only describable as “shithouse”. The drugs TH took to try and ward off AMS and travel sickness allowed her to (somehow) snooze through all but the worst sections. At one point the single track was blocked by a broken down tractor and cart. So we all got out and heaved, pushed and pulled it off the track so we could be through. After about 4 hours we finally arrived at our intended destination – Everest Base Camp, Tibet.
At the final approach to the actual camp there is a huge expanse of flat ground which in the summer climbing season becomes a tent city. In the winter the area is completely deserted and only a plethora of small piles of prayer rocks remains. the actual base camp is of course controlled by the Chinese Army, who allegedly establish quite a sizable presence there in the summer, but even now it’s too cold to be here. We wandered around the site and took some photos to remind ourselves how cold it was in the shadow of Everest.
With the camera starting to play up (at 5200m and minus lots of degrees who can blame it), and our hands beginning to freeze, we climbed back into the Landcruiser and began the journey along the same trail to our next destination. We briefly stopped at a town we passed through on the way to EBC, Rongbule where there is a monastery. A few more happy snaps and we were again on the road.
Fortunately we turned off the track a few miles later onto a much better track which took us through the landscapes to our stop for the night – Zhaxizong Village.
Our family run guest house is very much like the previous night’s accommodation. The dining area has a warm stove and the small cold rooms have a car crushing quantity of blankets and doonas, and some decent pillows too!
After tea and some more tea, followed by some noodle soup and more tea, we wandered through the little village. We were the centre of attention, especially for all the kids who came running up to us with their hands out asking and begging for money – we are the wrong ones to ask for that.
We headed back to the lodge where I went to bed and read as it was warmer than anywhere else. SB came and got me at 8pm as they had lit the fire and by the time we got back downstairs the room was baking hot and we had dinner and more tea and then retired early.
On getting back to our room we realised we had the room with the neon sign outside it and a noisy group of tibetans below us. Anyway we were warm and toasty and had a better sleep expect for the horrible night time toilet breaks.
Wandering Bears Have Been Here
A friend with whom we went sailing in the Beagle Channel and through Tierra del Fuego in 2007/2008 has left home in the UK to go travelling in Peru. He had always been a keen traveller and has visited many parts of the world. Imagine our surprise when, whilst we were waiting for the delivery of food and even more tea, TH was perusing the notice board in the guest house to spy this:
The card is of course from our friend Andrew Dare (aka Wandering Bear). What is even more surprising is that, if memory serves us correctly, the photo was taken by TH using Bear’s camera at the foot of a glacier in South America?
If you want to read some amazing travel and adventure stories, have a look at Bear’s Blog at : http://www.wanderingbear.info/