Tashi Dele!

ebc with river
Originally uploaded by michellechang.

Several of you have asked, "What?! Did you climb part of Everest???" I've procrastinated from updating my blog since my return home and I've been suffering from low-altitude sickness. I really think it's the change of pressure and not actually being ill or tired from sleep deprivation.

Anyway, so, you may have seen my hundreds of pictures by now. I've stolen a few from my English friend, Sam, who is much more of an artistic photographer than yours truly. I think he's better captured the grandior and size of the Himalayas. However, I must say, the pictures don't even come close to the real thing. It's simply not the same, just not the same.

Here's a recap of the five-day sojourn to the southwest Tibet/border of Nepal:

Day 1: Our adventure begins at 8am when the five of us, Sam, Steve, Mihir, John, and I, pack into the old Land Cruiser with one pack each. We meet our humble driver, Ba San, who is soft spoken and focused on his route ahead. Mid-day, we reach Yam-drok lake, a lake even more turquoise and clear than Nam-tso. During the ride, I start a game of riddles (where you ask yes or no questions to guess how a dead naked man found in the desert got there -- ok, that sounds a lot weirder than it really is. Really, I'm not insane), which in turn, starts a game of 'Guess that Person, Place, or Animal.' Intermittently, I'd help Ba San out and translate what the hell we were doing. After three stops due to road repairs (more like, people clearing huge rocks and boulders from the ground), we finally reached our first night's accomodations in Shegar, or New Tingri. Alas, we sleep, and slept soundly.

Day 2: Starting out early, we continue on our drive towards E.B.C. A bit after noon, we arrive at Rongphu Monastery, about a two and a half hour hike away from E.B.C. There, we buy some expensive dried noodles for dinner later that night, rest, dress warmly and head out. It starts drizzling and hailing/snowing a bit, but fortunately for us, most of the hike was fairly dry.

Along the way, we stop by an old nunnery. It sits atop a small hill, but we still need to rest once before getting there. The high altitude pressure is slowly but surely making its affect on us. We look around, peering through holes and walking through remains of old rooms. On our way out, we see some smoke and a glove; we suspect someone may be living there. Strange and creepy.

We continue on the path, occasionally being passed by quarry men in their tractors, or meandaring fawn. After a bit, it starts to rain, so we gather all our muscular and cardio strength, and trek onwards. Finally, we arrive at base camp, where we begin our expected yet vain bargaining sessions with a few different tent owners. All of them rent for 40 yuan per night, so we check out a few, and settle with one which has a stove. Stove. Key.

We can't really see Everest tonight, the clouds are already forming over the peak. So, instead, we spread out our sleeping bags, bury ourselves, and lay there. Until someone stomach growls. One by one, we each unpackage our tasty ramen bowls and I demolish my noodles. Around the corner outside, I brush and wash up, then jump right back into my pile of blankets, freezing in my North Face jacket, yet excited for tomorrow views.

Day 3: Steve's alarm clock more tamely wakes us up at a sharp hour of 7am. It's still dark out, so we keep our lids shut for a while longer. He's out and rushes back in to tell us to hurry, get dressed, and check Her out. After putting on my second pair of socks and second pair of pants, I rush out, and my jaw drops to the ground. Simply beautiful, simply amazing. 100 pictures later, I'm ready to get closer.

The others were content with the views they got, and decided to head back down to Rongphu. Steve is also up for some more day trekking, so we both came up with a plan. Apparently, in order to hike past E.B.C., the park requires each hiker to pay a fee of some $100 USD. Yeah, no joke. However, Steve and I play with the idea of hiking to the left of the entrance, to see if we could slide past the guards. Well, we decided that the guards would have to be blind if they were to not see a girl wearing a bright red jacket and a black/khakis-clad boy scurrying along a white backdrop. Alas, we approach the guards, and begin a twenty minute negotiation.

Sure, I've been through a few negotiations classes, but nothing of this sort. In Mandarin, I express our interest and strong passion for climbing past E.B.C. The main park ranger responds that it was possible, but for the aforementioned hefty price. I say no way, that all the books we read and the information we received told us we could hike until 5500 m, where at that point, we'd have to pay some fees. He stubbornly replies that it is not the case, and that we'd have to provide him with $200 USD. Steve stands there silently, observing, but from his looks, I could tell we were not to give up. We stole Sam's line and said we are students and very poor, and only have a few hundred yuan between the two of us (these aren't lies; Steve is a student, and I only had a 200 yuan on me). After repeating those two lines about five times each, the ranger lowers his initial fee to $50 USD for both of us! We are getting somewhere! Soon thereafter, he begins to lecture us on how he is a part of some Tibet Parks Association, and that it is a matter of regulation, not business, for collecting these fees. Rrrrrriiiiiight. What's all this bargaining about then?

Within the next five minutes, we manage to get six hours of hiking time for 200 yuan, for both of us. Regulations, my ass! :P

The rest of the day is beyond words. Hiking with Everest in plain, direct sight, the entire way, is phenomenal. Simply amazing, breathtaking, beautiful, majestic, incredible -- multiplied by infinity. At one point, we come closer to the glaciers off on the right. Glancing up at the North Face of Everest reminds me of all the KQED and Discovery Channel documentaries on past failed or successful expeditions to Everest. It is entirely surreal. Steve and I want to get closer to the glaciers, so head that way, only to be thrown off course by a bubbling, turbulent river. For about half an hour, we scrutinize the course and map out a route. After crossing about four rocks, we turn back realizing it is way too dangerous, for after about the tenth rock, the gap was too wide, and the water too fast. We climb back up a mini cliff that I almost slipped off of on the initial way down.

After a dozen crackers for lunch, we decide to head to Camp 1. In the meantime, the guide that had come with us, is resting quite peacefully on a flat rock above us. Fortunately, we don't have to deal with an annoying guide, so let him be. He sleeps for the next four hours.

Our next two hours are challenging. For every two to three minutes of hiking, we rest for about five minutes. The uphill climb is fairly steep, and there is not a single other soul out there with us. All we can see and hear is Everest, acres of rocks and boulders, and rumblings from the river. Finally, a toilet break later and a fifth a bottle of water finished, we arrive at Camp One. It's totally desolate, but flat for us to rest and hydrate ourselves. After a couple dozen 'Wow!'s and 'omg omg omg's we begin our descent. The rest of the journey down pales in comparison to the colors, smells, and views we got during the day. Though, we did manage to hitchhike back aboard a few tractors. That was fun.

Day 4: Surprisingly not sore or tired, the gang takes off from Shegar and we're back on the road, heading towards Shigatse. We arrive in the early afternoon, where we grab some lunch at a small Tibetan restaurant. We check into an actual hotel, and go our separate ways to breathe in the life of the town. On my journey, I pass the monastery, saving it for tomorrow morning. I continue along the downtown roads, with journal in hand, and camera in the other. I'm searching for a cafe to sit down and read and write. Finally, I get to a bakery, and think, I should probably get a cake for Ba San, since we didn't properly celebrate his birthday a couple days ago. Plus, it's our last night together, so it'd be a celebration cake.

An hour later, on my way out, guess what happens? It starts downpouring. I rush back but get soaked in the meantime. That night, Ba San comes over to our room, and we proceed to teach him a game of, what do you know, Texas Hold 'Em. Yup. And guess who had to translate what a royal flush and straight were? It actually isn't as hard as it sounds. Anyway, after a couple rounds, Sam wins, coming out with 80 yuan or so?

We all head out for dinner, and end up at Qomolongma Restaurant, only after Sam ingeniously bargains with the owners to ensure we get our 5 yuan Lhasa beers, down from 15 yuan. Go Sam! I order some mimosas, and we begin our downage of 16 Lhasa and Snow beers among the 6 of us. And these aren't your standard can-sized beers. They were about 36 ounces or so. Yeah, we're growing up kids.

Of course, the drinking games come into play, and we also teach Ba San, (recall, a 34-year old traditional Tibetan man/father/husband) a game of 'Ring of Fire', aka King's Cup. By now, we are all rather drunk, as is our driver (aka: only means home). Soon after, Ba San teaches us his own Tibetan card game, where almost every other card means...you guess right, DRINK. The rest is history; we dragged ourselves back to the hotel, singing ourselves silly, waking up the entire population of Shigatse. Back in our rooms, I pass out, while the boys, yes boys, continue with a pillow fight. And I'm the American girl, who has slumber parties...Ba San is locked out of his own room, so comes back to ours and sleeps in our sixth bed. So funny. Ba San tells me later that in the six years of tourism, this is the first time he's had so much fun, and the first time he's ever drank/socialized with his clients. C'mon, is this news, or is this news?

Day 5: I'm an early riser when it comes to the next morning after a late night out. At around 8, I'm awake and hear the sounds of monks chanting across the street at the monastery. Slowly, the boys wake up, and we head out. Sam, Steve, and I decide to walk the kora, walking in a clockwise direction around the perimeter of the monastery. The views are amazing; we see all of Shigatse from atop a mountain. Some sheep and yake were fellow hikers as well.

Later in the day, we make our way to Gyantse, where the views continue to be as breathtaking. We climb up to an old fort, walking about 20 minutes, up some switchbacks and up 136 steps. There, I lounge around atop a few rocks, overlooking new and old Gyantse villages. Sam, Steve, and I, embark on a creepy adventure through pitch black, deserted rooms inside the fort's tower. For about ten minutes, we hold onto each others hands, in the blackness, with Sam taking photographs every five steps we managed to walk. Using those as our light and map, we continued onwards until we reach the deadend. In about two seconds, we reach the point at which we started at. Whew.

For the remainder of the day, we ride back in our Land Cruiser, Ba San, behind the wheel, occasionally telling me about Buddhism, his family, and the broken brake. The what!? Yeah, it's still somewhat non-functioning despite his trip to the repair shop. I guess that's what we get in a car for being an old, not new, Land Cruiser. But Ba San is the bomb driver, getting us through rivers, rocks, mountains, snow, rain, and yak poo. Finally, around 9pm, we arrive in Lhasa, where he takes us to his home to have some tea. We meet his stern wife, cute daughter and son, and head back to our 'homes' at the Kirey. Ah, shower, here we come!

This ended up being way too long of a post, but this is probably an abridged version too. This was definitely one of the main highlights of my trip, along with meeting all the Tibetan orphans, getting to know their story, trying new foods, visiting all the monasteries, meeting people from across the world, drinking Lhasa beer, bargaining for jewelry, and much more. I miss you, Tibet, but I'll be back soon!