|
Expedition Diary Tibet  We left Kathmandu on the 19th and drove north to Tatopani where we stayed
in the Sonam Lodge. Over supper Toby was asked to advise on a Mineral
Extraction contract for a local Nepalese family, so lets hope she is not
ripped off in the future . On the morning of the 20th we continued north,
out of Nepal, across Friendship Bridge and made possibly our most exciting
border crossing to date, into Tibet.
We were met by our Chineese and Tibetan guides, Xi Jun and Tashi, With their help we passed through customs and immigration without any problem and immediately sat down for our first Tibetan lunch of Momo, dumplings filled with mutton and spices. We then set off on along the Friendship Highway, linking Nepal to Tibet. The Lonely Planet Guide to Tibet describes this journey as "without a doubt one of the most spectacular in the world". After 3 days of driving I think we would all agree. The road leaves Kodari, Nepal at 1873 m, and climbs to Zhangmu, the Tibetan border, at 2300m. From here the dirt track road climbs to Tingri, 4342m where we had our first night in the Everest View Hotel guest house. The sweet tea we were given at 11pm was extremely welcome.  An early rise the next morning, we left Tingri and views of Everest behind
and headed for La Lung-la pass at 5220 m. Again the views were fantastic.
However, the Land Rovers were not so happy about the trip, and barely 20
minutes down the road Pinky lost all power, imitating a lack of fuel, but
since we had filled up with diesel the previous day we knew we had 150 ltrs
in the tanks. After a while we worked out that although there was plenty
of fuel, it had infact frozen solid. We towed PInky to the nearest
building where we were able to buy some firewood, and we set up an open
fire under Pinky's main fuel tank. Not something many of us were keen to
try, but we were assured that it was done all the time by the locals. You
would have throught that someone would have cottoned on to the idea of
antifreeze in the diesel by now.
 Not only were the Land Rovers suffering from the climate, but we all had to
be very careful to watch out for signs of altitude sickness in the rest of
the team. Having been fully informed of the symptoms by St Johns Ambulance
staff in Yeovil before we left the UK, we were careful to drink water and
generally ask each other regularly if we were okay. Unfortuantely due to
the distance that needed to be covered we were not able to climb at a speed
where aclimatisation is easy. Although we all suffered from headaches at
some point, and appetites were subdued, we are all now aclimatising well
and keeping up with the locals.
We had our second night in Shigatse, the second largest town in Tibet. Unfortunately this was a purely transitory stopover and we were not able to see any of the sites. That brings us up to date as today we have arrived in Lhasa. As part of our package deal with the Chinese Sports Federation we have been booked into the Tibet Hotel. This is the height of luxury as there is an ensuite bathroom with constant hot water. With outside temperatures around the 0 C mark, we are very happy to be well wrapped up inside the hotel even if there are 4 of us to a double room. |