Well, hm, yeah, that's it: Mount Everest! That's where we wanted to go absolutely and in the end we did manage to get there as the picture proves but our story about how we actually managed is worth while telling, I guess! It all started out with a nice American tourist and his Tibetan guide who were either really bored at the Mount Everest Base Camp or suffered from some temporary brain demage due to the altitude (5200m, happens to everybody) but they had the clever idea of taking down the Chinese flag, of replacing it with a Tibetan one, of burning the Chinese one and shouting "Free (I won't write it)". Result; a temporary ban on all travels
outside Lhasa! How happy we were when this news reached us because we had of cause traveled all the long way to stay in Lhasa and see nothing else of the country. Fortunately, the situations calmed down a little and the Chinese decided that travel was still possible provided that ever group traveled not only with a driver but also with a local guide (no, that did not increase the cost at all!!!! as if we had all the money in the world!!!) AND they started checking every Tibetan stay permit meticulously. We thus found ourselves one day in one of the local travel agencies and the nice lady announced to us that our permit was fake and that we were illegaly in
Tibet. Well, that was exactly what we had been hoping for, to be illegal in China and to get to know the police a little closer. Fortunately, it turned out that about 80 percent of the tourists had fake permits and of course the Chinese didn't want to chuck us all out of the country and to miss out on our $$$, so the administration decided to issue new permits for all of us - free of charge. However, as we had decided to travel with two very nice Dutch girls and they had been amongst the first to turn up with fake permits, we were all very kindly invited to come to the local police station and to give evidence... I would have loved to show
you a picture of me wearing a police hat (yep, we had some fun waiting while the others were interrogated) but we lost our biggest memory card due to technical problems and thus also the picture of most of our 6 day adventure!!!! Anyhow, we ended up spending about 5 hours at the police and even so the poliemen were very nice and they even ordered pizza and coffee for us, we still had to go through a real interrogation with camera taping, protocol, finger prints,... We took it as our police/legal experience of our trip and we now hope never to see a police station from the inside again!
So, after all this trouble and many a lost hour, we finally went on our 6-day trip and it turned out as amazing as ever we could have wished for. Unfortunately, we have lost all pictures of us and the our two Dutch fellow travelers Nienka and Cecile and of our driver Mr. P. and our guide Mr. P. II but I can assure you that we had tons of fun, many a great laughter and overall we were very, very lucky with that gang! Soon after having left Lhasa on very good and secure roads we found out why we actually had to rend a landcruiser to do our tour, let's just say the - should we call it "paths" - were more than bumpy, we got shaken through and through, we ate more dust than I ever thought possible, we crossed through rivers, and we were very glad to have Mr. P. with us who managed all of this like a Sunday afternoon drive and found his way miraculously through the undeveloped country.
Seriously, the greatest parts of our tour where the times when we left the main road and went along those local 4 wheel drive paths. We then saw sceneries I could not have dreamt of and we were introduced to the true vastness, solitute, and majesty of Tibet. I have travelled through vast spaces and countries before, Canada was enorm, the Outback very impressive, but this - there are no words to describe what you feel when you get lost in the valleys, mountains, and desertic plains of this country. Moreover, you can't really capture it by picture as it reduces the majesty to a small and insignificant extract. I don't think, however, that anyone can resist the beauty of Tibet. It's unique, it's impressive, it's incredible.
One of the most stunning aspects of the place, however, is not just the landscape, it's the fact that people still succeed in living in such a remote and hostile environment. When, after long, long rides through the most beautiful landscape ever, you suddenly come accros a woman walking over the plain, a child playing with a dog, or a man driving along his horse or yak, you wonder if you have not just encountered a Fata Morgana. I think, having travelled through this country (even though only for a very short while) I can understand now that people here are very different, that they have different priorities and values in life and that they may smile at our rush and haste from way above.
Now, of course, we did not just drive around without aim or destination. Our first day (no pics) brought us to an awesome lake, then to a very traditional Tibetan town called Gyantse and, finally, to Tibet's second largest city, Shigatse, where we spent the night, walked the pilgram's path around the monastry and visited the latter. Unfortunately, we were rather disappointed by the greedy attire of the monks (55 Euros to visit a monastry and take pictures in it?!? - that is a little out of proportion) while people were begging at the doorstep, felt rather unwelcome, and had to come to the conclusion that buddhism is finally not much different from any other religion. The people might believe from the depth of their hearts and you could see that in the pilgrams' faces, but the dignitaries of the religion are comfortably installed in their luxury, power, position,... I have to admit we did not expect anything like that at all and I was deeply disappointed and even a little disgusted at the thought. The Dalai Lama apparently is not a representative of his monks but rather the rare and shining exception amongst them. Well, we decided to spend our time not in monastries but rather amongst the people, even though we were sometimes disappointed by them as well. Of course, I cannot say what happens to a people that has to go through all the sufferings the Tibetans have had to endure but it definitely has not made them a very friendly or welcoming
people. Beggars are terrible, even worse than in India, people do not care about their apparences and are extremely dirty, they hand around doing nothing and they definitely begrudge us our money. Of course, all this is understandible in one way or another but it is very sad to see a people that is so bitter. Not that we did not have lots of fun with our Mr. Ps and with some local guys but very often, lots of alcohol was involved before people really started smiling. (I'll leave of the discussion here...)
In the end, we arrived at our major destination and there it/he was: Mount Everest or Mount Qomolangma as it is called here, the highest mountain in the world,8845m! If that isn't something. To our great disappointment, we couldn't sleep right at the Base Camp, but then, I wouldn't what hundreds of tourists around me while preparing to climb up that mountain. We thus stayed at a small tent village about 4 kms from the Base Camp and walked up there. That was actually really hard work, I can tell you they seriously lack oxvgen at that altitude and I don't even want to imagine what it must be like to get up higher. Despite the lack of breath, the walk was well worth-while and we were kinda proud of having gotten to the Base Camp on our own legs and not on one of the many horse-carts pulling tourists up there. The night in the tent was glacial, once more we had frozen water in our water bottles, but the sunrise in the morning compensated for everything. Mount Everest
shining in the rays of the first morning light - beautiful!! Unfortunately, we had to leave the same day, that evening we had a last little party with Nienka and Cecile and then they went to the Nepali border, we spent a slow day in a village that comes the closest to being the last desolate spot on earth I have ever seen, and then, another long drive brought us back to Lhasa and to the end of this magical tour! Even though we had had so much trouble to get going, every second had been worth while. What a fantastic country!
Well, hm, yeah, that's it: Mount Everest! That's where we wanted to go absolutely and in the end we did manage to get there as the picture proves but our story about how we actually managed is worth while telling, I guess! It all started out with a nice American tourist and his Tibetan guide who were either really bored at the Mount Everest Base Camp or suffered from some temporary brain demage due to the altitude (5200m, happens to everybody) but they had the clever idea of taking down the Chinese flag, of replacing it with a Tibetan one, of burning the Chinese one and shouting "Free (I won't write it)". Result; a temporary ban on all travels
outside Lhasa! How happy we were when this news reached us because we had of cause traveled all the long way to stay in Lhasa and see nothing else of the country. Fortunately, the situations calmed down a little and the Chinese decided that travel was still possible provided that ever group traveled not only with a driver but also with a local guide (no, that did not increase the cost at all!!!! as if we had all the money in the world!!!) AND they started checking every Tibetan stay permit meticulously. We thus found ourselves one day in one of the local travel agencies and the nice lady announced to us that our permit was fake and that we were illegaly in
Tibet. Well, that was exactly what we had been hoping for, to be illegal in China and to get to know the police a little closer. Fortunately, it turned out that about 80 percent of the tourists had fake permits and of course the Chinese didn't want to chuck us all out of the country and to miss out on our $$$, so the administration decided to issue new permits for all of us - free of charge. However, as we had decided to travel with two very nice Dutch girls and they had been amongst the first to turn up with fake permits, we were all very kindly invited to come to the local police station and to give evidence... I would have loved to show
you a picture of me wearing a police hat (yep, we had some fun waiting while the others were interrogated) but we lost our biggest memory card due to technical problems and thus also the picture of most of our 6 day adventure!!!! Anyhow, we ended up spending about 5 hours at the police and even so the poliemen were very nice and they even ordered pizza and coffee for us, we still had to go through a real interrogation with camera taping, protocol, finger prints,... We took it as our police/legal experience of our trip and we now hope never to see a police station from the inside again!
So, after all this trouble and many a lost hour, we finally went on our 6-day trip and it turned out as amazing as ever we could have wished for. Unfortunately, we have lost all pictures of us and the our two Dutch fellow travelers Nienka and Cecile and of our driver Mr. P. and our guide Mr. P. II but I can assure you that we had tons of fun, many a great laughter and overall we were very, very lucky with that gang! Soon after having left Lhasa on very good and secure roads we found out why we actually had to rend a landcruiser to do our tour, let's just say the - should we call it "paths" - were more than bumpy, we got shaken through and through, we ate more dust than I ever thought possible, we crossed through rivers, and we were very glad to have Mr. P. with us who managed all of this like a Sunday afternoon drive and found his way miraculously through the undeveloped country. 
Seriously, the greatest parts of our tour where the times when we left the main road and went along those local 4 wheel drive paths. We then saw sceneries I could not have dreamt of and we were introduced to the true vastness, solitute, and majesty of Tibet. I have travelled through vast spaces and countries before, Canada was enorm, the Outback very impressive, but this - there are no words to describe what you feel when you get lost in the valleys, mountains, and desertic plains of this country. Moreover, you can't really capture it by picture as it reduces the majesty to a small and insignificant extract. I don't think, however, that anyone can resist the beauty of Tibet. It's unique, it's impressive, it's incredible.
One of the most stunning aspects of the place, however, is not just the landscape, it's the fact that people still succeed in living in such a remote and hostile environment. When, after long, long rides through the most beautiful landscape ever, you suddenly come accros a woman walking over the plain, a child playing with a dog, or a man driving along his horse or yak, you wonder if you have not just encountered a Fata Morgana. I think, having travelled through this country (even though only for a very short while) I can understand now that people here are very different, that they have different priorities and values in life and that they may smile at our rush and haste from way above.
Now, of course, we did not just drive around without aim or destination. Our first day (no pics) brought us to an awesome lake, then to a very traditional Tibetan town called Gyantse and, finally, to Tibet's second largest city, Shigatse, where we spent the night, walked the pilgram's path around the monastry and visited the latter. Unfortunately, we were rather disappointed by the greedy attire of the monks (55 Euros to visit a monastry and take pictures in it?!? - that is a little out of proportion) while people were begging at the doorstep, felt rather unwelcome, and had to come to the conclusion that buddhism is finally not much different from any other religion. The people might believe from the depth of their hearts and you could see that in the pilgrams' faces, but the dignitaries of the religion are comfortably installed in their luxury, power, position,... I have to admit we did not expect anything like that at all and I was deeply disappointed and even a little disgusted at the thought. The Dalai Lama apparently is not a representative of his monks but rather the rare and shining exception amongst them. Well, we decided to spend our time not in monastries but rather amongst the people, even though we were sometimes disappointed by them as well. Of course, I cannot say what happens to a people that has to go through all the sufferings the Tibetans have had to endure but it definitely has not made them a very friendly or welcoming
people. Beggars are terrible, even worse than in India, people do not care about their apparences and are extremely dirty, they hand around doing nothing and they definitely begrudge us our money. Of course, all this is understandible in one way or another but it is very sad to see a people that is so bitter. Not that we did not have lots of fun with our Mr. Ps and with some local guys but very often, lots of alcohol was involved before people really started smiling. (I'll leave of the discussion here...)
In the end, we arrived at our major destination and there it/he was: Mount Everest or Mount Qomolangma as it is called here, the highest mountain in the world,8845m! If that isn't something. To our great disappointment, we couldn't sleep right at the Base Camp, but then, I wouldn't what hundreds of tourists around me while preparing to climb up that mountain. We thus stayed at a small tent village about 4 kms from the Base Camp and walked up there. That was actually really hard work, I can tell you they seriously lack oxvgen at that altitude and I don't even want to imagine what it must be like to get up higher. Despite the lack of breath, the walk was well worth-while and we were kinda proud of having gotten to the Base Camp on our own legs and not on one of the many horse-carts pulling tourists up there. The night in the tent was glacial, once more we had frozen water in our water bottles, but the sunrise in the morning compensated for everything. Mount Everest
shining in the rays of the first morning light - beautiful!! Unfortunately, we had to leave the same day, that evening we had a last little party with Nienka and Cecile and then they went to the Nepali border, we spent a slow day in a village that comes the closest to being the last desolate spot on earth I have ever seen, and then, another long drive brought us back to Lhasa and to the end of this magical tour! Even though we had had so much trouble to get going, every second had been worth while. What a fantastic country! 
1 comment:
Hi guys, lovely blog! I wish some day I'll be able to travel around the world too. Good luck with your travels!
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