The Friendship Highway, Day 3

  Tingri, China
Monday, March 3, 2008

· Tingri, Tibet, China
· GMT + 8hrs
· Altitude: 14,500ft (4,390 metres)

Lhasa to Kathmandu, Day 3
· Day 3 hours driving: 10
· Day 3 Altitude gain: 1,655ft (500m)
· Day 3 Highlights: Seeing Mt. Everest with our own eyes
· Day 3 Lowlights: Not being allowed to stay in the EBC area

Chin-bleed'in-ese

02 On the road

Day 3. Today was supposed to be the day when we spent the night near EBC (Everest base camp). We're supposed to be there now. But we're not. We're in another Tibetan town called Tingri, somewhere we're not supposed to be until tomorrow night. Not good. Why? Well, we like to blame things on the Chinese, or the "Chin-bleed'in-ese" as we have dubbed them and so we're gonna

04 Pang La Pass

blame this on them as well. It's easier that way. You see, by the time we had arrived at the Rongbuk Valley (which Everest, in all its glory, sits in) we had spent the best part of 7 hours inside our hired Toyota Land Cruiser jeep; 4 of them hours on the as-thus-far nicely paved Friendship Highway linking Shingtse to the turn off the for the valley and the other 3 hours bouncing around the inside of the jeep as it slowly made its way up the 90km dirt road that links the valley to the highway proper. We left Shingtse at 11am this morning and arrived at the valley by 6pm. Everything up to that moment was going to plan and everything was super; the road trip (we rotate seats daily and today was my day to get the best seat in the jeep, the lone front seat), the weather, the views, the company. All were smashing. We were even greeted by the Chinese military guys who patrol the Everest area

07 Taxi

in the Rongbuk Valley with a big smiley "Welcome to Everest" as we got out of the jeep at the end of the 90km dirt road. This was outside the only guest house in the valley and right beside the Rongbuk monastery, the highest monastery in the world and itself only a short 7km walk down the valley from base camp. 7km. Having come this far we were only 7km, an hour and a half walk maybe, from EBC and even having spent 7 tiring hours inside a 4x4 jeep we were as pumped as can be. We were eager to stash our bags, settle into the guest house and take a look around the monastery and valley and so just after receiving our greeting we began to unload our luggage. We did so until we were told to produce our passport for yet another check, just like all the other checkpoints we'd passed through earlier in the day on the way to the valley. It was then that everything stopped going to plan.

"You not staying here, you don't have correct permission," was the official line they spun us.

"Correct permission! What?"

7km

09 No permission

According to the military guys the person we hired the jeep from in Lhasa, the guy who was supposed to arrange the permits to enable us to have the "correct permission", didn't do what he was supposed to do. So we found ourselves standing in the Rongbuk valley, in full view of the north face of Mt. Everest, arguing our case with two Chinese military guys who were having

10 Rongbuk

none of it. Pat was a model of calmness during the negotiations. I wasn't and using the word "bullshit" didn't help our cause and seemed to get them, the military guys, rightly pissed off (for a split second I was envisioning spending the next few nights in some Chin-bleed'in-ese prison). "We just doing our job" they kept reminding us. They also kept telling us that they were doing us a favor by granting us 30 minutes to take pictures (check out the pictures from the day that I have uploaded here) after which we'd have to pile back into the jeep and head back

11 So close, yet so far

down the 90km dirt road to the Friendship Highway proper, the dirt road we'd spent the previous 3 hours bouncing along to get here. That, after already spending a total of 7 hours in the jeep to get to the Rongbuk valley from Shingtse, was going to add another 3 plus hours of night time travel to our day. Going back the 90km dirt road in the dark was not something we looked forward to, least of all our driver who had spent the 30 minutes we'd been granted to take pictures changing the jeep tire, it having taken a battering on the way up. Having to go back also meant shortening our Friendship Highway trip from 5 to 4 days, but that was a small detail we didn't

12 The real North Face, 1

even consider at the time. We still aren't sure if us not having the "correct permission" was the genuine reason for being turned away or if the military guys just felt like flexing their muscles and pissing off 5 affluent western tourists. Either way the outcome would have been the same and it means we're now, unfortunately, in Tingri, looking at Mt. Everest on our digital cameras and wondering how it would have felt to get up in the morning and walk the 7km from the guest house to EBC as we had planned on doing. As a group we have discussed ways in which we could possibly get back to EBC in the coming days, but we've reached a consensus that it's not possible based on the logistics of what needs to be done. We're chalking it down as a disappointment, a major disappointment, but we're still grateful we got as close to Everest as we did (see the pictures for more). 7km; So close, yet so far.

Tingri

15 Beaten

Things only seemed to get worse after leaving the Rongbuk valley. Night time quickly fell which made the 90km drive along the windy, rocky road to the Friendship Highway that bit slower and dangerous. We were well aware that the jeep was using the only spare tire we had and were also fully aware that a breakdown of any kind would have put us in a rather grim predicament. 70km into the trip we stopped on the Pang La pass, the same place we had stopped earlier in the day to gaze and marvel at the Everest region spread out in front of us. This time however we stopped to give our driver a rest. Of course, we couldn't see anything that the jeep lights weren't illuminating, except for the stars in the sky which made a nice spectacle. We set off again, bouncing the remaining 20km to the paved Friendship Highway where we all drew a collective sight of relief. And so three hours after leaving the Ronhbuk valley we limped into the dusty courtyard of the Amdo hotel in Tingri, 24 hours earlier than initially planned. It was 10pm and it had been a long, long day of sitting in a jeep, showing our passports at numerous Chin-bleed'in-ese military check points and gazing at mountains from high-altitude passes. The cold Gyantse hotel room from two nights previous was still fresh in our memory as we were shown the €6 room that was to be our accommodation for the night. The room was/is small, it was/is dingy, it was/is dirty and it was/is most definitely uncomfortable, and at 10pm at night it was pretty much our only option as none of us wanted to go knocking on the doors of similar 'establishments' in search of a better deal (we doubt there is one in this one-horse looking town anyway). Of course the room has no heating, and at 14,500ft (4,390 metres) that means it is cold. Very cold. As I type we're hoping the combination of our exhaustion and layers of clothing will, again, get us through the night. If not it'll be a case of,

"Here lad, where's the sleeping pills you bought in Lhasa?"

Day 202 Observations (March 2nd 2008)

· Sorry, not tonight
I'm not really in the mood to do observations for today folks. There's nothing to tell, and to be honest I'm more interested in fending off hypothermia and trying to get some sleep. I'm sure you understand. However if I was to give a few quick observations for the day it would be that if you're planning on a trip to EBC then make sure all your paper work is in order. Oh, and don't mention the word "bullshit" to Chinese military guys who may give you grief. They seem to understand what it means. As for our paperwork. Well we still think it was in order so we're going to bed tonight blaming the Chin... well you know who.

· I should include this point
Lack of observations aside, I should still state here and now that I still intend, some day, to climb Everest. Folly? I think not. The mountain has always been a fascination to me and getting as close as I did get to it today only made me more determined to stand on its summit. Hopefully Tpod will be around whenever I do get around to standing on the highest point on earth as I wouldn't want to report my progress anywhere else.