Tim_Day 252 - 263 (Tibet)

Day 252
We got up at the butt crack of dawn and got the taxi to the airport. Of course we were wide awake as the crazy Chinese cab driver weaved in and out of people, bikes, and buses. Man he was nuts. It was funny that the couple behind us said it felt like a video game. I always feel the same way because it’s like the guys doesn’t really care if he crashes. It’s like he thinks he can just put another quarter in the machine and keep playing after he crashes. What stunk about this drive also was that he had so much speed. There wasn’t that much traffic on the roads and he was flying. Then when something like a person on a bike would fly out in the street he would slam on the brakes, honk, and swerve hard enough to screech the tires at high speed. Fun.

We got to the airport and I Ana kissed the ground when we got out. After that we headed in checked our bags and got on the plane. I took my usual Dramamine and was out like a light as soon as the plane taxied to the runway. Luckily though I woke up for the yummy meal they served in flight. Ana’s stomach was hurting her so she didn’t want to eat anything. I ordered both meals the fish with rice and the noodles with beef. To my delight both of them sucked. Those meals were the worst meals I’ve ever tasted on a flight. I couldn’t finish either. I ate the once role they had and drank some juice and called it breakfast. I proceeded to doze off for the rest of the flight till landing when we got a great view of the Tibetan mountains covered with snow and white puffy clouds. Really beautiful and I think I’m really going to enjoy this part of China.

When we landed we got a local bus to the city that was about 50 miles away from the airport. You could tell coming into the town that things were different here. The people were allotting darker in complexion and they looked very Bolivian to me. There faces were less refined and there skin seemed more leather like. They also braided there hair similar to the Bolivians.

We also saw allot of Dali Lama guys in Orange robs. They were really cool to see on the streets and brought me back to the many movies I’ve seen in the past. It was cool to be here and I felt like we were seeing something special not just more of the norm in mainland China. It was nice to have my sense awoken again. I think me and Ana have experience so much that it takes allot to jar our sense alive. This was doing that and it made me fell like I was coming to life again. We were somewhere really far from home with people very different than me and that was amazing to see.

The drive to town was entertaining and once we got there we took a Rick Shaw (Bike that can hold two people in the back) to our first option for a hotel. This was the first human powered taxi we had and Ana felt bad for the guy pedaling. He had both us plus our huge bags in the back. He was straining a little but he was young and strong. I also feel a little bad but in the end we were giving him business and creating money for him and his family. Where I feel really bad is when the guy peddling the bike is really old. That breaks my heart and I feel like I want to put them in the back and I’ll pedal.

As we pedaled out into the town you could tell we were in a different part of China. It was much poorer and the people were definitely different. The buildings looked different and you could see people lived a much tougher life here than in the other mainland parts of China. I think this part of the country is going to be very cool.

When we reached the hotel we paid the guy with a good tip and he smiled. We headed in and sure enough the place had no space for us except an expensive double bedroom. So Ana sat and I ran off to go find the price on another hotel. I was getting a little grouchy and the dirty streets were getting to me. I also couldn’t find the damn place I was looking for so that made me even more pissed. I ended up finding a place that was the wrong place. I jumped in another Rick Shaw and headed back to the hotel. I grabbed Ana and got another Rich Shaw which happed to be the same guy who took us the first time. We went to another place and sure enough they had room. The place was way less nice but that was our only choice. I was pissed and we just took the room and decided to lie down on the bed for while. We sat there mad at each other for a while then eventually kissed and made up. Man I’m not sure why I have such a short fuse these days but the strain of figuring out things is really getting to me. I’m going to try and chill out a little more and just take things as they come and try not to force them so much.

We didn’t have allot of time to relax as we had to go around and figure out some more details. We went around to a few places and got quotes on renting Land Cruisers and a drive for 7 days. About 100 US a day.

Around 4:00 we grabbed some lunch at a pretty nice restaurant. Nice for Lhasa. I had a Yak burger. I’m not sure what a Yak is but I think it’s something like a cow? Either way I wanted to try it before my stomach got to bad. Earlier I was getting some sick pains and my head was hurting a little. Were at about 10,000 feet here and it is starting to mess with my body. I’m sure part of Ana’s stomach problems is the altitude as well.

After mowing the Yak burger we headed to do some more details around the city. It was pretty cool just to walk around and although it was crowded it wasn’t too bad. Nothing like all the other cities we had visited so far. Later that evening we sat for about 3 hours in a really nice internet café and caught up our blogs. I’m happy that were back in the swing of things but we still have about 2 months to catch up on. We have notes we just need to type it all which I think is going to take about 15-20 hours.

After the blog we chilled and had a beer at the bar and talked. It’s so nice to be able to spend so much time with my wife. She’s wonderful and I hope we keep this kind of adventure love and passion in our relationship for the rest of our lives. It truly is the relationship I’ve always wanted. I feel lucky.

After a while we headed to our semi-clean room and sleep. I moved the beds so they were close so we could feel like we were sleeping together. Man I’m romantic! Tim you stud.








Day 253
I woke up feeling ok after the night of a bed that’s to short for me. Both our stomachs aren’t feeling the best and we forced ourselves to eat a little.

I wanted to take care of details and we headed our first to get our plane tickets. Of course we had to get the agent that was way over worked and extremely unhelpful. She gave us two different price quotes within about 5 minutes. I finally said screw her and we went to find another girl with more brains and less stress. We found a nice girl that was able to get us our return tickets to Xion for US 100.00 more than what we could have gotten them the previous day. I was pissed. It seemed like we keep hesitation on things and getting screwed for it. But whatever we needed the tickets no matter the price.

After getting the tickets we headed out to try and find out more about the 6 day tour we wanted to take around Tibet. I wanted to get that figured out and planed because we have a limited window of time in Tibet. We first went to a couple travel agencies and asked their price on some of the tours. At the second place we found a posting a couple had put up. They were looking to do the same tour as us and looking to share cost on a trip. We decided to call them and meet up. We decided to meet later that day at their hotel.

We met them later that day and they seemed pretty cool. It was a German guy named Dirk and his Chinese girlfriend Aihua. We talked for a while and found out that they wanted to go the next day to get tickets to see the inside of the Potala Palace. The Potala Palace was a very famous place and the home of the Dali Lama during the winter. It was a huge Palace that dominated the skyline in the heard of Lhasa. Many pilgrims of the Buddhist faith migrated to this sort of Mecca for Buddhism. The bodies of many of the Dali Lamas were in this building and it was considered a very sacred place.

The process of getting tickets to see the inside of this really famous Buddhist monastery was an interesting and very Tibetan way of doing things. See what we had to do first was get up and be in line by 5:30 in the morning. Then we would wait till 8:30 or so to get a number written on our hands. Then we would need to come back later that same day at 11:00 with our passports to get our paper that would allow us to go the next day and buy our official tickets (again with our passports) at the ticket office. All of it made no sense but what were we to do. I wanted to see the inside of the temple and it was worth the hassle. We decided to meet up the next morning and wait in line together for the tickets.

On the way back to our hotel we found a store that sold M&M’s, Snickers, and Skittles. We were so happy to see Western food. Man this country has no Western food and we were in heaven to see these candies. We bought a few packs of each and headed back to our little hotel nest to mow them.

The M&M’s were heaven and my mouth watered for more. I ended up eating two packs myself. I didn’t care that my stomach was off. It was worth a night on the toilet.

We fell asleep with M&M’s and Skittles wrappers all over the bed. It was euphoric and we were so happy. It was home in a sweet little package.









Day 254
I didn’t sleep that well. Keep waking up think we were late to meet the other couple to get the tickets to the Potala Palace. I’m pretty sure I woke up every hour from 1:00 – 5:00. Finally it was 5:00am and we could get up to go get in line for our tickets. It was ridiculous but we had to do it. Were in Tibet and we had to see the inside of the most important temple here.

When we went to go outside at around 5:15 we realized we were locked in our hotel. The large gates had been shut and locked with a huge lock. Shit no one was around. Finally I found a little room with a cranky old lady that I woke up. She smelled and with her half awake and scary face handed me the keys to the gate. I opened it up and sure enough they were there in the taxi waiting for us. We jumped in and headed down the street to the Palace.

When we arrived at the Palace we found that there were already 6 people in line. That was good because at least we knew that we were in the right place and not in line at the trash gate for the palace. It was completely dark when we got in line and got ready to wait 3 hours standing. We were laughing at the insanity of the process but oh well it assured us a ticket in for the next day.

The next 3 hours were pretty cold. Ana and I were all geared up but the other couple seemed to only have light sweaters. I wasn’t sure what they were thinking. Europeans are notorious for being under prepared for the cold and these guys were no exception. Ana and I had thermals, fleece, heavy north face jacket, gloves, and a beanie. They had a sweater and that’s about it. Oh well you would think being scientist would make them smarter. I guess that’s not the case.

The time went pretty fast in the line talking to Dirk and Aihua. Ana keep worrying about the people around her that keep spitting. It is a really nasty habit of all the people in Lhasa. They love to spit. From a nasty old man to a beautiful young lady. All you hear is “hhhhaaaaaauuukkkkk…ssssspppppiiiiiiiitttttt”. Nasty and ever since Ana got hit with a drive by “luggie” she’s been terrified of people spitting and the morning was pretty stressful for her. I think no joke we must have heard about 200 different people spitting in the 3 hour time period. Nasty but every once a while I had to join in a drop a couple spit wads on the floor. Ana would give me the evil eye of course.

Finally the gates opened at around 8:30 and we all ran in to get in the second line which we waited in another 30 minutes or so. Finally we were in the front and Aihua got a number on her arm which we needed to come back at 11:00 and get in line again with the passports to get in. Don’t ask why it’s a fruitless question.

We got the number and decided to meet up at 11:00 to get the second piece of paper to get the ticket. We took off and walked to a local supermarket which turned out to be pretty nice. It was really clean and nice. We got some food and I bought some stuff from the deli section. I got some fried wantons, and some chips. We ate them outside the supermarket and they were pretty good. I was happy we found a clean place that had decent food.

After a quick bite we went shopping for some pants for me. Of course my damn size is so hard to get in this country full of midgets. I tried on a few pairs with no luck. I’m getting really resigned about the whole pants thing. First it was shoes now it’s pants. URRRRGGG.

After a little shopping we headed back to the hotel for a quick nap. We were getting pretty tired. We didn’t sleep that long before we had to get up and go to the second round of the tickets. We got there around 11:00 and within about 45 minutes we had the second piece of paper that said we could go the next morning at 8:30am to see the temple. Yeah we were 2 steps into the 3 step ticket process and it only took up most of the first part of the day to get.

Later that evening we met up again with Dirk and Aihua to talk to the agent about our 6 day trip. We pretty much nailed all the details down and plan and got an agency also. They told us to come back the next day in the evening to meet the driver and see the truck. That was nice to have almost complete as it seems the last week or so has only been planning and not really enjoying the places we’ve been in. That happens though sometimes. But for now I think were close to having the next few weeks planned and that gives us more time to relax and enjoy the experiences were having.

In the evening we wandered around the local markets. It’s always fun to see what they sell and what people are buying. They had a nice range of antiques, food, and clothing. But of course all the clothing is too small. The cloths are made for little Chinese midgets.

I ended up buying a mask made from a turtle shell. It was really interesting and the woman I was dealing with was a tiger. Man I worked on her hard and she was really good. I think I got the mask for an ok price in the end. I was a little pissed about it but oh well cheers to her for a good price fight. I have respect for any old lady that can be so tough.

At another vendor I got a really nice shell jacket from Jack Wolfskin for only US 15.00. It’s really nice quality and I think it was a fair price. Again the girl I was working with was pretty strong. Luckily the zipper didn’t work the first time she zipped it and I said it was broken and wouldn’t give any more than US 15.00 for it. She was a little frustrated but eventually gave in. I never know in the end if it was a good price or not. But I think I did ok on this specific jacket. Sometimes the bargaining game can be fun.

Walking the market was fun. It’s always fun to watch the people and good thing here that the people aren’t that pushy. That is a really nice thing. After the market we headed to a restaurant we heard was pretty good. When we entered we noticed the tables were packed with travelers. That was a good sign and it must mean the place is pretty good. We sat down and ordered a sizzling chicken and some tortilla chips and salsa. Sure enough about 20 minutes later out came a sizzling hot plate. As the waitress walked the food down the isle everyone looked. The plate was quiet the attention getter. It sizzled in front of us and we carefully dug in. It was great and we quickly picked up the devouring speed. Soon enough it was gone and my chips came out. It wasn’t actually tortilla chips but more like large crispy flower chips. The salsa was actually really good and overall the meal was great. Actually this meal was the best meal we’ve had so far in China. Man it was heaven sent restaurant. Before this place we’ve really been hurting to find anywhere that looked clean and the food was at least decent.

Towards the end of our meal a couple of South Africans sat at the table across from us. It bothered me at first since I just wanted to have a quiet personal dinner. But in the end we started chatting and they turned out to be really fun and interesting people. We had a great conversation and actually stayed up pretty late talking with them.

After our wonderful dinner we were pretty much exhausted from the day and just headed to the room to relax and fall asleep.










Day 255
We woke up early in the morning after a little of a restless night. We caught a taxi to the Potala Palace where we could hopefully jump through the last hoop of the seemingly endless process of gaining entrance into the Palace. We arrived at the gate right on time without our passports. Damn we keep forgetting stuff. I’m not sure why it’s been going that way but it sure has. So we had to grab a taxi real quick and run back to the hotel to get our passports.

We passed through the first set of gates. Then through the metal detector and a long hike uphill to the official entrance to the palace. The view of the city was amazing from up there and I didn’t really realize how large it was. Pretty big for Tibet. Also the building started looking even more amazing and beautiful. In the Lonely Planet book it said the more you look at the palace the more beautiful it becomes. I would have to agree with them. It was becoming more amazing the closer I got to it.

At the final entrance to the palace we showed our passports and gave 25.00 American dollars and sure enough the golden tickets were handed to us. It was amazing to finally have them in our hand. We took a photo once we got them.

With our tickets firmly grasped in our hands we walked to the official entrance and handed the tickets to the Buddhist Monk. He grabbed then and ripped a part off then gave them back to us. It was true at that moment we stepped inside the palace. It was a miracle. I felt like grabbing a microphone and saying “I want to thank all the small people that made this happen. I couldn’t have done this if it wasn’t for all of you” or something like that.

Once we were inside the gates the structure was really impressive. There were hundreds of rooms in the palace and all of them were unique yet carried a similar style. Allot of red and gold and TONS of Buddhist statues. Several rooms had large Buddhist accompanied by 1,000 little Buddhist sculptures. I think there must have been around at least 5,000 different Buddhist sculptures. In most of the rooms people would stop and prey and donate money on the floor. There must have been a million dollars in total all over the palace. Many of the rooms had a pile of money about 3 feet high.

There was also a heavy Chinese guard influence. It makes sense since China is really controlling Tibet with a heavy fist. The guards were there to make sure nothing happened that they didn’t know about or have control of. It’s amazing to experience the iron fist control that China has over its people. I felt like the whole time I was in the Palace I was being watched. Either by people or cameras. Weird feeling and it feels like a violation of your privacy. But I’m in their country and it’s their rules.

We had only about 40 minutes to see the temple. If we were much longer the guards would push you along. So we keep a decent pace walking through the different parts of the palace. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take any photos so I had to only write about it and remember it in my memory. I would have loved some photos as many parts of the palace were really amazing.

The sun deck on top of the palace was a very beautiful place. We were there in the morning so I think we got to experience it in the time of day it was intended to be experienced. It was really magical and peaceful. The mountains surrounded the palace and at that height it the city below was nothing more than a quiet murmur. I’m sure a few hundreds years before it must have been amazingly quiet and peaceful.

We passed a ton or rooms containing different Buddha’s and after a while they started to blend into all looking same. I don’t know allot about the religion so my ignorance added to the monotony of the place. But overall the experience was really magical and I really enjoyed seeing the lifestyle the monks lived. We even at one point got to see the room where the Dali Lama stayed when he was there. Currently they Dali Lama is in America. The Chinese government banned him from China. I think they were worried he might cause too much trouble. Got to love those Communist governments.

In a couple parts of the temple they had the tombs of previous Dali Lamas. Those tombs were amazing and contained a ridiculous amount of gold. Just one of the tombs contained 3 tons of gold and precious stones. It’s really funny to think they believed they needed nothing in life but then were buried under 3 tons of gold. So much for giving up these worldly desires. You would think it would be more appropriate to burry him in a simple wooden box. Guess not though.

I’m really surprised that palace is still standing and still has all that gold and precious stones. I can’t believe no one throughout history has raided and plundered it. That alone makes the temple amazing. I think there is at least 20 tons of gold in that palace and who know how many precious stones such as diamonds, etc.

One of the quirky things present in the palace was the younger monks. I don’t know how they chose to be a monk at such a young age but they still seem like little kids in robes. When no one is looking they will punch each other on the shoulder and joke around. I guess you put a red robe on a kid and shave their head but you can’t take the playfulness out of them. It’s just so funny to see them playing. I guess my vision of a monk is a quiet spiritual slow moving man. Not a young playful boy.

Another quirky thing is some of the monks were wearing a traditional robe and beads then if you looked at their shoes they were wearing tennis shoes. One guy even had a pair of playboy shoes. I thought that was so funny and wished I could have taken a picture. They must not even understand what the symbol means. It was pretty funny and a huge juxtaposition to the environment. Man I hope I used that word (juxtaposition) right. If I did I bet I sound pretty cool. If not I’m just a dork.

At the end of the palace tour I was left a bit mesmerized. The palace was huge and really amazing. I would have never had expect so much was inside. It was a magical place and held the same power and mystical nature the Basilica in Rome did. Both structures are an amazing other worldly tributes to the beliefs a mass of people hold. Cool.

After the palace we walked to the local supermarket to get some food for the 6 day trip we were taking the next day. We bough a ton of food and snacks for the trip. Loaded up on the M&M’s, Skittles, and Snickers. Those are must on a trip like the one were taking. You can guarantee the food is going to suck. Those little treats at the end of the day make everything ok.

In the evening we checked out the car and driver and both looked great. The driver was a young guy with a new Land Cruiser. All looked cool and we signed the contract and paid the money. We were looking forward to the trip the next day and were pretty excited.

After the contract was sealed and we paid we headed to the local restaurant we had found the other day. We had another wonderful meal and headed back to the room to pack and get ready for the next day. Yeah we were leaving Lhasa. I couldn’t wait to get out of our stinky little room and out into the country.

Fell asleep around 12:00 that night. I was pretty tired.










Day 256
I slept horrible that night. It was really weird because I first woke up about an hour after we went to bed which was 1:00am in the morning. My stomach was telling me it wanted to see the bathroom right that second. I listened to it and ran for the “oh so clean” bathroom.

After the little marathon that I tried to go back to sleep but I was having trouble with my breathing. I keep almost falling asleep then I would be jolted awake by the feeling that I had been holding my breath. I would need to take about 3-5 deep breaths to catch my breath again. It was really weird. I would then feel ok and start to doze off and the same thing would happen. It felt like I had just come up for air from a really deep dive. It was really weird and extremely annoying. I keep doing that all night long. I tried to get up and shake it off but then as soon as I laid down and almost was asleep I was woken up again feeling like I couldn’t breath. I was actually starting to get a little worried. I’ve never had that problem before at altitude. I also know altitude can be a killer if you let it go to far. I didn’t think I was anywhere near that but we were at the lowest point of the trip and here I was with these weird symptoms. I thought we were only about 10,000 feet or so high. That’s not that high?

Anyway the night sucked. I don’t think I got more than 20 minutes max of sleep. Morning came and I was glad to see it. That meant I didn’t need to be in that weird dream, delusion, can’t breath state any more.

We got up early and packed our bags. The city was cold and still barely starting to wake up. We were sitting out in the road when I saw Dirk coming up the sidewalk without the car. I was thinking great what’s going on now? When he got to us he said there was a problem with the driver and that we had a new car and driver. Also the price had changed and the driver didn’t have the permits needed to leave. I was pissed. Just what we needed problems and another day in Lhasa. This city is starting to get old.

We took a taxi with all of our gear to their hotel. When we arrived the driver was threatening to leave without us. He said if we don’t go now he is going to find another group. We decided to wait a couple hours till the people we were working with showed up and we could figure things out. The new driver wasn’t too happy and neither were we.

We ate breakfast at the local restaurant. Ana had an omelet but I didn’t dare eat anything with my stomach treating me the way it was. After about an hour we saw that the people who organized our trip were there. We headed down with fire in our eyes. They were surprised to see us and seemed to be playing a little dumb. They said the driver we saw the day before had problems with his car and that was why we had a new guy. It all was a huge pain in the ass. Dirk was being really strong with them and in the end we didn’t want the new driver and we didn’t trust them. So we just send refund all our money and we’ll go to another place. She was pretty mad but in the end gave us all our money back. Which I was surprised to see. I thought for sure she would scam us out of a little for their time or the permits they got for us. But we got it all and just walked away pissed.

Ana and I had to go back to our old hotel and get another room. Damn that was the last thing I wanted to do. I was getting tired of the city, the dirty hotel room, and just felt like I had been in Tibet for a long time and only seen a little of this one city. I was a little pissed. I think we all were.

We went to another agency down the street that Ana and I had talked to before. They seemed really sharp and we decided to go with them. They said they could get us a driver and car for the next morning. He also said that we could meet the new driver and car that night at 7:00. We were happy and had our fingers crossed that everything would go smoothly.

After getting things set up at the other agency we decided to go back to the hotel room and take a nap. I didn’t sleep really at all the night before and that idea sounded great after the eventful morning we were having.

We napped for an hour and I felt more human. Not normal but more human. We got up and took a shower and decided to put some time trying to catch up our blogs. We spend about the next 2 hours on the internet.

Around dinner time we went back to the same place we had been eating before. When we find a place we like in a city we tend to eat their everyday we can. Some people might think man that’s boring if I was in another city I would want to try a bunch of different restaurants and new food. When people say that I can tell they only travel for a few weeks at a time. When you travel for a year and you need to survive on different food you soon find things you like and try to get as much of that food as you can before you leave that city. We eat at bad places at least 50% of the time. So when you find somewhere the food is good you hold onto it for dear life because you know in a couple days your going to be on the hunt again for some more good food and most likely it will take about 4 bad meals before you find it.

Anyway bottom line we went to the same old place to eat and loved it. We had cauliflower and potatoes (which was actually great), potato salad (which tasted like home can you believe it!), and a soft taco (which was good and it was nice to taste beans again which was a surprise). We enjoyed our meal and smiled like little kids at how good the food was. This restaurant was the best western food we’ve tasted yet. Really good cook.

Funny thing was about the time we were almost done with our meal we ran into a South African couple we had ate dinner with the previous day. They laughed and so did we. I said “Your eating at the same place again?” The laughed and said they even ate lunch their as well that day. It was funny because they too were on a year long trip and were starting to eat at the same place all the time. We laughed and said we do the same. We both understood the pains of living on foreign diets for extended periods of time.

We had a great conversation with them and then headed out to go meet our new driver and check out the “Old Landrover” we would be living in the next 6 days.

When we arrived at the agency we saw a guy who looked like our driver. Sure enough we were introduced and it was him. He was an older Tibetan guy and he looked really nice. He didn’t really speak any English but that was ok since we had the Chinese girl with us. We checked out the car and it seemed ok. Not much I could really tell other than it had four wheels and looked decently taken care of.

We went back to the office and signed the contract and paid the money. We keep our fingers crossed that everything would go smoothly the next day.

When we walked back to our hotel Ana had a craving for M&M’s. So we went searching for some and luckily found some right across the way at a little market. Man I must say M&M’s are the only food we’ve found that really taste like home. We had some “Chips a Hoy” the other day and even they tasted different. Damn Chinese can’t even make some freaking cookies taste the same. They were just off and I didn’t know why.

We sat in our room and savored the flavor of home. In fact we ate 3 packs of M&M’s and loved every minute of it. We were tired after the long day and with chocolate on our smiling lips we fell asleep in our dirty little home away from home.









Day 257
Woke up after a good nights sleep. I didn’t have the breathing problems which was really nice. I think I was so tired that I would have slept through it anyways.

We packed once and again and dragged our gear downstairs. To our surprise right on time the driver and car showed up. It was great to see them and we threw our gear in and headed out. It was nice to see the city start to disappear and new and strange countryside and people start to appear. I finally was out of Lhasa and was starting to see Tibet. That made me really happy.

The first destination we went to was the top of a huge mountain pass. It was really steep and we were heading up for a long time till we reached the top. The mountains were amazing around us. It reminded me a little of Bolivia with the unusual colored mountains. The mountains all seemed to change color and texture. Some were made of rock and some of really lose soil. The colors were brilliant as well and seemed to change depending on how the light hit them. Really amazing and I was glad to be here and able experience such beauty.

At the top of the pass there were a bunch of prayer flags strung everywhere. I really like the idea of the flags. They basically are like the flags you see at car lots but a little squarer and have prayers written on them. The colors are primary yellow, blue or red. They really pop out against the earth tones of the mountain backdrop.

We got out of the truck and along with quite allot of other tourist checked out the place and photographed about every square inch of the place. When I read the sign I realized that we were really high. We were at 5,000 meters which was almost the high of the Everest base camp (5,200 meters). I was feeling pretty good as well as everyone else. We had gained ALLOT of altitude since we left Lhasa only a few hours before. I was expecting to be feeling much worse but to my surprise I was doing ok. Ana was doing great as well and I think in general she does better with altitude than I do.

We also could see a magical lake from down below the other side. It was really beautiful and was a brilliant fake blue. It must be the minerals in the water that make it that blue. I don’t know exactly but it was beautiful.

The vendors were selling trinkets and photos on their yaks. They were a little annoying but there were so many people that they couldn’t bug you too long before they would latch onto another unfortunate tourist.

As we were leaving I had seen some tents on the top of the mountain and not really known what they were for. I realized that the vendors must live up on the pass during the tourist season. Man that mush be thought. The weather was freezing and there tents looked rough. Maybe it wasn’t so bad for these people. They are a tough mountain people and maybe these conditions weren’t as extreme to them as they were to me.

We jumped in the car and turned around and headed back down the hill the same way we came. I guess the road that we were supposed to continue on was closed for construction and we had to go back down and take another road. On our way down our driver started to show a little more comfort in his driving and started going pretty fast. I was a little uncomfortable with the speed but he seemed like a pretty good driver. It was funny because when we first started out he seemed to be driving a little to slow. But now a few hours into the drive he was getting comfortable and starting to speed up. We’ll see how things progress.

We drove for a while and then came to a 30 Kilometer section of road that was a short cut and was a little rough. Man this is where the driver really started to show his driving. He was flying down the dirt roads and speeds that made me only think he must have drove this road a million times and really know it well.

Either way we were flying down the roads and getting air all over the place. A couple times my head almost hit ceiling of the truck. It was pretty funny. I wasn’t scared I was just hoping he didn’t break the truck in the process. Ana seemed to be having a pretty good time and it’s nice to see how comfortable she’s become on rough roads. I remember in Argentina she still was freaking out about simple things in the road that I didn’t think were any big deal. She though at the time clenched my arm with a death grip. But now flying down the back roads, sliding around the corners and catching air she was just laughing and enjoying herself. It’s amazing to see how much she’s changed in the last few months. She’s definitely became a much stronger traveler. I love that she’s grown that way and it expands our ability to experience great things in life together.

On the other hand Dirk and his Chinese girlfriend were freaking out a little. They were quiet but I think inside they were a little scared. Especially the Chinese girl. I don’t think she’s ever been on a trip like this and she didn’t know what to think.

We past a ton of wheat fields filled with farmers harvesting their crops. It was really cool to see them. The advanced ones had tractors with carts behind them filled with mountains of hay. I don’t even know how they can get so much hay on one cart but they do. It’s amazing to see them bouncing and swaying back and forth down the road. Somehow the load of hay stays on. Magic I guess.

We made it to the town we were supposed to be spending the night. When we got to the hostel there was a guy waving his hand saying no room or something to that effect. Later we found out that there were no rooms available because the Panchi Lama (Dude right under the Dali Lama) was coming to town the next day. We also found out that they would be shutting down the road for the whole day to allow him to come there and visit then return. Great. That meant we had to see the temple in the city quickly then drive another 2 hours to the next town and stay their. Kind of sucked but oh well that’s Tibet.

When we first arrived to the hotel I saw that Dirk wasn’t feeling too good. Actually he was looking really green and bad. I was thinking it was the altitude but he seemed to think it was eating and the really bumpy roads. His girlfriend seemed to think it was the fuel smell in the car and the fact that we had the window down allot during the course of the day.

It was in that moment that her true Chinese nature was coming out. It was so ridiculous to think the fuel smell and window down caused him to turn green. But in her mind it was that. It was really funny to see her mindset. I don’t know why but in so many countries having the window down is like committing suicide. Fresh air from a window is deadly in Africa as well as her in China. In fact you often see Chinese people with a mask that looks like a surgical mask on. It’s so the cold air doesn’t get into their mouths and make them sick. It doesn’t matter that they have a short sleeve shirt and shorts. Whatever though. That kind of thinking drives me nuts. It’s just so superstitious and unreasonable. We all felt the same air and gas smell but only he got sick? Magic I guess.

Whatever was making him sick he was hurting? He actually said for us to go to the local temple alone and leave him behind to rest. He must have been really hurting. His girlfriend stayed back with him and Ana and I left to see the temple.

I was thinking this trip wasn’t meant to happen. First we have all the trouble with the truck and driver now not only a half day into our 6 day trip one of us is getting really sick. Great I hope that doesn’t affect the trip? Who knows?

To top things off as we pulled out of the parking lot to head to the temple the car started rattling and shacking. It finally died in the street about 10 feet from the hotel. Great now the car is going to have problems. The driver got out and got a wrench from the back seat. He seemed to know exactly what the problem was since was able to grab the wrench even before he had popped the hood.

Once he got the hood open he pulled the fuel line off and cranked the engine Sure enough no fuel was coming through. He then went to the local store and got some water and poured it on a part of the motor. He cranked it again and fuel poured out. He hooked it back up and the engine started right up. It was fixed and he smiled and we headed out. I was more confident after that seeing how prepared and skilled he was at fixing his truck.

We got to the temple and paid the fee to get it. It was a nice temple and was basically a bunch of circular shapes stacked on top of each other. The circles got higher till the top where the final circle was about 15 feet in diameter.

We entered the bottom layer of the large cake like temple. The bottom had several doors around the bottom. When you entered any one of the doors they had a different version of the Buddha (Past, Present, Future, Etc.). They were small dark places where one could worship and pray to that particular Buddha. Was interesting and had a weird feeling to them. Weird what man can create with their imaginations. None of what was on the walls was anything that existed in reality. It was all imagination and people believed in it with all their heart and soul. People would kill and for this. I guess that’s really the same for most religions.

The experience of entering all the doors in the entire monastery was pretty much the same. You would walk in a small about 5 foot high door. Inside it was dark and to the right you would see a carved figure of the Buddha. Then on all the walls surrounding you there were painting of the Buddha and different various situations. On the floor in front of the figure were usually small amounts of paper money. Some of the larger Buddha’s had small mountains of money on the floor in front of them. It was an offering and I saw people preying and bowing then dropping the money on the floor.

We stayed at the temple peeking in doors and experiencing the environment for about 1 hour. I must say it was a really peaceful place. I don’t know what it all meant but my experience which was similar to many other Buddhist monasteries was one of peace.

Once we got to the top you had a clear view of another temple across the way. It was built on a mountain top and for all the world looked like something from Lord of the Rings or something like that. It was beautiful and I wanted to go up to it really badly. I don’t think they allowed tourist since I couldn’t see anyone there. It was though really cool and I acted like a Japanese photographer and took about 500 shots of it.

When we were done with the temple we headed back to the hotel to pick up the other guys. When we got there Dirk needed another 10 minutes to rest before we headed out. I guess he was throwing up and the whole thing. Poor guy.

When he finally walked down the stairs he looked really bad. He was green in color and looked like he was half dead. Man he turned bad quick. I know the last thing he would ever want to do was go drive down some more dirt roads. But he got in and we headed out. As we bounced down the road he slowly looked worse and worse. His girlfriend was being really strange and over attentive. She keep saying “are you ok” Here drink some tea, etc, etc. Man if I was him I would have said please shut up and just let me be. But he was really patient with her and just kept saying I’m ok, I’m ok. I know she was just caring for him but it seemed a little over board and almost played out. It reminded me somehow of how the Chinese girls used to act in my old high school days. I don’t know how to explain it but it seemed like half real and half show.

After a tough ride for Dirk we finally made it to the city. We of course were brought by to the most expensive place in the city. Dirk wanted a good room and we understood. I think the Chinese girl expected us to stay there as well with them. I felt like she was mad at us when we said we would rather go to the budget place just down the road and they could stay there. They were only on a 3 week trip and money wasn’t really a concern. To use though we were on a year tour and saving money rooms is important.

Either way she was acting a little weird and stressed out that Dirk was feeling bad. I actually preferred at this time to be away from her and just spent time together me and Ana.

After dropping the others off our driver took us to the local budget place and we got a nice dorm room for a third of the price of the other hotel. It wasn’t bad and we actually had the room to ourselves which was really nice.

For dinner we had some “Cup of Noodles” type things. They were pretty good and looked much better and cleaner than any restaurant we had seen in town.

We showered in a nice warm shower which was great. We then chilled and watched some Chinese TV till we fell asleep.








Day 258
We woke up after a good nights sleep. We had an apple and some muffins for breakfast and got picked up around 9:00 by our driver. We headed to the other hotel to get the others and Dirk to my surprise said he was feeling a little better. There was a temple in the town we were staying and he said he wanted to try and see it. I don’t blame him for wanting to see it but I was thinking it was only going to make him sicker since you had to walk up a pretty steep hill to get to it. I was even worried about walking to fast myself and getting sick. We were getting really high and I was thinking we were getting somewhere in the vicinity of about 14,000 feet high. That’s high and actually higher than I’ve ever been.

We got our tickets at the gate and headed in. Sure enough after about 20 steps Dirk was feeling a little sick and told us just to go on. I felt bad leaving them but I really wanted to see the temple. So we took off and went to explore with the both of us.

We were spending allot of time apart during the first couple days of the trip and I was starting to wonder if that was going to break us apart. Maybe not. I wasn’t sure. One thing that was really bothering me was that the Chinese girl’s life seemed to be falling apart without her boyfriend. She was really starting to bug me with the comments she was making. Things like “Were not eating cause he doesn’t feel good” and” We’ll see how Dirk feels tomorrow to see if we can continue”. She was quietly saying that we would all head back to Lhasa if he was feeling sick. I was thinking no way in hell girl. We can leave you in a city for a couple days and pick you up on the way back. I’m sure Dirk would think the same thing but she was just falling apart and that was bothering me. Ana as well didn’t like the way she was acting. We’ll see how things play out. Hopefully Dirk just feels better and we can all just enjoy the trip.

The monastery was really cool. We walked thought the different parts of the massive temple which took up a large part of the hillside. The temple was cool to see but I could tell we were still in range of the tour buses. That kind of bummed me out. It’s hard to enjoy a site when you’re trying not to be to close to a large group that’s really loud and obnoxious even in a quiet and peaceful temple setting. But I again tried to ignore them and just get a feel for the place and what it must be like to be a monk there and live that lifestyle.

We got to see several temples and large Buddha’s. The monastery experiences are starting to blur and most of them all feel similar. Seeing monasteries is starting to feel like how I feel when I see another church. Unless it’s really amazing it’s just another church or monastery. Sad but true. They all start feeling the same just a little different.

None the less it was great to see the monastery and the monks. The one thing I really love about those monasteries is the peaceful feeling I have when I’m there. There very accepting of people and you don’t feel like your interrupting them or not wanted there. It’s a nice feeling.

At the end we headed down to the car and both of them were waiting there. Dirk didn’t make it only about 100 feet into the monastery and decided to head back. He was really hurting. She was able to see a little more but ran back to him after only a half an hour.

We headed out to the next city and back to the bumpy dirt roads we went. We drove for most of the rest of the day passing small villages and magical mountain landscapes. Tibet is an amazing country and the people are strong workers carving a life out of an environment that just doesn’t seem fit for living.

We stopped at a little town for lunch. We had some fried spinach with white rice. It was really good and light. The light food was good for our stomachs since we were heading up so high. Ana and I learned in Bolivia why not to eat heavy food at high altitudes. We both had Burger King in La Paz and it messed with us big time. We were dumb enough to eat there twice as well. Idiots.

After lunch we were heading down some pretty scary one lane dirt roads on large cliffs. Or course our driver was skidding around corner and getting air off the jumps. A couple times he was a bit out of control and I didn’t like the way he was driving. I really didn’t like the fact that none of us had seat belts. Not a smart position to be in. In hindsight I should have said something to the driver to chill out but I trusted him and he did seem like a good driver.

We made it into the small town one street town around evening. We dropped the couple off at the expensive hotel and we headed to the cheap place. The cheap place was pretty rough though. The rooms were barely passable. The showers were ok at best but the water was cold and barely trickled out. The worst was the bathrooms. Man I think they were giving Africa a run for the money. They were horrid and had no privacy. They had only a half cut door to get in and three pit toilets right next to each other with no dividers. Nice. And of course it was my time to get ride of the breakfast I had eaten earlier that day. I had Ana run protection on the door and with the speed and efficiency of a skilled traveler I did the duty. What timing my stomach has.

We checked out the local restaurants for dinner and they looked really rough. We decided to walk around the town a little and see if we could find something better. We were around 4,700 meters at this town and you could feel it in your lungs. I tried really hard not to stress myself. I didn’t want to get sick and so far taking it really easy like an old man was paying off. I was feeling pretty good and so was Ana.

On our walk around town we met a really nice Australian mother and her son. They were also looking for a better place to eat so we walked together and checked out a few buildings. We didn’t find anything but really good conversation. We talked for a few hours it seemed like and in the end we all had “Cup of Noodles” at our wonderful hotel. It was really nice to talk to her about traveling. She was a pretty hardcore traveler in her day and she had taken each or her three kids on different trips to expose them to the traveling life. It was really interesting to hear her concern about teaching her kids how to travel. She was currently taking her 15 year old son to Tibet. I thought it was really cool and it gave me allot of insight into how I’ll probably be with my kids and the concerns I’ll probably share. Talking to hear about her kids and traveling with them gave me some peace somehow. I hope I travel with my kids like she does. I can’t imagine I won’t but only time will tell.

The power went off really early since it was on a generator and I’m sure it was expensive for them. It flickered on and off for about half an hour thought till it finally died. I just jumped in bed after the first power outage and went to sleep. Ana tried to write in her diary but didn’t have much luck and joined me in bed shortly after.

The night was cold and the beds were bad. But with our sleeping bags and 2 extra smelly blankets each we were able to keep warm and uncomfortable.









Day 259
The night was pretty tough for me again. I was having breathing problems again and I didn’t like that. I was starting to wonder if I was pushing myself to hard. It was a really unusual symptom that only seemed to affect me at night. It was actually getting really annoying and I made myself shut up and stop breathing so hard and waking myself up. To some degree it actually worked and I think I got a few hours of sleep that night.

We got picked up around 9:00 after eating some more muffins and an Asian pear for breakfast. The muffins are going to be life savers in this country. Man I can’t handle Chinese breakfasts.

When we got to the hotel to pick up the others Dirk was looking pretty good. Almost normal even though he said his stomach was feeling off. I was glad to hear that since this was the day we were going to the Everest Base Camp. I didn’t want to miss that since it’s been one of my life long dreams to see Everest myself. The only think that was troubling was that the Australian mom and son we had met just came from the base camp the day before and hadn’t seen Everest. They said it was clouded over the entire time they were there. I was crossing my fingers that wouldn’t happen to us. Man we had come a long ways to see this damn mountain and we had better be able to see it. I would be extremely pissed if all we saw was clouds.

The road to the Monastery that was 5 miles below the Everest Base Camp was really rough and a bit scary at times. Mountain cliffs and all that good stuff. But the landscape was magical as well as the people and villages we passed on the way to it. We stopped at one village and gave candy to the kids. They were crazy for it and were fighting for it. It was really funny to watch and as soon as one kid got candy they all ran to get some as well. Coming from every crack in the city.

We reached the monastery at around 2:00 and the weather was cloudy. It sucked and we couldn’t even see the bottom of Everest. I was pretty mad but the guide said maybe around seven or eight that evening we would be able to see it.

Before heading up the hill to the Everest Base Camp we had some “Cup of Noodles”. Because Dirk was feeling bad he and Aihua (Chinese girlfriend) headed up the hill in a donkey with a cart behind it. You paid the guy about 4 American dollars to take you up the hill to the camp that was 5 miles away. They don’t allow cars up that road so it was the only way up there other than hiking.

Ana and I decided to walk up to the Everest Base Camp rather than take a donkey. If we couldn’t see Everest at least we could hike in the valley up to the camp. We headed up the hill and the weather was really cold. The wind was blowing and we both had almost all of our gear on including our full North Face jackets. It was really cool hiking because when you have the head gear all covered up and the wind is blowing so hard you can only see a small portion of the road and landscape in front of you. You get in kind of a zone and just keep walking. We walked very slowly because I didn’t want to get sick because we over did it. It would be a bad night if we did that since we were pretty much trapped till the next day if we got sick. No donkeys went up the road at night.

As we walked you could really tell we were high up. My breath was short and tough. It felt a little like you were breathing air that was thicker – more like how it would fell to drink water. Also my breaths were much shorter. I didn’t take large breaths only short tough breaths. I tried to imagine what it must be like almost twice as high as we were. Man it must be hell.

It took us about 2.5 hours to hike to the top. It got to be a little long
towards the end as we started to ascend a gradual hill. We never really had to take breaks since we were walking slowly. The whole time I was thinking man if I could see Everest in front of me that walk would be so much easier. But I knew right behind those clouds that monster lived. I was close to her I just couldn’t see her.

At the top of the hill we found the Base Camp. The tourist base camp was a series of large tents that had been brought up by donkey. They actually looked pretty nice and I was really surprised. We popped our heads into a couple tents before we found Dirk and Aihua. They were under some blankets just chilling out. Dirk looked ok but he said his feet were freezing from the ride up on the donkey.

The room was pretty nice. It was a square tent about 20x30 feet in dimension. Inside you were protected really well from the wind which was nice. The temperature was pretty cold and even inside the tent I felt cold with my North Face jacket and fleece sweater. The beds were basically situated around the perimeter of the tent and were not much more than a piece of wood about 2 feet off the ground with a carpet on it. It was good enough for me and we grabbed our spots and unpacked.

We drank some tea that was given to us and relaxed. It was getting near dark and there was no chance in hell we were going to see Everest with that weather. So I decided to at least walk a little around the camp. There were a herd of Yaks around the camp and I took a bunch of photos of them. They were really beautiful against the strong mountains.

I was getting really bummed out that we couldn’t see Everest. I felt like we’ve come so far and not to see it would be such a shame. It also meant that I would have to come back again to this part of the country. That sounded like a real pain in the ass. I knew if I didn’t see it this time that I would be back before I die. There’s just no way I would miss it. All I could do was hope for the best.

Taking the photos and walking around for about 20 minutes made us pretty much frozen. We headed into the tent to warm up and have some more tea. There was a small fire pit in the middle of the tent that was used to heat the water for tea. We took a seat next to it and tried to warm ourselves. The best thing about the fire was that it was made from burning Yak poop. Pretty cool. They would collect the poop from the Yak (animal that looks like a hairy cow) and burn it. Was amazing that dried poop could actually burn but sure enough it could. I guess all a Yak eats in grass. So what comes out must be close to dried grass?

The great thing was that the lady saw we were trying to warm our hands on the fire stove. The fire was pretty much contained inside the stove and the smoke was being piped outside. She thought she was being nice and came over and pulled the kettle off so we could get our hands right over the fire. The fire was hotter but all the smoke was now going in the tent rather than outside. So I sat there warming my hands from a fire made from poop. Definitely a first.

We headed to bed shortly after we warmed our hands and the tent was filled with poop smoke. The smell wasn’t like poop but different. I can’t really describe it but it wasn’t pretty. It wouldn’t make a good cologne. Although maybe it would in Tibet? Chick might love it? Maybe that’s my million dollar idea? The tagline could be “Smell like the beast you really arrrrrrrrrrreee”.

Anyway getting into bed was fun with all the 100 layers of cloths, sleeping bag, and 2 extra blankets. But once I was under the pile of clothing I was pretty warm. I fell asleep pretty easily because the small hike actually took allot out of me. As I fell asleep I could only hope tomorrow morning Everest would be right there shinning in front of me. If it wasn’t I’d have a bitch fit.








Day 260
Soon after I fell asleep that night I woke up with breathing problems and hot and cold problems. It really sucked and I’m getting really tired of not being able to sleep well at night. I was able though to get some sleep during the night but not allot.

My breathing was really hard naturally even during the day at this height. We were really high and I didn’t realize till the next day when I did the math that we were actually at 17,200 feet high! That was really high! No wonder I was having troubles breathing. I thought we were at 15,000 but I was calculating wrong. I’ve never been that high and part of me was glad I didn’t know how high I was because I might have mentally messed more with myself.

The night sucked and I was really glad to see the crack of daylight in the morning. I felt really bad in the morning but I really wanted to get up and look outside. I dragged my headache, stomach ache, and freezing body out of the bed and went to the door like a kid ready to open his Christmas present. To my surprise when I opened the door there was about 5 inches of show in front of me? I couldn’t believe it. It had snowed over night and the weather was horrible. Man I was pissed! I knew there was no way in hell we would get to see Everest this time. The previous night I talked to some guys who said the last time someone saw it was 7 days prior to us. Oh well what could I do. My anger wasn’t as much at the fact that I couldn’t see it, it was more anger towards the idea of dragging my butt up this mountain again in the future. I’m getting to old for this junk but like it or not I’ll be up here again in the next 20 years. Maybe I will see it from the Nepal side though. At least that would be more interesting. I could see another culture. I think though you have to hike a few days from that side to see it. Oh well we’ll see.

Despite the extreme let down of not seeing the mountain the snow was pretty cool. The conditions were pretty extreme and that was kind of cool. It still was a cool experience to sleep on that mountain and feel the weather, environment, and the altitude. I awoke Ana and she was also surprised to see the snow. We played around a little and took a couple photos. The snow was still coming down pretty hard and it made it a little difficult to take photos.

The previous day we had arranged for a donkey to come and pick us up in the morning at 8:00am and take us down the hill. Of course it was after 8 and no donkeys were even there. I assumed they weren’t coming and told Ana to pack up and let’s get heading down the hill. We got packed and were ready to go even before the others had even started packing. I didn’t really want to head down the hill with them so we decided to leave early ahead of them. I think they weren’t too happy about that but at this point I was getting tired of them and would rather deal with things separately.

We took off out of the camp with our packs and headed down the hill. We used our umbrellas which worked nicely to keep the snow off of us. We had all the right gear to make the 2 hour hike down in the snow except for the shoes. We both had running shoes and I knew in about a half an hour our toes would be frozen. I told Ana to try and walk in my footsteps and try not to kick the snow with her shoes.

We did our best for about 40 minutes walking in snow. But eventually both our toes started to get cold. Luckily as we were walking we heard the bells of the donkeys coming up the hill. They were about 1.5 hours late but they were coming. We found the guy that was supposed to pick us up. It was nice to see him but the first thing out of his mouth was how much? The previous day we had agreed on 60 Yeon for the both of us. Of course he was trying to say it was snowing and he wanted 80 Yeon. That bastard we had walked 40 minutes in the snow because he was late and now he wanted more. I told Ana screw this guy let’s walk. He of course said 60 was ok and said get in the wagon. We did but there was a tension and he wasn’t happy. While we were headed down the hill we decided to pay him 80 anyways since the conditions were really bad.

After about 20 minutes of riding on the horse he slowed the horse and stopped. He motioned for us to walk the rest of the way. I was confused and tried to ask him is the monastery (where our driver was) just around the corner. He answered yes and pointed at the corner. He then asked for 50. I said no way I would only pay him 40. I was pretty pissed and didn’t care. Ana was telling me to only pay him 10. I was being nicer and thought in the moment 40 was an ok deal. But in the end that bastard dropped us off about 30 minutes from the monastery.

As we started to walk we realized that pecker had totally taken advantage of us and left us really far from the gate. I was really pissed but Ana was extremely pissed. She was fuming. She felt taken advantage of and worse we were cold and it was snowing and we had to walk another 30 plus minutes in that crappy weather. She was walking at a lighting pace and really pissed. A couple government cars passed us on the road (supposedly no cars can go on) and some of the mud hit Ana’s shoes. That mad her even madder and she eventually broke down and started crying a little. She was just pissed, her toes were freezing and we had to walk what we thought was another hour. I was pissed that the dick screwed us over but what can you do? He was gone and all we could do was walk. But she needed a moment just to break down and after she felt a little better. I hugged her and tried to make her feel better but in the moment all she was feeling was angry.

Eventually after 30 minutes we reached the monastery. We had pretty much walked the entire thing and the horse ride we paid for didn’t really save us any time in the end. Maybe 10 minutes maximum. Bastard I was really pissed and can’t believe we paid him that much. If I had to do it again I would have gave him 10 Yeon and walked away. But hind sight is always 20 - 20.

At the monastery we found our guide and unloaded our wet and snowy cloths and backpacks. We jumped in the car and waited for Dirk and Aihua to arrive. I was pretty sure they were going to catch a donkey on the way down. Sure enough about 20 minutes after us there they came with frowns on their faces and guess who was giving them a ride none other than our friend. I ran up to them before they got off and asked them if they had paid yet. They did and I was kind of pissed. I was hoping I could get them to pay him less for what he did to us. But in the end we paid him 40 Yeon and they paid him 60 Yeon. He made 100 Yeon for a short day. That little basterd.

When he saw me coming next to him he was looking away and trying not to look at me. He knew what he did and he was ashamed. As soon as they got out of the cart he tried to take off without even letting them get their bags out. They yelled at him and he stopped quickly. I felt like punching that little punk in the face. I rarely feel such rage but in the moment I did. Lucky were in Tibet and God knows what might happen to me if I assault someone. As he passed by me looking the other way I pushed him on the shoulder to let him know I was pissed. He didn’t even look at me and just keep looking away. I grabbed a clump of snow and chucked it at his head. I missed him by only inches and again he just keep going. It felt better to at least make him realize I was pissed. Man I hate people who are so underhanded.

Dirk and Aihua were looking pretty pissed and weren’t to happy about how the morning had turned out. At this point though I didn’t really care too much about how they were doing. To me they were on their own and we were just ridding in the car together to these cities. I was tired of feeling bad or funny around them. And the little comments were getting annoying. It wasn’t ass much Dirk as it was Aihua. She was a real “silent killer”. She had a nice smile but behind it she was really controlling and dominating.

We jumped in the car and headed down the snowy wet roads. I was in the front seat and we were driving the windows were fogging up. The roads were very bad and with the snow and foggy windows it only made it that much more dangerous. The driver kept rolling down his window to keep the windshield from fogging up. I did the same. There were 5 people in the car and it was an old car with a really bad defroster. Of course Aihua keep asking the driver to roll up his window. She was cold and she kept smelling a fuel smell. The driver was not a very strong guy and wouldn’t say anything. So I would roll my window down so that the windows wouldn’t fog up.

It became a silly game after that. They keep asking us to roll our windows up. I said we need it down to not fog the windows and maybe cause and accident. But they didn’t care they both sat with their surgery mask in the back seat asking us to roll up the windows. Then we would hit some large bumps or slide on a corner and we’d roll down the windows so the driver could see. I could tell the whole thing was just pissing them off but I didn’t care. I think the driver was also getting tired of them being unreasonable.

In the end they gave up saying things and sat in the back quiet. Me and the driver kind of smiled at each other. We didn’t speak the same language but in that moment we understood each other.

We made it down the mountain which I must say I was pretty nervous at points. Large cliffs, icy roads, and no seat belts is a combination for disaster. One thing that nailed things home was also the amount of accidents we had seen. We had seen three separate accidents that had to be fatal. I know two of them for sure were and the third one I couldn’t imagine anyone living through. One of the accidents we passed had happened the previous day. Our driver knew about it and had heard from a friend about it. As we passed the scene you could see mangled cars and a couple large “big rigs”. What was really surprising and really disturbing was that the body of a man was still on the ground on the side of the road with a blanket on it. You could tell it was a person by the feet that were sticking out. It was really real and it gave me shivers up my spine. It was amazing that a body could sit on the road for two days and not be moved. But this was a mountain road in the middle of Tibet. Things are different here.

We drove for a while down some pretty scary roads and made it to a small city to have lunch. To my surprise Aihua was eating with us. It was the first time she had eaten with us since Dirk had gotten sick. Every time we would stop to eat she would say “Were not hungry”. But when I would go out after eating she would have bought something to eat from the local store. Whatever.

After lunch we drove till the evening to reach the city of Shagaste again. We had been in this city before on the way up to Everest Base Camp. While we were unloading there bags Dirk said they were leaving the trip and were going to bus back to Lhasa from there. It was a little surprise but at the same time a relief. I was getting a little tired of them and I think they had the same feeling for us. I think things might have been much better if Dirk hadn’t gotten so sick. When he got sick it just seemed to through his girlfriend into a weird spin and the whole time they both didn’t seem to be having much fun. In the end they said a quick goodbye and I wished them luck. It was a hollow goodbye and I just shrugged it off. It was a good move for both of us. We got the last two days of the trip alone and they got the chance to just chill and try to get Dirk feeling better.

It was now a trip with Ana, myself, and our driver that spoke about 5 words of English. He was a great guy and it wasn’t that hard to communicate. Ana and I are getting pretty good and sign language. The driver took us to our hotel where we got a dorm bed in a 5 person room. The place was decently clean and that was a great feeling.

For dinner we headed to the town and found a place that was too crowded. We decided to go to the local store and grab some muffins, skittles, and a Pepsi and call it dinner. Really healthy. After our dinner only a child would love we caught up on our journals.

Our roommates were pretty cool and we chatted for a while before heading off to dreamland.









Day 261
We woke up around 9:00 and had a decent nights sleep. Our driver didn’t want to leave till 10:00 so we messed around till then. He drove in on time and we packed up and headed out.

Once we were in the car it felt much better. There was no tension in the air and even the driver seemed to be more playful and happy. We drove for a few hours through some of the most beautiful country I’ve seen in a long time. The mountains were magical and the cities sprinkled all over the place even made it that much more amazing. The people were in the fields harvesting, plowing, and resting.

At one point the driver noticed I was hanging out the window trying to capture some shots of the farmers and he asked if I wanted to stop to take photos. I said “sure why not”. We stopped in the middle of the no where along side the road where there were about 7 different farmers plowing their small fields with Yaks. It was really magical when we stopped. Of course the second the car stopped we were the spectacle to see. Also as soon as you pointed the camera at anyone they all got shy. I wanted photos but the environment was too weird and people had all stopped plowing to watch us.

I went towards a farmer who had stopped plowing and he smiled a warm and friendly smile through his leather warn face. He no teeth but his eyes and soul light up. I love meeting real people like that. They are so humble and magical. I tried to take a photo of him but he got shy and I didn’t push the issue. Eventually after a little bit the farmers started one by one going back to plowing and started to ignore us. It was crystal silent when they weren’t working and all you could hear was the cold wind blowing in the grass.

When they started working again you could hear the grunt of the Yaks and the spade digging in the dirt. You could also hear each of them whistling a different song. It was really magical and a moment I could never imagine or create. There they were plowing fields with two Yaks, a spade, and the muscles in their back. They were carving a life for themselves in the land and it was so primitive but at the same time so magically simple. I took photos of the moment but I don’t think it captured more than 1 percent of the magic I felt in that moment. Man I loved just finding moment like that. It’s the magic that makes in traveling. I wish everyone could experience a moment like that. I feel so complete in those moments, so happy.

While I was watching the men in the field Ana had gathered a collection of women around her. She wanted to take photos of one of the older ladies but she was shy. So Ana took a photo of herself then when the lady saw it she wanted Ana to take one of her. It was really cool. Ana got a great shot of the older women and she smiled with the same simple magic the other men had. That magic you often see in baby’s eyes. I can’t remember an older person in America ever smiling like that. We smile and laugh but not with the heart and soul these people do. I don’t know why it’s that way it just is. There simple people and somehow the magic of life is still there. Very cool.

After a while we headed out and I was so happy it was just the three of us in the car. With the others we would have never experienced that moment. The three of us were very free and fun. The seriousness and stress was gone. The rest of the day we spent heading toward Namtso Lake. We were winding through magnificent landscapes and I was nice to have the window down and just to enjoy it without the “can you please close the window” from the back seat.

Just before we got to Namtso Lake we stopped at a little town to eat dinner. We had some stir fried rice and it turned out to be pretty good. We were getting lots of stares from the locals (Not uncommon). There were two younger guys on motorcycles. They were really interesting guys with long hair and a swank way about them. Their motorcycles though reminded me of something form Mexico. It had about everything you could imagine to put on the bike on it. From flags to tassels on the handlebars you name it they had it on their motorcycles.

After dinner we made the final leg to the Lake. The lake was really magical and more than I expected. It was huge and in the evening the clouds were amazing. We arrived at camp right as a cloud was raining down. The lake was at 4,700 meters (about 15,500 feet) and the rain and wind were cold. I was hoping the lake was allot lower but of course not. One more night at high altitude – just what I needed.

We got our dirty little shack/ tent thing to sleep in and dropped our bags off. The room was pretty bad but that was all they really had at the lake. We headed down to the shore quickly to catch the sunset. The light was amazing and I tried to take some photos that I could stitch together later to make a large landscape image. It was really magical and the lake was huge. It looked more like an ocean from the edge of the lake. The mountain ranges that back dropped the lake were impressive. I bet there must have been about 50 separate snow covered peaks that made the landscape behind the lake. Really magical and we stayed there till the sunset and the temperature dropped rapidly. The sky was pretty clear and I could tell it was going to be a cold night.

We wanted to eat a little something for dinner since we had only had a little rice for a late lunch/dinner earlier. We went to the local restaurant that was looking pretty bad. I ordered some fried cabbage with white rice. The cabbage was ok and the rice was cold and really bad. We ate the cabbage and called it a night.

In our room we hoped to play some cards and catch up our journals while under the sheets. But as soon as we made our beds the lights shut off. We decided to call it a night and go to the bathroom quick. Of course the flashlight died on us while we were walking out. I had bought the flashlight (torch for the British and Australians) for a dollar with batteries in Lhasa. I think the batteries actually lasted about 5 minutes max in the flashlight. It was hilarious how little time I had. I tried to put new batteries in the flashlight but no luck. I think they were dead when they sold them to me. Oh well.

We jumped into bed and decided to call it a night. Of course when we got into bed the light started to flicker as if it wanted to come back on. But it only a pale orange color barely bright enough to see the bulb itself. So for the next hour the light slowly started to get brighter. By that point we were ready for bed and the light was just annoying. Of course there was no switch to turn it off. That would be too complicated. Eventually the flickering disco light turned into a full bright light after about 45 minutes. By that time Ana was asleep and the light was just annoying and in my eyes. Only in a distant country like this would you end up in a situation like this. Flickering disco light you can’t shut off because there is no switch. Only in Tibet.

Once the light reached full brightness it stayed that way for about 5 minutes before the generator fully shut of and the entire camp was black. I eventually fell asleep under my layers of blankets. It was cold that night and even fully zipped in my sleeping bag and with two extra blankets I was just warm enough.








Day 262
I slept ok that night. Had some breathing problems and being in my sleeping bag with all my cloths on is like being in a straightjacket. I awoke in the morning around 9:00 with a feeling of getting decent nights sleep. The night though did feel like it was work and I’m getting damn tired of the bad nights sleep. I can’t wait till Xion the next city where we will be less than 10,000 feet. Only 2 days away – Yippi Hi Yeah!

We got up and packed and walked down to the lake one more time. It’s a peaceful lake and it was nice to see in the morning. After the short walk to the lake we headed back and loaded up the truck and headed out. This was our last day and we were headed back to Lhasa. I wasn’t really excited to go back to Lhasa but it was a nice idea to think of the good restaurant we knew and the beds were passable.

One thing that was really interesting that we saw on the way back to Lhasa was a small group of about 10 people making their way to Lhasa. How they were doing that was by praying all the way there. This was a very athletic challenge since what praying included was about 2 steps then you had to lay down fully on your stomach on the road with your forehead touching the ground. Then you had to get up again take 2 steps and repeat the process. Since we were about 2 hours by car from Lhasa I can only imagine it would take weeks to get there at the pace they were going. The group looked very young and about 4 out of the 10 were girls which was interesting to see. They looked really worn and I can only imagine the pain they were in. They work wooden blocks on there hands that slide when they went to the ground. They also had large apron type things on to protect them from the gravel.

It was really amazing to see these people and the task that they were doing was really a test of their strength and must have been a way of getting closer to enlightenment. I know the Buddhist believe if you can overcome the pains of being human that you can come closer to enlightenment. Maybe the pain they were going through in the end would bring them to a more spiritual place. I must say one some of my bike trips the pain has been pretty strong for a long periods of time. And somehow I think in the end I was closer to nature and to God. I felt more connected. Maybe what they were experiencing was something like I had experienced. Maybe it was totally different. Either way I respected them for what they were doing.

We arrived back in Lhasa around 3:00pm. We checked back into our old crusty hotel room which for some reason seemed cleaner than when we left. It’s funny how your mentality can change. When I first got the room I though it was a shit hole. But now it didn’t seem so bad. Kind of sad what you can get used to.

After settling into the room we headed to the internet place to put some time in on catching up our blogs. After a couple hours we headed out to eat at our local restaurant. We were both pretty excited about that since our diet had been pretty bad the last 6 days. Rice and fried vegetables or “Cup of Noodles” was about all we ate it seemed like. Not that great of a diet.

At the restaurant we ordered some of the food we knew was good. Ana had her sizzling chicken dish while I went for the chicken tacos. We were really happy and this meal was the most substantial thing we’ve eaten in a while. It sat on our stomachs nicely. After dinner we headed to the store and got some local sweets along with the usual M&M’s. Man those candies are going to make China possible to travel.

After sitting in the room for a little bit and pigging out on some sweets we headed back to the internet to catch up on our blogs. We spent about another 3-4 hours on the internet then headed off to bed. I wanted to stay up late so hopefully I would get good nights sleep.








Day 263
Slept really good last night and that was a welcome relief. Nice not to struggle to sleep. We got up in the morning and spent a little time on the internet. After that we pretty much had to make it to the bus station to get to the airport. Of course we arrived 5 minutes after the bus left and had to wait another hour to get the next bus. It wasn't too bad though and soon enough we were underway with the crazy Chinese yelling at each other and yelling on the phone to the person on the other side..

We arrived at the airport after an hour of driving and checked in and hit the bathroom before we had to board. The flight to Xion went pretty smooth outside of some pretty good turbulence. I took my usual Dramamine and fell asleep for most of the flight.

Landing in Xion it was really grey and rainy. In fact we couldn't see the ground to land till we were about 100 feet from it. As soon as we were near the gate all the crazy Chinese started pushing and shoving to get out. Sure enough we were back in mainland China. You could feel even before the door to the plane had opened.

We fought our way out of the plane pushing and shoving those little Chinese midgets and made our way to the baggage area. There weren’t allot of people on the plane and that meant that the line waiting for the baggage around the carousel wasn't that busy. But of course the nasty poor smelly guy had to come and squat right next to my foot. In fact he was barely touching my leg. I looked at Ana and said in a month I'm going to hate this place. The people have no sense of personal space. I'm tolerant right now but in a month I might be going postal on some of these chinks.

To top things off the guy started hawking and spitting on the nice floor. It was nasty and he kept doing it right next to my foot. The floor was a nice airport floor and it was just nasty. The guy sat there in a squatted position spitting at least every minute on the nice airport floor. Finally I had to move. It was sick.

We got our bags and tried to get away from that nasty guy. We figured out that the bus to take us to town was right outside and it was almost full. We jumped on and there were only 3 seats left. Of course "Mr. Squat and Spit" was right next to me. Oh what luck I was having. But at the last minute my luck turned when a nice old Chinese lady entered the bus and was the last one to get on. The only seat left was between me and Mr. Spit. She took it and at least there was a small barrier between me and him.

Of course the whole almost hour long trip to town Mr. Spit kept hacking up his guts and then spitting them out the window. At least he opened the window I guess. That was polite of him?

We made it to town and tried to get a taxi with all the extra crap we had in our hand. It was raining and crowded and I wasn't really in the mood for that. But here we were and we had to deal with it. Of course we asked 4 different cabs and they all said no they couldn't take us. What the hell was going on? We asked the women in front of the hotel why they were saying they couldn’t take us and she said they were waiting for a trip to the airport not a small local trip. PUNKS!!!

So we walked up the street to try and catch another cab no so close to that damn hotel. We ended up walking near the Post Office and decided to send our box if we could. Sure enough we were some of the last customers in the place. We had them box up our crap we bought in Tibet and send it off. It was gone and hopefully it makes it to the US? Who knows.

We then headed outside to find a taxi. The rain and crowds were ridiculous and getting a cab seemed insane. Finally we found a local small guy with a motorcycle/car thing that would take us to our hotel. As we were talking to him another guy jumped inside and his girlfriend tried to convince us to take a larger taxi. She was trying to get our taxi for herself. We said no we want this one and took it. The great thing was that we paid more since we were tourist and he was kicked out as soon as we agreed on the price. Off we went in this vehicle things. It actually turned out great since he was able to dive into the bike lanes and places a normal car couldn't make. We got to the hotel in no time. It was great and the guy was nice.

Finally we were at the hotel. A little wet but we were there. We got our nice clean room and dropped our bags. We headed downstairs to eat a warm bowl of stir fried rice vegetables. It was good and I found the Minute Maid orange juice again that I had so loved in the previous Chinese travels we had done. In fact it was so good that after dinner I got another one across the street along with some pistachios. We've been eating allot of those since their really good and pretty cheap here.

The rest of the evening was basically sitting around and talking with the other roommates. One roommate was American which was unusual and a nice break. He was a pretty cool guy and was doing a year long trip like us.

I fell asleep pretty early and was tired from what turned out to be a little of a pain in the butt day.