Steve's Diary Entries 1 - 4

Day 1, November 30th

A Long, Long Day

We were up at 4:45am to finish off packing, store bags and be met downstairs. A short walk to the bus where our bags were loaded on top (lets hope they do a good job of tying them on!). For some reason there was a delay (first of the day). We have a good mixture of people from all over the world, so it should be a fun trip. We drove for just over an hour then had breakfast at a restaurant with a lovely view of the mountains. Luckily the bus has four wheel drive as the road gets progressively worse (this is the route to the border between Nepal and Tibet!). There are trucks and people everywhere, it is chaos. After about four hours of driving to cover maybe 60 km, we reach the border. There is no special arrangement for foot traffic, here at Kodari and we have to battle it out with trucks, goats, you name it. The Chinese immigration is very bureaucratic and takes quite a while. We had been told that we weren't allowed any printed material expressing views about Tibet (even the Lonely Planet is banned). Because of the volume of trucks trying to get across the border there is a huge traffic jam on the Tibet side. We have a 15 minute uphill walk to the bus. We then have to physically move an unattended car to extricate our bus! The rest of the day proceeds along the same lines; blockages, delays, ridiculously slow progress. We fall into bed, tired but wrapped up warm as the temperature is below zero, at 10pm at Nyalum, 60 km on the Tibet side of the border.

Day 2, December 1st

Another long drive

We got away early today and as the roads are better we make good progress. Thanks to sending the boys ahead yesterday, we have good seats on the bus which helps for those with dodgy tummys. We get our first glimpse of Everest from the Tibet side, quite impressive. Tibet looks like the wild west. Barren landscape, people driving vehicles like the Clampetts, animals roaming the streets, and it is very cold. With windchill it was minus 20c when we stopped the bus at 11am today!

We really are on the rooftop of the world, today passing through 5220m elevation (basically as high as Everest base camp where we were last week).

We have some characters in our group. The Spanish couple are taking around 1000 photos a day. Both cameras going non-stop. We have the obligatory loud American who I nicknamed Ed (after Sir Edmund, a beekeeper), because of his dorky hat that makes him look like a beekeeper. He does pushups in front of the bus every time we stop and compares everything to Nevada, California or anything American. He is entertaining though. We have plenty of 20 something lads from Holland, Canada, Russia and Sweden. We chat lots with the couple from Melbourne doing six months overseas and also with the Swedish couple that have also done volunteer work.

We covered 400km today and are ahead of schedule. We now have two nights at quite a nice hotel with hot showers and nice toilets. We have two rooms booked but we just use one so we can be together. The hot showers get a thrashing, but the trick is to get dressed quickly otherwise you get cold again. We are in Xigatse.

Day 3, December 2nd.

Yay, no bus today!

After a particularly uninspiring breakfast, it is good not to be getting on the bus again. For morning tea we head further afield and find some tasty pork dumplings. Back to the hotel to continue to freshen up. One son has a lingering cold so we are trying to get him right for the guided tour this afternoon.

No such luck, better to keep him in bed so both boys stay in the hotel room with Mum whilst Dad does the tourist thing.

Pre 1959 Xigatse was the second largest city in Tibet so it has a lot of history. The huge monastery was one of the few that survived the "cultural revolution" albeit with significant rebuilding. It is very cold here so the Corbetts had another quiet night in. More bus travels tomorrow.

Day 4, December 3rd.

The Fortress

It is still dark at 8:30am as we head down for breakfast, resplendant in jackets, hats, gloves, the works. Bus departure is at 9:30 for an easy two hours. Enroute we stop at a wheat factory (everything very manual) and then on to Gyantse by lunchtime. Best hotel we have had so far and the day is glorious. We walk for a couple of hours to check out the streetside markets and buy local things for lunch. At 2:30 we head off for the guided tour of the local monastery, which has an extremely impressive fortress bordering it. Not a cloud in the sky so the afternoon is downright pleasant. This city is quite wealthy with street lights, many beauticians, perfume stores and a good sized market. It is geographically at a point where the British invasion was repelled and it is known as a hero city.

Steve.