Jo Day's 2013 Career Break Blog: Ta-shi de-lek from Tibet

Sunday 7^th July was our 2^nd long drive day over the Tibetan Plateau. The highest part of road was at 5231m. This was in the snow line.

Just after this pass, we crossed into the province of Tibet.

Our 1st Tibetan town called Nagqu that we passed through with it's typical well surfaced high street

Yak dung fuel next to typical rural Tibetan houses

On Monday 8^th July we arrived in the city of Lhasa. Stayed at a hotel called Yak Hotel. I popped around to a local restaurant named in the Lonely Planet Guide. Yak stew & Lhasa Beer “Beer from the roof of the world”.

Tuesday 9^th we all went on a guided tour around Jokhang Temple. The street surrounding the Temple is called Barkhor. There are prayer wheels & incense burners among the shops as this is a Buddhist pilgrim circuit (a Kora). The pilgrims walk the street (circuit) clockwise. There was a real atmosphere in this city as the buildings appeared very old, incense, smoke & Tibetan people in their specific dress.

In the evening I walked around the Potala Palace pilgrim circuit & took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel = scary & dangerous!

Outside the Potala Palace which is on the Chinese 50 Yuan note

Did a bit of wandering around the Old Town streets & bought Lychees, loose tea, a rice sack to waterproof my rucksack, cheap Teva sandals, fake Mountain Hard Wear gloves (there are loads of fake/knock-off outdoor branded clothes here) & a red Tibet t-shirt – take a closer look at the photos.

Thursday 11^th we all went for a tour of the Potala Palace. This was the winter home & political building of the Dali Lama. There were thousands of steps. We were only allowed 1 hour inside. Strict Chinese regulations as always! There were many monks inside. It was fantastic, but not allowed to take inside photos. Saw tombs of previous Dali Lama’s & the current Dali’s learning room along with his bedroom. But, he was not home of course & has not been since 1959!

Next town was called Shigatse. To get here we had to drive along The Friendship Highway. Fantastic views. Although China, I think Tibet is more closely linked with its Himalaya neighbours. There are fab curries in the restaurant. Here I had a lovely mutton curry.

On Sat 13^th we headed further along The Friendship Highway into Everest National Park. The entrance to the park was defined at the highest part of the Friendship Highway at 5248m (5265m on James watch). This was the highest part of our 6 month expedition & the highest I have ever been on land. Most of us felt out of breath & we were peeing every 40minutes. This had been the case since leaving Golmud on Sat 6^th July.

Like all our travels in China & Tibet there were police checks every step of the way. We were not allowed anywhere without a guide. Sophie managed to get us camping permits & we camped just off the Friendship Highway on the only road heading towards the North Face of Everest. My tent was at 4455m.

Sunday 14^th July was a magical day. I was up at 4.15am in the dark & packing up my tent. Chinese tinned porridge for breakfast. We drove 8hours along a mountain pass road to the North Face of Everest. At 7am we were about 70km away & at 5000m when we got our first glimpse of Everest as the sun was rising. As we drove closer over the Himalayas we were really lucky because the sun was out & the sky clear. Fantastic. We arrived at the Chinese tourist tent village. Some of us challenged the altitude & hiked for about 1hour 30mins to the Chinese Base Camp. It was a night to remember sleeping in a tent at the foot of Everest. I got up for the loo about 1am & could see the Everest Peak under the stars. Still, quiet = magical.

Everest is the big one on the far left

The north west face & peak of Mount Everest

Everest is called Qomolangma by the locals

Inside the tourist tent

Back on the Friendship Highway towards the Nepal border. This was 3 days of driving, 2 bush camps & 1 hotel stay in the town of Zhangmu. In these 3 days we went from 5000m to about 1300m. All along the Friendship Highway. The scenery was amazing & changed dramatically as we entered a valley into the border town of Zhangmu.