I didn’t get a good night’s sleep – between the cold, the board-like mattress, and the headache which only got worse, I was unhappy but awake and ready to go when first light came around. Sometime around midnight another tour group came in, and they had no respect for the fact that others were staying nearby – a man with a booming voice yelled out in Chinese repeatedly and there was much slamming of doors. In the morning, people kept coming into our room, looking around and leaving (the only way to lock the door was from outside the room with a padlock).
We set out early for Everest Base Camp, which was a few kilometers from Rongbuk Monastery Guesthouse. We immediately encountered what we thought was our last checkpoint. After a few minutes, we were on our way for a mere four kilometers, where we had to stop and transfer to a minibus for the last few kilometers’ drive to EBC. We waited on the minibus for a few more tourists and then were off. About ten minutes later we arrived at Everest Base Camp, but we had to endure yet another permit check. After a ten minute wait we were on our way.
I had assumed that Everest Base Camp would be the highest point of our journey (both literally and figuratively) but it turned out not to be the case. Don’t get me wrong – it was certainly impressive, but the mountain was almost completely shrouded in clouds and the weather was just nasty – like a drizzly cold January or February day in the eastern US. And as it turned out, it wasn’t the highest altitude I had been at either – that honor was bestowed on Gyatso-la pass about 150km northeast of EBC. So it didn’t take us long to take our requisite pictures and borrow a rock for posterity before we were ready to leave.
We were soon back at the minibus parking lot and transferred to our Land Cruiser for the 100km drive back to a paved road. My headache was going into overdrive as we bounced along the road but I had to wait another two hours before I could take anything more. I tried to sleep and was in no mood to take pictures – and I think the weather was pretty much feeling the same way as it had no intention of cooperating.
We started up the big mountain pass and our driver was doing his best to get me to leave a gift on the mountain. I managed to make it over the top and down a little before I lost it – between the headache and the wicked twists and turns, I couldn’t help it. Luckily I let him know so he could pull over and since I hadn’t eaten in 24 hours anything more than a granola bar and some tea, it was unimpressive. After a few minutes we were back in business, and soon we arrived at a small town for a permit check. We got back on the paved road after our permits were checked and a discussion with local kids who wanted our pencils (we had none – will remember to bring some next time). We drove another 15km or so before another permit check – this one took 10-15 minutes. The local Tibetans have found an innovative way to deal with checkpoints – they simply walk around them…
We’re not quite as lucky, as we don’t want to get our driver or guide in trouble, so we wait and watch the local cows and dogs who couldn’t care less about politics as they hunt around for whatever scraps of food they can find.
After our permits are checked we get back on the road and start up another pass. This one is the boundary for the national park that contains Mt. Everest, called Qomolangma. This is a much nicer pass for those who don’t like mountain driving, and as we crest the top, the sky is clearing from our morning start so we stop for a few pictures. There are nomadic peoples living up here who try to sell random things to anyone who stops. If I had had pens or pencils, I would have handed them out, but I really had no desire to buy anything they were selling, so I abstained despite their constant efforts. We descended the pass and were shortly back in Lhatse. We went to a different restaurant this time, and as I still had a headache and wasn’t feeling 100%, went for a Tibetan “pancake” with honey. For those familiar, it was quite similar in taste to Navajo fry bread. It had a slightly “off” aftertaste (perhaps from whatever they fry it in/with), but was otherwise exactly what I was hoping for. Wesley ordered yet more fried rice (with yak), and asked for some chili sauce to spice things up. I tried a little of the chili sauce – it was quite good and very potent.
We left Lhatse soon afterwards and arrived uneventfully in Shigatse. I was feeling much better by this point and was happy to know we wouldn’t be staying at the same hotel as we had two days earlier – we went to the extreme east end of town and stayed in what appeared to be a very new hotel with few (if any) other guests. It looked very nice from the lobby, and as it turned out, the room was what we would have expected. Clean bathroom, hot water, plenty of toiletries, clean beds and fully functional windows. We were quite happy. We decided to have some laundry done – Wesley went for the full load and I just did enough to get me to Beijing. It wasn’t cheap in my opinion, and we were to be charged a 100% surcharge for “express” service. It was one of the oddest experiences I’d had, but since I don’t have my laundry done at other hotels I don’t know if it’s normal or not – when we handed our laundry to them, they pulled all of the pieces out of the bag, counted them, folded them, and put them back. All of our clothes were on display, including our underwear, and for some reason, it took four staff members to do this – the bellman, two members of the front desk, and a supervisor. After that experience, we went back to the room. It was raining and got stronger as the night went on, so instead of venturing out for dinner, we worked on our stockpile of snacks from the States and soon thereafter went to sleep.