10/11 Now I know I am on a real expedition. Sitting in Kathmandu (as opposed to base camp, though I would much rather be in base camp in the mountains waiting) waiting out storms. Bad weather has forced the last 3 days of flights to Lukla (the staging areas for the treks to everest, mera, ama dablan, etc) to be cancelled. So spent the whole day at my hotel basically so that my guide could reach me in case they decided to let flights fly. Luckily there were a few decent movies (I love you man) to keep me a bit occupied.
Eric came back this afternoon from Chitwan. He had a good trip. Saw some rhinos and crocs. He wasn't expecting me to be there, so he was happy to see me
10/12 Flights to Lukla were flying! So we headed to the airport. Problem was the flights are always booked up and there had been a 3 day back up, so the tiny airport (complete with troops of wild monkeys roaming through the waiting room) was just one huge mess. Things weren't helped by the fact that one of the first flights had a minor crash. Landed a bit hard and the nose of the airplane rebounded onto the tarmac, so that that stopped flights for a couple hours. And there is only a narrow window of time that the flights can go with the weather, so no many got out. This meant we sat on the floor of the airport for the entire day in total chaos waiting for flights. I met the other two people I am trekking with. A nice couple living in Argentina, Collin and Andrea, though Collin is a kiwi and a mineral exploration geologist. They have climbed several 6000m peaks including Aconcagua, so they seem quite competant. Problem is that they have only one more day to spare before they will be too late for their flight to Delhi. So I don't know what happens if that happens. So I pray that tomorrow the flights go out and we get one one. You can pay an extra 300 per person to take a fancy chopper, but that is too steep for me.
Interesting blurb on Lukla airport considered one of the most dangerous in the world. http://www.jaunted.com/story/2007/1/22/163551/923/travel/World%27s+Most+Dangerous+Airports%3A+Lukla+Airport,+Nepal,+LUA
Recent addition of the world is small place:
When I worked at the health club, there was an older guy doing strange leg and knee strengthening exercises. I overheard him mention once about the himalayas and an expedition, but the time of day he came in I was usually busy so didn't talk to him. Well I saw this guy the other day walking with this strange walk that I remembered. Ran up to him and asked if he was from Estes Park, he smiled and pointed to my shirt (I was of course wearing my Rocky Mountain Athletic club shirt). Turns how he's climbing the same mountain as me and then doing a 7000m peak. Think is name was Robert, or perhaps Richard. Kathmandu is the one place I have been where when locals ask where I am from I can say "Colorado" instead of "America" Nepal is quite a popular place for Coloradoans to come on vacation and has many people trying to do the big peaks. Also a lot of the raft and bike guides here know Nepalis who work in Coloardo for part of the season.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Mounting and Expedition
10/10/10 Met my Sherpa Guide today and we set off to outfit the expedition. It’s a bit difficult to do the shopping here bc of the fakes and such. There are 3 actual legit stores here: North Face, Mountain Hardware, and Lowe Alpine. They are of course normal US prices, if not more. So you want to buy the fakes, but you want to make sure that they are good quality still. The guide took me to one place, but the prices were a bit higher and he quality didn’t seem as good as a place I had visited the previous day. The place I had been before was a bit outside of Thamel, so the rent was cheaper, and it was also managed by a guy who had climbed Everest 15 times (5 times with Colorado clients including a kid from Boulder with lung cancer). You really have to be careful around here with buying and booking things etc so you don’t get ripped off or not get what you wanted. When I took my laundry in, the guy weighed it on his scale and it was 4kgs. This seemed quite heavy as I am usually at 1.5 Since they charge by the kilo, that can add up. So I took my liter of water and weighed it on the scale…sure enough it weighed 2.5kilos. 1 liter of water at sea level should weight 1kilo! So you can be assured I went somewhere else.
Anyways, we did most of our shopping there. I managed to buy a -20 down sleeping bag, an expedition down jacket, a pad, gore tex gloves, and snow glasses, and a fleece long underwear set and rent a zumar, new harness, crampons, ice ax, plastic boots (similar to alpine ski touring boots), ice screws, stove, gaiters, and a few other things for a grand total of about 230 dollars. Not bad to fully mount an expedition. I have most of the stuff at home, but it would have been a pain to have carried all that stuff around.
10.11 Today I fly to Lukla (if the weather holds). I am then doing a roughtly 25-30 day trek first up to Mera Peak (6470m/21220ft), then over amphu labtsa pass, then up to everest base camp, then climbing Kala Pattar (5500m) then over another pass to Gokyo Ri (5300m) then down to Lukla again. I am very excited, but still a bit nervous about the health issues. But I am hopeful that it all turns out great. Cant wait to get up their hiking in the snow and big Himalayas!
Anyways, we did most of our shopping there. I managed to buy a -20 down sleeping bag, an expedition down jacket, a pad, gore tex gloves, and snow glasses, and a fleece long underwear set and rent a zumar, new harness, crampons, ice ax, plastic boots (similar to alpine ski touring boots), ice screws, stove, gaiters, and a few other things for a grand total of about 230 dollars. Not bad to fully mount an expedition. I have most of the stuff at home, but it would have been a pain to have carried all that stuff around.
10.11 Today I fly to Lukla (if the weather holds). I am then doing a roughtly 25-30 day trek first up to Mera Peak (6470m/21220ft), then over amphu labtsa pass, then up to everest base camp, then climbing Kala Pattar (5500m) then over another pass to Gokyo Ri (5300m) then down to Lukla again. I am very excited, but still a bit nervous about the health issues. But I am hopeful that it all turns out great. Cant wait to get up their hiking in the snow and big Himalayas!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Great Firewall of China Part 20: Two of the scariest things ever (and into Nepal so the firewall is now broken...I am free from censorship!)
After this posting, I will go back to using
www.travisjguy.blogspot.com Of course I will be pasting all of these
emails into the blog as well. I will miss the great food of China,
the very friendly people, the tremendous beauty, and how alive China
is. I went into China with negative feelings towards the Chinese govt
bc of environmental issues and the tibet issues. I sort of forgot
about these as I travelled through China and really enjoyed the
Chinese people. They made me forget about the govt. But after going
through Tibet, I disliked the chinese govt even more than I did coming
in. What they are doing to the Tibetans is terrible. How they lie to
their own people about what is going on in Tibet is terrible.
Interestingly, but not surprisingly I saw a television broadcast here
in Nepal about that they gave the Nobel Peace Prize to a person in
Chinese prison. They were saying that the chinese govt was angry for
this and they also mentioned that every tv station, radio station,
internet site that mentioned anything about this guy getting the peace
prize had been instantly blocked. The guy from CNN, who was
broadcasting in china, was saying how he was already completely
blacked out in china. So crazy!
10/5 We crossed the border and said a said goodbye to Dolkar and her
friend (and guide for the Japanese doing the similar trip) Dekyi. At
Chinese customs (yep customs for leaving the country) they asked all
tourists to show their books. I was glad I had hidden my chinese
guidebook in my dirty underwear as they did not find it which meant I
could save 20 bucks and trade it for the Indian lonely planet. Some
other tourists in the line werent so fortunate and got their lonely
planet taken away. The lonely planet has a map in it that shows
Taiwan as a separate entity (China claims that it owns it) and also of
course sheds a bad light on the chinese in Tibet. To get into Nepal,
you cross something called the Friendship Bridge (we had been on the
friendship hwy in tibet). that goes over the gorge and river. Halfway
onto the bridge is a red line: the border. On the chinese side there
are about 20 soldiers on the bridge fullly armed. On the nepal
side...no soldiers in site. After crossing the river, we found a few
of the Nepali soldiers...drinking tea in a tea house and laughing and
smiling and not caring about any of the tourists milling around. I
bought the 90 day visa for nepal (100usd), though as we laughed later
there was no need to really get a visa bc there was no border check no
nothing. It was sort of voluntary to walk to the visa office and buy
one. Though I think you would probably need one to get out of the
country, so I am glad I got one. After going through the formalities
of the border, we hired a land cruiser for the 120km drive to
Kathmandu. The drive was bumpy on a washed out and landslid road.
But it was a cool drive with nice green scenery, rice terraces, the
raging river, and the gorge and of course the infamous Nepali
suspension bridges everywhere. The nepali bungee jump spot was only
10km from the border and we hoped to do it that day, but unfortunately
they do it every other day and that wasnt one of the days. Arie and I
had to cross the suspension bridge high above the gorge to ask someone
about jumping, so unlike everyone else that would jump the next day
with us, we had actually seen what we were going to jump off of. We
knew at that momen when we decided we would still pay the 55 euros,
that we were crazy.
We arrived into Kathmandu late in the afternoon and we wondered around
a bit and got some nice indian/nepali food. It was that evening that
I started to notice that my left leg felt a bit funky and weak and my
left arm was a bit weak (like you had fallen asleep on it) and tingly.
I was also a bit lightheaded. I had hoped this would all pass by the
next morning.
10/6 Arie and I left at 6am to take the ride back up to the Last
Resort where the bungee jumping was. There was no way Erik would ever
jump he said and Leon had already jumped, so it was just us two from
our little group. The rest of the people going up were mainly
Israelis and actually 3 Americans, which is a high number for
us...goes to show we are an adrenaline junky country. Unfortunately I
still had a bit of the tingly, weak feeling in my left side of the
body, though I didnt notice it too much as I was quite scared for the
bungee jump. The jump is the highest in Asia at 160m/525ft (The one
over the Royal Gorge bridge in Colorado is the highest). You jump for
a suspension bridge stretched wide between the gorge with the raging
Bhote Kosi river below. Just walking across the suspension bridge
scares lots of people I think. When you get to the resort, there is a
briefing and you get weighed to see what category of bungee you will
be on. I was in the middle catergory at 76kilos. The under 70kilos
crowd of mostly girls and some asian guys went first. So we had to
sit and watch from one side of the gorge as they all went. Of course
my stomach was in knots during all of this. Finally my group got
called. Arie got called first, and he went. One of the employees
would come out and call your number as we all stood on the suspension
bridge looking down hundreds of feet below you. It is so scary to be
standing on the bridge looking down, let alone to watch others go
before you. I was about the 5th or 6th to go. All of us guys
(supposedly tough) stood on the bridge, squirming, whimpering, bonding
before the jump. Everytime the employee would come out (we called him
the grim reaper), we all got quiet and extra nervous. One guy a
couple before me, got suited up, got onto the platform and stood up
there for a while and despite our cheers of encouragement and the
spotters whispering in his ear, turned around and didnt jump. That
made us all even more tense. I got called up finally. As you are
being harnessed in you have a video camera in your face and are
supposed to make some comments. I think I managed to mutter some sort
of shout outs to dad and bro and say sorry to mom for not listening to
her on this one. Once you are suited up, you head for the platform
and you slowly walk to the edge until your feet hang over the gorge
with the river 160m below! I remember waving to the camera on the
left, the girls who had gone already on the right and then I dont
remember much else. I dont remember the countdown or how I managed to
jump, but all I know is that I had given a big 50 freesytle type dive
and was soaring down at incredible speed, and then all of a sudden
slowing as the bungee kicked in and then bungeeing up and down for a
bit. Once I had jumped there was no fear...all the scaredness was
right before...but I still have no idea how I managed to just jump.
And I really dont remember the count or any of it. Must have almost
blanked everything out in the flight or fight response mode you learn
about on physiology. It was a great relief to just be hanging there
upside down over the blue river with waterfalls falling all around and
knowing you were done. The crew eventually pulls you in and back to
dry land. Arie and I celebrated with a few dutch beers on the ride
home, but I was still feeling weird on my left side and wasnt in too
much of a mood for celebration
10/7 In the morning my left hand was quite tingly and I still had all
the weird feelings. I spent the whole day looking for a trekking
company and group to hike the Mera Peak. All the tour companies and
tour things are in Thamel, a neighborhood of Kathmandu. Kathmandu is
quite crazy. It really is like how you imagine India to be like.
Full of life, crazy traffic, crazy busy, smells everywhere (most of
good curry, masala, etc) but some not so nice. Its quite dusty,
dirty. Narrow and crowded streets. Tiny cabs and rickshaws
everywhere But lots of friendly people and all know english quite
well. Women dressed in Hindu style for the most part with colorful
clothes and red dots on their foreheads As I was trying to find a
trekking company I was wined and dined (well more like had lots and
lots of milk tea and momos) as the companies tried to impress me. I
bargained and questioned and checked safety and reputations and
knowledge and all that. Eventually I decided on one that I think was
good. Leon, Arie, Erik, and I went out for a fancyish nepali dinner
as a goodbye as the Dutch Dudes were heading to Pokhara the next day.
I had been very lucky and had such a great group on the tibet trip.
We all really bonded and had great times and jokes together. Dolkar
was also great bc she joined in on the jokes. Erik had a birthday
during the trip in which he turned 27 (I was actually the oldest with
Arie and Leon being 22 and 24, but Erik complained about turning 27
and was depressed about it) so Dolkar called him Old man, and we all
started calling him that and even the other guys did. Dolkar had a
nickname for everyone...Arie was Pee Boy bc he was always asking to
stop for pee breaks. Leon was Pretty Boy bc she said he was very good
looking but also soft. I was Crazy Man bc, well, I guess I had a lot
of energy especially considering the altitude and am a bit crazy I
guess.
That night we bought (for 2 bucks) 7 years in Tibet and watched it.
Made us even more mad at the chinese govt. After they left, my left
side was still feeling quite strange and I was quite scared and
worried about what was happening and so was my mom and dad
10/8 I took a rickshaw to the hospital near the british and french
embassies. I had to wait 3 hours before I could be seen so I had some
tea and dumplings at the Ambassador hotel. I actually enjoyed this bc
the whole area felt so fancy british commonwealth style like you see
in the movies with nice lawns and buildings and food and proper
waiters all in the middle of a big poor and dusty city. The doctor
checked me out and performed all kinds of tests and didnt notice
anything too unusual. My blood work came back normal. I then took a
cab to get an MRI at a different clinic. The LONG 30 minutes as the
machine whirred over my head was perhaps scarier than the bungee. I
worried about cancer, tumors, blood clots, strokes, not having my
normal life again. The results of the MRI came back normal. This was
all good, though I still have quite a worry and fear as we dont know
what is causing the weird feeling on the left side of my body, though
it is getting better as time goes on
10/9 Just wondered around Thamel and Kathmandu a bit. Went to a
crazy and crowded market and past a few streets with hidden temples.
Then did some errands like buying some hats and gloves, having a
colorado and USA flag made to hopefully hold on the summit of mera
peak, writing some postcards, looking in used bookshops, etc, etc
Said goodbye to Erik today as he was off to Chitwan NP.
Tomorrow I meet with the guide to go shopping to buy and rent some
things I need like a -30 sleeping bag, down jacket, plastic alpine
boots, crampons, ice ax, snow glasses, etc
www.travisjguy.blogspot.com Of course I will be pasting all of these
emails into the blog as well. I will miss the great food of China,
the very friendly people, the tremendous beauty, and how alive China
is. I went into China with negative feelings towards the Chinese govt
bc of environmental issues and the tibet issues. I sort of forgot
about these as I travelled through China and really enjoyed the
Chinese people. They made me forget about the govt. But after going
through Tibet, I disliked the chinese govt even more than I did coming
in. What they are doing to the Tibetans is terrible. How they lie to
their own people about what is going on in Tibet is terrible.
Interestingly, but not surprisingly I saw a television broadcast here
in Nepal about that they gave the Nobel Peace Prize to a person in
Chinese prison. They were saying that the chinese govt was angry for
this and they also mentioned that every tv station, radio station,
internet site that mentioned anything about this guy getting the peace
prize had been instantly blocked. The guy from CNN, who was
broadcasting in china, was saying how he was already completely
blacked out in china. So crazy!
10/5 We crossed the border and said a said goodbye to Dolkar and her
friend (and guide for the Japanese doing the similar trip) Dekyi. At
Chinese customs (yep customs for leaving the country) they asked all
tourists to show their books. I was glad I had hidden my chinese
guidebook in my dirty underwear as they did not find it which meant I
could save 20 bucks and trade it for the Indian lonely planet. Some
other tourists in the line werent so fortunate and got their lonely
planet taken away. The lonely planet has a map in it that shows
Taiwan as a separate entity (China claims that it owns it) and also of
course sheds a bad light on the chinese in Tibet. To get into Nepal,
you cross something called the Friendship Bridge (we had been on the
friendship hwy in tibet). that goes over the gorge and river. Halfway
onto the bridge is a red line: the border. On the chinese side there
are about 20 soldiers on the bridge fullly armed. On the nepal
side...no soldiers in site. After crossing the river, we found a few
of the Nepali soldiers...drinking tea in a tea house and laughing and
smiling and not caring about any of the tourists milling around. I
bought the 90 day visa for nepal (100usd), though as we laughed later
there was no need to really get a visa bc there was no border check no
nothing. It was sort of voluntary to walk to the visa office and buy
one. Though I think you would probably need one to get out of the
country, so I am glad I got one. After going through the formalities
of the border, we hired a land cruiser for the 120km drive to
Kathmandu. The drive was bumpy on a washed out and landslid road.
But it was a cool drive with nice green scenery, rice terraces, the
raging river, and the gorge and of course the infamous Nepali
suspension bridges everywhere. The nepali bungee jump spot was only
10km from the border and we hoped to do it that day, but unfortunately
they do it every other day and that wasnt one of the days. Arie and I
had to cross the suspension bridge high above the gorge to ask someone
about jumping, so unlike everyone else that would jump the next day
with us, we had actually seen what we were going to jump off of. We
knew at that momen when we decided we would still pay the 55 euros,
that we were crazy.
We arrived into Kathmandu late in the afternoon and we wondered around
a bit and got some nice indian/nepali food. It was that evening that
I started to notice that my left leg felt a bit funky and weak and my
left arm was a bit weak (like you had fallen asleep on it) and tingly.
I was also a bit lightheaded. I had hoped this would all pass by the
next morning.
10/6 Arie and I left at 6am to take the ride back up to the Last
Resort where the bungee jumping was. There was no way Erik would ever
jump he said and Leon had already jumped, so it was just us two from
our little group. The rest of the people going up were mainly
Israelis and actually 3 Americans, which is a high number for
us...goes to show we are an adrenaline junky country. Unfortunately I
still had a bit of the tingly, weak feeling in my left side of the
body, though I didnt notice it too much as I was quite scared for the
bungee jump. The jump is the highest in Asia at 160m/525ft (The one
over the Royal Gorge bridge in Colorado is the highest). You jump for
a suspension bridge stretched wide between the gorge with the raging
Bhote Kosi river below. Just walking across the suspension bridge
scares lots of people I think. When you get to the resort, there is a
briefing and you get weighed to see what category of bungee you will
be on. I was in the middle catergory at 76kilos. The under 70kilos
crowd of mostly girls and some asian guys went first. So we had to
sit and watch from one side of the gorge as they all went. Of course
my stomach was in knots during all of this. Finally my group got
called. Arie got called first, and he went. One of the employees
would come out and call your number as we all stood on the suspension
bridge looking down hundreds of feet below you. It is so scary to be
standing on the bridge looking down, let alone to watch others go
before you. I was about the 5th or 6th to go. All of us guys
(supposedly tough) stood on the bridge, squirming, whimpering, bonding
before the jump. Everytime the employee would come out (we called him
the grim reaper), we all got quiet and extra nervous. One guy a
couple before me, got suited up, got onto the platform and stood up
there for a while and despite our cheers of encouragement and the
spotters whispering in his ear, turned around and didnt jump. That
made us all even more tense. I got called up finally. As you are
being harnessed in you have a video camera in your face and are
supposed to make some comments. I think I managed to mutter some sort
of shout outs to dad and bro and say sorry to mom for not listening to
her on this one. Once you are suited up, you head for the platform
and you slowly walk to the edge until your feet hang over the gorge
with the river 160m below! I remember waving to the camera on the
left, the girls who had gone already on the right and then I dont
remember much else. I dont remember the countdown or how I managed to
jump, but all I know is that I had given a big 50 freesytle type dive
and was soaring down at incredible speed, and then all of a sudden
slowing as the bungee kicked in and then bungeeing up and down for a
bit. Once I had jumped there was no fear...all the scaredness was
right before...but I still have no idea how I managed to just jump.
And I really dont remember the count or any of it. Must have almost
blanked everything out in the flight or fight response mode you learn
about on physiology. It was a great relief to just be hanging there
upside down over the blue river with waterfalls falling all around and
knowing you were done. The crew eventually pulls you in and back to
dry land. Arie and I celebrated with a few dutch beers on the ride
home, but I was still feeling weird on my left side and wasnt in too
much of a mood for celebration
10/7 In the morning my left hand was quite tingly and I still had all
the weird feelings. I spent the whole day looking for a trekking
company and group to hike the Mera Peak. All the tour companies and
tour things are in Thamel, a neighborhood of Kathmandu. Kathmandu is
quite crazy. It really is like how you imagine India to be like.
Full of life, crazy traffic, crazy busy, smells everywhere (most of
good curry, masala, etc) but some not so nice. Its quite dusty,
dirty. Narrow and crowded streets. Tiny cabs and rickshaws
everywhere But lots of friendly people and all know english quite
well. Women dressed in Hindu style for the most part with colorful
clothes and red dots on their foreheads As I was trying to find a
trekking company I was wined and dined (well more like had lots and
lots of milk tea and momos) as the companies tried to impress me. I
bargained and questioned and checked safety and reputations and
knowledge and all that. Eventually I decided on one that I think was
good. Leon, Arie, Erik, and I went out for a fancyish nepali dinner
as a goodbye as the Dutch Dudes were heading to Pokhara the next day.
I had been very lucky and had such a great group on the tibet trip.
We all really bonded and had great times and jokes together. Dolkar
was also great bc she joined in on the jokes. Erik had a birthday
during the trip in which he turned 27 (I was actually the oldest with
Arie and Leon being 22 and 24, but Erik complained about turning 27
and was depressed about it) so Dolkar called him Old man, and we all
started calling him that and even the other guys did. Dolkar had a
nickname for everyone...Arie was Pee Boy bc he was always asking to
stop for pee breaks. Leon was Pretty Boy bc she said he was very good
looking but also soft. I was Crazy Man bc, well, I guess I had a lot
of energy especially considering the altitude and am a bit crazy I
guess.
That night we bought (for 2 bucks) 7 years in Tibet and watched it.
Made us even more mad at the chinese govt. After they left, my left
side was still feeling quite strange and I was quite scared and
worried about what was happening and so was my mom and dad
10/8 I took a rickshaw to the hospital near the british and french
embassies. I had to wait 3 hours before I could be seen so I had some
tea and dumplings at the Ambassador hotel. I actually enjoyed this bc
the whole area felt so fancy british commonwealth style like you see
in the movies with nice lawns and buildings and food and proper
waiters all in the middle of a big poor and dusty city. The doctor
checked me out and performed all kinds of tests and didnt notice
anything too unusual. My blood work came back normal. I then took a
cab to get an MRI at a different clinic. The LONG 30 minutes as the
machine whirred over my head was perhaps scarier than the bungee. I
worried about cancer, tumors, blood clots, strokes, not having my
normal life again. The results of the MRI came back normal. This was
all good, though I still have quite a worry and fear as we dont know
what is causing the weird feeling on the left side of my body, though
it is getting better as time goes on
10/9 Just wondered around Thamel and Kathmandu a bit. Went to a
crazy and crowded market and past a few streets with hidden temples.
Then did some errands like buying some hats and gloves, having a
colorado and USA flag made to hopefully hold on the summit of mera
peak, writing some postcards, looking in used bookshops, etc, etc
Said goodbye to Erik today as he was off to Chitwan NP.
Tomorrow I meet with the guide to go shopping to buy and rent some
things I need like a -30 sleeping bag, down jacket, plastic alpine
boots, crampons, ice ax, snow glasses, etc
Great Firewall of China part 19: On the Roof or the World and a Glimpse of the Tallest Mountain in the World!
10/2 This was day 1 of Hairy Himalayas, which will continue into No
shave November and then No shave Nepal. Drove in our Land Cruiser
from Lhasa to Shigaste. We had a driver, 6ft 6 Leon in the front, and
Arie, Erik, and I in the backseat. Poor Dolkar, our guide, was stuck
in the way back with our backpacks. The drive of course was amazing.
Huge snowcapped mountains everywhere and over some huge and crazy
passes. Something that makes the scenery even more unique is how
absolutely dry the Tibetan plateau is. Its basically a desert. More
arid and desolate than many deserts we are used to at home. Theres
absolutely no tress, very little plant life (no cactuses or shrubs or
anything. Makes the sonoran desert look like a rainforest). So this
stark desert contrasted with gleaming white glaciers and snowcapped
peaks set below a deep blue sky is really quite amazing. I love
Deserts and really, really love Mountains, so this is like perfect for
me. And of course everynow and then you pass these little mud/brick
house villages with a spattering of tibetans, loads of yaks, and some
donkeys. It always amazed us just how there could be people surviving
in some of the places. Our first big stop was Yamdrok Tso Lake. We
looked down on it from on top of a huge pass. It gleamed a surreal
turquoise far down below us with snowcapped peaks behind it. We
eventually made our way down to waterlevel where we had a great time
skipping stones. Momma D (Dolkar) had to pull us away. It had to
have been the best skipping lake I have ever been to. I would tell
you how many times I got my best rock to skip, but you wouldnt believe
me, so I wont, but it was witnessed by all. The rocks there were
perfectly flat, must have had the right density or something, throw in
the the thin air, the fact that the lake was completely still, and
that it was salt (things float better in salt water) and the lake was
the ultimate skipping lake. From Yamdrok Tso we went over a couple
more passes, a few complete with glaciers coming down near the road
before we arrived at another gorgeous lake...another amazing turquoise
color. We made a stop in Gyantse where we saw a big temple/monastery
and also a castle type thing built up on the cliffs of a hill. We
ended the night by arriving in Shigaste. We had rushed to be there in
time before the office closed to get our permit for Everest. We made
it in time, but what we didnt realize was that it was Chinas national
day (of course non of the tibetans were celebrating!) so the office
was closed. This meant that we couldnt leave until the 11 the next
day instead of 7. I was cursing the Chinese thinking we wouldnt make
it in time to see Everest the next day. Its fine to have a holiday,
but all this permit junk. Why cant you get the permit at Everest or
in Lhasa, why in this tiny town. So I went to bed with fear that we
would not make it to Everest as we had a long and rough road to get to
Everest the next day and weather often comes in in the afternoon
10/3 We spent the morning visiting the temple/monastery in Shigaste
and then just watching the people pray as we sat in the square facing
the temple. As soon as Dolkar secured the permit, we took off. Do I
need to even mention that the drive was gorgeous? A couple hours into
it we got to see the huge himalaya range and Everest from a distance.
It was a bit cloudy and you couldnt quite see the top of Everest...but
hey we had seen it. We went over some more big passes and, lets see
at least 5 millitary guarded Everest National Park checkpoints where
we had to show passports, permits, etc. Time was getting short and
we were getting frustrated with all the checkpoints. First the Permit
in shigaste. Then like 5 stops on the way before entering the park.
Then the park entrance stop, then 2 more stops before reaching where
we would camp. Then there was a passport check there and then another
passport check at the end of the road to everest base camp. It would
be like if in order to get to the base camp of Longs Peak (Longs Peak
ranger station) you had to get a permit in Denver...then show it and
passports in Boulder, Lyons, Pinewood, the entrance to Estes, Estes,
and then the park headquarters, before driving to Allenspark to show
it again and then showing it again at the ranger station and then
gobblins forest campground. Really insane. And there was only one
dirt road, so it seemed like once you were in, that should have been
it.
Once on the dirt road in the park, we went over a really huge pass
full of winding switchbacks. From the top we got Nice views of
Everest and Cho Oyo (also above 8000m). Fro the pass we descended
into a high valley with a fairly big tibetan village. We then climbed
a bit out of the valley following a river and into a glacial valley.
The sun had completely set on everything around us and of course we
had another checkpoint. But after leaving the checkpoint, we drove
around a bend in the glacial valley...and...BOOM, right in front of us
stood a flaming orange snow covered mountain...EVEREST! It was so
high that the sun had not yet set on it. It was absolutely
breathtaking. Everything else long in the shadows, but Everest lit up
by the setting sun. That night we slept in some tents made from Yak
hide at about 5150m (17,000ft). It was of course quite cold and we
had a Yak dung fire to keep us warm.
10/4 Watched a cold and icy sunrise on Everest. It was quite cold.
Id estimate about 10F. The reason I think it was so cold was bc I
tried to cross the now frozen river to get some better pictures (it
wasnt frozen that night) and fell through the ice, which was no big
deal as the river was less than a food deep, but the splashed
instantly froze to my pants and jacket and I had solid ice on the
outside of my shoes and pants even though there was obviously heat
coming from underneath. After watching the sunrise we took the hour
hike to the actual Everest base camp at 5200m. This is China, so you
can obviously take a bus to it (cant wait til there is a gondola and 5
star hotel on the Chinese summit side of Everest). Dolkar and Erik
did this, but me and the dutch guys chose to walk. The road had a lot
of switchbacks, so we decided to cut them by taking a trail we saw on
the left side of the valley. The trail rose much higher than the road
and we decided to stay on it, figuring that it would crest over and
into basecamp again. It did, though we were a 100m or so above and a
bit past the chinese post of basecamp. As we were coming down, Dolkar
ran up towards us with obvious worry on her face. In the route we had
taken we had gone 100m past the chinese checkpoint, which meant we
could all get in trouble. We didnt bc the chinese guard was sitting
in his warm tent and not really looking at the mountains behind us.
But how were we to know taking a marked trail would lead us a bit past
some checkpoing, bc of course we werent thinking that there would be
yet another checkpoint. At this point our blood was roiling at the
chinese for their extreme checkpoint measures. There was still a huge
and cool glacial valley before us that could be explored, but for some
reason, even though we had paid the 60 dollar each fee for the
national park, we were only allowed to stay on this one little road
and be checked with our passports and permit every couple of
kilometers. Quite rediculous to us. We couldnt understand why you
dont just pay the fee and then have all access to the park. Oh well,
this frustration did not stop us from really enjoying the view of
Everest from Base camp and wishing a bit we could go for the climb up
Everest. Back at our Everest base camp, I mailed a postcard to the
parents from the highest post office in the world and we toasted a 3.2
percent beer from 17,000 feet.
From the base camp we took a really, really sweet 4WD road over some
passes and high plateaus in utter desolate desert to Old Tingri. If
youve seen 7 years of tibet, some of that desolate scenery could have
been filmed here. The road just snaked around moutains, glacial river
beds, and desert plateau. On this road we had some really great views
of Cho Oyo. After Old Tingri and back onto a newly paved chinese
road, we went up to 5000m again on the high desert plateau. If you
looked ahead, it looked like the road was going straight into the high
himalayas. You could see great views of the high himalayas and some
famous peaks you may have heard of like Shisgapangma (8000+m). Just
when you thought the road would go straight into the himalayas, it cut
down sharply into a steep and narrow gorge. At the bottom of the
gorge was a rushing river. The gorge soon became quite lush with
waterfalls falling down everywhere and many actually falling onto the
road. We followed this gorge on a precipitous, windy road clinging to
his gorge. At times you could see that the wheels of the landcrusier
were less than a foot from the edge of a cliff that dropped down 2000
feet. That evening we reached the strange border town of Zhangmu
built on the steep gorge itself. So all there was was one road
winding through it. No flat land for a soccer pitch or parking or
anything. Really crazy.
shave November and then No shave Nepal. Drove in our Land Cruiser
from Lhasa to Shigaste. We had a driver, 6ft 6 Leon in the front, and
Arie, Erik, and I in the backseat. Poor Dolkar, our guide, was stuck
in the way back with our backpacks. The drive of course was amazing.
Huge snowcapped mountains everywhere and over some huge and crazy
passes. Something that makes the scenery even more unique is how
absolutely dry the Tibetan plateau is. Its basically a desert. More
arid and desolate than many deserts we are used to at home. Theres
absolutely no tress, very little plant life (no cactuses or shrubs or
anything. Makes the sonoran desert look like a rainforest). So this
stark desert contrasted with gleaming white glaciers and snowcapped
peaks set below a deep blue sky is really quite amazing. I love
Deserts and really, really love Mountains, so this is like perfect for
me. And of course everynow and then you pass these little mud/brick
house villages with a spattering of tibetans, loads of yaks, and some
donkeys. It always amazed us just how there could be people surviving
in some of the places. Our first big stop was Yamdrok Tso Lake. We
looked down on it from on top of a huge pass. It gleamed a surreal
turquoise far down below us with snowcapped peaks behind it. We
eventually made our way down to waterlevel where we had a great time
skipping stones. Momma D (Dolkar) had to pull us away. It had to
have been the best skipping lake I have ever been to. I would tell
you how many times I got my best rock to skip, but you wouldnt believe
me, so I wont, but it was witnessed by all. The rocks there were
perfectly flat, must have had the right density or something, throw in
the the thin air, the fact that the lake was completely still, and
that it was salt (things float better in salt water) and the lake was
the ultimate skipping lake. From Yamdrok Tso we went over a couple
more passes, a few complete with glaciers coming down near the road
before we arrived at another gorgeous lake...another amazing turquoise
color. We made a stop in Gyantse where we saw a big temple/monastery
and also a castle type thing built up on the cliffs of a hill. We
ended the night by arriving in Shigaste. We had rushed to be there in
time before the office closed to get our permit for Everest. We made
it in time, but what we didnt realize was that it was Chinas national
day (of course non of the tibetans were celebrating!) so the office
was closed. This meant that we couldnt leave until the 11 the next
day instead of 7. I was cursing the Chinese thinking we wouldnt make
it in time to see Everest the next day. Its fine to have a holiday,
but all this permit junk. Why cant you get the permit at Everest or
in Lhasa, why in this tiny town. So I went to bed with fear that we
would not make it to Everest as we had a long and rough road to get to
Everest the next day and weather often comes in in the afternoon
10/3 We spent the morning visiting the temple/monastery in Shigaste
and then just watching the people pray as we sat in the square facing
the temple. As soon as Dolkar secured the permit, we took off. Do I
need to even mention that the drive was gorgeous? A couple hours into
it we got to see the huge himalaya range and Everest from a distance.
It was a bit cloudy and you couldnt quite see the top of Everest...but
hey we had seen it. We went over some more big passes and, lets see
at least 5 millitary guarded Everest National Park checkpoints where
we had to show passports, permits, etc. Time was getting short and
we were getting frustrated with all the checkpoints. First the Permit
in shigaste. Then like 5 stops on the way before entering the park.
Then the park entrance stop, then 2 more stops before reaching where
we would camp. Then there was a passport check there and then another
passport check at the end of the road to everest base camp. It would
be like if in order to get to the base camp of Longs Peak (Longs Peak
ranger station) you had to get a permit in Denver...then show it and
passports in Boulder, Lyons, Pinewood, the entrance to Estes, Estes,
and then the park headquarters, before driving to Allenspark to show
it again and then showing it again at the ranger station and then
gobblins forest campground. Really insane. And there was only one
dirt road, so it seemed like once you were in, that should have been
it.
Once on the dirt road in the park, we went over a really huge pass
full of winding switchbacks. From the top we got Nice views of
Everest and Cho Oyo (also above 8000m). Fro the pass we descended
into a high valley with a fairly big tibetan village. We then climbed
a bit out of the valley following a river and into a glacial valley.
The sun had completely set on everything around us and of course we
had another checkpoint. But after leaving the checkpoint, we drove
around a bend in the glacial valley...and...BOOM, right in front of us
stood a flaming orange snow covered mountain...EVEREST! It was so
high that the sun had not yet set on it. It was absolutely
breathtaking. Everything else long in the shadows, but Everest lit up
by the setting sun. That night we slept in some tents made from Yak
hide at about 5150m (17,000ft). It was of course quite cold and we
had a Yak dung fire to keep us warm.
10/4 Watched a cold and icy sunrise on Everest. It was quite cold.
Id estimate about 10F. The reason I think it was so cold was bc I
tried to cross the now frozen river to get some better pictures (it
wasnt frozen that night) and fell through the ice, which was no big
deal as the river was less than a food deep, but the splashed
instantly froze to my pants and jacket and I had solid ice on the
outside of my shoes and pants even though there was obviously heat
coming from underneath. After watching the sunrise we took the hour
hike to the actual Everest base camp at 5200m. This is China, so you
can obviously take a bus to it (cant wait til there is a gondola and 5
star hotel on the Chinese summit side of Everest). Dolkar and Erik
did this, but me and the dutch guys chose to walk. The road had a lot
of switchbacks, so we decided to cut them by taking a trail we saw on
the left side of the valley. The trail rose much higher than the road
and we decided to stay on it, figuring that it would crest over and
into basecamp again. It did, though we were a 100m or so above and a
bit past the chinese post of basecamp. As we were coming down, Dolkar
ran up towards us with obvious worry on her face. In the route we had
taken we had gone 100m past the chinese checkpoint, which meant we
could all get in trouble. We didnt bc the chinese guard was sitting
in his warm tent and not really looking at the mountains behind us.
But how were we to know taking a marked trail would lead us a bit past
some checkpoing, bc of course we werent thinking that there would be
yet another checkpoint. At this point our blood was roiling at the
chinese for their extreme checkpoint measures. There was still a huge
and cool glacial valley before us that could be explored, but for some
reason, even though we had paid the 60 dollar each fee for the
national park, we were only allowed to stay on this one little road
and be checked with our passports and permit every couple of
kilometers. Quite rediculous to us. We couldnt understand why you
dont just pay the fee and then have all access to the park. Oh well,
this frustration did not stop us from really enjoying the view of
Everest from Base camp and wishing a bit we could go for the climb up
Everest. Back at our Everest base camp, I mailed a postcard to the
parents from the highest post office in the world and we toasted a 3.2
percent beer from 17,000 feet.
From the base camp we took a really, really sweet 4WD road over some
passes and high plateaus in utter desolate desert to Old Tingri. If
youve seen 7 years of tibet, some of that desolate scenery could have
been filmed here. The road just snaked around moutains, glacial river
beds, and desert plateau. On this road we had some really great views
of Cho Oyo. After Old Tingri and back onto a newly paved chinese
road, we went up to 5000m again on the high desert plateau. If you
looked ahead, it looked like the road was going straight into the high
himalayas. You could see great views of the high himalayas and some
famous peaks you may have heard of like Shisgapangma (8000+m). Just
when you thought the road would go straight into the himalayas, it cut
down sharply into a steep and narrow gorge. At the bottom of the
gorge was a rushing river. The gorge soon became quite lush with
waterfalls falling down everywhere and many actually falling onto the
road. We followed this gorge on a precipitous, windy road clinging to
his gorge. At times you could see that the wheels of the landcrusier
were less than a foot from the edge of a cliff that dropped down 2000
feet. That evening we reached the strange border town of Zhangmu
built on the steep gorge itself. So all there was was one road
winding through it. No flat land for a soccer pitch or parking or
anything. Really crazy.
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9/30 In the morning (and again in the late afternoon) we did some
more rounds around the bokhor circuit doing some people watching and
looking at all the unique outfits and hair styles. Really cool. I
like the tibetan cowboy with colored wool braided into their long
hair. In the afternoon we visited the massive Potala Palace, the
previous home to both the Tibetan king and Dali Lama before they were
forced to flee in 1959. The outside of the palace is quite impressive
and inside is cool too. Lots of incense, yak butter candles, and some
massive things of solid gold.
In the evening we went in front of the palace to see it lit up at
night and watch a music and fountain show and have some beers
In front of the palace, the chinese have made a huge square and built
a huge monument...a freedom monument to commemorate how the chinese
gave the tibetans freedom...haha...totally the otherway around.
Hmm...Tibet went from a free independent kingdom to being controlled
by China (extremely atheist china at the time, so religion which is
the most important to Tibetans was banned and monks and others were
persecuted) and now China has imported 2 million of their Han people
into Tibet and their customs and rules. Not to mention all of those
soldiers going around. You can definitely feel that the chinese feel
quite superior to the tibetans and treat them as less. Perhaps a bit
like the segregation of blacks in America. We thought it was quite
the slap in the face to the tibetans to have this huge "freedom"
monument built in front of their most important religious building and
have a huge chinese flag waving in front of it and now on top of the
palace. We would love to ask the Tibetans what they really think of
the chinese occupation, but we can't bc we could get them in trouble.
As we sat having our beers and looking at the palace and then back at
the huge tall, white freedom monument we thought it would be great to
spray paint "F China, Free Tibet!" on it, but thought better of it.
But all those hippy/yuppies back home that have the free tibet
stickers really know what they are talking about. You can't help but
feel sorry for the Tibetans and being occupied by China and having
their culture removed by moving in all the Hans and by scaring them a
bit by bringing in all the soldiers.
10/1 Got up early for the 4 hour drive to Namtso Lake, the highest
and either largest, or 2nd largest salt lake in TIbet. The road there
went through some amazing scenery, along some snow clad mountain
ranges and yak filled valleys. We even went by a big 7000m (23,000ft)
peak that was not hidden by the clouds and shimmered white amongst the
blue sky. We also stopped at one of the many ricket old suspension
bridges that the tibetans and their sheep and goats use to cross the
glacial blue rivers. We had a lot of fun and made the locals laugh
quite a lot by using the suspension bridge as a trampoline. Also on
the road, a 245km drive one way, we had to stop about every 20 to 30
minutes for security checks, police checks, millitary checks. Really
crazy. To get to the lake we went over a 5190m pass (17,025ft). From
the top of the pass you could look down on the lake shimmering an
irridescent blue. Bc the air is so thin and the sun so bright, the
lake shimmers especially brilliant. And to add to the unreal blue of
the lake is the blue sky above it and the snowcapped peaks all around
it. It's a huge lake and you can't really see the end of it. We
drove down to the lake where Leon, Arie, and I took a hike along a bit
of the shore and then up a hill to get a better view of the lake and
to hike amongst the prayer flags strung out everywhere. The lake was
at about 4200m and the hill at 4700m, so Aries and Leon got a bit
sick. Luckily I have still not had any problems. I guess a bonus of
growing up in Colorado is my red blood cells respond quickly. I was a
bit winded climbing, but not bad at all. Just like I would feel back
home at 13,000 feet or something. A couple of the Japanese in our
hostel that are doing the same itinerary as us are really suffering.
They are using Oxygen bottles and stuff even at the hostel to try to
get over the AMS.
Tomorrow we leave for Shigaste and then the Everest Base camp the next day.
more rounds around the bokhor circuit doing some people watching and
looking at all the unique outfits and hair styles. Really cool. I
like the tibetan cowboy with colored wool braided into their long
hair. In the afternoon we visited the massive Potala Palace, the
previous home to both the Tibetan king and Dali Lama before they were
forced to flee in 1959. The outside of the palace is quite impressive
and inside is cool too. Lots of incense, yak butter candles, and some
massive things of solid gold.
In the evening we went in front of the palace to see it lit up at
night and watch a music and fountain show and have some beers
In front of the palace, the chinese have made a huge square and built
a huge monument...a freedom monument to commemorate how the chinese
gave the tibetans freedom...haha...totally the otherway around.
Hmm...Tibet went from a free independent kingdom to being controlled
by China (extremely atheist china at the time, so religion which is
the most important to Tibetans was banned and monks and others were
persecuted) and now China has imported 2 million of their Han people
into Tibet and their customs and rules. Not to mention all of those
soldiers going around. You can definitely feel that the chinese feel
quite superior to the tibetans and treat them as less. Perhaps a bit
like the segregation of blacks in America. We thought it was quite
the slap in the face to the tibetans to have this huge "freedom"
monument built in front of their most important religious building and
have a huge chinese flag waving in front of it and now on top of the
palace. We would love to ask the Tibetans what they really think of
the chinese occupation, but we can't bc we could get them in trouble.
As we sat having our beers and looking at the palace and then back at
the huge tall, white freedom monument we thought it would be great to
spray paint "F China, Free Tibet!" on it, but thought better of it.
But all those hippy/yuppies back home that have the free tibet
stickers really know what they are talking about. You can't help but
feel sorry for the Tibetans and being occupied by China and having
their culture removed by moving in all the Hans and by scaring them a
bit by bringing in all the soldiers.
10/1 Got up early for the 4 hour drive to Namtso Lake, the highest
and either largest, or 2nd largest salt lake in TIbet. The road there
went through some amazing scenery, along some snow clad mountain
ranges and yak filled valleys. We even went by a big 7000m (23,000ft)
peak that was not hidden by the clouds and shimmered white amongst the
blue sky. We also stopped at one of the many ricket old suspension
bridges that the tibetans and their sheep and goats use to cross the
glacial blue rivers. We had a lot of fun and made the locals laugh
quite a lot by using the suspension bridge as a trampoline. Also on
the road, a 245km drive one way, we had to stop about every 20 to 30
minutes for security checks, police checks, millitary checks. Really
crazy. To get to the lake we went over a 5190m pass (17,025ft). From
the top of the pass you could look down on the lake shimmering an
irridescent blue. Bc the air is so thin and the sun so bright, the
lake shimmers especially brilliant. And to add to the unreal blue of
the lake is the blue sky above it and the snowcapped peaks all around
it. It's a huge lake and you can't really see the end of it. We
drove down to the lake where Leon, Arie, and I took a hike along a bit
of the shore and then up a hill to get a better view of the lake and
to hike amongst the prayer flags strung out everywhere. The lake was
at about 4200m and the hill at 4700m, so Aries and Leon got a bit
sick. Luckily I have still not had any problems. I guess a bonus of
growing up in Colorado is my red blood cells respond quickly. I was a
bit winded climbing, but not bad at all. Just like I would feel back
home at 13,000 feet or something. A couple of the Japanese in our
hostel that are doing the same itinerary as us are really suffering.
They are using Oxygen bottles and stuff even at the hostel to try to
get over the AMS.
Tomorrow we leave for Shigaste and then the Everest Base camp the next day.
Great Firewall of China Part 17: 7 years...err..9 days in Tibet
9/26 In the evening I met up with Erik (sweden) again as I had met
him in Lijiang and then Leon and Arie-Jan (Holland) at Sims cozy
hostel. They would be the 3 people on my tour to tibet. I was very
lucky bc they are all great guys who have lots of travel experience
and we all get along great. I especially like the Dutch guys as they
are quite a lot of fun. The thing with Tibet is that you have to have
a permit to go into the TAR (Tibetan Autonomous Region) and in order
to get a permit you must join a tour group. Of course this makes
things more expensive; however, the hostels in Chengdu have helped
backpackers out a lot by making budget oriented trips that don't
included staying at nicer hotels and eating nicer foods that most
chiense tour groups include
We boarded the train at 9pm for a 46 hour train ride through Sichuan
then Qinghai and into Tibet.
9/27 All day on the train of course, past some nice scenery that was
steadily drying out. We had 4 bunks in the 6 bunk cabin (shared with
2 chinese), and we had quite some fun listening to music and playing
cards, escpecially a Swedish game called Plump that Erik taught us.
Eventually we climbed out of the mountains into empty grasslands, then
some nice lakes, and then finally some snowcapped mountains!! I'd
been waiting so long to see some in china.
9/28 We woke up early to watch a gorgeous sunrise under crystal clear
skies. The light lit up the fresh snow all around a magnificent pink.
And of course there were some larger mountains in the distance. As
we went further along the snow on the ground eventually ceased, but
the scenery was still spectacular with rivers running through barren
valleys and huge glaciated peaks (one over 7000m) in the distance. In
some of the valleys were tiny tibetan villages, and you had to wonder
how people could live there. There were of course thousands of yaks
all around. The train is the highest train in the world with a top
elevation of 5100m (about 16,700 ft) at the border of qinghai and
tibet. The train is so high that the pump oxygen into the train when
you are above 4000m and even ban smoking from the city of golmud onto
lhasa...something unheard of in China, though not really followed.
You can also plug up oxygen from you cabin with tubes to go straight
into your nose. I am fairly used to the altitude so had no problem
especially since I made sure to stay hydrated, a key to beating
altitude sickness. I stayed hydrated by drinking a fair amount of
beers, typically a no no as alcohol is bad for altitude, but most
chinese beers are 3%, so they are bacially water, and also cheaper
than water.
In the evening we arrived in Lhasa and were picked up by our tour
guide Dolkar: you are supposed to have your tour guide with you at
almost all points in tibet. Our permits were quickly checked by
police before we were taken to the Tibetan part of the city to find
our accomadation and go out for food. We explored a bit of the square
and bokor area near where our hostel was before going to bed.
9/29 We first visited the Jokhor temple, which is the holiest place
for tibetan buddhists. It is crammed with pilgrims bringing yak
butter to keep the candles burning and turning prayer wheels and doing
other religious things. Inside the temple there is thick incense,
lots of buddhas, and plenty of monks. Outside, there are lots of
pilgrims performing prayer rituals where they go onto their stomach,
slide forward, and then stand up. It looked a little like the
calisthenic drylands we did for swimming. It was quite amazing to see
the old people doing this. I know my parents couldn't walk the next
day if they even did a few of these, let alone most of the day.
Outside the temple is also the bokhor circle in which the pligrims
walk clockwise around the temple turning their hand held prayer
wheels, making prayers, buying incensce and prayer flags and other
suck things. It's a huge mass of a crowd going in the circle.
After visiting Jokhor, we stopped by the potala palace to reserve our
tickets for tomorrow. The palace is way way more impressive than I
thought it would be. It's huge and stunning, sitting on top of this
little hill. It was where the dali lama used to reside before being
forced to flee. It was just impressive sitting up there in all its
whiteness against the bright blue sky.
After lunch (yak noodles of course, yak is the only meat to be found
here), we walked around a bit. There are loads of places to buy very
cheap and of course fake, but seemingly good quality outdoor gear. I
bought a sun hat as the sun is intense here (lhasa sits at 11,750 ft)
and my malaria medicine makes me more susceptible to sun burn. I
might buy my sleeping bag and down jacket here for my treks in nepal,
though I may just wait til I'm there bc I think it will be similar
prices and quality.
In the afternoon we took the bus (no foreigners on a bus without your
guide) to the Sera monastery. There are 800 monks (used to be 5000
before the chinese took over) studying here. We saw the amazing salt
and sand "paintings" that they make as well as saw their library
filled with "books" of wood. We also saw how they now use these books
to make texts out of paper. The last thing we saw was the debates.
They all gather in a shady area and debate each other. They sit in
separate groups and most monks are sitting, but a few will be standing
and really debating hard...clapping and jumping and moving all around.
It's quite cool to see, just wish I knew what they were debating
about...figured who would win the next world cup, but I guess I could
be wrong...haha
Went out for yak at night of course and then Aries, Erik, and I had
some beers for Erik's birthday. Leon was feeling a bit under the
weather likely from altitude and also sun. They hadn't bought sun
screen before so had to buy the chinese stuff...they got spf 30 from
Loreal...though spelled Leroal...so obviously fake and probably not
spf 30. I'm using some 100+spf, so I was ok.
Lhasa is actually a really great city. It feels small, especially
when you are in the tibet portion. THere is no reason to go to the
han chinese portion as it is just typical boring chinese city. The
tibetans here are so colorful, where some crazy outfits, and do their
hair in unique ways. It is really a great place for people watching.
There are some extremely ancient people walking around too. Lhasa is
actually quite dry and the mountains around are very arid. No trees
at this altitude and with the dryness of course. A lot of the people
actually dress and look like cowboys. The dutch think of them as
people from the wild west. To me they look and dress a whole lot like
a mixture of peruvians, mayan mexicans, and navajos, if you can
imagine that. They also speak Tibetan here of course even though the
chinese want them to speak Mandarin. One of the surprising things to
me is the heavy, heavy Chinese military presence here. I didn't
expect that, especially since the tibetans are quite peaceful. If you
have seen 7 years in tibet, they wouldn't even harm worms to build a
temple. There are chinese millitary with big guns, riot gear and all
that everywhere. It's the biggest millitary presence I have ever
seen, and I have been to Papua, Burma, Mindanao, and Kenya. It's a
bit unnerving, and strange to see the military of china everywhere
WITHIN China...just goes to show tibet is still not really part of
China. Our guide laid out a few rules for us such as no photos of
police or army, pants at all temples, and that we are not allowed to
ask her political questions. I think that is to ensure her safety, bc
she could get in trouble if she says anything bad about China.
Tomorrow we will visit the Potala palace. Then the next day is a day
trip to Namtso lake and then after that we leave Lhasa on the
friendship hwy for Nepal going through Gyantse, Shigaste, and everest
base camp
him in Lijiang and then Leon and Arie-Jan (Holland) at Sims cozy
hostel. They would be the 3 people on my tour to tibet. I was very
lucky bc they are all great guys who have lots of travel experience
and we all get along great. I especially like the Dutch guys as they
are quite a lot of fun. The thing with Tibet is that you have to have
a permit to go into the TAR (Tibetan Autonomous Region) and in order
to get a permit you must join a tour group. Of course this makes
things more expensive; however, the hostels in Chengdu have helped
backpackers out a lot by making budget oriented trips that don't
included staying at nicer hotels and eating nicer foods that most
chiense tour groups include
We boarded the train at 9pm for a 46 hour train ride through Sichuan
then Qinghai and into Tibet.
9/27 All day on the train of course, past some nice scenery that was
steadily drying out. We had 4 bunks in the 6 bunk cabin (shared with
2 chinese), and we had quite some fun listening to music and playing
cards, escpecially a Swedish game called Plump that Erik taught us.
Eventually we climbed out of the mountains into empty grasslands, then
some nice lakes, and then finally some snowcapped mountains!! I'd
been waiting so long to see some in china.
9/28 We woke up early to watch a gorgeous sunrise under crystal clear
skies. The light lit up the fresh snow all around a magnificent pink.
And of course there were some larger mountains in the distance. As
we went further along the snow on the ground eventually ceased, but
the scenery was still spectacular with rivers running through barren
valleys and huge glaciated peaks (one over 7000m) in the distance. In
some of the valleys were tiny tibetan villages, and you had to wonder
how people could live there. There were of course thousands of yaks
all around. The train is the highest train in the world with a top
elevation of 5100m (about 16,700 ft) at the border of qinghai and
tibet. The train is so high that the pump oxygen into the train when
you are above 4000m and even ban smoking from the city of golmud onto
lhasa...something unheard of in China, though not really followed.
You can also plug up oxygen from you cabin with tubes to go straight
into your nose. I am fairly used to the altitude so had no problem
especially since I made sure to stay hydrated, a key to beating
altitude sickness. I stayed hydrated by drinking a fair amount of
beers, typically a no no as alcohol is bad for altitude, but most
chinese beers are 3%, so they are bacially water, and also cheaper
than water.
In the evening we arrived in Lhasa and were picked up by our tour
guide Dolkar: you are supposed to have your tour guide with you at
almost all points in tibet. Our permits were quickly checked by
police before we were taken to the Tibetan part of the city to find
our accomadation and go out for food. We explored a bit of the square
and bokor area near where our hostel was before going to bed.
9/29 We first visited the Jokhor temple, which is the holiest place
for tibetan buddhists. It is crammed with pilgrims bringing yak
butter to keep the candles burning and turning prayer wheels and doing
other religious things. Inside the temple there is thick incense,
lots of buddhas, and plenty of monks. Outside, there are lots of
pilgrims performing prayer rituals where they go onto their stomach,
slide forward, and then stand up. It looked a little like the
calisthenic drylands we did for swimming. It was quite amazing to see
the old people doing this. I know my parents couldn't walk the next
day if they even did a few of these, let alone most of the day.
Outside the temple is also the bokhor circle in which the pligrims
walk clockwise around the temple turning their hand held prayer
wheels, making prayers, buying incensce and prayer flags and other
suck things. It's a huge mass of a crowd going in the circle.
After visiting Jokhor, we stopped by the potala palace to reserve our
tickets for tomorrow. The palace is way way more impressive than I
thought it would be. It's huge and stunning, sitting on top of this
little hill. It was where the dali lama used to reside before being
forced to flee. It was just impressive sitting up there in all its
whiteness against the bright blue sky.
After lunch (yak noodles of course, yak is the only meat to be found
here), we walked around a bit. There are loads of places to buy very
cheap and of course fake, but seemingly good quality outdoor gear. I
bought a sun hat as the sun is intense here (lhasa sits at 11,750 ft)
and my malaria medicine makes me more susceptible to sun burn. I
might buy my sleeping bag and down jacket here for my treks in nepal,
though I may just wait til I'm there bc I think it will be similar
prices and quality.
In the afternoon we took the bus (no foreigners on a bus without your
guide) to the Sera monastery. There are 800 monks (used to be 5000
before the chinese took over) studying here. We saw the amazing salt
and sand "paintings" that they make as well as saw their library
filled with "books" of wood. We also saw how they now use these books
to make texts out of paper. The last thing we saw was the debates.
They all gather in a shady area and debate each other. They sit in
separate groups and most monks are sitting, but a few will be standing
and really debating hard...clapping and jumping and moving all around.
It's quite cool to see, just wish I knew what they were debating
about...figured who would win the next world cup, but I guess I could
be wrong...haha
Went out for yak at night of course and then Aries, Erik, and I had
some beers for Erik's birthday. Leon was feeling a bit under the
weather likely from altitude and also sun. They hadn't bought sun
screen before so had to buy the chinese stuff...they got spf 30 from
Loreal...though spelled Leroal...so obviously fake and probably not
spf 30. I'm using some 100+spf, so I was ok.
Lhasa is actually a really great city. It feels small, especially
when you are in the tibet portion. THere is no reason to go to the
han chinese portion as it is just typical boring chinese city. The
tibetans here are so colorful, where some crazy outfits, and do their
hair in unique ways. It is really a great place for people watching.
There are some extremely ancient people walking around too. Lhasa is
actually quite dry and the mountains around are very arid. No trees
at this altitude and with the dryness of course. A lot of the people
actually dress and look like cowboys. The dutch think of them as
people from the wild west. To me they look and dress a whole lot like
a mixture of peruvians, mayan mexicans, and navajos, if you can
imagine that. They also speak Tibetan here of course even though the
chinese want them to speak Mandarin. One of the surprising things to
me is the heavy, heavy Chinese military presence here. I didn't
expect that, especially since the tibetans are quite peaceful. If you
have seen 7 years in tibet, they wouldn't even harm worms to build a
temple. There are chinese millitary with big guns, riot gear and all
that everywhere. It's the biggest millitary presence I have ever
seen, and I have been to Papua, Burma, Mindanao, and Kenya. It's a
bit unnerving, and strange to see the military of china everywhere
WITHIN China...just goes to show tibet is still not really part of
China. Our guide laid out a few rules for us such as no photos of
police or army, pants at all temples, and that we are not allowed to
ask her political questions. I think that is to ensure her safety, bc
she could get in trouble if she says anything bad about China.
Tomorrow we will visit the Potala palace. Then the next day is a day
trip to Namtso lake and then after that we leave Lhasa on the
friendship hwy for Nepal going through Gyantse, Shigaste, and everest
base camp
great firewall of China part 16: Kung Fu Panda
9/25 Visited the Chengdu panda breeding center. I had wanted to go
to Wolong Nature center where the pandas were in more of a wild
setting, but it had been mostly destroyed by the earthquake, so most
pandas had been moved to the chengdu breeding center. We went early
in the morning on a cold and drizzly day (think seattle weather in the
winter). This was actually good for seeing pandas bc it meant that
they were out and about in their pens as opposed to hiding in the air
conditioned rooms. The temp had dropped from 90 degrees to 60 degrees
since the last time I had been there. We of course saw lots of the
cute guys sleeping, eating bamboo, and walking around. We also saw
some newly born pandas and some 2 or 3 month year olds in the nursery.
We visited the museum and saw a film on them and unfortunately I
would say there is little hope for the giant panda to persist in the
wild. Their habitat has become so fragmented and they are one of the
least reproductively sucessful mammals, so combine major habitat loss
and fragmentation and the inbreeding it causes to poor reproduction
and things don't look good. But it looks like they will at least keep
them alive in zoos and breeding centers.
At the museum they had a big picture of Bill Clinton holding a Panda.
They seem to mention at all the places i have been to if one of the US
presidents has been there. Actually saw an article in the (year old)
paper before Obama's visit that showed where the US president's that
had visited ended up going. Most didn't leave Beijing and the great
wall, but old Clinton appeared to have done quite the tour. In the
minivan that Lukas, me and crew took to the great wall, the driver had
something advertising the Mutianyu section of the wall. It had
several pictures of what you could see: the great wall in the summer,
the great wall in the winter, the views, the renovation, and the cable
car. The last big picture was one of Clinton smiling from the cable
car. I asked the driver that if I paid to go there would I see Bill
in my cable car. "Yes" he assured me. "Are you sure?" "Yes, I take
you now?" I believe it was probably a good thing I didn't go bc I
would have been disappointed.
But it was nice to walk around and see the cute little pandas lounging
around like Pandas do. (Po in Kung Fu panda is accurately
represented). I have a special interest in Pandas because my teddy
"bear" when I was growing up was a Panda. Either my parents lack
considerably in their zoological knowledge or they have an ironic
sense of humour, but both my brother and my teddy bears were not bears
at all: A Giant Panda and Koala. At the end of the trip to the
breeding center, you can pay 150 bucks to hold a panda. It was
tempting, but way to expensive. My parents had chosen to give my
brother the "bear" that was much cheaper to hold--the photo and
holding of the koala in Australia was 35 dollars!
Back in Chengdu, I explored the city a bit including it's big new
square and giant Mao Statue. I looked for a Catholic Church to go to
mass. Had a bit of trouble. Finally tracked some down, but one was
closed. Amazingly the next one not only had a perfectly timed
Saturday evening mass, but it was in English. I met 2 nice law
student gals there that wanted to practice english, so they took me
through the people's park and then treated me to a tea shop, which are
famous in Chengdu, for their help in practicing english. That night I
had some amazingly amazing tasty street bbq. When I was going back
for round two I met some more students wanting to practice english and
ever so impressed that I was not at a western restaurant or hostel but
eating street food. After we had talked for a while they left, and
when I went up to pay, I found out they had already paid for me.
9/26 A day of shopping and stocking up in Chengdu as it would likely
be one of the last places with big western style supermarkets and
such. Bought a new watch as my band had broken. Got some listerine
not only for the teeth but to try and stop a foot fungus. Got some
centrum a-z for the treks in nepal where nutrition could be lacking
but physical exertion definitely not. Tried to find some baking soda
to use as a cure for smelly shoes... the problem of having
non-breathable gore-tex in a hot and humid climate, though I will
appreciate them when i'm in the snow and cold of the himalaya. I had
some english speaking chinese write down in chinese what baking soda
was. Apparently they were thinking of something different bc what the
lady at the supermarket showed me was yeast...think that maybe would
have made my shoes even more stinky. My favorite part of the
supermarket was the MSG aisle.
I also explored a bit more of chengdu and went to the Tibetan section
and a bit along the river.
to Wolong Nature center where the pandas were in more of a wild
setting, but it had been mostly destroyed by the earthquake, so most
pandas had been moved to the chengdu breeding center. We went early
in the morning on a cold and drizzly day (think seattle weather in the
winter). This was actually good for seeing pandas bc it meant that
they were out and about in their pens as opposed to hiding in the air
conditioned rooms. The temp had dropped from 90 degrees to 60 degrees
since the last time I had been there. We of course saw lots of the
cute guys sleeping, eating bamboo, and walking around. We also saw
some newly born pandas and some 2 or 3 month year olds in the nursery.
We visited the museum and saw a film on them and unfortunately I
would say there is little hope for the giant panda to persist in the
wild. Their habitat has become so fragmented and they are one of the
least reproductively sucessful mammals, so combine major habitat loss
and fragmentation and the inbreeding it causes to poor reproduction
and things don't look good. But it looks like they will at least keep
them alive in zoos and breeding centers.
At the museum they had a big picture of Bill Clinton holding a Panda.
They seem to mention at all the places i have been to if one of the US
presidents has been there. Actually saw an article in the (year old)
paper before Obama's visit that showed where the US president's that
had visited ended up going. Most didn't leave Beijing and the great
wall, but old Clinton appeared to have done quite the tour. In the
minivan that Lukas, me and crew took to the great wall, the driver had
something advertising the Mutianyu section of the wall. It had
several pictures of what you could see: the great wall in the summer,
the great wall in the winter, the views, the renovation, and the cable
car. The last big picture was one of Clinton smiling from the cable
car. I asked the driver that if I paid to go there would I see Bill
in my cable car. "Yes" he assured me. "Are you sure?" "Yes, I take
you now?" I believe it was probably a good thing I didn't go bc I
would have been disappointed.
But it was nice to walk around and see the cute little pandas lounging
around like Pandas do. (Po in Kung Fu panda is accurately
represented). I have a special interest in Pandas because my teddy
"bear" when I was growing up was a Panda. Either my parents lack
considerably in their zoological knowledge or they have an ironic
sense of humour, but both my brother and my teddy bears were not bears
at all: A Giant Panda and Koala. At the end of the trip to the
breeding center, you can pay 150 bucks to hold a panda. It was
tempting, but way to expensive. My parents had chosen to give my
brother the "bear" that was much cheaper to hold--the photo and
holding of the koala in Australia was 35 dollars!
Back in Chengdu, I explored the city a bit including it's big new
square and giant Mao Statue. I looked for a Catholic Church to go to
mass. Had a bit of trouble. Finally tracked some down, but one was
closed. Amazingly the next one not only had a perfectly timed
Saturday evening mass, but it was in English. I met 2 nice law
student gals there that wanted to practice english, so they took me
through the people's park and then treated me to a tea shop, which are
famous in Chengdu, for their help in practicing english. That night I
had some amazingly amazing tasty street bbq. When I was going back
for round two I met some more students wanting to practice english and
ever so impressed that I was not at a western restaurant or hostel but
eating street food. After we had talked for a while they left, and
when I went up to pay, I found out they had already paid for me.
9/26 A day of shopping and stocking up in Chengdu as it would likely
be one of the last places with big western style supermarkets and
such. Bought a new watch as my band had broken. Got some listerine
not only for the teeth but to try and stop a foot fungus. Got some
centrum a-z for the treks in nepal where nutrition could be lacking
but physical exertion definitely not. Tried to find some baking soda
to use as a cure for smelly shoes... the problem of having
non-breathable gore-tex in a hot and humid climate, though I will
appreciate them when i'm in the snow and cold of the himalaya. I had
some english speaking chinese write down in chinese what baking soda
was. Apparently they were thinking of something different bc what the
lady at the supermarket showed me was yeast...think that maybe would
have made my shoes even more stinky. My favorite part of the
supermarket was the MSG aisle.
I also explored a bit more of chengdu and went to the Tibetan section
and a bit along the river.
great firewall of china: part 15: Sneaking into parks
9-23 I woke up early to find cloudy skies, so I didn't head to
Jiuzhaigou (pronounced Jo-zy-goh by the way). Instead I played around
on computer. I wanted to watch the first episode of Glee, but Hulu
can only be watched in the US due to copyright stuff, so I settled
with The Daily Show and Colbert Report Around noon, there was some
blue sky, which was exciting. So I headed towards the park entrance
to see if they had any half day fee. Paying 35 bucks plus the 15 for
the bus for the afternoon when there were still plenty of threatening
clouds around wasn't worth it to me. It was a no go though. I was
considering trying to do the sneak, just like you can do legally at
Rocky (think of all the trails you can access by foot into rocky for
free: lower beaver meadows, ymca, twin owls, black canyone, mcgraw
ranch, dunraven, allenspark), so I was thinking perhaps I could just
walk across into the park from some other area. I was debating this
as I was visiting the visitor center, and I made up my mind when I saw
a figure in the visitor center of how much PROFIT the park had made
for the chinese government. 467 million RMB...that's 69 millon
dollars. Although I felt a bit guilty for sneaking into the park, I
figured I had already paid my fair share in what I think is a super
expensive fee for 1 day and in my 5x more visa fee and than 5x more
visa extension fee. Plus, I didn't want to give too much to a
government that is doing ethnic "cleansing" on the tibetans and other
minorities and that doesn't allow for freedom of religion nor speech
and blocks many public websites. Not a government I necessarily
approve on and want to keep giving lots of money to. So I decided I
would increase my donation to the World Wide Fund for Nature and
Greenpeace this year instead: a much better place for my money. I
also made sure to buy some fruit at the little remaining tibetan
village in the town. The tibetans used to farm and raise animals in
the valley where all the fancy hotels, airport, shopping centers, etc
are now before they turned jiuzhaigou into the big tourist destination
that it is. So I walked a bit down the river, forded the river,
climbed up a steep rocky area where their fence was not built,
reforded the river, and snuck in that way. It still was not full
sunny, but it was much brighter, so I went back to some of the
highlights and some them sparkle even more in the better light. I
then hiked some trails I had not been able to get to before because I
had run out of time before.
Tomorrow I catch the early bus for the long journey back to Chengdu
via the landslide and earthquake damaged road. This is the area of
china that had the huge 8.0 earthquake back in 2008. I hope to make
it back in time for the dumpling party that my hostel in Chendu is
holding.
9/24 Bus to Chengdu. We went a different route than we came,
presumably bc the other route was closed by landslides. I later read
that 4000 people in an area of sichuan not too far from me had been
evacuated bc a landslide dammed a river and their was a whole town at
risk if the landslid dam were to break. Of course the route was very
scenic through the mountains and steep canyons (tibetan prayer flags
hanging everywhere). Lots of landslides and collapsed roads. We
often had to take the bus on a very narrow dirt road avoiding the mud
or collapsed road. Had lunch at a town that had obviously been
majorly hit by the 2008 earthquake, but they were busy rebuillding it.
A chinese couple on the bus that spoke good english took me to a
different restuarant than the one the bus dropped us off at. They
said it was better and cheaper...and then treated me to lunch. They
said it was in thanks for the girls' brother who had moved to
California and had been treated quite well there.
That night I made it back in time for the dumpling party. We first
made the dumplings, then cooked them, then stuffed ourselves with
them. The hostel I stayed at (mix hostel) in chengdu was awesome and
one of the best I had stayed at so far (makes sense as it was rated as
the #2 hostel in asia by hostelbookers) and it only cost 5 bucks for
an aircon dorm. That night I chilled with a couple americans who were
fresh on the start of a year long journey. They were sort of typical
americans complaining about the food (wouldn't touch street food and
had been frequenting kfc and mcdonalds). They were in for a surprise
when they got to other parts of SE asia where there would be no
western food to be found. But they were nice and we had a good time
talking and a couple british girls and a dutch gal also joined.
Jiuzhaigou (pronounced Jo-zy-goh by the way). Instead I played around
on computer. I wanted to watch the first episode of Glee, but Hulu
can only be watched in the US due to copyright stuff, so I settled
with The Daily Show and Colbert Report Around noon, there was some
blue sky, which was exciting. So I headed towards the park entrance
to see if they had any half day fee. Paying 35 bucks plus the 15 for
the bus for the afternoon when there were still plenty of threatening
clouds around wasn't worth it to me. It was a no go though. I was
considering trying to do the sneak, just like you can do legally at
Rocky (think of all the trails you can access by foot into rocky for
free: lower beaver meadows, ymca, twin owls, black canyone, mcgraw
ranch, dunraven, allenspark), so I was thinking perhaps I could just
walk across into the park from some other area. I was debating this
as I was visiting the visitor center, and I made up my mind when I saw
a figure in the visitor center of how much PROFIT the park had made
for the chinese government. 467 million RMB...that's 69 millon
dollars. Although I felt a bit guilty for sneaking into the park, I
figured I had already paid my fair share in what I think is a super
expensive fee for 1 day and in my 5x more visa fee and than 5x more
visa extension fee. Plus, I didn't want to give too much to a
government that is doing ethnic "cleansing" on the tibetans and other
minorities and that doesn't allow for freedom of religion nor speech
and blocks many public websites. Not a government I necessarily
approve on and want to keep giving lots of money to. So I decided I
would increase my donation to the World Wide Fund for Nature and
Greenpeace this year instead: a much better place for my money. I
also made sure to buy some fruit at the little remaining tibetan
village in the town. The tibetans used to farm and raise animals in
the valley where all the fancy hotels, airport, shopping centers, etc
are now before they turned jiuzhaigou into the big tourist destination
that it is. So I walked a bit down the river, forded the river,
climbed up a steep rocky area where their fence was not built,
reforded the river, and snuck in that way. It still was not full
sunny, but it was much brighter, so I went back to some of the
highlights and some them sparkle even more in the better light. I
then hiked some trails I had not been able to get to before because I
had run out of time before.
Tomorrow I catch the early bus for the long journey back to Chengdu
via the landslide and earthquake damaged road. This is the area of
china that had the huge 8.0 earthquake back in 2008. I hope to make
it back in time for the dumpling party that my hostel in Chendu is
holding.
9/24 Bus to Chengdu. We went a different route than we came,
presumably bc the other route was closed by landslides. I later read
that 4000 people in an area of sichuan not too far from me had been
evacuated bc a landslide dammed a river and their was a whole town at
risk if the landslid dam were to break. Of course the route was very
scenic through the mountains and steep canyons (tibetan prayer flags
hanging everywhere). Lots of landslides and collapsed roads. We
often had to take the bus on a very narrow dirt road avoiding the mud
or collapsed road. Had lunch at a town that had obviously been
majorly hit by the 2008 earthquake, but they were busy rebuillding it.
A chinese couple on the bus that spoke good english took me to a
different restuarant than the one the bus dropped us off at. They
said it was better and cheaper...and then treated me to lunch. They
said it was in thanks for the girls' brother who had moved to
California and had been treated quite well there.
That night I made it back in time for the dumpling party. We first
made the dumplings, then cooked them, then stuffed ourselves with
them. The hostel I stayed at (mix hostel) in chengdu was awesome and
one of the best I had stayed at so far (makes sense as it was rated as
the #2 hostel in asia by hostelbookers) and it only cost 5 bucks for
an aircon dorm. That night I chilled with a couple americans who were
fresh on the start of a year long journey. They were sort of typical
americans complaining about the food (wouldn't touch street food and
had been frequenting kfc and mcdonalds). They were in for a surprise
when they got to other parts of SE asia where there would be no
western food to be found. But they were nice and we had a good time
talking and a couple british girls and a dutch gal also joined.
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