Trials and tribulations on the roof of the world

On my last day in Chengdu i finally met violet the lady who has put up with my constant questions and change of plans to pick up my tickets and passes in order to get to Tibet. Chengdu itself was a great place to lie around and do nothing, not that there is much to do apart from try the local delicacy hotpot and look at pandas. Compared to the zoo i went to in Kunming yesterday the pandas have the greatest life ever.

The train from Chengdu to Lhasa is 1 day and 19 hours long and passes over a 5100m pass before continuing along the Tibetan plateau at 4600m and then dropping down to Lhasa which occupies the lowly altitude of 3600m. I was really nervous about this train after my experiences at the top of Fuji. This anxiety wasn't helped when i was asked to sign a disclaimer in case anything happened due to the altitude. The train ride itself was great as for the entire journey the scenery was incredible and there were two australians in the next carriage to talk to and play cards with as nobody on the train spoke a word of English and the constant eating of chickens feet is enough to make anyone nauseous. Arriving at Lhasa train station was an experience, the building itself was strangely futuristic and brand new as the train line had only been completed in 2007. Outside though i had a taste of what was to come, a city under siege from heavily armed Chinese troops. The people on the train were all Han Chinese and were moving to Lhasa under financial encouragement from the government and soon Tibetans will be the minority.

Due to the restrictions on foreigners traveling in Tibet the whole trip was already organized something i hate as so far i have been able to wing it. I was staying in a hotel for the first time on my trip and it was great to be able to leave all my stuff out and not have to go hiking in the night to find a toilet. Despite all my fears about altitude sickness the train journey went fine and when i arrived in Lhasa i could walk around freely without fighting for breath. I stupidly thought i would then be fine and that afternoon i undertook a long walk all around the Tibetan old quarter the barkhor. Lhasa is divided into the old Tibetan part of the city and the new Chinese section that threatens to overwhelm the unique charm of the city. After a few drinks with a dutch guy in a bar (which closed at 11pm) i started to walk through the pitch black streets as the old town has no lights. My experience in Lhasa so far had been great and it was to continue as i lost myself amongst the monks, the people on pilgrimage and the colourful market stalls. Many Tibetans unlike the Chinese speak a few words of english and everywhere i was greeted with smiling faces and cries of 'hello' and 'how are you'. Unfortunately by the time i reached the hotel the effects of what i later found out to be a rich oxygen environment on the train had worn off and the beginnings of a headache and various aches and pains as well as a lack of breath started.

That night i did not sleep at all and in the morning i had to get up at 6am in order to get on the bus for the eight hour ride to Shigatse to the west. The bus ride was incredible twice we went over 5000m passes and also we saw yam drok lake which was bluer than anything i had ever seen. Each time we went higher the banging in my head got worse and walking came with great difficulty. At this point i was seriously worried about going to everest base camp the next day.

The towns of Tibet are all small but thankfully outside of Lhasa there a fewer Chinese and they have a different atmosphere. Pretty much everything eaten or drunk comes from the yaks which you see everywhere wandering the high pastures. In shigatse i took some pills which helped with the sickness and i managed to sleep a little. Again we had to rise early and we headed to Tengri a small town on the edge of the everest national park. I took another bunch of tablets but as we went above 4000m they stopped being effective. When we finally reached Tengri at 5000m i again had a pounding headache worse than anything i had felt before and this time nausea and pins and needles in my limbs. I was traveling with 8 others and although they had sickness it was not anywhere near as severe as mine. The road to base camp was another 5 hours but over the worst road you have ever seen. Absolutely gutted i realised i could not make it and if it got any worse i could be in serious trouble as tengri was the last place with medical facilities. Unlike the Nepalese side there is very little infrastructure in Tibet and later i found out people have died on the same tour i was doing a comforting thought.

I spent the afternoon and the night trying not to move as well as having every local remedy they could give me as well as taking altitude pills and pure oxygen. None of this helped as i had just gone too high too fast and felt so ill. Again being sick and lying in a hotel room on your own in a place where no-one speaks english is the worst feeling. I even managed to panick my parents with an expensive phone call in order to speak to someone. The people in the hotel were so kind and were incredibly worried. I found out the next day the old lady who had given me the local remedies sat outside my door making sure i was still alive. I managed to sleep somehow and woke the next morning feeling great. I was just one day too early to go to base camp and this demoralised feeling was made worse when i saw the photos the group brought back of everest completely clear. So gutted its unbelievable and for me i have unfinished business in Tibet.

After this we again went to Shigatse to see the monastery before taking the 8 hour ride back to Lhasa via several viewing places by glaciers and mountain lakes. I was staying for an extra day on the tour and had a private guide to take me around the temples and palaces of Lhasa the next day. My guide showed me so many things i had missed the first day including the snipers on the buildings in the old town as well as the security cameras placed in every alley. To see the pothala palace is a dream come true for me and i could sit and look at that building all day as the different lighting makes it come alive. Also i went to another monastery as well as the most holy sight in the whole of Tibet the Jankhor temple. It was filled with prostrating people as well as those making the epic trip from the outer regions of Tibet to give yak butter as an offering to the budhas. The deep feeling felt by these people was really something to behold and not being religious there devotion really touched me. Tibet is amazing and im glad i saw it before the Chinese destroy it completely. Its stunning that purely due to the wests heavy reliance on china they let the tragedy continue. It left me with a bad taste in my mouth and today i left China for Vietnam and felt a great sense of relief.