Naylam
Friendship Bridge
Zang MuThe team entered Tibet yesterday afternoon and it was quite the experience. We took a 7 hour bus ride from Kathmandu which wasn't the most luxurious ride but I was riding shotgun and got to see everything out the front windshield. One of my favorite parts of the ride was when we would come up behind another bus and there would be people sitting on the roof and the little kids would smile and wave. I'm sitting in there feeling bad for what these people don't have and meanwhile these little kids are happier than a pig in mud. We blew a tire at one point but the spare went on pretty quick and it was only a short delay.
The border is heavily guarded and the Chinese are super paranoid about everything. We had to cross a bridge called the "Friendship Bridge" to get into Tibet and on the bridge there were undercover Chinese waiting to confiscate any cameras they saw because they don't want anybody taking any pictures or videos. The four other Americans and I were at the back of the line, probably because the Chinese wanted us there. Along with the team, about a hundred porters were ferrying our teams supplies across the bridge and I have to say it was quite a depressing scene. There were men and women who must have been pushing 80 years old carrying full propane tanks on their backs and girls no older than 6 carrying 55lb bags of supplies. They use a piece of cloth that they wrap around their foreheads and tie that to whatever is on their backs. It has to be incredibly uncomfortable and difficult especially with some of the loads they were carrying. It's a double edged sword though because although these people are doing such a difficult job just to make a very small amount of money, it does provide them with a way to make money when there really isn't any other.
Most of the food in Nepal was suspect at best but in Tibet it is a little better. Last night there was very basic Chinese food -noodles, rice, and some veggies but it tasted pretty good. We left Zhang Mu at 7am this morning to drive to Naylam. My roommate Brendan and I slept late and rushed out of the room to meet up with the rest of the group. We gained a significant amount of elevation and it is definitely noticeable. Carrying my bags up the stairs to my hotel room was exhausting and I was out of breath by the 4th floor. We are at about 12,000 ft right now but by tomorrow I'll be feeling pretty good after acclimatizing for a full day. The internet here is carefully monitored by the government so there is no Facebook or blog websites. There is always a sense that you are being watched but the Tibetans are much more open to us than the Chinese.
After spending more time with the people of the group I am finding out that there are a lot of them have some great stories. One guy named Jantoon from Holland is attempting to be the first person to cover 9000m. He dove to 152m before arriving in Kathmandu and was planning to ride his bike to Base Camp which is absolutely insane. Due to Visa problems he wasn't able to ride his bike there but he plans on riding it back which may be even more crazy considering he will have hopefully just summited Everest. Another fellow named Josh is a very famous rugby player who won the World Cup. It's great fun to have conversations with these people and get to know them better. I also enjoy the Irish, Scottish and British accents and I'm picking up the lingo pretty quickly. I can substitute "Cheers" for a number of different words and I'm getting a lot better at understanding what they are saying.
I'm glad to have gotten out of the pollution of Kathmandu and into the mountains and start the acclimatization process. We are going for a walk later today to help our bodies adjust and then I'll be taking it easy for the rest of the day. The scenery is already out of this world but unfortunately I can't upload photos on these computers. Hope to be updating again soon!
The border is heavily guarded and the Chinese are super paranoid about everything. We had to cross a bridge called the "Friendship Bridge" to get into Tibet and on the bridge there were undercover Chinese waiting to confiscate any cameras they saw because they don't want anybody taking any pictures or videos. The four other Americans and I were at the back of the line, probably because the Chinese wanted us there. Along with the team, about a hundred porters were ferrying our teams supplies across the bridge and I have to say it was quite a depressing scene. There were men and women who must have been pushing 80 years old carrying full propane tanks on their backs and girls no older than 6 carrying 55lb bags of supplies. They use a piece of cloth that they wrap around their foreheads and tie that to whatever is on their backs. It has to be incredibly uncomfortable and difficult especially with some of the loads they were carrying. It's a double edged sword though because although these people are doing such a difficult job just to make a very small amount of money, it does provide them with a way to make money when there really isn't any other.
Most of the food in Nepal was suspect at best but in Tibet it is a little better. Last night there was very basic Chinese food -noodles, rice, and some veggies but it tasted pretty good. We left Zhang Mu at 7am this morning to drive to Naylam. My roommate Brendan and I slept late and rushed out of the room to meet up with the rest of the group. We gained a significant amount of elevation and it is definitely noticeable. Carrying my bags up the stairs to my hotel room was exhausting and I was out of breath by the 4th floor. We are at about 12,000 ft right now but by tomorrow I'll be feeling pretty good after acclimatizing for a full day. The internet here is carefully monitored by the government so there is no Facebook or blog websites. There is always a sense that you are being watched but the Tibetans are much more open to us than the Chinese.
After spending more time with the people of the group I am finding out that there are a lot of them have some great stories. One guy named Jantoon from Holland is attempting to be the first person to cover 9000m. He dove to 152m before arriving in Kathmandu and was planning to ride his bike to Base Camp which is absolutely insane. Due to Visa problems he wasn't able to ride his bike there but he plans on riding it back which may be even more crazy considering he will have hopefully just summited Everest. Another fellow named Josh is a very famous rugby player who won the World Cup. It's great fun to have conversations with these people and get to know them better. I also enjoy the Irish, Scottish and British accents and I'm picking up the lingo pretty quickly. I can substitute "Cheers" for a number of different words and I'm getting a lot better at understanding what they are saying.
I'm glad to have gotten out of the pollution of Kathmandu and into the mountains and start the acclimatization process. We are going for a walk later today to help our bodies adjust and then I'll be taking it easy for the rest of the day. The scenery is already out of this world but unfortunately I can't upload photos on these computers. Hope to be updating again soon!
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