Kathmandu to Lhasa - Next stage .....
May 19th 2008 12:57
I do apologise for not writing sooner about the continuing journey into Tibet but when one wants to write , something always comes up and one is unable to sit quietly to write.
Any way , I left off heading to Tatopani a Nepalese village where we have to complete customs and immigration formalities .
Then we are able to manoevre across the "Friendship Bridge " from Nepal into China.
Unfortunately the monsoon rains also happen around this time of the year and the roads if you can call them that are treacherous. As is the Friendship Bridge crossing! Many people cross here to go onto their trek into Tibet.
From here we had a 1.8km hike up hill towards the Tibet (Chinese )town of Zhangmu,which is at 2300metres.Luckily for us we hitch hiked on a truck but not too far up the road , tyre trouble ensued due to the brilliant rocky road .
The ride even a little way on the road was an adventure in itself, we were jostled wildly as the truck rollicked and rolled over the rocky road. We were jam packed inside the truck some, 15 to 16 people , hanging on for dear life as it rumbled along .
I think my arms just about pulled out of their sockets , in a way it was a relief when the truck blew a tyre.
On reaching the "official border " into Tibet (Chinese side) we were prepared for a lengthy wait as we were quite a large group and all our passports were checked even though we were on one bit of paper for a visa.
Here we also were told to adjust our watches to Beijing time as all of China operates on this time system.
As well here we could exchange our Nepalese currency for Chinese currency on the "open market " in Zhangmu. We also could wander around the town.
We would be staying in Zhangmu for the night as the next day we would meet our Chinese /Tibetan guide who would lead our group through Tibet . Our next stop would be 6 to 7 hours of driving in a mini coach climbing to 4350meteres to Xegar.
On the way to Xegar it was was a climb all the way to the Tibetan Plateau at around 3,666metres.Then at one stage onto Lalung Leh Pass at 5050metres.
Here we would be able to see the northern side of Mt Everest.
Climbing at these altitudes really made one light headed and the fact that we were travelling quite quickly through these heights caused some of the group extreme problems with pressure to their heads .
I surely felt the breathing quite difficult , thankfully we had oxygen with us and took a whiff when needed .
Aside the light headedness and the difficulty breathing the view thus far was amazingly magical.
The journey shall continue as soon as I get to the computer again, hopefully much sooner than last time!
Any way , I left off heading to Tatopani a Nepalese village where we have to complete customs and immigration formalities .
Then we are able to manoevre across the "Friendship Bridge " from Nepal into China.
Unfortunately the monsoon rains also happen around this time of the year and the roads if you can call them that are treacherous. As is the Friendship Bridge crossing! Many people cross here to go onto their trek into Tibet.
From here we had a 1.8km hike up hill towards the Tibet (Chinese )town of Zhangmu,which is at 2300metres.Luckily for us we hitch hiked on a truck but not too far up the road , tyre trouble ensued due to the brilliant rocky road .
The ride even a little way on the road was an adventure in itself, we were jostled wildly as the truck rollicked and rolled over the rocky road. We were jam packed inside the truck some, 15 to 16 people , hanging on for dear life as it rumbled along .
On reaching the "official border " into Tibet (Chinese side) we were prepared for a lengthy wait as we were quite a large group and all our passports were checked even though we were on one bit of paper for a visa.
Here we also were told to adjust our watches to Beijing time as all of China operates on this time system.
As well here we could exchange our Nepalese currency for Chinese currency on the "open market " in Zhangmu. We also could wander around the town.
We would be staying in Zhangmu for the night as the next day we would meet our Chinese /Tibetan guide who would lead our group through Tibet . Our next stop would be 6 to 7 hours of driving in a mini coach climbing to 4350meteres to Xegar.
On the way to Xegar it was was a climb all the way to the Tibetan Plateau at around 3,666metres.Then at one stage onto Lalung Leh Pass at 5050metres.
Here we would be able to see the northern side of Mt Everest.
Climbing at these altitudes really made one light headed and the fact that we were travelling quite quickly through these heights caused some of the group extreme problems with pressure to their heads .
I surely felt the breathing quite difficult , thankfully we had oxygen with us and took a whiff when needed .
Aside the light headedness and the difficulty breathing the view thus far was amazingly magical.
The journey shall continue as soon as I get to the computer again, hopefully much sooner than last time!
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