Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!

The big day had finally arrived on the 23rd. That morning I dragged our bags to the car around 7:30 AM and order some chapattis to take with us on the road. Ray and Monday met us outside the hotel and another long day of driving ensued. Ray explained we had to drive 15 kilometers to get to the dirt road leading to Everest, which would it would be another 102 kilometers to Base Camp One. Why didn’t the Chinese pave this road as well you ask? Well, for once they listened to complaints from the world, which said that all the pollution would be bad for Everest. Even though I can’t say the Tibetan massage was great, we have to agree with the world. Besides, it was a good chance to put our 4WD to the test and adds to the impressiveness of this particular adventure.

A few hours of driving passed without being able to see much at all. We stopped at a viewing/sales platform, where we would have our first chance of spotting Everest and some of the Himalayas’ other peaks. And indeed, we could see a huge white summit through the huge white clouds! Thinking this might be our best shot of the day we stayed quite a while and took quite a few pictures. Most of them don’t show much at all, but I think these give you an idea of what our eyes gazed upon. Ray urged us to get back in the car to make sure we’d get as much time with Everest as possible.





After the platform the road took us downhill, zigzagging its way slowly down the side of the steep mountain. The clouds around Everest cleared once again and we had Monday stop the car for a few more pictures. Of course the drive wouldn’t be complete without Monday attempting to take a shortcut after roughly 30 kilometers of driving. We actually soon had no idea he was following any path at all, but Monday remained confident we’d save time by taking the shortcut. After lots of humps and bumps we seemed to be getting a little closer to the road again and spotted a car in the distance. Unfortunately that car, also a 4WD, was having trouble getting through a riverbed… In fact, it was stuck. We stood around and waited for a while whilst the driver emptied the car of his passengers and finally succeeded to get past the obstacle. We prayed Monday would be as skillful and were happy to see him make it as well. The next problem was getting across the stream. Ray and I made the jump without problems, but the girls were stuck. We stepped a little ways in the water and pulled both of them to safety!







With the road once again in sight our drive to Everest continued. Let me tell you a quick little anecdote about the naming of Everest we’d learned about: the British, who’d laid claims to Nepal when they still held their Raj Empire in India, decided to name the tallest peaks of the Himalayas. They were not quite so obstinate as to discard the locals entirely – a little research was done to see if they’d named the peaks. Of course no name was found, and so Everest was named after one of the more important Brits at the time, George Everest. Funnily enough he never wanted to have the mountain called after him, nor was his name ever pronounced correctly – the world says ‘ever-est’ when it should be ‘eve-rest.’

Onwards again we drove, passing through some small villages (complete with goat-roadblocks) which led us ever closer to Everest. Just before midday its peak showed itself again, this time much, much closer and a lot clearer. We couldn’t believe our luck! We had Ray stop the car and jumped out for more pictures. All the while Ray kept pushing us to make sure we’d get to actually enjoy Base Camp under the same conditions. We, on the other hand, had a hard time listening and had them stop again for even more pictures. Other cars joined us and soon we were part of photo shoot with some other Asian travelers coming from the other direction.











It took a good 15 minutes plus the promise we’d see some rare wildlife to get us back in the car. Wildlife used to be abundant in the region, but hunting by the locals (until the Dalai Lama) and ‘fun’-shootings by Chinese soldiers have decimated populations. Ray said we were pretty lucky to get to see mountain goats and sheep in fairly large numbers. We are actually not entirely sure what they were, so if anyone has a better guess do let us know!





















Just around the corner we encountered the actual last monastery of our trip in Tibet. Wiki: “Rongbuk monastery lies by the foot of the Rongbuk Glacier at 5,100 meters (16,700 ft) above sea level, making it the highest religious building, as well as one of the highest-elevation settlements and overall structures ever built and colonized. The Rongbuk Monastery itself was founded in 1902 by a Nyingma Lama in an area of meditation huts that had been in use by monks and hermits for over 400 years.” The Cultural Revolution brought an end to any grandeur Rongbuk once had, seeing part of the monastery destroyed and most of its relics taken away to another monastery. When those treasures were destroyed in a 1989 fire Rongbuk died with it. The smallish building that replaced the old structures is far less grand and reportedly houses no more than 30 monks and nuns.





Suddenly, with Everest in full view, we didn’t feel like lingering here, took some quick pictures and had Monday put the pedal to the metal. Whilst driving Francesca hung out of the window, still taking more pictures. We reached Base Camp at 12:30 PM, with the sun shining and Everest free from clouds. Whilst Ray obtained tickets for the ‘eco-bus’ to a viewpoint further up the road, Francesca and I walked around looking at some of the souvenirs for sale there. It must be noted the ‘eco-bus’ isn’t in any way particularly eco-friendly, but just replaces any and all 4WDs that would otherwise make their way to the viewpoint.



A short drive later we finally arrived at Base Camp Two with Mount Qomolangma right in front of us. Of course those locals had named Mount Everest long before the British ever came near… A sign told us Qomolangma is 8844.43 meters high, but the actual number could be up to 10 meters off. Still, it’s the world’s highest mountain and we were gazing at it! With us already being at an impressive altitude of 5300 meters it may not look like much, but do not forget we were already on the ‘roof of the world!’ I for one was deeply impressed by the mountain and had a hard time leaving it after a long photo shoot to properly capture the mountain.




















In fact, it took 40 minutes before Francesca and I finally agreed to go back to Base Camp One. I would’ve loved to get even closer to Everest, but Ray told us you need oxygen tanks and a large stack of dollars to be allowed to go there. Back at Camp One we wanted to send some postcards from the highest post office (China Post, sigh…) in the world. Of course the occupying postman wasn’t there and we can only say we would’ve sent our grandparents a card if he’d been there! Whilst we waited for Monday to reappear we had another look at the camp. Francesca was interested in buying a Tibetan amulet, which locals hang around their shoulders for good luck. We consulted Ray to check for authenticity and had him lower the price in the process. We also had a look in the tents (hotels or resorts as some of the locals dared call them) which you can sleep in if you feel like being oxygen-deprived for a night.



By 2:00 PM we were on the road again. We drove past the mountain goats and sheep that were still camping out near the road. Francesca and I looked behind us one more time to see Everest. Lo and behold! The sky had turned grey and we couldn’t see a thing behind us. Lady Luck must’ve really liked us that day! A good 30 minutes later we had to stop for a road-crossing yak and got out for the final pictures of Tibet’s famous bovines. The grey skies above us had us back in the car in no time though. Soon, the first raindrops were falling on the dust road, turning a tough drive into an even more challenging one. At one point we even had to drive up a stream!









It took roughly three hours to traverse the rough terrain, but finally we were on tarmac again and headed for our penultimate stop on our way to Nepal. Old Tingri was another shitty town with roaming dogs that we could’ve done without. And the first hotel that Ray brought us to was pretty much a hellhole. With Francesca still feeling a little weak I decided we’d better splurge and get ourselves a half-decent hotel. “Snow Leopard Hotel” provided such a service, and even served up a decent dinner in the shape of chicken and potato for Francesca and a noodle soup for me.

That next morning I ordered some pancakes for us, which we ate before the final leg of our trip. The drive to Zhengmu was uneventful, leaving me with little left to say. Just before noon we reached the final pass, Nyalam, at an altitude of 5208 meters. Before us loomed the Himalayas. And it was all downhill from there (literally!). The terrain suddenly changed from a treeless, barren plateau to a lush, green, waterfall-covered valley. Wow, it had been weeks since we’d seen our last trees! Driving to Zhengmu was a real pleasure, partially made possible by the Chinese, who paved the road the year before, making the drive a lot safer and smoother than in previous years.













Here and there roadwork was going on (even in the rain), but this didn’t stop us from reaching dreary Zhengmu by 2:00 PM. Ray led us to the Sherpa Hotel, where we got a decent double room including breakfast and with an amazing view for a very reasonable price. Zhengmu is a bit of sad place, being a one street town (albeit long), with high rises on both sides of the street. Most of the street is filled with Nepali and Chinese trucks driving back and forth filling Nepal with cheap Chinese junk. Nothing eventful happened that afternoon. Francesca and I read up on our Kathmandu knowledge for the following day’s border crossing. We headed out for our last supper with Ray and Sam that evening, enjoying a grilled cheese sandwich and chicken curry in the sports bar-like Gang Gyen Restaurant.











Our travels in Tibet came to an end on the morning of the 25th. We ordered some lunchboxes from the Sherpa Restaurant, hugged Sam and said goodbye to her, drove off to the checkpoint and stood in line for immigration with Ray. He stayed with us until we’d cleared customs and knew where we had to go. Francesca and I said goodbye to him as well, thanking him for the great guide he had been and hoped we’d be able to come back one day. Then we grabbed our backpacks and made for Nepal.