Lhasa to Kathmandu via The Friendship Hwy

People often ask why it is called "The Friendship Hwy". The simple reason we came up with--if you weren't friends before the trip, you'll be friends after the trip. It is a long, bumpy, harrowing journey aross Tibet, down the Bhote Khosi river gorge and into Nepal. To top it off, we added a side trip to Everest Base Camp, another several hours of some of the world's worst roads at over 4000m. It was a 5 day adventure in a land cruiser I hope never to repeat. I'm glad I did it, but I don't think I would choose to make the trip overland from Tibet to Nepal again. At least not until the road is significantly improved. And in this part of the world...that may not be possible. The road, after it drops off the Tibetan plateau, descends very quickly following the river on a narrow, steep, muddy or rocky road that barely allows one lane of traffic let alone two. This is the major trade route as well as a very popular Land Cruiser overland route. Hence, the traffic is pretty steady and constant from both directions regardless of the road condition.

It all started by putting up little hand-written posters around Lhasa at some of the more popular hotels. JP and I were looking for two others to join our Land Cruiser trip to the border via all the popular stops and possibly Everest Base Camp. Our first response was from a couple from Portland, so we booked the trip and laughed at the odds of meeting someone from the same city/state in Tibet! We probably got 10 more emails of people looking to do the same thing...that's how popular this route is!

We left a few days later with a two Land Cruiser entourage, 2 Australian guys, 2 German girls, 4 Americans, 1 Tibetan 'guide' and 2 Tibetan drivers. The word 'guide' is used loosely because he barely spoke English, couldn't explain much of anything at the places we stopped and was pretty much useless. But he did handle the permit and paperwork for getting us through the checkpoints. And he did intervene when our driver threatened another driver with his sword and then almost ran him over (that story is better told in person). So, I guess he was worth the seat in the vehicle, even if he had horrible taste in music--Bryan Adams!

Each day was long and ardous--hours in the car listening to either driver's choice or plugging in an iPod connection. We stopped everyday at a town/city along the way that had an interesting monastery or temple to keep us occupied for the afternoon/evening. We also found the best Chinese food was in Tibet. We ate huge meals of sauteed vegetables, chicken and peanuts, pork, beef, and tofu dishes. The trip highlight was making it to Everest Base Camp. The real Chinese government base camp is 3km up the road, but we stayed at the tourist base camp with equally good views of Mt. Everest. The mountain was on show for us both days we were there. But as we packed up and drove out of base camp on the second morning, she clouded over and couldn't be seen at all. Our guide said that only 1 in 3 people that visit base camp actually get to see her. And he has spent 3 consecutive days at base camp and never seen even a glimpse. So we considered ourselves very lucky! We stayed in a place called Dhingrui Friendship Hotel. It was 40 yuan a night, regulated by the Chinese government. And only 4 people are allowed to stay in each hotel each night, the government officials come by every night to check and collect our money. But the hotel owners were Tibetan and very very sweet. It was a father daughter team. They kept our tea cups full and at night they tucked us in with many extra blankets and covers to keep us warm. We also ate our meals there, which while very simple were decent considering everything has to be broughtup. There must have been 40-50 similar guest houses--each run by Tibetans, but regulated by the Chinese. The tension is thick everywhere you go. The checkpoint guards hassel the Tibetan guides and drivers, the Tibetan hotel owners in turn build extra big speed bumps for the Chinese officials when they come to town. It is impossible to miss the obvious hatred the Tibetans feel for the Chinese, our guide and driver were constantly making comments...and don't forget there was that incident with the sword too.

I made it to Everest Base Camp (4800m)

Well, this quick little update about the Lhasa-Kathmandu journey has taken me almost 3 hours to write up and upload. So, the Annapurna journey is coming, but slowly slowly. Or as the guides liked to say 'no hurry, chicken curry'.