Farewell to Tibet - very delayed post

This post I originally wrote and thought I posted on 4/13/06. However, since blogger was all in Chinese and we can't actually access our blog site itself, it appears that I might not have ever posted this...oy. So it's completely out of context but since it's all ready written. It's funny, that the first thing I wrote is how chronologically off it is...


Okay we just got to Golmud in Gansu province, and we're spending the next several days traveling overland to Kashgar. This is slightly chronologically off post that I've been mulling over...

Milestones and the day-to-day

Before I checked my email the other day, I was going to write about how wierd it was to be so far away and to hear about huge milestones in the lives of friends and family. In the last month alone, I've received news that included three new babies and a wedding. It felt wierd that others were at an important juncture in their lives, while we were in a context that was so different. I wasn't sure how to quite celebrate these occasions and have punted it until my return.

But when I opened my email that morning, I learned of the deaths of my great aunt and of a former frisbee teammate of mine. My great aunt was 102, but sadly Ana did not live to be even a third of her age. And again, I found myself at somewhat of a loss as to how I should celebrate their lives here in in Asia. They have certainly been in our thoughts these last few days, and again there is a disconnect to where I am personally and physically. I do believe that one should not suffer to celebrate the life of another and that we should go on living life to our fullest as they would have done themselves. So I'll go on...

Leaving Tibet

I am really sad to have left Tibet. Tibet was high on my list of places to visit, and 12 days just wasn't enough. You really do get a sense of how Buddism and faith are intertwined into the every day life of Tibetans and of the sacred in the every day. I still want to do the three day kora (pilgrammage) trek around Mt. Kailash ending up at Lake Mansogovar. Both the lake and mountain are considered holy. It seems like a wonderful way to incorporate the stunningly beautiful landscape with the culture of the everyday people. But unfortunately, we had to trade in our six month visas to China for a 21 day visa into Tibet and we would need to get out of Tibet to renew our visas. Tibet is definitely on the list of places I would like to come back to.

We spent five days in Lhasa, hanging out with these very funny and very tall Dutch guys from our tour. (One of them had the idea that we should have photoshopped the image of the Dalai Lama on to a naked body, and flash it everytime we were asked by the locals for pictures of the Lama). I think I needed that traveling time as I was definitely getting torn between excited and tired by the time we got there. We also sprung for a pretty nice hotel room ($12/night !) and it was nice to have central heat and a private bathroom with 24 hour running hot water. (I can't describe what luxuries they are). I do feel like the night at Base Camp took a lot out of me...

Everest Base Camp

After sitting in a car for three days plus an elevation of over 4900 m, I actually had a hard time walking the 8 km and the extra 300 m increase in altitude up to base camp. It's amazing how quickly my trekking phsyque left me. I felt I could have done it, but given that I was so far behind everyone else (again, I was definitely having breathing issues) and it was getting colder, we hired a donkey cart to take me the rest of the way up. It was actually pretty fun to take the cart, but there was definitely a part of me that was frustrated that I couldn't keep up with everyone else and it was a slightly bitter pill to swallow. But I think it was the right thing to do.

That night, I do remember thinking to myself "this is the worst night of my life." I was completely wide awake, my heart and head pounding and felt so quesy I couldn't lie down, even after two doses of advil and a litre of water. You know there is something terribly wrong with me, if a bowl of homemade noodles seems terribly unappetizing to me, which were offered for both dinner and breakfast (and to this day, I find myself hesitating a little before eating noodle soup. Hopefully this will go away.)

Thankfully I wasn't experiencing serious symptoms of AMS, but I kept looking at my watch counting down the minutes until the sun rose and we could go down. But even then, I don't recall regretting spending the night up there. (I knew if I hadn't gone I would have regretted it.) And of course the next day, we had to drive over two passes, each over 5000 m again and our headaches returned with each ascent. Ow.

The Camping Americans

What's neat about traveling is how you end up meeting up with people again. While we where in Tingri, Tibet, we ran into the Camping Americans again. It turned out one of them suffered so much from AMS, that they had to turn around before making it over Thorongla Pass. But now they were heading over to Everest, armed with Diamox (altitidue sickness pills) and hoped to do the trek. And while I admire them for what they were doing, I was glad I wasn't doing that trek because it was really cold. (See Simon's last post for a description of the conditions).

A Note on Food

For all of you who said I would lose weight in Nepal since all there is Dal Bhaat (lentils and rice), you were totally wrong. I love Dal Bhaat and while eating it twice a day was a bit much, we enjoyed it and definitely find myself still craving it. In fact, while we were in Lhasa, I made us go to Nepali run restaurants to get my fill. Of course, it was three times more expensive in Tibet. But some of the places were decent. Another reason to be sad to be leaving Tibet since there won't be any more Dal Bhaat.

But we've discovered the joys of hot pot and muslim cooking as we enter into mainland China. Simon is in meat-on-a-stick heaven and I am in dumpling/wonton heaven. But the food will change more, as we head north into Xinjiang province to Kashgar, which is heavily influenced by Muslim and East European culture. Hopefully we'll post some pictures and food porn soon. Stay tuned...