Hitting the road

The next morning we saddled up in the Land Cruiser and hit the road at about 9AM. We drove for a couple of hours (all paved road) and hit our first stopping point/pass. It was always interesting when we hit a pass because our driver would break out in a little chant/prayer that had quite a bit of enthusiasm to it. The first time was a little bit of a surprise, but eventually I got to the point where I looked forward to it.

From what we were told this first pass was were a number of tour buses from Lhasa would travel and then turn around and go back. As we came up and over the pass there was a huge lake on the other side. It was just picturesque with the lake and the mountains in the background. What was really interesting were all the animals people had that for a small fee you could take a photograph with. (Horses, Yaks, Sheep, Dogs) There were also a number of actual billiards pool tables that oddly seemed to fit. We did not stay long because it just felt way too touristy.

This was the first time I really felt the pull of the altitude. I am guessing we were at about 14/15,000 feet and it was at about this altitude or higher that we really felt it. At no time did I ever feel as if I was in any real danger. It was more of an uncomfortable, disorienting feeling. My thought process just did not seem as clear and precise as normal. The best way I can describe it is it seemed as if my system just started shutting down. As soon as we made our way down the other side things improved.

Another hour down the road we stopped for lunch in this little town. It was quite obvious that all the tourists stopped at this place. The place had probably ten or so tourists in the restaurant, which probably was the most we ever saw in one place after we left Lhasa. It had both a menu and buffet. We decided to go with the buffet. I am almost positive that the trays we eat from are the same type of trays they use in prisons. The food was nothing special, but it did the job.

As I stated earlier Tashi always made sure we were situated first before finding something for himself. A number of times I tried to get Tashi and our driver to eat with us, but they always seemed to drift to the designated tour guide/driver area. In the case of this place it was a small back room.  I quickly learned that Tashi and the driver lived off a diet of Yak tea and Yak meat. From what I could tell they thought our Western diet was just as disgusting as we thought Yak tea was. This is why I enjoy these types of trips so much. You are allowed the opportunity to see a different perspective on life.

After lunch we hit the road and eventually made it to Gyantse, which is the town we were targeting for the night. This town made Lhasa look like a major metropolitan city. Since we had been on the road for about seven to eight hours we decided to hit Palcho Monastery the next day rather then that evening.

We went for a quick stroll through town and as always you are the center of attention. I have not commented a lot on how much people stared at us because after awhile I became pretty much numb to it. Since it was Bernadette’s first trip to Asia she was not quite as use to it. I can assure you that unless you look like the average Chinese or Tibetan person be prepared to be stared at.

After our walk we headed to the hotel’s restaurant. It was your basic fair and we were the only ones there. I even think they had to wake the cook and have him come over to prepare the food. In general I stuck to the basic curries and Bernadette stuck to what ever type of fired potatoes they were offering. We did take a number of gambles on Western type dishes and our success to failure rate was 50/50 on it being eatable to our standards.

From the time we left Lhasa until the time we arrived in Nepal we found it difficult to spend $20 US a day on items outside of trinkets we would buy in the markets. The average meal was a few dollars a piece each and we really did no drink much alchohol because of the altitude. Most of the monasteries you could make donations, but there really was not anything to spend money on.

<--Prev [Palcho Monastery - Xigatse] Next-->