Hey, we have had a very exciting couple of days coming over the border to Nepal from Tibet. We left the town of Shigatze early Tuesday and headed west towards the border. The highway, which was in great shape, was almost abandoned. Our driver made several stops to meet with some shady characters along the way. I don't know how i feel about being a drug mule, but oh well. We came to a small town that felt like we were in the old west. Our driver told us that was the end of the road for him because the road would get much worse.
we got out and started looking for someone to take us the rest of the way to the border because we were determined to get out. Not that we didn't like tibet, I actually really like it, its just that it was time to go. Of course we picked the cheapest guy and maybe we should have questioned our choice when his old jeep cherokee could barely start.
The guy driving was a super nice chinese fellow. We made our way through a checkpoint that was swarming with ugly europeans and passed right by the turn-off for Everest base camp (we were over trying to get a permit) and actually got a pretty cool view of the world's tallest mountain a little ways farther down the road. We drove through the town of Dingri and the nice road gave out to dirt. The terrain we were driving through was beautiful but appeared lifeless. Little settlements and lots of sheep, goats, and yaks. Most of the traffic on the road were horse drawn carts carrying traditional tibetans. The road got a little rough and I heard a bit of a grinding noise; the driver pulled over and got out to inspect the car. The steering arm that connects to the right front wheel had come loose and was dragging on the ground-and basically made steering impossible. after a quick fix with bailing wire we were back on our way and the steering problem seemed to be fixed. The next little settlement we came to he pulled in and told us he would get it fixed. out of this mud brick building came one of the more unique looking fellows i've seen on the trip. Our driver and the man started scanning the dirt yard for bits of metal with which they started welding the steering arm securely into place. After the first weld our driver hit it several times with a hammer and told him that he needed to do it better.
I think that if we knew what was coming ahead as far as road conditions go, we never would have gotten back in with such a sketchy weld job, but these guys know what they are doing, right?
We continued up and up a mountain pass through an area that reminded me of Death valley, by the time we topped out we were at 16,568 feet and had an absolute beautiful view of snow capped peaks of the Himalayas. We got out and could tolerate the cold only long enough to take a few pictures, but it was definately one of the most dramatic scenes I've ever seen. When we got there it was dusk and it got dark fast but the near full moon also came up.
The description of the climb down towards the border is that it drops about 2700 meters, we assumed we had done a lot of that in the first hour or so down, but we hadn't. We got into a tighter river valley that quickly turned into a steep-walled canyon. The road was under repair but the way was good and the river not far below the road. Our driver suddenly stopped and made another inspection. The engine was in danger of overheating because his new radiator hose cracked and was draining water all over. We made our best attempt at repair and the three of us (Mike, our driver, and me) climbed down the steep talus slope to the river, filled up all the water bottles we had and climbed back up to the car. The fix worked good enough to get us the short distance down to a small village who surprisingly enough had a guy that could fix the problem.
We ate dinner (our first meal all day) and waited for him to return. I checked email and was warned by the internet xiaojie that the road down was very dangerous. Of course I waved it off and we were back in business. Of course the road was very dangerous as the trip from the plateau to Nepal occurs in short distance. The next 33 km to a border town called Zhangmu is on a dirt/mud road that is usually wide enough for just one car but that has large trucks coming up it frequently. The road clings to the side of the cliff and in the moon light the bottom was out of sight most of the time. By this time it was midnight and the moon casts errie shadows on the canyon. Several times we had to stop to let traffic coming the other way pass and several times our vehicle died and we would have to get out and push start him. The first time was fun but the other times that we had to push him were downright scary. The thought of plunging over the edge and dieing was with me throughout the trip.
During the ride we passed several big streams that went right over the road. At times we would regain the river and then suddenly it would plunge away again seemingly thousands of feet below. After three hours of white knuckle driving we made our way to the border town of Zhangmu, we paid our driver an extra $100 and found a hotel, the time was around 2:30 in the morning. The closest hotel was what i called the Whoretel and was the creepiest place I've ever stayed at. I didn't drink any water because I didn't want to have to use the toilet it was so bad. We stayed up talking about the events of the day realizing that if we had known what we were getting ourselves into we proabably wouldn't have gone, or at least we would have gotten a decent vehicle.
We got up the next morning and made our way through the chinese border, walked nine km down similar road to the Nepalese border. the mountain sides were full of trees and waterfalls, it was an amazing change from the barren plateau of tibet. As we approached the border the immediate change of culture was shocking. We were definately out of china and in Nepal. The women were all wearing Saris and the poverty was very apparent. The border took a few minutes to get through and we were immediately greeted by a man willing to take us the four hours to Kathmandu in his small toyota. The drive to Kathmandu stayed in canyons and mountain tops, passing buses full of people both inside and on top. We saw one truck rolled on its side, a burned out bus, a scene where a car had recently rolled off the road down a hill, and what I'm pretty sure was a dead man off the side of the road. This place is definately different. We got to the city and we can't wait to leave. We will head out tomorrow to the countryside to try some trekking for 4-5 days and from here I will fly to China to continue my travels by myself.
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