Went for a hike today. After breakfast we got our lunch sacks. The snow was falling lightly so we didn�t take off right away. Some are anxious to get hiking but I had a little headache. I peed two liters last night and am a little light headed. I tried to drink a lot and took a couple Tylenols. We left after the others and walked down the road to get across the river. We kept a moderate pace and were climbing at around 1,000 to 1,100 feet per hour. At the top of every hill were prayer flags. We kept going and climbed through a section that looked like the Canaletta on Aconcagua. We met the Sherpas at the top of one hill. They said the others were at the summit having lunch. This mountain is just like Mt. Harvard in Colorado, it keeps going and going. We stopped for lunch at around 12:30 at the 14,470 foot mark. I was getting tired. I think I peed three or four times on the way back and once down. That�s very good because it means I�m acclimatizing good. Lunch was crackers, boiled bread, two hard-boiled eggs and a can of ham we brought. We met Michael on the way down and never did see the others. Michael started out later than us due to the fact he didn�t feel well. It didn�t take too long for Stan and I to climb back down. We took some photos of the animals in the public toilet.
Time for a clean up. There is a large red thermos in our room. The wife of the guy who owns the hotel brings hot water to us in them early in the morning. We washed up using the water and a basin in the room. I decided it would be a great idea to wash my hair. Stupid me, I start pouring the thermos on my head which is scalding hot. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Stan dumped some of the water bottle into another and mixed the hot water to a normal temperature. Much better. Yea, clean hair!
The possessed child which I�ll now call Damien tried to spear Stan with a mop. I know he did it on purpose. We were walking down the ladder-like stairs and he dropped it through from above. Most all of the other kids are quite friendly. Their cheeks have a rouge color to them. It�s a burgundy tint that looks almost unnatural.
There is nothing in this small town. When we looked at it from above it�s bigger than we thought but I really don�t want to walk around. Stan went and got a couple cokes. They�re a buck each, which is 8 jwon. The huge beers are only 4 or 5 depending on where you buy them. There is a small disco a couple doors down. Matt went last night and said it was pretty lame but then what do you expect. We have two more nights here before we got to Tingri or base camp but I can�t remember.
I don�t think anyone would believe the places we�ve stayed, especially the toilets. The one right by the guest house is totally medieval. You walk down a very narrow passage to a door with a slit in it. Inside is dark you can see the light coming through the floor. There is a narrow place to squat over and let �er fly. Totally gross. My bandanna has come in very useful in places like this. I think I only will use this place in an emergency and walk down the block to the concrete place. The rooms are accessed up a ladder-like stairway. They haven�t been cleaned in years but have a strange ambiance about them. The curtains in here have palm trees on them and sail boats. The ceiling is fabric with balloons and clouds. Well at least there is hot water in the thermos. The last place just had newspapers stuck to cardboard with a grass-like matting for the ceiling. So far we�re healthy that�s really important.
8:00pm Just had a dinner of potatoes, side dishes and noodle soup. Of course we all had plenty of beer.. They have Chinese bottled water here called "Parle Bailley" that we call Hello Dolly water. There were five children with their heads in the door begging for food tonight. I don�t think they have ever washed. What beautiful smiles and mysteriously colored checks. Walking down the street it�s hard to see how these people live in such squalor. I can see being here for a couple days but anymore would be shear torture. At least at our guest house we have electricity. "Damien" was out with his luggage cart with a case of bottles. Stan went down to the public toilets and by the time he got out Damien had distributed the empty bottles in the middle of the main street. Wonderful child isn�t he?! Stan is now listening to the short wave radio and just picked up Australia.
5pm Breakfast was interesting. We had peanuts, boiled bread, fried bread, cookies and an omelette. I never thought I would like Nescafe but it tastes good in the morning. Of course I never have eaten peanuts with chop sticks either. We went for another hike today. On the way we crossed a narrow bridge across a river gorge. It was about 125 feet down. We saw a Tibetan lady herding yaks across the bridge. She whistled and yelled at them the entire time. Stan says they all had snotty noses. We headed up the steep mountain to an altitude of 15,400 feet. We started at the bridge at 10am and at around 12:50pm we were at the top. A pace of 1,000 feet per hour is fairly good at this altitude. The others probably do better but we�re happy with this pace. It was really windy and I didn�t eat or drink enough today. I ate some candy and water after I bonked at 14,700. Climbed a bit with Gert. He was ahead at first but we soon passed him. We headed down and made it back in 1 ½ hours. That�s really fast for me. I had good tunes on my cassette deck.
When we were walking back to town I saw some cows eating paper. They came up on the steps and eat out of the garbage in town. It started snowing as we approached town and is still snowing now. We met one of the Sherpas on the walk through town. He has diarrhea and needed medicine and blames the Chinese food. Another of the porters came up too. We went to lunch at 2:30 for a really big lunch. We had these black things called mya, glass noodles that look like worms, mushrooms, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, rice, soup, french fries and watermelon. Stan and I split a beer and drank some tea. I took some pictures of this place. The floor is bare concrete with narrow benches and three wood tables. The plywood store front doesn�t go all the way to the top so there is a three foot opening near the top of the wall. The kitchen is back in the alley like place. Michael has the flu and stayed in bed all day except for a brief walk up about 100 meters with Matt. The guys from Austria, Wolfgang and Thomas are feeling better and ate a lot at lunch. Dagmar and Heinz are out climbing and are healthy. This place is a good one for acclimatization because of the peaks surrounding it on every side.
3:30pm We�re at a border check in the middle of nowhere. A native Tibetan is staring in the window watching me write. I think she wants food but I don�t know. We must seem rather rich and arrogant in our Toyotas and our fancy clothes to them. All our trucks are here waiting. We�ve given our passports to the Sherpas for the check. Interesting day so far really. We left around 9:30 from Nyalam. The truck has me, Stan, Matt, Mingma and the porter and driver. The guy in the right seat has an "MTV Rock n Roll Inaugural Ball" hat on. We drove up the hills and up to a pass of 16,750 feet where we stopped to pee. Prayer flags and yak horns everywhere. We drove to Tingri for a lunch stop. They had beer and some soft drinks here. The cookie wrapper had printed "Fancy Smell Biscuits" with some Buddha like guy on it. This place is a kick. On the front of the building there is a goat head stuck up and a small cow is trying to get into the potatoes they serve the customers. I bet the kitchen is really a sight.
We�re approaching Xigar now. The Hotel Qomolungma is in the middle of nowhere. It�s really desolate out here. I think we past the base camp turn off a little while back.
8:00pm Xigar (Chegar) 14,300 feet. We drove past the hotel and into the city. Since our liaison officer (the "Let�s Go" man) is Tibetan we got to stay in town which is much better than out in the boony hotel. We walked up to the Xigar Dong which was an ancient fort. It is now ruins because of the destruction by the Chinese. We walked through the village and up the hill towards the monastery. The monks spoke a little English and we talked a bit. The little kids kept holding there hands out wanting "gombe" which is money. They also had fossils and other relics to sell to us. Stan got a small piece of a nautilus shell fossil. Gert bought a really nice entire nautilus shell. This area was all underwater in ancient times believe it or not. We walked up into the fort area. Total destruction of most the walls but the immense size of the original fort is still evident . We walked up to around 15,300 feet. Since it was late in the day we didn�t go much farther. The view of the city was spectacular. The "gombe" boy was very persistent on getting us stuff the buy. Stan earlier had given some money to a kid to buy some pants. They were all after us them. Walking through the city I noticed puppies everywhere. The yaks and pigs roam the narrow streets and most live under the houses of their owners. We took some photos of the children and walked back to the hotel. On the way back we stopped at the "7-11" for a bottle of Sprite. I was talking to these boys and suddenly one pulls a puppy from his pants. I had him say "puppy" and his "namu was Spike". He repeated everything. Finally when I was going to go I said "See ya� and he did the same. We all had a good laugh.
This place on the mountain is like a fairy tale. I think most only dream of places such as this. Of course experiencing the culture and people highlights everything. Well, back to reality and our hotel. It reminds me of "Stalag 17" because it�s an old communist barracks. It�s quite military and very stark. We are on the second floor in this concrete block building. All the walls and floors are concrete. We did get a thermos of hot water which is all we really need to wash up. No bathrooms anywhere but I brought the empty Pearl Bailey bottle so I�m OK for peeing. We cleaned up and went to the mess hall for dinner. The Red Army definitely designed this place. We had three round tables with beer at each of the place settings. The food was very good. Much like what we�ve been having at the place in Nyalam. Rice and a zillion side dishes. I ate at least three bowls full. We all toasted to the climb and drank our beer. Here at 14,300 feet it hits a little quicker. Everyone is in good spirits and seem ready to go. Tomorrow we leave to cross an 18,000 foot pass and then to base camp.
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