Humble Pie anyone?

I feel it has been a while since I've updated my blog. Much has happened in Tibet since my last entry. I've been pondering ways to share everything with you but have been having a hard time being able to put it all into words. Western Tibet was an amazing place and the kora around Mt. Kailash was beyond my imagination. I've decided that it was one of those experiences that is most difficult to sum up, I'm not sure that I've really formulated all of my thoughts on it yet. It's going to be one of those things that will hit me later at some point.

It took us 3 full days driving to get to Mt. Kailash, most of the way was one single track dirt roads up and around and through mountain passes. The going was slow but we made some stops along the way and saw a different Tibet then the one that is in Lhasa. The trek around Mt. Kailash took us 3 days. They were 3 of the most difficult and phsyically demanding days that I have ever had. The first day was about 12 hours of trekking, we slowly made our way up in altitude the entire day until we reached the first monestary on the kora where we stayed at an adjacent tent camp. We were told at the end of the day that some Tibetan porters and a party of russians also doing the kora were suprised to see us carrying our own expedition packs and said something along the lines of "those are not girls, those are men." We decided to take this as a compliment in this context. Towards the end of the day we were all feeling pretty tired and ready for some carbs (instant mashed potoates and cheese powder) and some sleep.

Day 2 started bright and early, we left the tent camp before 7 (much before sunrise in western Tibet). Since it is still the end of winter there is much snow on the mountains and the route and we wanted to get through the pass before the heat of the sun hit and everything began to get soft. This was the day of Drolma La Pass, and we either underestimated the difficulty of this pass or overestimated our abilities to trek it. Lets just say that this was a day where I was served a giant slice of humble pie and learned some good lessons about myself. The trail immediately began going up, we were all carrying our packs and walking quite slow in hopes to conserve our energy. About 2 or 3 hours later, we still haven't reached the pass yet, we are trying to get up this ridge to where the pass begins and I realize that I am about as cold as I have ever been in my life. I could not feel my hands or my feet and wasn't entirely sure that I would ever be warm again. My only goal at that point was to get where the sun was shining on top of the ridge. Once there my hands went through a incredibly painful rewarming process, almost as if someone was sticking 5ft long needles into every inch of my hand. At this point it had taken us about 4 hours to reach this ridge, where we could finally see where the pass began. The journey was only to get harder from here, the pass tops out at an altitude of 18,200 ft (higher then Everest Base Camp), and was covered in snow. At the rate that we were going we were going to be lucky to get to the top before the sun set. At this moment, what I like to call a magical porter showed up on the kora. Up until this point we had not seen many people at all and it was divine intervention I would say that brought him to us. This is where the humble pie comes in, as much as I wanted to carry my own pack and complete the kora in that fashion my body was insisting that it wasn't going to happen. Therefore, when the porter asked me for the 4th time if I wanted him to carry my pack I swallowed my pride and agreed, as did the rest of my group. Without our packs it was still slow going but we finally made it to the top of the pass that was strewn with prayer flags and it was a very special place. I wanted to stay up there all day but was reminded that we still had a good 6 hours to reach our destination for the night, we snapped a few pictures and began the descent. The day was not going to get much easier from here believe it or not. At this point our next challenge was the fact that we were practially out of water and all of the rivers were frozen or non existent. In the valley the sun was blazing and dehydration was quickly getting more uncomfortable. I was trying to quench my thirst with snow (doesn't work well) and wondering how much longer I could keep walking without water when we finally came to a spot where we could fill up our bottles. I've never been that happy to drink un filtered water before in my life. I chugged my full nalgene and kept going back for me. Something about the altitude messes with your appetite and I was still trying to finish the single power bar I had started for breakfast that morning. My body was definitely exhausted and ready to be done for the day. Yet... there was still 3 more hours to go until reaching the monestary where we would sleep for the night. Along the way we did get some amazing views and I was able to enjoy them more with my full water and the fact that we were no longer climbing in elevation. We finally reached our destination after 14 hours of hiking and it is safe to say that I can't remember the last time I was that tired.

We slept in a bit the next day and were able to spend the morning at the monestary hanging out with the lama's and the baby sheep and catching up on sleep and food. The last day we had our packs back and it actually felt more like a stroll. Either it was just incredibly easier then the first two days or my body was finally getting used to the abuse. There were amazing mountains on everyside and a river running through the gorge. It was what I pictured hiking in Tibet to look like.

Before heading back to Lhasa we spent about a day and a half at Lake Manasarovar, a sacred lake near Mt. Kailash. It was a chance to catch up on sleep and have a lazy day. The lake was amazing, and I enjoyed being in a small village where the Tibetan life is still perserved unlike in the bigger cities. Out in the wester we were able to hang out in tea houses, drink yak butter tea, eat fried noodles and mo mo's, chit chat with the locals as much as the language barrier would allow, see the countryside, run away from some scary dogs, visit small monestaries, watch sheep trip over cardboard boxes in the middle of the road, see cows eating plastic bags on the street, walk into the back of a kitchen in a restaurant and just point to what we wanted to eat, learn the names of farm animals in Tibetan, and have some good conversations.

We are now back in Lhasa and on the final leg of our journey. The plan is to explore a bit more of Lhasa, the potala, monestaries, nunneries, and day hikes around the area as well as do a couple overnighters on the outskirts of town.

I know this was a ramble of a posting but I tried my best to get some of the experiences down. Maybe once I get home the whole trip will be making more sense. For this, I can at least cross my fingers.

I hope that all is well with all of you! I think about you all often and miss you tons. Hopefully we will able to sit down and have some tea and share stories at some point.

Peace and Love
J