We climbed the road across the Himalayas, the highest pass we would go through, early in the morning as we had a long drive to Tingri and to the base camp of Mount Everest. While we were cold in our heater-less SUV, we really couldn’t complain especially when we saw many people riding in the back of carts and trucks and had to be a heck of a lot colder than we were. Many of them wore traditional Tibetan clothing including fur-lined hats and coats.
The landscape was stark rocky mountains with little grass and fewer trees. It provided a sharp contrast to the whitecap Himalayas that started peaking over the rocks a few hours into our drive. To look at the scenery, one would think that nothing could possibly live in this cold environment seemingly devoid of life. But then, we would come across a herd of goats or sheep or bovines led by a shepherd and it became obvious that there was a lot of life on the high Tibetan plateau. The occasional traditional village also proved that the lifestyle of these people – carried on for millennium – was sustainable where many others would, and have, failed.
We stopped at a small Tibetan restaurant for lunch and then took off for our three-hour drive to the Mount Everest Base Camp. This is where climbers start off from within China (rather than using the more traditional Nepalese routes) to climb one of the most challenging mountains in the world.
The base camp was closed as it is too late in the season to climb but this permitted us to drive up closer to the mountain than during climbing season. We took tons of photos in frigid, strong-blowing wind at an elevation of 5200 meters or 17,000 feet above sea level. We didn’t stay more than 15 minutes because of the cold and then jumped in the truck for the three-hour ride back to Tingri.
Upon our return, we learned that our hotel room had neither heat nor running water. Our down sleeping bags wouldn’t have been warm enough and, after three days without one, we had really looked forward to showering. So, after a 17 hour drive we asked our driver to keep going so that we could reach our border town tonight.
That meant a harrowing five-hour drive over another mountain pass on a road that was, in its entirely, under construction. Even though it was only 150 kilometers away, we didn’t get to our beds until 2:00 a.m. the next day. We couldn’t sleep in the truck either as the constant jostling, bumping and hair-pin turns kept our eyes wide open and an iron grip on the SUV’s door handles.
We discovered that our new hotel didn’t have heat either, but the temperatures were much warmer as we weren’t as high up in the mountains. And, while the hot water flowed beautifully, there was no COLD water and so a shower was impossible as the water was scalding!