Our group departs the Shangri-la hotel at 6:00am by mini-bus, accompanied by our Nepali crew. The road from Kathmandu to the Tibet border winds through terraced valleys, mounting steadily in altitude. We stop at a resort-like Himalaya View hotel for breakfast at 8:00am, and continue on, arriving at Kodari, the Nepal border town at about 11:00. There is a two-hour wait here while our visas and passports are checked. We while away the time in the street making friends with the Nepali children who swarm around. Kodari is a cluster of rough buildings lining the road, clinging to the cliff side with a swift-flowing river below.
While waiting, I snap a picture of the "Friendship Bridge" which marks the border crossing. Since the Chinese are purportedly unhappy about photographs of their installations, I take this picture from the back porch of a teashop. In the background you can just make out the city of Zheng-mu, which clings to the mountainside high above.
Since the minibus cannot cross the border, we load our gear and ourselves into the back of a large truck for delivery to Zheng-mu; there we will meet our Chinese crew.
The ride up the mountainside is a rough one, a rutted unpaved road with numerous switchbacks. I hold on tightly to the metal bars that frame the truck body to avoid being tossed around. Upon arrival in the city, we are treated to yet another two-hour wait while passports and visas are rechecked. A group of Russian trekkers is there also, and are being given a rough time. We hear that they may be refused entry because of lack of health papers; the real reason is that the Chinese dislike the Russians and seize every opportunity to cause them grief.
While waiting on officialdom, we are besieged by moneychangers offering yuan for dollars or rupees. Since these entrepreneurs (both Chinese and Tibetan) operate in full view of the Chinese officials, we are assured that their activities are "legal" (or at least winked at). Having been told that the local Bank of China branch may be closed, I change some of my Nepali rupees into yuan. It pays to shop around, since the rates given by the various changers. Later, we find the bank to be open indeed, and I change a traveler's check into yuan also. In the future course of the trip, I find little to spend money on, and have most of my yuan left. This leftover cash goes into the tips for the crew. Note that you will not be able to exchange yuan for dollars or rupees once back in Nepal.
Finally we meet our trek vehicles and crew. We will be riding in two Toyota Landcruisers and accompanied by a Chinese 5-ton truck. The Chinese/Tibetan portion of the crew is provided by the Tibetan Tourist Authority, and is mandatory. There are seven men, which include a Tibetan guide, three drivers, a cook for the crew itself, and two "handymen" who will help with setting up camp and any other things that arise.
We are finally able to mount up, and are glad to depart Zheng-mu, which is a messy splotch upon an otherwise attractive landscape. The road mounts steadily up the mountain, and a half-hour later we stop to view Zheng-mu from above, where I take this photograph. The winding road at the right is the route to Kodari.
The remainder of the day's drive follows a deep, dramatic river valley. The road is a rutted track that makes its way up the sides of the valley via switchbacks. The altitude mounts steadily, and when we arrive at our first night's campsite, Dick's altimeter watch shows 12,500ft.
We camp at a corner of the road where we share the site with a herd of yak. The herdsmen are camped nearby. At night, the yak calves are tethered to prevent their being taken by snow leopard, and thus their mothers stick close by. Our night is filled with the low grunts emitted by the yaks, which are within 50 yards of the tents.
Most of us are taking Diamox to aid in combating the altitude. My doctor & pharmacy seemed to be confused about Diamox. I got a prescription for only 1 250mg tablet for each of the first eight days. In reality, I continued to need Diamox for the entire trip, and borrowed tablets from the others, all of whom had plenty. In addition, it was better to take 125mg twice a day than 250mg once.
After breakfast, our program is a short ride to the town of Nyalam, and then 10km further to Nyalam Pelgye Ling. This is a small gompa, or buddhist temple, in which the famous 11th century sage Milarepa was said to have studied. Inside the gompa is a small cave said to be where Milarepa meditated. A massive rock forms the roof of the cave, and it contains two depressions claimed to be the handprints of Milarepa where he raised the rock to make the cave more comfortable (the roof is about five feet high). The cave was too dark for good photography unfortunately.
Having passed through the cave, we are in the temple itself. This is the first of many gompas we visit during the trip, and it is similar in many respects to them all. The lama demonstrates blowing on the long trumpet shown at the left. It gives a very low moan similar to Swiss alpenhorns. Note that the horn telescopes. When folded it is about 2 feet long.
Aside from the lama, there is a young boy who is also a monk and who appears to be a "trainee". As in all the gompas we visit, we leave small denomination yuan notes on the altar. Generally a contribution of this sort guarantees that one can take all of the photographs one wants.
The gompa is surrounded by a small village; it is a poor village like all of the Tibetan towns and villages we visit. On arrival we are surrounded by small children who accompany us to and from the gompa, and who hold out their hands to ask for candy, pens, or whatever. Most of these children show signs of respiratory diseases, having permanently runny noses. Lacking tissues or handkerchiefs, all have dried mucus on their upper lips. One of the children is badly scarred on the face; apparently he fell into a cookfire, and lacks one eye and a nose. We give out hard candy brought for the purpose. Note that it is not a good idea to distribute candy or other gifts if there is not enough for everybody.
The village itself is a farming community. The valley floor is covered with terraces for the cultivation of barley.
We return to camp for lunch. After eating, I try climbing up the hillside behind the campsite. I make it about 200 meters up the hill without too much effort. Little do I know that within a week 200m will seem like nothing.