It was mid-November last year, i.e. 2007, and I was with a bunch of others being driven in Landcruisers across from Tibet and into Nepal.
We were barely an hour's drive from Tingri when one we were alarmed by a bursting tyre and our car took a sudden sharp swivel. Our driver mastered the brakes and steered the car to a halt at the side of the road, avoiding a descent into a small crevice and its stream. The minute we regained our breathe and checked on each other we got out to examine what happened. The burst tyre was sent reeling into the ice-glazed stream leaving the disc brakes twisted and half buried in the ground. Sharon and Simon recovered the lost tyre while the other cars were called back for help. It wasn't an easy tyre replacement though. The drivers had a tough time banging the disk back into some form of shape so it could be fitted with a spare tyre. It took ages to get back on the road during which we not had a long pee break (!) and walked along the icy stream at the end of which stood an old fort in ruins.
Back on the road, we stopped at every possible viewpoint to take pictures of the Himalayas. We were so lucky to have had another splendid day.
Just outside our lunch town, Nyalum, roadworks brought us to a standstill. Once again we tried to use our 'friendly and playful' tactics to get through with the workmen. But nothing worked this time. It was pretty obvious that there was no way we could have got through with a huge pin roller smoothing the freshly tarmaced road.
It was fun though playing footie with a pistachio shells-filled plastic water-bottle. We spend about an hour or so dashing about chasing the 'ball' with the drivers and workmen. Then some Chinese drove up to us. Seeing that there was no way that they could drive on the road, they reversed and side-tracked their way across the fields. On seeing this our drivers chased them up letting them guide us through quite a bit of off-roading. It was pretty bumpy and muddy. At one point the local peasants and farmers decided to block our road with stones and bribed us into clearing the passage. They actually bribed each vehicle and cunningly enough probably earned a month's worth of wages. Silly and funny, but at least we got ourselves back onto the road.
It was somewhere around 4 or 5pm when we got to the centre of Nyalum. We stopped for late lunch or early dinner in dingy restaurant. We had plenty of time to kill anyways as the pass into Nepal was only due to open at 6.30pm. During that time, Sharon went to have her hair done at a local hairdresser while the rest of us lingered about buying very 'expensive' chocolate by which time we were craving desperately for. Snow started to fall. It was our Xmas day after all so snow was very appropriate! It got heavier by the time we left the village and it couldn't have started at a better or rather worse timing; crossing the mountain pass.
Within a couple of hours the bleak grey scenary turned into a white wonderland. We drove on in the midst of thick falling snow, just inches away from a deep valley which accompanied us throughout our journey through the pass. Despite the edgy experience the scenary was magnificent; tall cypress trees carpeting either side of the deep gorge transforming themselves from green giants to a huge white blanket. I took some interesting pictures of the scenary outside in between wiping the windscreen for our fully-focused driver to see better and feeding him up with snacks to help his concentration. We continued to enjoy the view until it grew dark and the moon shone in the black sky.
As we descended down the valley the sides of the steep hillsides were illuminated with lights coming from residential homes. Closer to border we met a slow-moving trail of cars until finally we got stuck in a traffic jam. As huge lorry was trying to make a U-turn in the narrow road risking loosing grip over the steep edge. As we waited our bladders tightened. By then we were desperate for the loo not having stopped throughout at least the three hours we spent driving along the one-way and one-vehicle width pass.
Finally, we got to Zhangmu; a town serpenting its way along into the depths of the valley. The long winding road led us to our hotel - another building amongst a row of others - as the clammy air and rain welcomed us. Since everything was built on a slop the rooms were spread out vertically so that he had to climb several flights of stairs before getting to our rooms. Catherine and mine's was at the very top. And being at the top it was probably the best room - the penthouse if you may - with an ensuite shower and seatless western toilet. It was cold, unwelcoming and not quite clean. The flushing wouldn't work well while the water taps were twisted out of place. We changed hurriedly, made ourselves look pretty and boosted our sugar levels with a Mars bar. We met Sharon in minutes and together we joined the others at the dance club (the ninma) just beneath our hotel. It was still empty but was quickly filling up with young late teenagers some of whom were about to give us quite a sassy karoke and dance show.
After the show the dance floor was free for us to perform. And man what a performance! I danced it away into the wee hours of the morning. I ended up being twirled and swung by one of the hot dancers, and phew it was HOT with all those sweaty bodies. Ragu, my dancing partner of the night was a big romantic and tried to even rob a goodnight kiss from me, but I left him all for Sharon's delite, his 'old-time' favourite, who by the way was being courtshipped by Tashi, the owner of the hotel!!! One hell of a steamy night!!!! :)
Back in our room I had had to take a shower despite it being past 2am and the water stone-cold! I barely slept, feet freezing in my sleeping bag. Next day was a haze. We woke up early and bought breakfast from the bakery next door; a pastie filled with transparent-looking suet and wilted green leaves. Definitely not pleasing to the eye and least the palate! We exchanged our money for rupees from street currency vendors then walked to the Chinese border to check out of 'China'. We drove a little further before saying goodbye to our wonderful drivers. Next thing we grabbed our backpacks and crossed the border into Nepal.
I did not expect it to be or feel any different, well at least not immediately but the second we crossed and thread foot into the new country, Nepal welcomed us with it's clammy weather, vibrant or rather noisy people, bustling their way along an endless line of fully loaded trucks and busses, hooting horns and yelling drivers. The sun shone brightly in the blue sky - a far cry of the previous snowy and cold day. The air was humid and lush with oxygen and green scenary. What should have taken us 20minutes took us about an hour to get to the Last Resort. Our bus parked at one end of a valley so we had to traverse to the other end over a suspended bridge - the bridge from which we jumped off the next day!
The Last Resort proved to be a haven. There we were, drinking cocktails in the sun in T-shirt and shorts, surrounded by huge colourful butterflies, deep green slopes. Our rooms were dispersed across the terraced lawns. I shared a comfortable and lavish 4-man tent - a dream when compared to our recent accommodations. Not to mention hot running water from the outdoor showers! Oh yes, hot water, finally! oh, and proper clean western loos!!! We spent most of the afternoon sunbathing while seeing others head dive into the valley below from the edge of the bridge. Most of us courageously booked ourselves for a bungee jump next morning then had a lovely dinner in the chilled-out low sofa restaurant / lounge area of the Resort.
We were woken up at about 5.30am next morning to make our way to the bridge. It was a bit chilly and the 160m drop from the bridge made us shudder even more. We were ranked by our weight and being the lightest I was the last one to jump off from our group. We sang, shouted and cheered the next one down. When my turn was up there was no one to sing to me :( so I sang on my own. The 'bungeemasters' giving me the odd looks as they prepared me for the dive, roping my legs together.
I was on the edge, arms wide open waiting for the master's GO! It was an endless nerve-wrecking wait. Then I leaped into the valley below. The world stopped. There was silence. The dizzy surroundings of the valley toppled over so I lost all sense of direction. Split second later the wind whipped hard into my ears and I felt my breath again. I was diving into a head rush so the seconds my lungs filled with air I let out a hell of a yell. At the rebound I jerked back up again by the tug of the thick elastic rope I was attached too. The tightening pain around my ankles was quickly released as I bobbed up and down in mid-air and let more air out of my lungs at every yell and scream. I let my arms hang loose and enjoyed the strange sensation of the upside down world. Adreladine was at its peak!
Suddenly, I realised someone was yelling at me from the bottom of the valley. I got sight of a man pointing a long bamboo stick at me. Then I remembered that I had to grab it to be hurled back on solid ground. Gradually, I was lowered on a kind of stretcher. They untied my ropes and in no time I dashed to embrace the others who were cheering me from the sides of the valley. It was a steep half hour or so climb back up to the Resort. But it was worth it especially the hearty buffet breakfast after that :) Not to mention the DVD session of each of our dives. By the end of it were laughing our heads off!
The rest of the day was spent lazing around in the warm sun until it was time to hit the road again at 4pm. Our next destination was Dhulikhel - a village in the mountains with spectacular views of the Himalayas.
Nepal here we are!!!
Nicky
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