Day 11 - Xegar or Bust

We got up late this morning, our bodies must be getting used to the time change. We drove back to Shigatse for breakfast. Ten Zin needed to secure our permits. It took him a long time to get them. After he came back, we got our first disappointment of the trip. We could not go to Sakya monastery. I'm not sure of the reason, but we could not get the required travel permit.

Mmmm, Yak Pies on the Wall and on Top of the Wall 

We stopped for lunch in Lhatse. Several Tibetan teen girls came over and noticed that my camera was digital. They knew that they could see their picture after it was taken. I had to take three pictures. After each, they would crowd around the camera and giggle when they saw their picture. After lunch, they grabbed a five year old that they knew. I had to take five more pictures.

Tibetan Honeys 

We were informed that the road to Xegar was closed until 7:00 because of construction. Ten Zin decided to bypass a checkpoint and see if we could make it. We drove out of town and turned down a back alley. Next thing we knew, we were driving through an almost dry riverbed. The Land Cruiser got a work out today. It was true four wheeling. We got stuck at one point. Ten Zin hopped out to guide the driver through. When we got on the main road, we were not allowed to pass. We had to pull off the road to let the construction vehicles through. We thought we were going to tip over, because the Land Cruiser was on a big angle.Ten Zin and the driver got out and were in a deep discussion with the construction boss. After a while they came back and said were stuck here for three hours. A further discussion found a solution to our problem. If we paid them 50 yuan, we would be allowed to pass. Ten Zin offered to pay half. We gave him 40 yuan and insisted he only pay 10 yuan. Ten Zin went to the boss and gave him the 40 yuan and said it was all he had. The boss decided to take it and we were allowed to go on. Ten Zin said it was a "Special Permit". He said that this is how things are done.

While we were stopped, several children came to the car. I don't know what they wanted, but Kim gave them the gas cookies. They seemed to like them. Before long, more children started coming towards the vehicle. Ten Zin chased them away.

We drove through one construction site after another. Most of the work was done by hand. At each work site, there were several tents for the workers to live. There were some times where we had to go off the road to get around the construction.

Most of our driving was through valleys today. The scenery was beautiful. You could see the geological formation of the mountains. Sometimes the layers were going straight up or they would be twisted around. We went over a pass that was over 16,000 ft. We got our first sight of the Himalayan Mountains. They were snow capped and still very far away. It was a little cloudy, so we could not see Everest. That is a treat for tomorrow morning.

Tibetan Mountains 

We finally arrived at our destination. From the outside, the hotel looked good. It was only after we got into our room that we realized it wasn't exactly the Ritz. This was the first time we didn't have a toilet in our room. Even worse, the toilets didn't work. It was only then that we figured out that the big buckets of water in the hallway were for flushing. We were informed that the hot water might take five minutes to travel up the pipes. We opted not to take a shower, the facilities were that bad. Besides, even if we wanted a shower there were no towels available. Kim is starting to sink fast.

At supper, a cat came up and sat beside me. I don't want to say it was the dirtiest cat we ever saw, but it was in bad need of a bath and grooming. I threw some scraps on the floor for it to eat. After it finished, it would meow very loudly for more. When I wouldn't give him any more, he went and pestered Ten Zin.

When we got back to the hotel we discovered there was a power outage. The power came back on after a half hour. We have to go to sleep early. We need to be on the road by 6:00. We want to be at the Everest region early to see the mountain. It may be cloudy later in the day.