Day 19 230506: 扎什伦布寺

It was a rainy morning and after consulting the hotel manager on the directions, we left for breakfast and then to ZaShiLunBuSi. ZK didn’t join us as usual for such sightseeing. This was a very grand monastery and its grandness meant that it was very touristy. And tourists would naturally draw peddlers and BEGGARS.

The monastery consists of a number of buildings each housing different gods or portrait of Pan Chan. There were 3 white towers which prayers would go around in clockwise direction. Around the towers we could see stones being placed by the prayers. It was for them to remember how many rounds they had walked. They could only walked in even number of rounds.

Inside the compound there were 2 deer and a goat, which weren’t afraid of people. They let people go up to them to take photo or touch them. Photographing was strictly not allowed inside the building, esp. at the statues. JH tried his luck to take one and was immediately stopped by a monk who flew out from no where and blocked his camera. But JH still managed to take the pic.


While walking from building to building, I followed different tour groups to listen to their guide explaining to the tourists. Free-rider problem, haha. In the end I stuck to just one group because I was attracted to this Chinese JieJie who was wearing a pink jacket. She was so gentle looking. My TYPE haa.

For most of the time JH, CCG and I were walking together while Kenneth went on his own as he always took a long time to take pictures. After 2hrs of touring, we decided to leave the place. The moment I stepped out of the monastery, a child beggar grabbed my sleeve and shouted, “叔叔，一元就好！“ I tried to shake him (or her?) off but couldn’t while JH and CCG dashed across the road. I didn’t there just run across the road dragging the child for fear he might be knocked down. In the end, I gave up and took out my wallet but I had no one dollar and so I gave him 5 bucks. An old lady wanted to help me out by giving the beggar a sweet but it was too late. 5 bucks is really nothing but I really don’t like the idea of giving kids $.

On the way back, I was scolded by CCG for giving in to beggars. He said I got Good Man Face and that’s why beggars always approach me. I don’t understand why he was so angry then. We met up with ZK back at the hotel and went for lunch. After that, we set off for Lhasa and sang David Tao’s songs along the way.

We reached Lhasa in the late afternoon and went around looking for lodging. We didn’t want to stay in Kiri again as the living condition was quite bad. There was another international youth hostel which we really liked and had an international crowd. However, considering that ZK was with us, we opted that out. In the end, we came to this hotel and wanted 2 standard double rooms for 140rmb. The lady boss said that was impossible as the price was way too low. We had no choice but to leave and stayed in the jeep discussing where to go.

After 10min, the lady boss saw that our jeep was still outside her hotel and came and said she was willing to let go for 140rmb. Anyway, it was off peak period and all her rooms are empty. I really like this lady boss because although it was obvious we were the cheapo type and got a really cheap bargain, she still treated us very nicely. She said she understands we are just students and moreover are backpackers and so have limited budget.

When we inquired about the military flight back to Chengdu, she and her staffs were very keen to find info for us and to make arrangements. We told her we would return here again in 2 days’ time after we had gone to Namtso Lake.

The night was spent watching my favourite TV YiTianTuLongJi and late night movie shown on cable. ZK went out shopping and bought supper for us. Super Duper Hot and Spicy Pig Intestines.

Day 18 220506: Muddy Day

Last night I had this weird dream. Me and my dear cousin were in a school as teachers and she introduced a nice female teacher to me. And I still remember her name was called June in my dream. Haha. My cousin was a tutor in a tuition agency and she occasionally would intro gals to me. Well, that explains that funny dream.


Anyway, today is a muddy day due to the heavy snow last night. Now that the snow had melted, the road was very muddy and the jeep was moving at a very slow pace. We had to wind down the windows or else the mud would fly in. My face gana a bit of mud when damn Kenneth wound down the front window a little. Somewhere middle of the road, our jeep got stuck in the mud and the 4 of us had to get out and help push the car. This was the 2nd time we had to do this. The first was when the jeep was stuck in granite stones.

Once we were out, it was bumpy ride all the way to Xigaze. We came through the same way, which was under construction and thus was the toughest ride ever. The weather was changing all the time and a thunderstorm was right behind us closing up.

But after a while, we entered a desert place with sand dunes all around. Reminded me of the game Dune and we were trying to recall the 3 Houses in the game. Atreides, Hakkonon and one more which we couldnt remember. Ordos. Yes that is it. Kenneth was busy shitting among the bushes then. Dozing off along the way and thinking of Yi Tian Tu Long Ji, we finally reached Xigaze.

We didn’t have lunch and everyone was dead hungry. Still, we took hell lot of time finding lodging. Exceptionally long today. Normally we would strike a deal by the 3rd hotel. This time the 4 of us had so much discrepancies that we couldn’t find a hotel that everyone agreed by dinner time. In the end, we decided to have dinner first then continue.

It was ZK who chose a hotel for us in the end which wasn’t really cheap but rather comfortable. We rested a while and then went out for internet. After internet, CCG, Ken and I went to have Fried Chicken!!! We had been waiting for this day to come for a long long time. Finally we had fried chicken which tasted simply heavenly.

We bought a chicken wing for JH back in the hotel. We spent the rest of the night watching 超级女生. My favourite candidate was 张亚飞. It was like a Chinese Singapore Idol, except much grander. The competition I was watching was only for 长沙区.

It was a good night rest until at 0443am, someone was banging hardly on JH and mine room. JH got out of bed and open the door and we saw 3 policemen stormed into our room. They asked where are we from and what are we doing here. And then demanded to check our passports. I was still very much in half sleeping mode. After checking, they just left and I went back to sleep as if nothing had happened.

Day 17 210506: Road Robbers

We woke up at around 5am to catch the Everest sunrise. Before setting off to that hill we went yesterday, I went to shit in the WC first. It was still very dark then and the only light was from my torch. It was really an unforgettable experience to shit in Everest. 1st it was damn cold; my ass was shivering like mad. 2nd it was freaking stinky. The WC was nothing but a drain piled up with shits.


After I had done my business, we went to that hill. It was a disappointing sunrise. Misty. This was the 2nd time we had a lousy sunrise. First it was at EMei. We waited for an hour or so for the mist to clear but still the view was a let down. Finally, we decided to leave as our ZK was waiting for us outside the Everest reservation zone.

There was a little commotion regarding taking the horse cart back. Apparently the Tibetan owners wanted 4 people to share 1 cart, which was really unfair to us. We said in that case we pay only half the price but they refuse. There were 2 German and 2 American tourists too and all of us made noise regarding the arrangement. In the end, the Tibetans gave in and took us down using 4 carts.

On the way down, 1 of the Germans vomited as he was feeling unwell the night before. And he sure was in a foul mood. JH turned around and took picture of the Germans with Everest at the background. Halfway through while we stopped to rest, JH went up and talked to the Germans, trying to make friend with them. He told them that he had taken their pictures and asked if they would like to exchange emails so that he can send it to them. That sick German replied rudely, “Why the hell you took those pictures for?” JH was really pissed and walked away. Poor JH. I only knew of the incident when we reached the bottom.

While taking the eco-bus out of the reservation zone, we met 2 Americans, Brent and Lennon; a young man of our age and another fat old man. I was unfortunate to be sitting with Lennon, the fat elderly, who kept talking to me about corporate issues, taxes, IT jobs, standard of living, etc. So boring. I never liked such topics. I want very much to share travel experience with other travelers. So I started to open up on this topic and asked Lennon where in Asia he had traveled to. He said HK and started to talk about HK economy. My God.

We parted with the Americans and rendezvous with ZK at the place where we boarded the eco-bus yesterday. Then we went back to the same town we been to yesterday for lunch. While waiting for our lunch, 2 girls came and stood beside us asking for pencils. They just stood there and kept begging, despite the fact that we told them we had none. Tibetan kids would beg for 3 things: $, sweets and pencils. I can understand the need for the first 2 items. But I couldn’t figure out why do they need so many pencils? Some of the kids didn’t look as if they had gone to school. Although I shouldn’t think this way, somehow I guess that their parents had something to do with it. Perhaps they asked their kids to beg for pencils so that they can sell them to schools. I hope I am wrong.

After lunch, we continued on our journey and had to go over a mountain. Somewhere in the middle, a truck while coming down, was stuck in the trench at the side, just at a turn on the mountain road, thereby blocking the passage. Vehicles from both directions couldn’t pass through. A lorry behind that truck was loaded with workers who got down and started making an alternative path using their tools. After about 20min of work, a rudimentary path was created which would bypass the truck that was stuck in the trench.

The worker-loaded lorry came through via that path, which allowed only 1 vehicle to pass at a time. When it was our turn to use the path, the workers stopped us. They said the path was built by them and demanded $ from us. 10rmb. Although it was only a small amount of $, we didn’t expect them to ask for it. We thought that since we were all travelers on the road, esp. in harsh places like Tibet, we should be helping one another out in times of crisis. Why talked about $? The Aussies Kayakists we met the other day didn’t ask for $ when they laid the side track. We were reluctant to give that $ but then a snow storm was advancing from behind and so we had no choice. When JH passed the 10rmb note to them, he said to them, “你们中国人样样都讲钱！” Well said. But that shameless Chinese just took his $ with a big smile and went on to collect $ from the rest of the cars behind. They were really nothing less than robbers.

After we had passed using the 10rmb path, the snow storm still caught up with us. At full speed, we reached DingRi rather early and by then the snow had stopped. We had a good hot bath and everyone wanted to rest early since we didn’t sleep well the night before at Everest Base Camp.