Our Himalayan Adventure

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow! What a ride’”

-Hunter S. Thompson

So for our adventure into Tibet, the group decided to document out Trip thru a group journal, or Grrrrnllll. The following are passages, life philosophies and quotes from the four of us throught the week and a half…

Day 1

Riding on a total high from the Bears victory against the Packers, we are currently on our way to Tibet. Not without a few pitfalls and miscues along the way though.

Of course, we waited until the very last minute to pay for our trip (mostly due to the fact that 3 of us had to wait for account transfers from America). We were supposed to meet with our travel agent Andy Li at 9:30am, but since we had to pay in cash (an absolutely ridiculous aspect of Chinese culture that I really can’t get by…Just accept a freaking debit or credit card and make life easier) and had to go to 3 different banks to withdrawl the cash from ATMs, we were an hour late to our meeting. Tyler, who had wired his money from the US, wasn’t able to get his money in time, but Andy thankfully cut him a break and is letting him pay him when we get to Lhasa. Hopefully the money goes thru before we get there or he’s royally screwed.

We packed our gear into one backpack each, hopefully enough for 11 days and headed to the Shanghai railway station. It was real crowded; the whole nation gets off for this week long national holiday, but since we’re leaving on Wednesday I think we are missing the real crazy traffic.

The train is awesome. The line was finished in 2006, so its real new. We are staying in a hard sleeper room: 6 bunk beds crammed in a 6’ by 8’ by 10’ space. The vibes in the hard sleeper hallways are way chiller and more laid back (something I totally regret ever writing. I guess I was riding some kind of high) and I’m glad to be here instead of the more comfortable soft sleeper rooms. We’ve already found a few 中国朋友 (Chinese friends) who speak English named Rocky, Numbers, and Popo who instantly gave us some beers to drink. It look’s like its gunna be a fun and entertaining 3000 miles and 3 days on the train.

Day 2

“I’m in a different cabin than the others. I’m roomies with 5 hospital managers in their 40’s-50’s. They are pretty chill snd one asked me to marry his daughter. If things with Kelli don’t pan out I have just met my father-in-law. Speaking of marriage, Kevin and Drew got married to their Chinese wives, leader Tiger and shy Tiger respectively. They will have a happy life together.”

- Tyler

Day 3 “Kisses Lost, Altitude Gained”

“Love, stanky stank, lost first kisses, mistakes between Tigers and Dragons, and lack of sleep eye boogers are all in the thin Chinese air on this fine, fine morning. Last night was magical!! Stereotypes were broken, set up by stupid American shows like Desperate Housewives (Chinese chicks think all Americans cheat on their spouses because of stupid TV) and friends were made. We showed the Chinese Tiger team that the American dragons may breathe fire, but are not always trying to get banged .... Anyways the Sun! It rises out of the East today and luckily Drew and I played our cards right and caught it in the act of waking up and loudly proclaiming to the snow capped mountains ‘Here I am’.”

-Flans

The last few hours on the train were real rough on me. The only few of hours of sleep under my belt (they turned the lights on at 5 freaking AM, just so the Chinamen could see the mountains as soon as possible!!) hit me in the face like a ton of bricks along with the collective 3-day B.O., vinegar rice smell, the unbearable heat, and the fact that one of our Chinese bunkmates constantly farted for 2 hours straight. I don’t even think if it was the altitude that got to me ( we were around 15,000 ft above sea level) because I stayed really hydrated the whole way. Nonetheless, I was white as a ghost, so I put some BRUCEEEE on my ipod and forced myself to nap the 3 hrs until we got to Lhasa.

The cool Tibetan air felt so good when we got off the train and was exactly what I needed, I was ready to take on the week. We met with our guide Linda and our Driver Lhosa, who took us to a sweet, kinda touristy hotel in Old Lhasa. We hit up a Tibetan Steak House for dinner. We dined on all kinds of different Yak products: Steak, vermicelli noodles, Yak momos (heavy dumplings), and Yak Butter Tea. They also had all kinds of Indian food, something we were all missing in Shanghai. Lhasa is real interesting, a little touristy, but cool in its own way. The women are way more beautiful than the Han women in Shanghai. The city shuts down at night it seems, and there is a heavy military presence by the Chinese government. They really don’t want any Shenanigans going down in the region and it really shows. Tomorrow should be fun at the monasteries in town. Time to get acclimated to the altitude.

Day 4 WWRGD: What would Richard Gere do?? (11,450 ft above sea level)

The whole day we toured the great city of Lhasa. Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and the Barkhor were all knocked off in this busy, but truly beautiful day.

“Sitting in a grungy teahouse in Lhasa. Sipping on sweet yak butter tea, the only whiteboys in the damn place and proud of it. All while weirdly fitting in…Let’s play cards.”

-Flans

Day 5

Remember how I said that it was a real nice change of pace to eat Indian food? I completely take that back. A goddamn plate of Chicken Tandoori, took away 4 hours of my sleep while I was on the toilet and really put a damper on my entire day. No lie it was the single worst night I have ever had. I was leaking like the BP oil spill, it couldn’t be stopped (If you thought I’d go more than 2 weeks without mentioning poop, you’re reading the wrong blog). When it came time for breakfast, 2 pills of erythromycin and Immodium, I had no fluid left in my body, and proceeded to throw up because of my empty stomach. This is all before our 12 hour car journey to Shigatse, all with remain of rotten Chicken Tandoori bubbling in my stomach. FML

Day 6 (16,500 ft)

Another long ass car ride through the absolutely amazing Tibetan landscape. Words cannot describe everything we saw along this car ride. A stunning array of mountains.

By the time we got to the final checkpoint (the greedy-ass Chinese government puts checkpoints throughout this trip so they can get as much money as they can from tourists) it was 10 at night and the freaking travel agency forgot one of our permits. We were 20 km away from our monetary hotel at Everest Basecamp. The trip to Everest was in doubt and we couldn’t really appreciate the most awe inspiring starry night I’ve ever seen, it was a total turd in the punchbowl scenario. The 15 km trip back to the nearest town was deafly silent. It was like when a dad yells at his kids in the beginning of the car ride and not one single person says a peep the entire way back…..super awkward.

Day 7 (16,000ft- 18,500 ft)

The Yak hotel where we stayed was exactly the kind of dive that I wanted to stay in during the entire trip (the Chinese government requires foreigners to stay in nice hotels in the main cities). No heat, one main room with a fireplace, a hole in the ground for a crapper, good company, a little bit of Gin Rummy, and some Lhasa Beer made for a great night to forget our permit problems.

When we woke up Henrik and I ventured into a nearby field sat by a stream for about an hour, soaking in the partially blocked view of the great Everest, as we didn’t know if that’s as close as we’d get. When we got back the permit problem was resolved and we were off to Mt. Qomolangma.

Words can’t describe it so I’ll let pictures to the talking.

Day 8-9 “The sun never sets on awesome”

“On our way back from Shigatse, headed towards Lhasa. Yesterday we visited EVEREST. It was unbelievable. I feel like I’m still coming down from the experience. I didn’t expect to be so drawn in by the mountain. Everything seems so insignificant while in the shadow of Everest; just dominating my thoughts. Drew and I walked up with Linda gasping for air while Kevin and T-m0ney booked it ahead of us…Maybe I should quit smoking? (We hiked 8 km from Rongbu Monestary to base camp…tough as shit, but soooooo worth it in the end)

When we reached base camp I was consumed. I thought of the 1000’s of people that had made the hike/ pilgrimage before us with hopes of taming the beast. The thoughts they had as they made the same hike as us, the thoughts they had as they looked towards the summit as we did. It’s now wonder the native Tibetans referred to it as the throne of god.”

-Henrick

Day 9-11

Back on the train. Not as much fun this time without Popo. I’ve killed the two books I brought. I finally freaking finished Bill Simmons’ ginormous Book of Basketball and breezed through Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw. Kinda bored out of my mind. And have had three bloody noses in the last day from all the dry air (and some nose picking). No internet on my Blackberry. Starting to lose my shit. AHHHHH

“Dear Diary,

I can’t stop picking my nose. I think I have a problem. What ever shall I do? Thanks for listening, you’re #1.”

-Flans

Day 12

Finally back in Shanghai. It’s starting to really fell like home. Had an amazing American breakfast and lunch with the same great company we went on the trip with. Already started drinking, should be a good chill night. Much needed.

Day 13

Somehow last night I ended up at a new Jazz club (Club JZ) until 430am, by myself. No idea how that one happed or how I got home with the amount of Chinese I currently speak. I kinda gotta get my shit together since I have a test on Monday. Or stop going to the Belgian Beer bar Kaiba to pregame the night with 14% alcohol beers.

This afternoon was the perfect lazy Sunday. Brunch at 2:30 in the afternoon for a great pancake special at a gem of a place. Followed by a lunch 5 minutes after at another find…a classy American fast food joint. You can’t pass up chocolate and peanut butter (also Elliott and my new nicknames) milkshakes and Chicago style hotdogs. Even if you just ate breakfast. Follow that up with a surreal art gallery tour down the block , along with the fact that we are still comfortably in shorts and t-shirts, and you have an amazing day.

Popo summed up the past weeks adventures with the few English words she wrote down in our Grrnnlllll. “Hope tomorrow will be better. And happy life. Easy life……People come and people go, but they live in my memory forever.” Oh the glory of it all….Life sure is good.