I Think I'm Going to Kathmandu (Again)

On the morning of May 7, I woke up from a great night of sleep in Chinese Base Camp. After a couple of cups of hot orange drink and dry toast fom breakfast, I packed up all my gear in anticipation of our two-day drive across western Tibet, off the edge of Tibetan Plateau, and back to Kathmandu, Nepal.

The vehicles were late and no one from the Tibetan Mountaineering Association (TMA - the Chinese government group that controls all access to the north side of Mount Everest) knew when they would arrive, so several of us from the SummitClimb group took a leisurely hike around the area. It was another beautiful sunny day, although the wind was blowing pretty good. We viewed the Mallory & Irvine memorial (two British climbers who are famous for disappearing while trying to reach the summit in 1924) and then returned to the camp to eat lunch and wait. We grabbed some chairs and relaxed outside the dining tent, sheltered out of the wind and with one of the best views in the world.

The vehicles finally arrived about 2 p.m., so we quickly loaded up and departed the camp towards the small town of Tingri, about 65 miles north of Everest, where we arrived a bit after 5 p.m. following a bumpy and scenic ride. After a quick meal, we got onto the Friendship Highway headed west, knowing that it was going to be very late before we finally reached the border town of Zhangmu. During the next three hours, I simply listened to music, reflected on the last couple of weeks and enjoyed the views from the cramped SUV.  

We crossed our last high pass, Tong La at about 14,750 feet, and continued along the highway. With a quick stop in the town of Nyalam to refuel, we proceeded to drop off the edge of the Tibetan Plateau with a loss of about 5,000 feet over the next 20 miles before arriving a military checkpoint. After an hour there waiting for clearance to continue, we proceeded a couple of miles further down the road and arrived in Zhangmu just after 11 p.m. A late dinner was followed by a hike up many sets of stairs at the Gang Gyan hotel, a rough and dirty establishment overpriced at $12 a night. 

I awoke the next morning to a cacophony of cats, dogs and roosters, so I packed up my bags and had a light breakfast of pop and dry toast. My appetite still wasn't back. Our group then loaded up the SUV's, and with a TMA guide, drove several miles through crowded Zhangmu to the border. We went through passport and visa control and had our bags searched before being allowed to cross the Friendship bridge (complete with border painted across the middle) into Kodari, Nepal.

We loaded into a different set of SUV's and started out on the 65-mile, 4-hour drive across rough roads and mountains and valleys to Kathmandu. In hindsight, this was my favorite day of the trip. I had accomplished my trekking goal, was only a couple days of flying home to see my family, and things were warm and green. After two weeks in the Himalayas with everything being shades of brown and gray, simply seeing green grass and trees again was amazing.

About an hour into Nepal, we stopped at a place where our guide, Raj, had worked at a decade ago - the Borderlands Eco Adventure Resort by the Bhote Koshi River.  With a snack of pop and homemade french fries, I sat in the sun and enjoyed the view. We would have loved to stay longer, but we loaded up after an hour and proceeded to drive through some interesting and scenic country for the next several hours before finally pulling into the outskirts of Kathmandu. A half hour later, we were at the Tibet Hotel, a much nicer establishment than the hotel I stayed at when I first arrived in Nepal almost three weeks prior.

I dropped my bags in my room and proceeded to take a 45-minute hot shower, my first in 10+ days, and enjoyed being clean again. Our group met in the hotel lobby later and took cabs to eat a celebratory dinner at Pizza Hut. I kid you not.  Many of the conversations in the camp dining tents during the trek were about food and someone had the good idea that pizza should be out first meal back in Nepal. For all of us, the appetites came back and we put away a lot of pizza before returning to the hotel and getting some sleep.

The following day, and my last full day in Nepal, I woke up early and enjoyed the easy breathing at lower altitude. I spent the day packing my bags for the trip home and then purchased some souvenirs and saw some of the sights, including the Boudhanath, one of the largest Buddhist stupas in the world. My trekking group met for our final dinner and had some great Indian food.

On May 10, I got up, grabbed my bags and caught a ride to the airport for the trip home. A three-hour flight to Bangkok was followed by a 16-hour flight across the Pacific to Los Angeles, and then another three-hour flight home to Minneapolis.  It was great to see my family again and be back home. 

My trek was complete and it was an experience that I'll never forget. As a final note, I encourage you to identify something on your bucket list and start planning it so that you can finally achieve it in the next 12 months.  You won't regret it, and you might even find a new hobby. Mine is trekking and I plan to do one big hike or trek each year. What's your Nepal-Tibet?

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