Well, we were meant to head to Saga today but the turn off from Lhatse was closed until 8 pm...given it was a very long drive to Saga from Lhatse we had to change plans a bit. Rule #1 of travelling in Tibet is...flexibility is key. So here we are in Tingri, the nearest town to Everest Base Camp, and we think we saw Everest peaking through the clouds this evening. The plan is to get up at sunrise to try to glimpse the sun coming over the mountain...we'll see how that goes though.

After a 2 bottle of wine night last night Heather & I were a bit worse for wear. We met the rest of our group and headed off west from Shigatse, stopping along the way at the 5000kms from Shanghai marker (ooh). Here we wandered taking photos of the town, pygmy goats, and I asked permission of a woman to take her photo. She nodded and smiled consent, I took it, and then she held out her hand to be paid for it. That's not the way this works, sweetheart.

We reached Lhatse at around 11:30 and that's when the fun began. Megma, our driver, turned off the paved road to head towards Saga and...hmmm....road closed. Sign in Chinese says 08:00 - 20:00 . Megma chats to the guy next to the road block and it's determined that yes, indeed, the road is closed until 8pm (or 20:00 for those of you, like me, who work on a 24 hour clock).

Galek's & Megma's thoughts were to go to Everest Base Camp today/tomorrow, then go to Mt Kailash and then the Nepal border. To be fair this was the original plan on the itinerary until we changed it when we arrived in Lhasa. We had changed it for two reasons though - acclimatisation (going from 3890 to 4900 sleeping altitude is a bit much) and also to leave a highlight for the end of the trip.

So many do the Shigatse-EBC journey in one day that I don't actually think that acclimatisation was much of an issue but Kai "I deal with life's obstacles by throwing my toys out of the pram" was having none of it and threw an absolute tantrum. None of us liked the idea of the schedule change but, what are you going to do, there's a big blockade and a Chinese military guy in front of the road on which you're to travel. Whilst we were trying to resolve the issue and understand all our options, I had to tell him firmly to relax and chill out on several occasions. He was the biggest w***er I've ever seen (and that's saying something) during this episode. He was SO rude to the guide and driver as well (Galek got shushed by him), I was embarrassed.

After about 20 minutes we did manage to convince the guide & the driver to skip EBC until the end and stay overnight in Tingri en route to Saga/Paryang the next day, though the driver was clearly pissed off about it. Turns out that he didn't want to backtrack the 100kms between Tingri & the next pass, where the road forks between the border crossing and the route to Saga. Nothing a hundy (yuan - not dollar!) can't fix....but Megma, bless him, doesn't hold a grudge and was back to his chipper self very soon after the episode.

So off we went to Tingri and the mood in the 4WD was quite tense for the time. We went through the pass that marked the entrance to the Tingri region and had our first view of the Himalayas - very exciting! - at 5250 meters (which the guide smugly pointed out to Kai...as if to say 'altitude sickness, hey?'. Good on him). Another hour or two and we were in New Tingri for lunch. Yak and potato curry, fried potato with yak, and fried yak & green capsicum on offer.

A few kms down the road we had to pass a police checkpoint and show our passports. Then we were off to Old Tingri where we were to stay the night...

...or so we thought until we came upon road blockade #2 for the day. The road wasn't opening until 8 pm (must be 'an auspicious number') and our 4WD tried to go around it without much luck. Down in the ravine there were several 4WDs that were bogged or on the verge of tipping as they tried to overcome the road block. The decision was made to walk the final 2 kms to Old Tingri and the driver would follow with our luggage once the road opened.

Definitely beer o'clock after this day! We went for a short walk after a Lhasa beer up to a viewpoint where we (think we) could see Everest. It was very exciting (and though there was ascension involved it wasn't too strenuous on the breathing/heart rate). Heather and I kept repeating in a cockney accent (of sorts) "we're at fookin' everest man!!"* Then we headed down to the restaurant for yak momos and fried veggie momos. Best we've had so far!

On the way back to the hotel we were on stray dog alert, as we had been warned by Galek not to walk around at night (for that reason). It was only 2 doors down and there was no threat but at the same time, the dogs are plentiful around here. Now we're all huddled up under our yak wool blankets before heading to sleep.

Long day in the car tomorrow!

* I think you had to be there.