Sebastian Merriman - 2 Poles and 7 Summits: Day 17

Today we are driving across the Tibetan plateau to Tingri which is the turn off for Everest - as established by the Mallory (and others) expeditions of the early 1920s. Tingri was described as 'a place of unimaginable filth, with people wile in their habits. They are indescribably dirty and beyond words ignorant and superstitions'. It will be interesting to see if it has changed!

First up is a bit more shopping in a remarkably chilly Nylam - in the early morning it is pretty much only us and some animals on the street - before we set off for Tingri.

Wrapped up for the morning chill in Nylam!

Cows wander about in the street

Some dogs and another cow!

As we drive across Tibet, we are struck by the comparison to Nepal. Nepal is a terribly poor country with most people living in very poor and unhealthy conditions. It seems that earlier in this century, according to the early Everest literature, Tibet was even worse. In much the same way as the famous 'What have the Romans ever done for us sketch', the investment of Chinese money into the infrastructure is impressive. We see remains of old yak dung buildings and, down the road, new brick ones with concrete roads, heating, electricity and even solar powered lighting! The Chinese, in a few decades, have done far more for the average Tibetan than the old religious orders did for them in centuries. Our logistics in Tibet are being organised by the Chinese / Tibetan Mountaineering Associations (CTMA) so we don't have the normal access to a local guide to discuss such things with and most Tibetans speak no English which is a shame as we can't get an idea of a possibly alternative view of Chinese rule here.

One of the world famous bike rides was Lhasa to Kathmandu - a hugely long and rocky road at significant altitude and dealing with the fierce plateau winds. Unfortunately, the Chinese have now tarmacked the whole route which, whilst great for everyone who needs to drive it and the people who live there, somewhat lessens the appeal of such a notoriously tough ride.

New village (not made of yak dung!) - with power and solar lighting

Another new village

After a while, we get to the high pass that marks the edge of the Himalayas and from which the road leads down into the Tibetan plateau. As everywhere in this part of the world it is covered with prayer flags and there are a few cows and a mangy dog hanging about. It is incredibly windy up here so we don't stop for long but there is an excellent view from here as well.

Getting out of the minibus into the wind!

High pass, prayer flags and Himalayas in the background

Fantastic view back towards Nepal

Mountains, prayer flags, cows and a mongrel. Tibet!

The Tibetan plateau - wide and flat so presumably sculpted by glaciers

Broad expanse of the Tibetan plateau

After a few more hours we get to the notorious Tingri to find that it has been cleaned up a lot. It is pretty much a one street concrete town with shops, hotels and restaurants. When the strong sun isn't shining, it is pretty chilly and whilst the cows are the same, the mongrels here have a pretty bad reputation for aggressiveness to we need to wear our boots and or carry a walking pole as protection - there are too many stories of climbs being aborted for bites and rabies to take a risk here! There are a huge range of vehicles from very basic tractors, lorries heading out to Nepal and pretty swanky Land Cruisers for the Western and Chinese tourists.