Now it Kathmandu, waiting for the transportation strike to be over

I was hoping to leave lhasa the 24th but it was the 23th and no sign of a cheap lift! The only offer given by the travel agency was a 2day car ride for over 200$! I decided to enjoy my day and hope for a miracle. I explored lhasa and found the potala palace, it is technically the monastery of the dalai lama even though he is not allowed to step foot in tibet. To enter the palace you needed a ticket and they were currently sold out! I then spotted Tamar, an Israeli girl that i had met the previous night because she was looking for a lift to kathmandu. She was waiting for a friend infront of the palace. When her friend arrived, for some mystical reason, the guard let us in! It was quite interesting; there were lots of pilgrims, young and old climbing the stairs to the potala carrying yak butter!! The yak butter is actually used for candles because of its long lasting capacities. Once at the entrance we had a magnificent view of Lhasa!
Afterwards we went our separate ways and i just walked through the streets. It is fascinating how religious the majority of the people are. The older woman are walking with prayer wheels, people are facing the potala and praying at anytime of the day. They just drop to their knees and countiuously lie down and go back on their knees. They could repeat this action for and indefinite period of time!!   

At 18h00 i once again see Tamar waving hysterically. She informs me she found the sweetest deal to kathamandu but we have to be 4people and call the driver before 19h00.  We run like mad woman around the city to find Dion, the New Zealand guy. Of course we do not find him but we do bump into the driver. He immediately asks for a deposit and hands us his passport as insurance. We decide to pay even though we had no idea if we would be the right amount of people!! Finally at 20h00 we see Dion who agrees to come with us!! We had a few hours to find 1 more person! We go to the travel agent incase he might know someone who needs a lift and he did!! We call the guy, Robert and tell him to be at our hotel at 5h00am! Next morning, we are all in the jeep, the driver, 2 Tibetans in the front, 3 of us on the back seat and Dion in the trunk!! It was quite a ride. I am extremely glad of going overland you get to see the real tibet. The vegetation and mountains are spectacular. In the middle of no where there could be a temple surrounded by a village. There are also lots of ruins on the way to nepal, the temples that were destroyed by the Chinese. The last section of the road is actually still in construction. At one section they are building a tunnel going through a waterfall. Well, the tunnel is half finished. For some reason the driver decided to stop right in the center of the tunnel. The back of the car was getting completely wet by the fall. Suddenly we hear Dion complaining that water is  entering the car!! We quickly keep going through the unfinished road down to the valley.

The next day we crossed the border and hopped into an extremely old Toyota!! I am very surprised we made it all the way! 10 minutes into the drive the car falls into a ditch, only the front wheel!! We all get out of the car and start lifting!! Youpi after 15min we are back on the road! A couple of hours later we are faced with a new problem, petrol!! The lack of gasoline is an important issue! We are stopping at every gas station and they are all out! We encounter cars, buses that are stopped on the side of the road cause they have no more fuel!! The driver was now yelling to every house we were crossing, "petrol". One person comes out of the house with a bottle of water filled with gasoline!! Thank god!! Back on the road. We arrived at Kathmandu at 17h00.

Now i had to find Nuvjeet my friend from high school in Kathmandu. We had planned to trek Everest together!! NO SIGHN OF HER!! I was getting worried of not seeing her. Tamar and i wanted to definitely leave the 30th for our Trek! Since i really want to do Everest but the anapurna circuit is apparently the most beautiful trek, we decided we would tackle both!! 50 days of trekking!!! WE are definitely crazy!! on the 28th, i meet Nuvjeet who is completely into doing both treks!! Another crazy girl to join our group!  The 29th we go shopping for equipment and food!! We get back home all exited to leave the next morning for the trek! We find out there is a transportation strike!!! Shit what do we do!!! WE shall see!!!

Comments

[Maca]

Hello Sweety

How r u? Where r u? When r you going back to Canada? R u coming to Europe first... I would like to see you.

Let me know!!!
Have fun ;o)

Mac

[Aless]

Hey woman. Is this the part where you hike without conact with the outside world for 50 days and 50 nights?

COURAGE our lil one.

Hugs,

A

[Aurélie]

c'est vrai que je comprend pas tout ce que tu écrit. Hé oui, les français et l'anglais ça fait vraiment 20000. Mais sinon ca a l'air d'être bien sympa et surtout de te plaire. Bonne chance et grosses bises