Everest Team, Tibet

We came down from Everest base camp a little sooner than expected as Sarah had developed a major headache and nausea - signs of altitude sickness - something that Martin is all too familiar with. We had to get down to the monastery where the girls and our Landcruiser (and driver) were. Easier said than done as we couldn't get a horse cart down and so had to walk the 8km (6 miles) over fairly rough terrain with our gear (tents, sleeping bags, food, etc). Even though we were going down - we could definitely feel the strain on our bodies and we were exhausted and weak by the time we got down. The important thing was to go down in altitude as soon as possible and we left immediately for Sarah. Thankfully she was better by the next day at a lower town.

The next few days were mostly spent in the car on rough roads that were sometimes closed by road works which also meant hanging around waiting for them to open. We took a detour up to Phuntsoling Monastrey with very cool ruins on a hill overlooking the glaciated valley and some amazingly high sand dunes - something we were not expecting to see in the middle of Tibet!

The Landcruiser developed a rattling sound, that Lhakpa, our driver soon solved by removing the offending piece! As is the Tibetan way, he didn't seem too bothered about it although it looked like an important piece of metal! We later discovered that it was from the suspension system and that of course it was important! So we got sent another vehicle with another driver a day later; all that was available was a 24 seater bus!! A bit of overkill but it meant we wouldn't be stuck in the middle of Tibet. It felt a bit like Cliff Richard's 'Summer Holiday' film - all of us bundled with our stuff on a big bus. We headed east beyond Lhasa passing more unexpected sand dunes, on our way to Samye Monastery - another monastery that we were interested in seeing. And then just before we reached it, even more surprisingly, we passed groves of poplar and willow trees. Not at all like the barren plains of central Tibet. We spent a night there and explored what there was of town and the monastery - mostly it made for interesting people-watching of all the visiting pilgrims. Then it was back to Lhasa for a good wash, rest, and yak meat stew! *Mush